Scirocco Track Car Development

[MikeH]

At the end of 2008 bought a modded Mk2 Scirocco, which has had a lot of good bits on it, but still has some room for improvement.

I would have updated this before, but I've had problems uploading photos, but the size issue is resolved now, so here's a historic update...

The rough spec is
- 2.0 8v engine - reputed to be the ex Claire Tippet VW cup engine (and I've no reason to doubt this), running on Kjet instead of carbs.
- Koni Sport suspension kit, and poly bushed all round.
- 280mm G60 discs, and rear disc conversion, Goodridge hoses. Willwood bias valve.
- Partly stripped interior
- The shell is a bit scruffy in places, where the previous owner's graphics were removed, but I view a shell as expendable on a track toy, as long as it's straight and solid, that's fine.

It's first trackday with me was at Curborough - need some stiffer ARB's!!

and I did a navigational rally in 2009.

The previous owner used to do Autosolo events in it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGmmQnyMU0

So far I've done some fettling to get the car to a decent roadgoing standard:
- Fitted an oil cooler, and replumbed the cooling system, so you don't have to leave the heater full up to get coolant flowing round the engine!
- Changed the burnt out ignition switch
- Fitted an uprated headlight loom and bulbs
- Fitted a lower front strut brace
- Changed the wheels for some that actually fit the car (without rubbing the arches).
- Checked the mixture and timing - fitted a 16v WUR to get the engine running a bit better
(Air:Fuel Ratio went from 14:1 to 12.5:1, with no other changes)
- Fitted an oil pressure gauge, which thankfully gives me good news!

Much more to follow:

Next jobs:
- Fix the driveshaft(?) that's knocking
- Find the knocking engine mount and replace.
- Fix the fuel filler neck, which has just started seeping.
- Optimise the mixture and timing a bit more.
- Fit some better seats.
- Uprated ARB's
- Sunroof out (15kg?)
- Plastic Windows
- Stud and wheel nut conversion
- Extra oil cooler.

More jobs I remembered...
- Fit supersprint exh manifold instead of the Ashley that's on there!
- Battery in the back
- Fit racing master cylinder and delete the servo/brake linkage (10 kg?)
- improve intake tract


In the past I've tended to spend too much time working on cars, and not enough time driving it. I'm aiming to enjoy it this summer, and then take on some bigger jobs.
- Megasquirt conversion on the 8v
- Rollcage
- Eventually, a 2.1 16v lump, that I've been buying uprated bits for.

[MikeH]

Summer 2009 changes:

Since I bought the car, I've done a bit of work....

Fine tuned the engine a bit - more fuel and more ignition advance has improved the low end power.

Fitted a supersprint manifold and a smaller jetex system (2" instead of 2.5"), which improved low end and midrange.

Picked up some better seats I found on ebay. Still 2nd hand.

Chopped out the sunroof and welded the roof skin panel back in.

Fitted a 13 row oil cooler but left the standard one in too

The car's done a few track days - twice at Curborough, Cadwell last November, and last summer I went to the 'Ring twice.



Had a good look over the car. and decided to do something about the exhaust, which was leaking, knocking on the ARB, and hanging far too low. Had to take the long driveshaft off, and the ARB, to get the ashley manifold off. Here it is with the heat wrap removed - can't actually see a leak, but it sounded like it was blowing (maybe the flexi?).



A 2nd hand Supersprint 4:2:1 is going on in its place - just porting it out to match the gaskets, as the head is already matched to the exhaust gasket. The top runner in the pic has been started, the bottom one shows the overlap (soot marks).


Also port matched the inlet (with a B&Q own brand dremel type tool - blew the first one up after two days, but they gave me another). Because the head was originally running on carbs, the ports were bigger than the standard gasket -the man in the shed warned me it would be like that, as he did the head for Claire Tippet's car.... so the gasket needed a bit of gentle grinding too.




And fitted a bigger throttle body, porting the inlet out to match that, which is tricky, as the venturi are offset, compared to the standard rocco one. Had to be careful not to grind right through. A rotary file on a drill was used to get the general shape, then smoothed with the 'Dremel' thing, and hand sanded with 320 grit. Bigger 2nd venturi should give more airflow though (52mm vs 45mm), and it's got a TPS on it, so it'll be handy for the megasquirt conversion... just need a fuel rail for it, and I've got all the bits... I think.



I also noticed the air balancer pipe is open (it was blocked off with a bit of pipe) so that's been an air leak - no idea when it happened.


And I've ordered heat wrap for the manifold, and a new jetex 2" system... all due to be delivered to day (hurry up!!).

When taking the ARB off, I snapped the inner mounting studs, so here they are being welded in and a quick splash of paint. 12.9 cap head screws used, so hopefully they won't shear again
Weld, grind, check welds, and redo a couple of bits - had a gas problem with the MIG welder (now fixed) so the first welds weren't great.





More to follow... if the exhaust turns up, I'm fitting bits tonight... the heat wrap just turned up while I was writing this!

I've also fitted a quickshift kit, but haven't got any pics of that yet... still needs adjustment.

so the plan is

- heat wrap exhaust manifold
- fit exhaust manifold and system
- fit Neuspeed ARB
- fit driveshaft
- fit inlet manifold
- block injector air balancer pipe (properly this time!)

Hopefully this lot will make it quicker in a straight line, and turn in a bit sharper (with a bit of fiddling with the suspension settings and tyre pressures).

and more recently....

[MikeH]

More updates from Summer 2009

Some more developments today... I spent yesterday wrestling with a 40 year old jag, but managed to paint my new grille too - coat of etch primer, then sprayed black hammerite. Looks much better in black. Unfortunately some random bits of paper stuck to the grille, and stopped the paint from hitting some of it. The shape is quite pleasing though, and strangely familiar [;)]


Today was spent on the track car. Racing battery and master switch is now fitted - saving about 7 or 8 kg, and getting rid of 15kg in front of the front wheels.

I'm not happy with the switch panel I knocked up, but time is short at the minute. It's 'recycled' from a seat subframe - it's the seat pan that the base cushion sits on.

[MikeH]

Oil cooler is now mounted


Shorter filter


Cooler is mounted on 'cotton reel' type exhaust rubbers - I wanted to protect it a bit from vibration.


Lots of room now, where the battery used to be. Used a simple junction box to join the live wires. I've set this up so, if I need to, I can pull it all apart, and refit another battery in about 10 minutes.

[MikeH]

Update as at Feb 2010:

These are now on... from Compbrake. Sorry about the pic - the iPhone doesn't like low light.



And I've had Ian Carvell do some 'pipework'. If you're thinking of having a cage fitted, I'd definitely recommend him. He takes 2 days to weld in a cage, and his labour rates are very low. It cost me about £700ish for the cage, including fitting. I can't be exact about it, as I had some other work done at the same time.

Just driving it back from Daventry was a very different experience from before. The car feels a lot stiffer, crashes over bumps a lot more, and turns in a lot sharper (even with Fulda road tyres on the front).

Anyway... some pics before paint. It's the custom cages club kit, with an extra bar across the back as a harness bar / strut brace.





Tight fit to the body - no finger room. It's been welded to the body in several extra places.





... and in keeping the sprit in which this car is car is being built (cosmetics are a long way down the priority list), a paint job, of sorts. Have rattle cans, will bodge. Grey primer and then matt black (hopefully to minimise reflections).






Next, fit the flocked dash I got from Jolfa (if I can stop stroking it long enough to fit it) [;)]

[Rusty dan]

cool shizzle, digging the racing battery, might have a ponder at that.

[The Autoad]

subscribed.

[MikeH]

I haven't done a huge amount on this for a couple of weeks - too many other cars on my radar - all needing work. This weekend's lot were a 1968 Renault Caravelle Convertible, a 1977 MGB, and a 1988 G**f GTI... and I've been working on the Sensible Scirocco road car too - trying to get it running right...

Anyway, an update on the track car from the last couple of weeks
I started stripping out the Kjet gubbins, which is surprisingly heavy. The 16v WUR will go in the road car for now, and probably the injectors too, as they're lower mileage (110k vs 180k miles)

Airbox & metering head, filter, WUR, CSV and injectors have all been removed.


Tested an idea for a possible air feed setup (I bought the cone filter with a load of bits. It's an ABF inlet pipe joined to the Scirocco one. Not ideal, but it might do for a short term fix. I've also got a G**f Mk2 GTD airbox. The removal of the battery to behind the passenger seat gives me more options in what to do.


Pulled a kjet injector seat, and test fitted a digifant one in there.

Digifant seat is on the right - Kjet on the left


This weekend just past I didn't touch the track car, but I paid a quick visit to a scrapyard (Smiths of Bloxham).I grabbed a fuel rail from an audi A4 (think it was a 2.0 8v, or maybe a 1.6 but I'm not sure, but the spacing matches the 8v head), with a 4.0 bar regulator, got a 3 pin TPS from an audi 80, an Air Intake Temp sensor from a BMW, and some bits and pieces of wiring. £20 the lot

Next:
- pull the inlet manifold (just for access - the same one is going back on);
- swap the dizzy for a digifant one;
- make a blanking plate for the Cold Start Valve
- Pull the fuel pipes and make new ones, run inside the car. Not essential for the MSEFI conversion, but one of the pipes is seeping under the car. I'm using 8mm copper tube to remake the lines from pump to engine bay.

[MikeH]

I've had this car a few years, and I can't find a build thread, although I thought I'd started it once before.

I bought this a few years ago (late 2008 I think) from a member on here, with a Kjet fuelled 2.0 8v engine that used to be in Claire Tippet's race Mk1, then went to Mr Brown's track car. It also had big brakes, Koni suspension, and was stripped out internally.

Over the years I've gradually upgraded it, and it now has a weld-in cage done by Ian Carvell, a Megasquirt conversion, which took it from 136 to 150 bhp (Kjet was strangling it a lot) solid front top mounts, a quick rack, and a few other tweaks along the way.

I've been plotting another evolution of the 8v power plant, to try and get another 20ish BHP, and some chassis mods at the same time.

- X-Flow Head - ported by Jason Moyle Racing in Plymouth
- 298 Cam with 12mm lift from Sportcam in South Africa, replacing the 280/11mm cam that was in there (Piper 285)
- BMW Bike Throttle Bodies from a K1200S - spacing is near perfect for a 16v lump, but I'm going to use them on an 8v

In addition, it's getting some chassis stiffening round the engine bay, a redesign of the brakes, based on Willwood 4 pot calipers on the front, and chucking away the servo and linkage bar, seam welding, and chopping around the front X member and slam panel to make the radiator sit lower, out of the way of the ITB airflow.

[MikeH]

So the spec is:
- X-Flow head based on mexican casting from an AFT 1.6 engine - ported by Mr Hillclimber and flow-tested using the wizard's sleeve flowbench ;) I've since learned that this isn't the ideal casting to use, although it should be OK for the power target I have in mind. A german 2.0 casting from an ABA(?) would probably have been better to start from.
- Sportcam 298 hydraulic cam with 12mm of lift from Nellis on here - bargain price, including delivery from South Africa
- Custom manifold still to be made - aiming for 12.5" runner length, including distance from head face to back of valve. Expecting peak torque around 5500-6000 rpm. Manifold will be fabbed up by my mate Deano - the Rollcage builder and welder-artist!


Note that the tappet bores have been clearanced for the big lumpy cam lobes.




Inlet valves are the 40mm ones from a Mk2 scirocco, replacing the 39.5(?)mm X-flow valve.


Target static CR is around 11.75:1, but that should bleed off nicely with the long duration cam, and not end up killing the engine - fingers crossed!

Peak power target is 165bhp, but with the hope of getting closer to 170bhp. Hoping to redline it a 7500 rpm. Currently soft cut is at 7000 and hard cut is at 7200. Power is dropping off by then anyway.

[MikeH]

Right, now that the 16v is on the road, it's time to start on the track toy again.

Head was taken off a while ago, to measure cc of the pistons for the new head. I moved the car into the work bay of the barn, and started stripping out the engine bay of the radiator, alternator, bits of loom, etc. Lots of room in a Rocco bay.





Packaging all this extra stuff in the front of the engine bay will present a few problems I expect. Dipstick is in the way, dizzy cap is close to the No.4 throttle body. (I'm wondering if a modded ABF dizzy cap will fit, and give enough timing adjustment without fouling on things) and some other bits will need a bit of thought.

Front engine mount might need to be moved - top rear of engine maybe - mounted to the weld in strut brace? If I chop the front X-member to drop the radiator, then I'll need to move the wiring, and I think it could weaken the X-member to the point where it needs more help supporting the engine. Better to move the mount to the top rear, rather than put extra strength and weight right out in front of the car.

Rear of engine bay should be much easier now, although some wiring will have to be moved if I tie in the brace to the scuttle panel, and the expansion tank will need to be moved, which is fairly easy. The battery is in the passenger rear footwell, so there's a fair bit of space in front of the passenger side turret, where the battery and Kjet airbox once were.

I was chatting to Tom Smudge on Club GTI about where best to brace the front end (he's got a better engineering brain than I have). I'll post up a modded pic with some of the ideas.

[MikeH]

This is kind of where my thinking is at after the conversation with Smudge. I've mocked these up so that folk can make suggestions and see what I'm up to.

Pictures borrowed from google images. The first one is actually a Mk1 rocco, but it's close enough.


The car already has a 6 point weld-in cage - Custom Cages CL4 kit. However, when Ian Carvell installed it, he also tied it to the A & B pillars, and roof support box sections, so it's holding the shell of the car pretty tight.


I think the key areas to stiffen are, I think...

1. around the wishbones, where the lack of a subframe allows for a lot of flex. I've got a single bar type strut brace on there at the minute, but I think an X-Brace across the wishbone mounts would make a difference. I reckon that cornering forces will be trying to push the whole front end, and particularly the outside wheel/wishbone/etc across towards the inside strut

2 Between the turrets, where the tops of the turrets will be trying to move around.

3. Where I'm less sure, is whether there's any benefit to adding more stiffness in front of the turrets - e.g. bracing to the chassis leg. On a rally car that's going to get a lot of hard landings, then I'd think that's a yes, but maybe less so on a track car. I don't want to start adding extra weight unless it's going to make a difference to front end strength.



Wishbone bracing. In reality the shapes will be more complex, for clearance under the sump, diff, and probably some other stuff I've forgotten ;) Need to have a careful look at clearances for suspension, driveshafts, and other oily bits.


Engine Bay Bracing. Not sure about the brace bars in front of the turrets down to the Chassis Leg. What do folk think?


Materials - The weld-in stuff will be T45 tube I think, for reasons of weight, and I'm thinking of having the Wishbone brace done in Ally, or maybe T45 again.

The turrets will have reinforcing plates attached for any braces to weld to.

[MikeH]

Got hold of an ABF dizzy cap today... looks like that will work to give clearance under the manifold and ITBs


ITBs should sit about here....


Washer bottle bracket removed. Drilled out the spot welds.


Brake Servo and linkage removed... never to return!


My fabricator mate came round to size up the manifold job. Need to get hold of the silicon hose bits to mock it up, using some ally pipe I had lying around. and the laser cut flanges I got from a guy on CGTI

Today's plan is to take the engine and box out, and start seam welding in there.

[Mr Funk]

Criminy. Bet that'll shift.
What system are you using for the brakes?

[MikeH]

Brakes will be a non-servo master cylinder from a poverty spec golf, mounted straight to the bulkhead. One hole blanked off and a single line to the back through the willwood bias valve that's already there.

I bought a Mk1 Golf Rally car a few months ago, and the Willwood 4 pot calipers are coming off that, along with the lower ratio gearbox with Quaife LSD the car currently has a Quaife in it, but it's on a standard set of ratios.

Meanwhile...

Today, I had a final measure up for the ITB manifold with the tame welder (see Tylah Motorsport on Facebook) took the front suspension and brakes off, took the engine and box out and started prepping the engine bay for seam welding. I got busy with the angle grinder and knotted wire brush.


There are bits of the bay that are already seam welded, so I might add some more to those, but I'll be concentrating on the spot-welded bits, mainly.