Rabbit Farmer's various VW Projects

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walterclark
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Re: Rabbit Farmer's various VW Projects

Post by walterclark »

Sweet looking ovloV!
The older I get the better I was.
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Re: Rabbit Farmer's various VW Projects

Post by Chief Geek »

Wait. That new car doesn't look anything like a 911. Damn, I thought I had Julie all convinced that a Carrera 4 would be perfect.

Besides, that can't be a Volvo... It has curves. Where's the cheese grater headrests?
"Christina", New #13/#55x, '90 Miata: In progress
"Keiko", Old #13x/#55x, '96 Miata: R.I.P.
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Re: Rabbit Farmer's various VW Projects

Post by Rabbit Farmer »

I guess squared corners went away years ago.

I think Julie was sold on this car due to the heated steering wheel
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Re: Rabbit Farmer's various VW Projects

Post by sdwarf36 »

"" Fun, but there is no possible way to pass someone as full speed is easily achieved. ""
HUH?? You've never raced any short circle track. I saw openings that you'd get passed by two cars inside. Them nerfs aint there for decoration! :lol:
That pic of the golf shot at the Glen exitting the toe of the boot was shot from exactly where we camp for the vintage weekend. 8-)
Translating road racing to hillclimbing:
Proper tire selection== nothing hooks up on moss or wet leaves.
Staying on the racing line==anything paved is considered good.
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Re: Rabbit Farmer's various VW Projects

Post by Rabbit Farmer »

2009 Subaru WRX

Ordered Bilstein struts/shocks and lowering springs from Race Comp Engineering (http://www.racecompengineering.com). I went with the GTWORX/Bilstein Cup Sport Kit with their Black "Regular Guy" springs.

Stock springs are 216# front / 209# rear while the "Regular Guys" springs are 275# front / 250# rear and provide a 25mm (slightly less than 1") drop. A little stiffer than stock, but still year around comfort.

Seems the springs are back ordered... hopefully the install is quick and easy as the alignment appointment is on May 7.

2001 VW Golf 1.8T

Been procrastinating with finishing the Golf. I started with the big stuff at the end of last season with a goal to have this 100% done in February +/-.

Short version... new brake pads, bled clutch, installed some parts on the shifter to stiffen things up a bit, ordered new harnesses (they have arrived), etc.

To be 100% ready for the season... alignment, install harnesses, install front bumper, clean it.

Pictorial version.....

Draft 42 Designs (http://www.42draftdesigns.com) shifter bushings for the cable ends. (See #10 and #17 in the image below)

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Draft 42 Designs shifter bushings (See #9 in the image below)

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Image from the Bentley manual for reference.

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Also, one part that I wanted to replace was #14. In the manual it is called a "Slide Shoe", but the internet searches state otherwise.... no good results. Shearer VW (f/k/a Lewis VW) was finally able to identify and order the part; they call it a "Friction Slide".

Per http://www.ECSTuning.com, it is called a "Shift Lever Slide"....
http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Gol ... 8T/ES4915/

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I purchased a new set of brake pads last summer with the intent of installing them. Didn't happen.

Fronts are Hawk Blue 9012 and rears are Hawk HP Plus (cooler pad); thought is that the rear pads and front pads will come up to operating temperature around the same time as opposed to running hot pads front and rear where the rears will never see the high temps at a hillclimb... at a track they would.

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Front pads: Not a lot of wear on the fronts.

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Rear pads: Lots of wear! Unsure where there is such a huge difference in wear between the fronts and rears.

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A must have tool for the rear calipers and they require turning/pressure to push in the piston

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For those of you that like to see numbers (in inches)

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I put everything on the Golf together with the exception of the turbo, front bumper, and skid plate.... also need fluids.

Since I wasn't quite sure what we needed for gaskets for all the lines to/from the turbo, plus Joey needed to finish the heat shield on the upper fire wall, I brought the Golf to http://www.KalesCustom.com.

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Almost ready for the Ascutney hillclimb in May.

Steve
Go Fast VW & Audi parts at FastAddiction.com
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Re: Rabbit Farmer's various VW Projects

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... and I was thinking that I would not be up until almost 1 AM working on the Golf right before Ascutney...
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Re: Rabbit Farmer's various VW Projects

Post by Rabbit Farmer »

Just watched video from Ascutney... hated it so much that I ordered an external mic for the GoPro.
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Re: Rabbit Farmer's various VW Projects

Post by Ryed »

Rabbit Farmer wrote:Just watched video from Ascutney... hated it so much that I ordered an external mic for the GoPro.
I bought 5 cheapo lavalier microphones on Amazon for $6, free shipping. Anything is better than the plastic encrusted mic on the GoPros.
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Re: Rabbit Farmer's various VW Projects

Post by Rabbit Farmer »

I got one with fuzzy end and 20' of cord. Figured it would give me options. Based on some videos I saw/heard online, it seems a great spot to get out of the wind and really hear the engine is the back bumper.
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Re: Rabbit Farmer's various VW Projects

Post by Rabbit Farmer »

Welcome to August... almost September... and I haven't had a lot of updates.

This tells me that the Scirocco I needs my attention as the Golf IV seems to be sorted out.

Ascutney #1 hillclimb was fun. I have video, but since the GoPro Hero 3 internal microphone delivers sub-par quality, I won't bother posting anything. I was there and had fun.... until the transmission let go on Sunday.

I picked up TWO replacement transmissions; one to rebuild the one currently in the car and one for a back up.

After some research, I ended up going with the WavTrac (http://www.wavetrac.net) LSD for the reasons outlined below.
Wavetrac: Designed from a clean sheet using state-of-the-art knowledge and engineering to be a better differential than any other. It uses a patented design to improve grip in low traction conditions.

Wavetrac: Gives you quicker acceleration and faster cornering by driving both drive wheels instead of just one. And, it offers improved no-load performance when compared to other helical gear differentials on the market.
Charlie at http://www.sixstarmotorsvt.com in Colchester, VT took on the task of building the replacement 02M 6-speed using the WavTrac LSD, new bearings, new shift forks, etc.

The "Steel 1st-2nd, 3rd-4th Gear Shift Fork Transmission Upgrade" are from USP Motorsports (http://www.uspmotorsports.com).

Link to the specific product: http://www.uspmotorsports.com/Drivetrai ... M-02Q.html

Something different I tried this time was to remove the entire front end as one piece (bumper, FMIC, radiator) instead of removing the FMIC separately. Unsure why I did it the long way before....

I also removed the engine with the turbo and downpipe attached. In the past, I did not think that I would be able to accomplish this because the v-band clamp is on the other side of the sub-frame. It was actually quite easy removal and install... and I did not need to mess around with disconnecting and reconnecting the external wastegate (which is a pain as you need three hands to do it).

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Removing the ring gear from the donor stock differential

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WavTrac LSD with ring rear installed, new bolts, and new bearings... pretty.

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New shift forks.... I have never had a problem with them, but figured I would replace them this time since it was apart.

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Maiden voyage was at the Okemo #2 hillclimb (I drove the Daewoo... yawn... at Burke and was in Italy for Okemo #1).

Saturday I was impressed with the WavTrac LSD especially on the first long sweeper. Could be a combination of the brand new heat-cycled R888 tires and the WavTrac LSD. Or.... it could be that the turbo halves were loose again so I wasn't creating any boost. I would have to go with the latter. Working on ideas prior to the next event to help keep the turbo together.

Sunday, using most of my boost (I couldn't tighten all the bolts on the turbo because they were underneath), the WavTrac LSD still seemed to be good on the long sweeper at checkpoint 1 (first long sweeper), but I am unsure of its effectiveness at checkpoint 3 where the right front tire gets very light. I had wheel spin (of course, when aren't they spinning!?!?), but it didn't seem to push me as much to the outside of the corner. Jury is still out. My time was a little slower than past Okemos, but that might be because of the turbo.

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And... because of the crappy sound quality at Ascutney #1, I purchased an external microphone. For most of the weekend, it was mounted on the rear bumper next to the exhaust. For one run (you will see/hear this at the end of the video) I had the microphone next to the air intake.

Enjoy.

Steve

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