Rabbit Farmer's various VW Projects

[Rabbit Farmer]

It was a little brittle. I wouldn't crack and fall off, but it would split and I could easily pull it off in chunks.

[Rabbit Farmer]

Well, there is only one weekend between today and Ascutney weekend and I don't have a car ready. Golf 1.8t can't be ready for the Ascutney hillclimb as I still need the parts, and after installation, time to dyno tune it. Plan B is on the front burner. I plan to have everything done on this on Saturday (assuming my outer CV boots are here).

Big new 22.5 tires... they look HUGE compared to the worn 20". There goes my mechanical advantage for acceleration, but at least I will be able to get a lot more speed in the straights (I was limited by gearing at Okemo as I was top speed in 5th within the first 1/3 of the long straight).



Looks huge!!!!




They are actually shorter than the tires on Julie's Cabriolet.


... though a little bit wider.

[Rabbit Farmer]

The Rabbit ran very well on the smaller tires at SLMP #1 (a small track in New York state/USA that is 3/4 long, 28' wide, with 13 turns.... good driving experience [time trials] and practice for the upcoming race season); I did find that I had to do a lot more shifting than expected. I did notice that the hottest coolant temperature reading was only 160F; at the hillclimbs, I was hitting 200F by the top of the hill. The difference can be contributed to either the new radiator (it is 2" wider) or the fact that the track event (SLMP) allowed for cooler temperatures with all the shifting (less foot to the floor) and almost no incline (as compared to a hillclimb where the engine is working harder to get up the hill). Opinion will change to fact once the Rabbit does its first hillclimb this year (Burke)... unless I bring the Golf.

With the big tires... wow, what a difference. The car didn't have the same acceleration and the gearing was way off for the track. Oh well, the smaller tires were corded all the way around so I was out of options. I think I still managed a 57.xx second time around the 3/4 mile track (sub-1 minute is everyone's goal at this track).

Back to the Golf... I haven't dyno tuned it yet as I have been waiting on some other toys to help with the reliability of the car. I had two issues last summer... the intercooler piping would pop apart with 23 psi (corrected, thanks to http://www.KalesCustom.com) and the on-plug coilpacks would fail due to the heat. Enter the following:
(a) High Output DIS Coil with Built-in Driver
(b) 16v Spark Plug Wires for DIS Coils - Black
(c) 1.8t Plug Wire Adapter (covers the sparkplug well to keep dirt out)

Now I will have individual coils that will be mounted inside the engine bay, but far from the turbo (heat), standard plug wires, and covers to keep the dirt out. This means that I will not have coils failing all the time while on the track.

[Rabbit Farmer]

Well, since I have this new (idiot proof, easy to use, functional, inexpensive) video editing software, I decided to redo the NHMS track event from July 14, 2008. Here it is... hopefully it is done uploading to Youtube. The previous version that I uploaded in 2008 did not have sound... a little boring without sound, don't you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sC5Q4kGO2E

In-car of turbo Rabbit at SCCV's SLMP #1 track event this past weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClIJeFLh33E

Nick put together a side-by-side of our cars at Ascutney... pretty sweet. We both downshift at the same moment going into corner 13. I added some fluffy stuff (informational images) at the start of the video that Nick put together. I will be chasing his bumper at the next event.... no question.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CToi3rEfAbs

05-Jun-2009
Ordered suspension bushings from Autotech... didn't hear anything from them for 2 days, called to find out they were on backorder.... ordered from somewhere else.

Installed trim piece around intercooler opening to clean up the edge. I messed it up a little so I will have to install over the winter when I have more time (it isn't quite flush around the entire opening).

Still planning on installing (though not tying into the wiring as Burke hillclimb is next weekend) the individual coil setup.

[Rabbit Farmer]

The 5:30 am trip started with rain and pretty much rained the entire time during the 165 mile trip to MA.



The normal site on the way home via Route 7....



I think for $100 (plus $50 gas + $10 food + $5 diet coke) this was a good deal for a pedal cluster (has a throttle cable, not DBW), A/C pump, A/C condenser, radiator with fans, three good doors with glass, good roof (non-sunroof), plus some other misc. parts (I might grab the rear beam also). Did I mention it is the same color as my Golf?!

[Rabbit Farmer]

Another Episode of Nick vs. Steve / Subaru vs. Volkswagen (big turbo) / Burke #1 2009.... side by side work by Nick; pretty intro by Steve. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Xp-Ay6Qoc

One can of Red Bull tonight and I'm a video making (and remaking) machine.

Remake of Okemo 2 (2008) with sound and added out of the back window shot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIjjByh_H2c

First public viewing of Burke I (2008)... still learning the car... I can be so much faster once I drive this car more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll31W-QeBug

[Rabbit Farmer]

Shell is gone and parts are in storage for the winter project period.

Ralph's Foreign Auto installed new suspension bushings and James installed the hood pins (I figured I would walk the drill across the hood if I tried it.... plus I didn't realize that under the plastic was metal so I was thinking there would be a mounting issue on the body of the car... guess not).



Big thanks to the guys down at City Tire in Williston, Vermont (http://www.City-Tire.com) for their continued support of the local club racing! They help make the sport possible!



I will post video of the last hillclimb with the Golf in the next few days (Okemo #1 / July 11-12, 2009)

Well, it was time to finally get the 1989 Cabriolet back on the road. About 6 weeks ago (or so) I was driving it home when steam started to come out from under the hood. I didn't have time to work on it so it stayed under cover in the driveway until about a week ago. I was finally able to determine that the radiator was leaking. Inspection of the radiator showed that the location/orientation of the diverter valve was against the front of the radiator; a new radiator was ordered. I then had to source out new zip mounting hardware to reinstall the fans on the new radiator... enter Jegs (again!!). Working on the car I heard a noise coming from in back of the car. I looked around and found nothing. Must have been outside and my tired mind/body was playing tricks on me.

Intermission: Somehow Julie (I'll blame her since I have never used it) broke the lighted rocker switch that makes up the switch to turn on the reverse lights. I tried to locate a switch of the same size without any luck. When I was looking for the zip mounting hardware for the fans, I started with the make of the fans (good thinking, Sparky). Guess what... that lighted fan switch actually came with the electric fans that are on the car. I found an exact match and ordered it from Jegs. Hmmm, there's that noise again in the back of the car. Nothing in the trunk. Nothing underneath it. It seemed to stopped whenever I walked to the back of the car. Strange.

Back to the program already in progress: Fan installed and diverter location changed.





Source of noise identified.



While I was under the hood, I decided to identify the sparkplug wires that I hated. The boots were standard cut (e.g. not made for deep well sparkplug access wells). I ended up taking the wire set and covers that were intended for the 1.8T Golf and used them on the Cabriolet.

After installing the first two and thinking that they looked strange, I figured out that they should have been oriented parallel with the valve cover. (no kidding, huh?) I also identified a wire that went to the coil that was too short; sometimes when the engine rocks it would die. The wire (big ol' red power wire going to the coil) was extended.











I still have a number of items to address on the Cabriolet to make it an easier and more fun car to drive.... looks like a late summer project at this time as work and the racing schedule is keeping me busy.

...and I still have to dyno tune the 1.8T Golf so that I can get some low-end power out of it to make the hillclimbs (and perhaps the autocrosses) a little more fun.

Hmmmm, seems that I have a turbo Rabbit to get ready for Burke II.

I need a vacation.....

Steve

[Rabbit Farmer]

I ordered another set of spark plug wires (must be an Audi wire set as they come as a set of five) and spark plug well covers for the Golf... got them through Joe at http://www.Axismotorsport.com

Another present arrived in the mail....


Spark plug wire set for the turbo Rabbit (need to custom make the wires as the coils are mounted on the dash with four holes going through the firewall... one hole per wire... the size of the wire [with grommet]) and heat barrier with adhesive backing.

The heat barrier is for the Cabriolet to keep the heat from getting into the driver's compartment.




This would be a lot easier to do if the engine wasn't in the bay. I had to measure out each firewall mounted clip location to map out where I had to cut the slots. The bottom portion (bottom of rain train and down 10") took about an hour to complete. The rain tray portion took about 10 minutes. Very functional.




Sunday... jumping into doing the wires on the turbo Rabbit. If that doesn't fix the problem, I might need a new tach (it has a built in rev limiter). I also need to add some heat barrier protection to the Golf above the turbo and install the coils.

Another busy week, but I'm making progress.

Steve

[Rabbit Farmer]

Turbo Rabbit is now back to 100%... it was old spark plug wires that did it in. I replaced them with the kit from Jegs. I also wrapped the wires (heat protection) where it is above the turbo.

Heat barrier installed on Golf.

Well, I'm almost ready for the dyno tune on Friday; right now it is just a street tune.

I tried my hand at fabrication.... as usual, it looks a lot better in my mind's eye than the final product, but it is functional. This holds the individual coils so I can run spark plug wires instead of the coil on plug setup.

Tomorrow night (nothing exciting) I will install at new air/fuel (A/F) mixture sensor and new gauge wiring harness.

[Rabbit Farmer]

A lot of information… for those of you with Internet ADD (too many words, man, let me just look at the pictures), I offer the below images, video, and the following summary:
Racing is fun, 270/23psi is the new 272/18psi, 80% throttle, more power, bang, let's go running, nice cars!

Mt. Okemo #1 / 2009 Video
I finally got around to putting together the video from the Mt. Okemo (#1 / 2009) event. I was waiting to get some course-side video from Joey’s father (I will post up all the course-side video that he took later this week). The video (2:27.85) is not of my best run (2:27.01) of the day, but the best run was a bit aggressive and I think sloppy in some spots, so I present the slightly slower (think “one-one-thou….” of “one-one thousand”) and cleaner run.



It’s dyno time…..the saga begins

Let's start by throwing some numbers out there.... 245, 270, 272 and 300.

Friday was a trip down to http://www.ktrmotorsports.com in Ayer, Massachusetts for a dyno tune by Marc Swanson of EFI Express (a4kquattro on Motorgeek.com / phone 603.413.6833); Marc tuned the car using the dyno at KTR. I got to KTR a little late because of a roll over on I-89 due to hydroplaning and driving around Ayer, MA trying to find KTR as they do not have a sign of any sort at the end of the "Truck Entrance" road that they are located.



First thing we did was get the next standalone coils hooked up and setup in the ECU. Next was the baseline dyno to figure out where I was all this time. At a dyno in my area, they determined that I had 272wHP (245, 270, 272, 300) at 18psi. Marc street tuned the car last summer to 23 psi of boost so I must have more than 300.... wouldn't you think? First run was 245wHP (245, 270, 272, 300), but there was something wrong.

Actually two things wrong.

Next few runs left Marc a bit confused as the HP was not increasing with advances in timing (I'm running full race fuel; 109 octane unleaded). Jim (KTR) noticed that the dyno only had readings up to 5000 RPM while we were bringing the car up to redline at 6700 RPM. The car was spinning on the rollers. Fixed. Twice.

Next run didn't quite seem right either and that was when Marc noticed (per the computer hooked up to the ECU) that I was only running at 80% throttle. It seems the cable was stretched a bit so I have been driving the car for quite some time at 80% (or so) throttle. Man, all those hillclimbs that I wanted "just a little bit more" in the straights.... and it could have been there. Darn!

Baseline wHP
Okay, we have a stuff together now and finally get the baseline power (remember, this is at 23 psi, so it has to be a lot more than the 272wHP/18psi power).... how about 270wHP? Yep, different dyno yields different results. Since last summer, the street tune gave me 270wHP. Of course, I wasn't using all of that thanks to a stretched throttle cable.

More Power!
Time to get a little more power out of it, but more importantly, power where I need it for the hillclimbs (more low-end grunt). Marc and Jim spent the next hour making adjustments to get the power where it should be.



Marc tuning from the co-pilot seat while Jim controlled the dyno from the driver's seat... while I stood around not knowing what to do with myself, but noticing an empty box of Harpoon and a running refrigerator in the corner.


So what did we end up with? 299.4, but let's round that up to 300 since it is OVER 299, a bit shy of 300, and I feel like rounding a .4 up this time. (245, 270, 272, 300) But, let's talk about that number. It is not the limit of the turbo, engine, injectors, fueling, etc. It is actually the limitation of the 034EFI MAP sensor inside the ECU; it is limited to 2.5 bar. So, to get another 50wHP (per Marc), I would just need to send the box back to 034EFI to get the sensor upgraded. I might as well get the 034EFI "hiccup" fixed while I'm at it (the engine is running just fine and stops for a second like I hit the rev limiter). So, there is more that can be obtained, but I have to ask myself if it is worth it as 350wHP would be great on the track with FWD, but it might just communicate to wheel spin at the hillclimbs.

@#$%@#$%&@#$% !!
Time to hit the track... the running track. When I got home with the car I decided to take it for a little spin. I drove it very slowly/low RPMs until I was out of town; I turned right on a side road and gave it 50-75% throttle as the gas pedal felt a little funny going that extra 20%, and grind-grind-grind. Great, there goes my Drive Shaft Shop 475wHP CV joint. Or not. It seems that those 3rd gear pulls on the dyno did the transmission in (or perhaps it is just the clutch). I had to run/jog 3 miles home (good time to leave my phone at home, but who would I can anyway as Julie wasn't home.... my cat hasn't learned to drive the truck yet) to get the truck and trailer, come-a-long the car on the trailer in the rain, and then finally getting home by 9pm. Ack! Someone, somewhere, hates me (well, more than those ex-girlfriends). Time to drop the transmission and figure out what happened. If it is the transmission, I might look into the option of a 6-speed if it is something easy(ish) to convert and if the LSD can transfer from 5-speed to 6-speed. We will see. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will just be the clutch (wishful thinking).

Wow, look at all those nice cars!

KTR is a very large facility with A LOT of very nice cars (most of which I cannot identify, but you don't need to understand art to enjoy it). This is just one of the small rooms of cars directly outside the dyno room. There is soooo much more. It is like a racing-orient version of RPM (http://www.RPMvt.com).

Lotus Europa (but that isn't a stock engine)