Let me start off by introducing myself. My name is Jason (Jay for short) and live in Reading. For many years now, more than I can remember, I've bought Vauxhalls. Mainly cause I found them reliable. I've had many 4 pots but my last two were v6's (a Calibra V6 with 195bhp and my current family car a Vectra V6 with 194bhp). Recently I've been doing a few track days in my friend's Porsche 944 Turbo but it's getting a little expensive to keep paying towards the fuel/wear and tear etc. So I decided to look for my own track car.
Primarily my main aim was to spend as little as possible on the car and spend a bit to get it ready for the track. Track days on a shoe string was my thought as I'm not loaded and have a family to provide for. My first thought was to buy a Mk2 Astra GTE 16v. 150bhp and a capable chassis would be the ideal platform for a track car. However with second hand prices of Mk2 Astras around £800 for a half decent one with rust and £200 for one that's nearer to car heaven than those in the scrap yard I quickly abandoned the idea. I then started to think what else would suit the purpose? Around the same time my mate with the Porsche bought a G reg Mk2 8v GTi for £250, I went with him to pick it up and drove it. It was then that it occured to me that the Mk2 Golf GTi would be an able track car with a bit of work.
The next thing was to find the right car. I had a budet of £200 and I had to find something that I could work with but wouldn't need hundred to get going again. After weeks of trawling the net and local papers I found an advert in the Ad Trader for a 1988 Silver MK2 8v GTi for sale. The Ad had the price at £250 but then I saw exactly the same Ad with a price of £175. Bargain. So I arranged a look and travelled all the way to Southampton. All looked solid (apart from the tailgate) and she ran and drove. The car had 2 previous owners and the current owener had owned it for 10 years. he wouldn't budge on price so I handed over the money and we bought it back home. My mate has trade plates so he drove it back for me. On the journey home he over took me at around 80mph on full throttle and there was no sign of smoke from the engine and the car seemed stable from the rear. However he lost 5th gear 5 miles from home (easy fix).
So here she is at the moment. 1988 F Golf Mk2 GTi 8v in Silver. 178k on the clock with 15 inch Borbet C copies at each corner.
The worst area can be seen here as there is a huge hole in the boot which I already have a replacement for (cheers rubjohnny).
there are also a couple of patches on the rear valance which seen easy enough to sort out.
Here are the wheels
So the plan is to get her back to being road worthy (no current Tax or MOT) with the following being needed before I can get her through the MOT.
1 - Replace Door Handles driver and passengers - DONE
2 - Replace complete exhaust.
3 - Replace Discs and pads on front (ATE groved items on order with yellow Stuff pads).
4 - Replace rear Discs and pads with orginal items.
5 - Fit Braided hoses front and rear.
6 - Rub down and prep repalcement tailgate gettin rid of wiper and washer jet then fit.
7 - Replace fuel hoses in engine bay.
8 - Replace Driver's cracked Headlight (Done)
9 - Replace both outer CV boots.
After I have the above done then there is the prep work for the track, these things are listed below.
1 - Fit lowered springs (-40mm drop max)
2 - source spare set of Steelies for road use.
3 - Remove rubber from Borbet C's and refurb spraying Black.
4 - Fit Semi-Slicks to track wheels
5 - Remove all interior trim except headlining, dash, front door cards and passenger seat.
6 - Buy and fit Bucket seat and harness to Driver's side.
7 - Buy and fit front and rear strut brace.
8 - Fit performance chip (already aquired)
9 - Fit induction kit fed by cold ais feed from front driver's inner spot light but removing the lamp and building a housing for the induction kit.
The aim is to get the car down to around 890kg (960kg standard) with around 120bhp. This should give me a power to weight ratio of 135bhp per Tonne. This doesn't seem much but if you compare it to my vectra (which weighs 1450kg and has 194bhp) which is 133bhp per Tonne it's quite good. Especially as I've had the Vectra down to 15.9 second quarters at Santa pod.
I'll update with progress pics and articles as an when they happen. I am aiming to get the girl MOT'd in the new year and then will be taxing it for only 6 months of the year during the track season, there rest of the time she'll be SORN.
Sorry for the long post and I hope it keeps you interested.
