Now then guys! sorry I haven't posted here for a VERY long time... but i have been VERY busy lately... as you will see.
Basically, as i finished off with the last post, i have an Eaton M45... and yes, she is fitted and running.. very, VERY smoothly!
Firstly, we had a simple mock up of where the supercharger was going to fit, and where it was going to me mounted to. using some 3mm steal strips we made up the two rear mounts for the charger. As you can see in the picture below, under the oil breather, and also another on underneath the charger its self which you cannot see in the picture. These have since been turned into 'I' bar sections for extra strength. You may have also noticed that there is another bracket at the front right hand corner of the charger, this was just temporary to give us and idea where the other brackets needed to be fitted. I have since chopped and welded and extra section to the mount so their is no need for the temporary piece of aluminium. The inter-cooler is from a seat Leon Cupra R, and is mounted by two mounts, one at the top and one at the bottom. SIMPLES!
Sadly, the progress had to be paused, the charger needed to be disconnected because she had to go off for the MOT. I sent it with one garage as these had trade plates and they said they would pick it up free of charge, then drop it off after again (it had no insurance or MOT). so off it tootled with the garage owner. I got a phone call at work in the afternoon saying it had failed. It needed welding to the sill, two illegal back tyres, break lines were too corroded, had one fog light working and the other wasnt amongst other things. and it would all be done for £380. I asked them nicely to drop it back off at my house that evening and never contact me again.
Why you might ask?
thats a good price for all that work right?
Well no. Let me explain.
Firstly, the fog light he failed me on was actually a blanking plate and there was no fog to fail on.
Secondly, the rear tyres were fine, as my copper of a brother confirmed.
Thirdly, the break lines were not corroded because I checked and cleaned them myself before it went for an MOT because I knew this was a common fault with mk3's.
So I contacted another garage which my friend recommended to me that would tow the car on a dolly to their garage.
The garage said yes it would have failed on the sill needed welding, and it would cost £250 including the MOT and he changed one of my ABS sensors for free that he was unsure about.
Once we got the car back from the garage, work commenced again! I let my friend knock together the pipe joining the throttle body to the end of the supercharger, as he had a lot of panel beating experience from building aircraft at BAE or something. Then got it welded up by one of my friends at Ginetta Race Cars. If you are a fan of welding, rates out of 10 please?
Next, I decided the spraying could begin, so got a few tins of primer and some halfords speciel sating black, after masking up the shiny bits, and some other details I wanted to keep, for appearance, and heat dispersion (on the cooling fins)
I like the little touch i thought of on the intercooler!
Now the finally get the car back together and piped up properly! Using off cuts of steal pipes and a nice big order of silicone and aluminium pipes, and a few welding rods later, we had a nice collection of pipe work! (make it sound so easy.... IT REALLY WASN'T!)
We had ordered a belt that was long enough to run the charger as well as all the other usuals. It was too short.
We ordered another belt that was just right! however our physics on the alternator tension system were miles out! and instead of tensioning the belt it was rolling the alternator over and just slipping out the way. So we had to fit an idle pulley from a focus RS to one of the universal mounts on the alternator mounts (good old trusty Germans saving money!) oh yeah, and the belt was now too short!
So while my friend was messing around mounting the pulley and sorting the belt, I was on with a clutch change, seeing as though the last time i drove it on a standard engine, the belt was slipping! so we decided to fit a normal OEM clutch, as we predicted the car would produce around 130 bhp(ish(do not be disappointed yet, please read on!)).
after a lot of fiddling around that is not explained in this long winded story, we finally had it ready to run! So I took the car out for a little spin, without using the boost as it still had standard injectors. Remember that brand spanking clutch i fitted? It was slipping.... BADLY!
Did I also mention, this was the 8th of September, and the car was booked into the dyno on the 10th.
We spent that night looking for hours and hours to find a higher performance clutch that was local, and had one in stock! The one we found that suited was a Panther Stage 2 Performance clutch! (sound beafie right?!) my friend was due to go visit a 'friend' that dinner time for a 'catch up', but this friend of his lived in that general direction, so managed to convince him to make it a double date with her and this clutch of mine, so he picked it up and dropped it back round at mine at 4 in the afternoon, where I had the car sat in the air ready for the new clutch to be fitted. plonk, on it went, easy as that! So I took it for another spin.... guess what, the clutch was slipping! We was baffled! We decided to double check the clutch was clean, no grit or grease, everything was tight etc, but couldn't find anything wrong! and the clutch was still spinning, so we had to leave her behind on the trip to the dyno.
The only way we could think to solve the problem was stage 3 paddle clutch, or have the fly wheel skimmed... another 60 quid down the drain.. it was still slipping!
The next stage: THE LAST STRAW!
We decided to go hydraulic! Thanks to good old fleebay, we managed to find a VR6 pedal box and master cylinder, a corrado g60 clutch, and my friend had a corrado gear box in his garage he wasnt using, and bought the slave cylinder new. so we managed to get all these fitted in a couple of afternoons work (without rushing). When we dismantled the old gear box, we noticed that the drive gear in the center of the clutch plate had been ripped from the bearings that were holding it in place! so much for stage 2!
Finally the car was booked into the dyno, tried, tested, a solid clutch and some BIG injectors!
Managed to get there without hitting much traffic luckily, as every time I let of the throttle the car would have a spaz from the amount of fuel it was forcing into the engine and cut out!
The Dyno we use was 'Chip Wizards' in Rochdale; I would recommend this place to anyone! Wayne Schofield is a genius when it comes to engine managements, as I have seen before with other project cars!
Sadly I do not have any photos of the dyno sheet, I do have some videos how ever and I shall try to upload them later.
However, the end outcome was an 184BHP Golf GTI M45 Superchared 8v!
This story really does not give the project any justice of how much effort went into this car! not just from myself but also a lot from my friends! There was a lot of blood sweat and tears, late nights and early mornings and ALOT of swarfeger! but it was definitely worth it in the end, and such a lovely car to drive... but best of all (believe it or not) the increase of MPG... 613 miles off a full tank... do me nicely!
FAQ's:
-Would you do it again?
Maybe, depends on the car, and how many years since i did this one!
-Is it easier than turbo'ing?
It depends on how mechanically minded you are, and seeing as though I havent turbo'd one before, i cant give a genuine answer, so I wont!
-How much did it cost?
I honestly don't know, and I really do not want to know! A lot of money, but at the end of the day.. its a unique car!
Sorry it is such a long read, No one will probably read it... but it is there for someone if they have had an argument with their missus or something, and need something to send them to sleep cause the sofa is so uncomfortable!
There is much more I have done since where the story ends, but thats for another post!Happy Dubbing!
