Club rally/track car build

[buggy man]

Hi everyone, just thought id start a thread for my club car.
Ive been driving this 1.6 mk4 for the past 6 months and it has been a good car although as with most cars ive owned has left room for improvement.
Ive previously competed in club based motorkhana khanacross and autocross in a gemini, excel and a meyers manx. Now its time for a golf.
So the car is overall in good nic however is at the stage of needing maintance. Modification wise it will be getting the general rally equiptment but no rollcage yet.. i know this restricts the events i can enter however it also means i can keep standard rego relitivly easy.



So far i have partially stripped the interior, no cd player, removed rear seat and belts. I have made a rear strut brace and some rear mudflaps. Its still got the standard exhaust with both mufflers taken out and a stainles genie turbo muffler. Made a stainless cover plate for the rear plastic bumper to prevent it melting... lol

Im still yet to make front mudflaps, front strut brace, fire extiguisher and saftey stickers.
Soon i want to install a pair of race seats and harnesses. I have some saas seats but i think id rather a fixed back version.

[caputo9]

Will be keen to watch this thing go! Something a little different and I like it

[buggy man]

Okay, front mudflaps are on and brackets are painted, installed some bonnet pins, mounted a fire extinguisher and mounted up some driving lights.
I'll post up a few more pictures tomorrow! First event is in two weeks.. A s1 rallysprint at Nabiac, so a few more bits and pieces to do and we will be good to go!

[Water Boy]

Keen to see action pics!

[dylan8]

1.6lt mk4s always turn into race cars
keen to see how you go

[dubster99]

Will be keeping a close eye on this one mate! Keen to see where you take this!

[buggy man]

Sorry been to busy working on it to take any new pictures lol ill try to grab some tomorrow !
Ordered a pair of sparco 4 point harness and cut up the passenger seat base today and have started mounting up the saas seats.

[blackers10]

don't the 1.6 have a notoriously weak gearbox?
would be my biggest worry,
look forward to seeing the action tho!

[Stanton]

A mk2 16v gearbox would do the trick.

[buggy man]

The gearbox is definitely on the list of major upgrades. The car is due for a new clutch soon anyway. Any suggestions? The 1.6 engine goes really well and will be doing some cam and some valvetrain upgrades soon aswell.
So a 16v mk2 gearbox is the pick? Would like somthing with closer ratios if possible and definitely somthing stronger!

[Notso Swift]

I am a bit ignorant about these but isn't the gearbox an O2a on the Mk4? And isn that much better than an O20?
And then there is the cable vs rod change

[Sirocco20348]

I am a bit ignorant about these but isn't the gearbox an O2a on the Mk4? And isn that much better than an O20?
And then there is the cable vs rod change

Depends what mk4 golf your talking about... 1.6, 2.0, 1.8t or r32.

02a = mk3 golf etc
02j = mk4 1.8t (Apparently the 2.0L uses this box aswell, that is good to know if hunting for 2nd hand gearbox)
02m = r32

I have no idea what that 1.6 and 2.0L had... and because of the unpowered fragile nature of the vehicle (1.6L) it is not one that is modified or attempted to be improved on.

[dylan8]

Mk4 2lt was 02j too

[buggy man]

Well id assume it would be easier to swap in a 02j then? Definitely would like to get rid of the solid shift linkage!
Has anybody doccumented a gearbox swap on the 1.6lt? Dont really want to upgrade to a 2ltr as i feel that this 1.6 engine goes really well for its size in standard form. A cam would wake it up even more..

[caputo9]

Power modifications on a 1.6L is a waste of money imo as you can't get much of a power increase without spending large amounts of money.
Which is exactly why I sold mine and bought a 1.8t gti
If you're looking at any type of power modification and have money to spend then I'd recommend a 1.8t swap
There are plenty of people on here who have done the conversion and would be willing to help
I just couldn't bite the bullet to do it myself with minimal mechanical knowledge which is why I sold mine
Even though I had the idea to get something different, I came across a gti and couldn't help myself [emoji23]

Pros outweigh the cons with this conversion as you'd get the stronger gearbox as well as a stronger engine which is faster and much easier and cheaper to modify with large improvements

If you were to stay naturally aspirated then the 2.0 is also much better than the 1.6 where it has a lot more torque at the lower end compared to the 1.6
I found my 1.6 struggled at the best of times and now with my 1.8t that struggle is inexistent