Mk3 2dr Project Car (1.8t swap)

[The_Hawk]

I love watching builds like this, especially the Mk3's (which just makes me miss my VR6 that much more). Maybe one day I'll have to space/time/money for a project. Sadly my eldest (who still doesn't have his licence) seems to be into BMW's, but maybe that means I will get to work on a car I don't have to pay for! (but who am I kidding, I'm sure Dad will be suckered into helping out anyway )

[Weeman]

Kill switch blank is a good idea!

I like it.


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Thanks mate.

Now add another kill switch but hide it. Slows down anyone trying to steal the car and we know no one in Tassie can be trusted.

Better yet, on/off pressure switch for the fuel pump hidden under a soft part of the dash.

Otherwise all good. Congrats.

Cheers

Paul

Hahaha tassie is a bit dodge for theft, but the trade off is we don't need to worry about a cop defecting us everytime we drive to work so far pulling the fuel pump fuse is easiest if ive parked it where things are a bit hairy lol

I love watching builds like this, especially the Mk3's (which just makes me miss my VR6 that much more). Maybe one day I'll have to space/time/money for a project. Sadly my eldest (who still doesn't have his licence) seems to be into BMW's, but maybe that means I will get to work on a car I don't have to pay for! (but who am I kidding, I'm sure Dad will be suckered into helping out anyway )

Thanks heaps, certainly been a fun one. Haha working on cars without the expense is awesome! Your boy is gonna have a rude shock, gotta stick to them cheaper front wheel drives lol. I was in awe of a E30 the other day, bout the only beema that would tip me over the line into the rear wheel drive territory... would look nice parked up next to the mk3. Had to leave a space between it and my van, not quite the same "stance"...

[Weeman]

Update: 21/03/2025

Bit of a quicky, mounted up a 1.5 metre kill switch cord to run to the key inside. Used one of the holes in the rain tray area to mount to. Sits nice and discretely to not draw tooooooo much attention... but a blue triangle will go in front of it eventually, but for the time being, hopefully the randoms walking through town don't keep killing it on me lol...



Got GIVEN a 6x4 box trailer, so needed some space, lucky me. Goodbye junk Audi. And commissioning trip for the trailer was a goodbye to the original 1.8 from the mk3. Fun times!



P.S. I wish the forums were more active with builds, would be cool to see more things start to finish, no matter how long they take.

Cheers,
Thomas

[HaydEn]

Great stuff!

Long live forums.


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[sports racer]

Not sure about having your kill switch accessible from the outside. What happens if someone nicks the red key?

[Weeman]

Not sure about having your kill switch accessible from the outside. What happens if someone nicks the red key?

The outside kill switch is just a pull cord. Has a piece of wire inside a sleeve that runs into the car and connects to the one key on the dash. Means if anyone pulls it from the outside, I can still re-engage the key inside, no dramas.

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[sports racer]

I just realised that it's only a MK3. No one would want it even if the keys were left in the ignition.

Unless it had a full tank of fuel.

[Gutoneto]

I just realised that it's only a MK3. No one would want it even if the keys were left in the ignition.

Unless it had a full tank of fuel.

What are you talking about? I would love to have a manual MK3 again, even with an empty tank!

[Weeman]

Update: 24/05/2025

Things are still ticking along behind the scenes, getting onto the track is now top priority from here on. The list of things to organise is ever growing but I'm getting through it.

Firstly, brakessssssss. My stopping power is awful. The teeny tiny brakes on there now just aren't cutting it. Insert Audi TT calipers, 312mm slotted discs, and mk4 golf rear calipers (alloy vs cast iron, just to lighten things up). Note I am only currently 4x100, so this complicates things and I was so certain I was going to drill the Audi TT discs to 4x100, but I've decided against it and now looking out for some decent 5x100 rims, that I can swap my brand new freshies Pirelli P-zeros onto from the 4x100 rims... argh more money...



Secondly, transporrrt! Now my predicment is I only have the van as my tow vehicle (FWD, 1800kg capacity). So don't even think about a car trailer. And they are so expensive!!! Which basically leaves me with no option. But wait... a dolly trailer! Never seen one before, dunno how unsafe they are, but they are a thing! So I've picked up an unregistered one for $700 and been to work. I am certainly not a skilled fabricator but I've busted the mig out and I'm actually very happy with my new fab up of wheel arches to replace the rusted out ones. Just needs new tyres now, a fresh respray and then hopefully a straight forward stroll over the pits to get it registered. And this one is pretty cool, you wind a winch and it lowers the deck up n down, so you don't need trailer ramps. Cool in theory, see how well it goes with a mk3 on it...



Thirdly, racegear... I'm mentioning this cause boy its expensive. But the collation of items begins, with marketplace being my best friend.



And lastly, golf(s) made it into a special wedding again, pics presented them very well! Exciting times.



More things to come.

Cheers,
Thomas

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[Weeman]

Update: 04/10/2025

Well, about a gazillion things has happened since my last post. I've given Youtube a bit of a shot but it's been ever consuming and taken the fun out of things. But here's the channel just in case I continue

Weeman Racing:

https://youtube.com/@weemanracing?si=XMwG-5WcgqJkS4XU

Lets see how I go with listing off all the updates...

Successfully converted to 5x100 pattern. Upgrades included fitting Mk4 rear calipers with ECS tuning brake lines, poly bushes on the control arms, the TT caliper/312mm brakes with ECS brake lines and of course the widetrack. Everything was refurbed, regreased/booted the CV's, new wheel bearings and new bushes everywhere. Had all the classic issues, stuck hubs, stuck CV's, snapped bolts, broken caliper pistons. But got there in the end, big tick for some nice tight suspension.

For the 312mm brakes, I had to use x4, M12 washers to space the TT caliper carriers to the correct offset (~6.1mm). I also had to remove the anti-rattle spring as they hit my 17 inch wheels. I changed to a new set of 17 inch 5x100 and was able to swap the tyres over from the 4x100 rims as they were brand new when I put them on. Happy days.

As for the dolly trailer, this got a generous lick of paint to bring it to life! As well as a new brake master cylinder, fresh wheel bearings and drum wheel cylinders, all to help it pass registration. The first time loading the car did not go so great... Smashed taillight, broken front lip and snapped winch line. Fair to say it was an experience!!! And reversing the trailer with a car on the back of it as a straight up nightmare, basically a very short wheel base B-double. Resulted with me denting the drivers door in as I did a double jack knife?... Focused on not jack knifing the trailer without realising the trailer was jack knifing the car... lol!
More to come...

[Weeman]

Update: 04/10/2025

Pre-race! Involved a few things: bonnet pins, kill switch, rain light, tow points, blue triangles to indicate battery location and external kill switch. Not too much else really as I was racing in the pleb class, just some racing numbers. Spent the night before frantically trying to fix the anti-rattle springs on the TT calipers which were hitting the 17's, ended up just pulling them off and running without them.

Then came race day! And what a weekend it was, car got to the track, raced, and made its way back home both days, almost drama free. Biggest issues were very noisy brake pads at high speeds (probably cause I removed the anti-rattle springs...) and over boosting! So not the worst issues to have. I went off the track a couple times, money shifted once and over took a few people here and there. All in all, it was epic and fun. I wasn't there to beat any records, was all an experience being my first time ever.

Between my first race and third race, I'd managed to shave off 5 seconds from my best lap times, finishing with a best time of 1min 14.8secs. With it being my first time, I was definitely a complete amateur when it comes to racing, doing about everything wrong in the book but certainly picked up lots of confidence and skills by the end. Heavy interior in the car, full tank of fuel and 40 psi tyre pressures definitely aren't good ideas for making yourself fast! Looking forward to gutting the car, tuning it and giving it a real go in the next event.

Cheers,
Thomas