Rebuild, swap progress GTi

[PrezeS_PL]

I did absolutely noting to the GTi since I drove it last time @ Cochrane Rally of Ranchlands back in March. It was just sitting while we worked and compete in Corolla for the rest of the season. I figured that unless I start working on it right now it would not be ready for next season. Today I had productive day, cleaned out engine bay, prep the strut towers for the new aluminum strut bearings - camber plates. Welded all the seams under the car – welding dirty floor is not fun.








Picture for those that do not know my car.

and the Corolla we raced this year in production class

[PrezeS_PL]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

This is an example why stitch welding of the seams on the strut towers and plating the tops is so important in rally car.

[DeanerF]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

Or any car that is tracked, or even driven hard (a1's excpecially)

really stiffens them up, and strngthens them

sweet looking car though man! what engine is it running ?

I'm getting ready to seam weld the scirocco soon i think.... gotta wait for my engine to be finished first so i can pull the old one out!

[PrezeS_PL]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

I have 1.8T for like year and half, but never had chance to put it in - now it's the time

[Aleks]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

That car should haul with a 1.8t

[PrezeS_PL]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

Got some more work done today. First, I sand down the paint and prime the seams in the engine bay. Then I moved inside, took the doors off, and removed the seats and safety harnesses, dash, heater box, wiring harness, pedals and steering column. In addition, test fitted the clutch pedal from MK IV that I need to install for 02J.
Did some seam welding inside but not as much as I wanted to – run out of time.

[PrezeS_PL]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

Did quiet bit of work on the golf, mostly inside where I had cut off the old seat mounts. I was never happy with them so I'm going to fabricate some new ones. Got the engine bay primed after sealing the welds. In addition, I moved the coolant bottle bracket to the other side and closed off unused holes in the firewall.



Will have to go over this AWW and strip it of all useless stuff like air pumps, vacuum lines, a/c and other crap.



AWD

[Klobi-One-Kinobi]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

Quite the project. What are you doing with the awd motor?

[PrezeS_PL]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

Quite the project. What are you doing with the awd motor?

that's not the only shell in the shop were working on

[Kor]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

Are you leaving the turbo on the 1.8T bone stock? Does turbo lag concern you for rally driving?

[PrezeS_PL]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

Will run stock K03sport, not looking for lot of power @ gazillion rpms since I cant use it anyways, its hard to put all that power to the ground especially when running on ice and snow with street studs. That “little thing” will be good enough, probably reliable and cheap to replace if something goes wrong. I will get a proper plate diff, and shorter final drive probably 4.2:1, maybe downpipe, high flow cat and straight pipe to the back - 2.5 - 2,75 ? That is going to be huge difference over the stock 1.8 8v with open diff I run for past two seasons. What numbers can I expect from this setup ?
Lag is major concern when sizing turbo for rally car, and almost all of the cars run anti-lag. On twisty roads with 20-40 meters between corners WRX running stock turbo and electronics can be outrun by impreza RS running 2.5 N/A.
2WD turbo cars are not restricted since the lack of traction on gravel and snow acts like a restrictor. AWD cars for example have to run 34 mm turbo restrictor that limits the top end horsepower, they still produce lots of torque – and torque is what wins races.
“Real rally” turbos have very small turbine housings and large compressor housing so they can produce boost down low, like 25psi at 2700 rpm and keep it in relatively wide range of rpms,

[Kor]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

I was not thinking you should use anything bigger, but the K03sport is even a bit laggy for rally (as you say, lag is a major concern). I don't know if the k03 will last if you use anti-lag haha. On the road if there arent any straight stretches just lots of tight curves (like auto-x) I think the 1.8T stock could be a little frustrating too, waiting for the turbo.

I guess I am surprised you would not use a N/A motor. Some people have done supercharger conversions on 1.8T's, for Rally you might want to look at that idea if you have money to spend. There was a 20v corrado in eurotuner this year I think that was supercharged and made over 200whp. Also I heard bahnbrenner has done a few cars. I think a few people on the vortex have built NA motors out of 20v's or at least 20v heads that compare with the stock 1.8T for HP but it would be a lot of work. I think a lot of the time they use a 2.0 bottom and a 1.8T top and people have made 150+ hp for sure with no lag.

[PrezeS_PL]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

The short final drive should help the gearing a lot. Antilag - I dont know if it posible with MSnS and no 7k MoTec here - thats more then the whole car and everything on it.
There are two nicely build VW N/A rally motors in canada, one was $20k other who knows, they sporting $10k trannys, $15k suspension setups and chew up two grand worth of tires every weekend. Unless someone wants to sponsor me I'm not going there. For fun factor and allaround race setup (rally,solo, and posibly hillclimb) the 1.8T is decent motor - plus it only cost me ... so that was deciding factor. If I had to do it all over again I would prabobly choose RWD - what of fun ride.
If only money wasn't a problem


Jared running the TT seem to be happy, at least when he stay on the road. Oil pan give them some trouble but they have jack the car up since.

[Kor]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

Well a supercharger conversion might give you less lag and not cost THAT much but it would still be costly. If you switched your engine management to 034efi I think it does antilag and other things, its not 7k but $2500 is still a chunk of money. Goodluck in your rally season and I am curious to see how a 1.8T fares. I think my dream VW this year is a Mk2 GTI with a 1.8T, if only I won the lottery.

[PrezeS_PL]

Re: Rebuild, swap progress GTi

Had to work on the Van all day, but still managed to strip the engine of some parts, spray it with "Super Clean" and rinse it. It was sitting for over 18 months in the dusty part of the shop. Now it’s almost ready to go in.





some of the stuff wil go back but not too much