...joe - black mk2

[...joe]

well i forgot to follow up on the whole floor soundproofing thing.... basicly it allw ent back together nicely, bit hard to tell how much difference it has made but it must be quieter! i'v only driven it like a lunatic recently so its really for cruising to shows that i want it quieter for and to improve sound quality for the stereo.
while we're on the subject of stereo... i've always liked audiobahn gear, i've been told its not that good for the price but i just love the way it looks.
i bought a brand new amp off ebay, it was quite a small two channel one, so i was a bit worried it might not be up to the job of running the sub, but it was soooo cheap i had to buy it! anyway i hooked it up to my sub after listening to it powered through my phoenix gold amp and it was alot louder! happy smiles all round. so after that i bought a matching 4 channel amp for when i re-do the rest of the install.
i also got hold of a set of audiobahn components which again were bigger than the JBL's they are replacing. the only problem i have so far is the crossovers are massive and i don't really know where to hide them as i don't want them on show. anyway... pics!

2 channel amp... hiya!


4 channel amp...


tweeters, old and new


flippin' huge crossovers...


mid, from behind in audioscape door pod..bad photo!


...from the front, even worse photo!


audiobahn tweeter in re-made holder


thats about it for audio stuff at the moment, it's not going to be installed til after the engine is done anyway but  by having it all i can plan out a new install which should give me more room than the last set up.

[...joe]

so thats the audio stuff, more on the engine build. the guy who was going to to bore my block never got round to it so i took it to a place called QEP who honed and skimmed my block in no time at all and at a good price too! while at QEP i chatted to them about this dutch engine management they use, it all sounded a bit too techy for my liking but the more i spoke to them about it, it just seemed to be the best way to go. he showed me the wiring loom which looks great as well as using OE style fittings. they also use an audi coilpack so it keeps it kinda in the VAG family. they do a wideband lambda probe which does so much i couldn't begin to explain it all now. needless to say i'm convinced its the best set up for me and although it'll cost about £900 for everything i need, for what i actually get its a bargain!

block, nicely honed:


also work has finally started on the porting of my head, the timing chain and new valve guides are here and john has re-profiled the ports, it now needs polishing and the valve seats cutting... might have to kick his ass to get it finished!!

original port:


re-profiled port:


on a side note, my new pistons STILL haven't arrived!! so much for getting them before christmas!!

ok more engine bits... bought some more bits of blue. i wasn't sure what i was going to do with my new engine in regards to colour etc, but i decided as it will be less bling, i wanted a bit of show-off colour in there. so i bought a set of silicone hoses which were on sale til the end of january so i figured it was worth buying them so early in the build. i also bought some ht leads, again as they were too cheap to pass up! i'm not normally a fan of aftermarket leads but i have 'blue ignitors' on my 8v engine and they have been faultless, plus they are the only leads C&R Enterprises reccomend so i figured they'd be worth it.

hoses:


leads:


i also picked up a set of brake cooling ducts. i never use my fog lights and decided i wanted a set of the ducts which replace them. they seem to be pretty thin on the ground and to be honest i never looked for a set too hard. then someone advertised some, cheap and local, so i went to pick them up. when i got there i realised they were not only brand new but a complete kit! i was just expecting the part that clips into the bumper, not the whole kit! chuffed to bits but i'll wait til i get the engine bay painted so i can get these done at the same time before fitting them.

box o' ducts:


and one final update, a boring one mind.... i have long legs. because of this i find myself hunched over as i drive, because to get my legs comfy i have the seat quite far back and then cannot reach the steering wheel so well. anyway i aquired a spacer which is about an inch deep and it makes a hell of alot of difference than i was expecting! the only thing is it makes the stalks not so 'at your fingertips'. while i was at it i fitted a ring round the horn push and some stainless bolts as i needed longer ones to account for the spacer.

[...joe]

well things are falling into place a bit more now!

pistons arrived over two months after they were promised to me. hmmmm. and they're not bahn brenner they are Ross Racing, which to be honest pleases me a bit more, knowing their reputation! they are super sexy and pretty light and come with all the gubbins needed to fit them. they also have a decent spec sheet for each piston and they are balanced to .001 gram of each other.
then about a week later my Scat conrods turned up, bargain ordering from the states and in total took about 2 weeks from ordering to arriving, which annoys me even more about the 2 month wait for the pistons. i went for H-section 4340 steel ones with ARP bolts and they should be more than up to the power i'll be running.



i also have sent my inlet manifold and rocker cover to be chromed. its gone via a few people but they guy who will be doing the chroming generally works on ferrari's and more exotic cars than VW's so i'm expecting a great job, and hopefully a price which wont make me ill!

now my head still isn't finished, been too busy with other peoples cars but i need it now! so john is cracking on with it soon.

i also have blown an exhaust manifold gaskett so i'll be doing that tomorrow. it sucks because not only is it noisy its definately slower! the guy i normally pull away from easily i struggled with the other day so that needs sorting!

i'm in the process of trimming up my sunvisors and the plastic inner door sill type thingy's in the leather as well. it all adds to the 'show' of the car and a bit of attention to detail maybe?

i also finally managed to track down the tilt and slide sunroof i've been looking for for ages. its all stripped down and i need to drop it off at the painters, but in the mean time i've trimmed the inner cover with the same alcantara as my headlining and i think i might polish up the alu runners, just for the hell of it!

photo's to follow as i want to show comparisons of the new/old pistons and conrods, but they're all att the bottom of a huge bunch of other parts!

[...joe]

well a few things have happened since the forum downtime... still no pics though cos i is well lazy innit!

tilt and slide sunroof is painted, inner panel is trimmed and fitted, just waiting for a nice clear day or the loan of a garage to fit it... looks soooo shiney!

sunvisors have been trimmed, with the added addition of corrado electric mirror in the passenger side which has a switch on and off-able light and a much bigger mirror. door sills also trimmed. i re-did my door cards and added another membrane of sound proofing, loving the quiet cruising!!







now things on the downside...

drove to johns place to pick something up and when i turned my stereo off i though my exhaust was a bit loud. i got it up in the air and there was a crack round one of the welds and my centre box was blowing badly! luckily john had a spare section exactly what i needed on the shelf! so i fitted that up and off i went, good old miltek and their lifetime warrenty! john'll sort that out with them.

also while driving to no rice last week my gear box got a bit noisy so i had to top it up en route, moved my car the other day and there was a small puddle of gear box oil.... drive shaft flange seals were leaking. spent most of today doing them which was no fun at all!

oh also on a parts buying thing i managed to pick up a g60 flywheel and clutch so i can now build that up onto the crank and get it balanced before i build the engine. pics soon.... promise!!

[...joe]

more grief! well after replacing the driveshaft flange seals it turned out the diff was knackered on my gearbox anyway so i ended up getting another of a local guy who was breaking an 8v. its all in and done after a few days of it sitting around while i found a decent 'box, so i treated it to a goood clean!
after hanging around at g-werks with vaughn, waiting to pick his car up, i finally got my hands on one of the sweet schrick sumps they sell. to get excitied about a sump is pretty sad but i love this thing! it is a work of art and will help keep the turbo supplied with oil as the baffles stop the oil sloshing around when driving like a loon!





oh yeah also picked up my rocker cover and inlet manifold. not 100% happy with them but for the price they are great, alos the imperfections will be hard to spot when fitted so i'm not too bothered. p.s. they were a bargain!

[...joe]

well i went through a big phase of hating old cars! after replacing the gearbox i had a few weeks of stress free driving, then it all went pear shaped! i pulled up at a roundabout and pressed the clutch and 'clunk' it went right to the floor and didn't do anything! i figured the clutch cable was bust so i wandered off to an autofactors, bought a new one, fitted it and it made no difference! balls. so after waiting for a recovery vehicle and then having to use various blocks of wood and taking my front splitter off just to get my low car on the loader i got it home. i figured it was one of two things. the clutch cable pulls a lever up. inside the gearbox this lever is on a splined shaft, on which has a finger, which pushes on the release bearing, which pushes a rod which engages/disengages the clutch when it pushes on the release plate. the lever and finger are accessable through the green end cap and i assumed it was either the finger shearing its splines, or the shaft of the lever shearing its splines.... apparently this is not uncommon. so took the end cap off and it was neither. the only other logical thing was the clutch so i had to take the bloody gearbox off again! came off pretty easily and i found the rod had pushed through the release plate! seems crazy to me but again not unheard of... while doing this i found both inner and outer c.v. boots on the passenger side had splits so i figured i might as well do them while i was at it.
none of this was hard, or nothing i hadn't done before but it was more annoying and time consuming, especially as i was car-less and had to cycle to german and swedish and another vw parts place. good job the weather was nice and it was good exercise, but an hour each way takes alot out your day!
but now its all back together its all good again and i still love my car... even though last week some tit in a mini bus pulled into my lane on the a27 and bent my wing grrrrr... can't even be bothered to write about that as its just annoying!

[...joe]

well its been a while!

as i said the golf had a run in with a minibus, dented the wing and pissed me off. but to my joy, his insurance company contacted me, admitted it was his fault and told me to get a quote for sorting it! so i got ym mate chris, who painted the car previously, to do me a quote. he priced it up, took some photos and sent them off. they agreed to £900 worth of work?!
so obvoulsy a small dent wouldn't cost that much, so chris cut in some mk3 golf side repeaters, which sit almost flush, instead of poking out like mk2 ones. he also smoothed in the big bumper air ducts in place of the fogs and re-did my tailgate and sorted a few bits i wanted cleaning up.







looking good! someone took this pic at no-rice one month and it shows what i was always looking for... when you look down the side of the car its smooth and uncluttered, while still being totally legal and usable.



so after becoming self employed and therefore having less time and money, i pretty much stopped doing stuff to my car. the 16vt engine was in parts all over the place and nothing much happened.

i then wrote a list of the things i wanted to do to the golf and got a bit depressed! none of it was hard but it was all stuff that took time etc. but after driving it up to santa pod and e38 i figured i should start on it again and this week i got some time to do so. i picked up my block and pistons, from being re-bored. and finally fitted the brake cooling ducts.
next is to press some new bearings into some EBC drilled/grooved rear discs and put them on the golf, the golf ones will go on my passat as they are pretty new anyway. while doing this i will paint my calipers a different colour, not sure what yet though.
i'll also start building my block up with new pistons and get the crank and flywheel balanced before bolting it all together. i'm hoping once i start it should all come together quite nicely.

few more pics people took of my car and its been in a few magazines at shows etc as well!

[...joe]

oh i also put a chrome strip round my grill as a tester to see if i like it or not. still not sure but i have a new grill on its way so i'll decide then i suppose....





i also blagged some spacers to push my wheels out a bit, but they didn't fit properly on the rears so i guess i'll have to buy some different ones.

[...joe]

small update, spacers didn't fit but they're getting machined so they do. the head is STILL not finished, grrrr, so no progress on the engine build. new install is a few days away as i have a photoshoot for my car on sunday! need to tidy a few things up before then.

also finally got round to fitting the new rear EBC brake discs and found some hammerite in a cool colour so colour coded my calipers to my interior!

[...joe]

yawn, another boring update...... nothing much has happened on the golf, but plans are afoot for the old engine to come out and is pre-sold. i also got hold of some new bosch red injectors and another fuel rail so thats a few more bits ticked off the list!