Hillclimb/sprint

[andymr]

Hi Guys

Newbie here, I've been given a bog standard mk2 gti 1.8, 8 valver and plan to race it. I have a budget of 2k max excluding tyres (which will be slicks), I also have reasonable mechanical skills. the 64k question how would you spend this budget for best performance against the clock?

I'm thinking, full strip, small tank, then your sugestions re engine, cage, suspension, wheels, brakes, exhaust etc, thinking twin webers??? Have all personal race gear required.

I should clarify a little, actually my last car was a pug 205 685kg and 250 bhp believe it or not, i then packed it in. When A mate said i've got this golf mk2 lets have some fun, well I could'nt resist. So I need to to know what cam, what suspension, exhaust, brakes etc on a 2k budget I realise I aint gona break any records but what the heck it's in the blood, even at 60 I miss the adrenalin buzz!!!

Andy
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Cheers

Andy

[Stu.750]

Welcome mate , Love to see some Pics of the 205

 I suppose what class you looking at running will dictate how far the engine can go , id aim for some better suspension , maybe fixed height and adjustable damping

 it doesnt say what year your car is so this will depends on what stoppers it has from the box

[DOA]

Thankfully the blue book is now online at http://www.msauk.org/site/cms/contentviewarticle.asp?article=876 though if you have done this sort of thing before you no doubt have an idea what class you want to run in and roughly what you can do/get away with.

For my tuppeneth worth and your budget Id go for the following:
Full interior strip including sound deadening
Replace all gear linkage bushes if at all wobbly (ebay)
Good quality coilovers with adjustable damping
Adjustable top mounts for the front
Replace all bushes/wearing suspension parts with uprated bushings (Some good deals on ebay)
Fit an adjustable rear roll bar (eibach, whiteline)
Fit all new wheel bearings and look at the condition of the clutch and CV joints
Would be worth investigating power steering for the ease of use and quicker rack if not already fitted
Full suspension setup session including cornerweights
Id leave the brakes for the moment bar new pads, discs and fluid if doing hillclimbs but look into using a VW 280mm brake setup if doing any longer events (loads of info on here on this!) with more suitable pads
After that lot you  also have the standard engine service stuff and whatever safety mods are needed for your class and I think that with a set of the stickiest rubber you are allowed to use in your class you would have comfortably spent your 2K budget.

I want to do the national B event at Bardon hillclimb this year in my own golf in stock road class as the race license looks easy to get and it suits my pretty much stock car but I dont think Ill make it due to funding/time (same goes for the various single seaters I keep starting to design but never get any further with lol) but hope you have a good laugh.

[andymr]

Pics of my old 205

[andymr]

sorry guys as a new user i'm not allowed to add pics yet, perhaps later
 

[andymr]

thanks guys, I've done the serious hillclimb so now all I want to do is have some fun with the occasional hillclimb/sprint trackday etc so I've started the strip, probably get some coilovers, new exhaust system, upgrade the brakes and lines, roll cage, new wheels, bushes etc.

I'm thinking of keeping the digifant system, dont want to go the change block and 16 valve route so I suppose the question is what can I do on that basis to improve performance.

Modify airbox? headwork? chip? cam?

Andy

[Horney]

Get yourself a 285 cam, vernier pully and have a look on CLub GTI for a "Man in the shed" ported and polished head. You can then port match your existing inlet and exhaust manifolds to the new head. Cobine that with a lightened flywheel and you'll be having a hoot!

Welcome to the site BTW.

nick

[Diamond Hell]

If the head's coming off and this is a hillclimb/sprint car and you want to stay 8V then go find a VW crossflow head from a 2.0 8V Passat etc and get that worked over and the oil return sorted - much better flow than a counterflow head.  My headwork was done by JNL Racing in Herts: www.jnlracing.co.uk - top bloke.

If you want to hang on to the Digipants and you have the Passat inlet manifold you should be able to make that work on Digi.  If you need a throttlebody set up that has WOT and idle switches on it then I have one here which I won't be using as I've just had the bolt spacings on my crossflow inlet re-drilled to take a 2.0 16V ABF throttlebody.

A 285 cam, which is going to want a thorough dose of revs to work properly will need stronger than OEM valve springs to avoid high-rev valve-float.  You'll also need a re-mapped Digi chip to raise the rev limit and provide sufficient fuel to make the motor work properly and not go lean on the better breathing.

The remap will be the key to this engine, really.

I think retaining Digi is a Dutch obsession and is stupid, if you're trying to get a motor which can be tuned and run well. Why?  Because you can't live map.  You have to try a map and then change settings, re-burn a new EPROM and then try that map, make further changes and then try that again.  Or keep trying different maps until you find one that suits your motor.

With modern third party management you can review and adjust on the road/rollers during mapping, to get a motor that gets to running well in a least cost, least aggro situation.

Of course, an alternative to all this is to get a stub manifold made for a crossflow head and nail some Super-Big-Assed Carbs on the front of the motor - this is very unlikely to work on a counterflow motor as they'll be hanging over the exhaust manifold: FAIL.  On the crossflow they'll be on the front of the engine and so long as you jet right and are prepared to have an utterly boll0cks idle and no power under about 4k idle you'll do well when it's having the teets wrung off it.

[andymr]

thanks guys, Diamond please expand if I keep the 8v head (worked) and go for throttlebody and new ecu and cam what else will I need, new loom???

Andy

[andymr]

My last 3 cars