OH HAII

Only running 18psi as the actuator bracket still has a crack in it, won't be sorted pre house move, but it's back on the road ;D

Thanks to Andy for lending me the wheels, I'll leave some tread on the tyres...

Quiff is as expected, not close to the cornering grip of the Gripper, but much nicer to drive, still whiirs away mind. I'd say it has 70% of the capability of the Gripper, and 5 times as driveable

Next on the list is a decent PCV system and have a look into the steering over centre (probably castor angle) oh and to introduce it to it’s new garage :-D

What's up with the steering over centre dude? I'll be round Friday about 6, you can take me out? Haha

More an initial lack of weight to the wheel, I'm still running track camber (-3.5' front) and a large amount of castor, so I don't expect it to feel as per normal Polo. I also need to drive it more, last time I drove it was October...

I'm helping Andy build his Polo Friday afternoon/evening - what shift you on next week, I might bring it into Gaydon for a few days and use the ramp.

Got a copy of your spring rates & geometry settings? Can PM if you want it secret lol :p

Weights and estimated unsprung masses be good too - interested in doing some comparative calcs.

I'm on earlies next week but down at Eastnor on Tue.

Springs need to come off and go to Kiz so he can put them on his whizzy bang measuring machine at work and tell me they're about 350lb (cup car dry setup).

Off to centre of gravity at some point (after house move) so will let you know figures then, they're not secret I just don't know them.

Text me when you finish on Friday, will let you know what the score is.

You need to get friendly with people in the damper lab in 118 mate haha

Should be able to do some pretty decent calcs just based on masses and spring rates, results will be fucking high if you're running 350lbs mind! Haha.

Yeah I should finish at 6 Friday, will see what the crack is. Although I think you need to buy an actuator tomorrow and get at least 30psi through it :p

Quiff is as expected, not close to the cornering grip of the Gripper, but much nicer to drive, still whiirs away mind. I'd say it has 70% of the capability of the Gripper, and 5 times as driveable

Next on the list is a decent PCV system and have a look into the steering over centre (probably castor angle) oh and to introduce it to it’s new garage :-D

Sounds like just the trick : )

Well this car was amazing!!

Now back in the garage for a few mods before Santa Pod/Trackdays this summer. Remote oil filter/thermostat going on, some tidying up of wiring, and a pukka suspension setup at Center of Gravity. Oh and the gas... 

Polo in its new house:

And on the scales:

776kg full fluids (washer, methanol, coolant, oil) half a tank of petrol

Split with driver in: 63% Front / 37% Rear - 53% Right / 46% Left

All in I'm fairly chuffed with that, lots of cage & turbo/intercooler over stock, and still have a full sized battery & dash. 

That's good mate, mines the same weight with no rear interior & a full tank, but you have a cage and other stuff like a turbo setup, decent power/tonne too, 285ish/tonne?

New garage looks good, will drop you a message regarding welding too

Depends which rollers I go to, and we all know how dyno figures excite people. I estimate 225-230bhp going off terminal speeds and air flow.

Track times that matter though, power is nothing without control etc etc. 12.5 to beat. Crank bending time :)

Car was 750kg on the nail pre-turbo, with carbon bonnet, plastic rear windows and no interior. Not too bad now, but cage probably is the best part of 50kg including all the stich welding on the chassis. Might look into a smaller battery when this one dies, and maybe making myself puke after each meal. Cheaper than carbon bits.

Did you speak to Brian? He mentioned you'd been talking about me, good things I hope

Yeah I thought ~230hp man.

Lol I did indeed speak to Brian, you know him then lol?

Edit; oh I forgot he was over in your building for a bit actually lol.

The tig isnt up to much in our dept, there's a bloke over 507 who's shit hot with ally, Graham I think his name is but not sure! Strengthened my mates undertray for his rally car, a lot of plates welded on for like a crate of Stella, looked neat man, might be worth finding out there!

Edited 25 June, 201313 yr by harris.racing

Update time, last few weeks have been spent putting the nitrous back on, having the suspension alignment done, and then a trip to Santa Pod to shake everything down.

First up was to get everything pointing in the right direction, I'll do a full review of this later, as I've not driven the car on track yet:

Rear axle mounts modified, shim spacers on the sub axles to adjust camber and toe, lots more measurements taken along the way, full review after my next trackday. Thanks to Chris at CofG for his efforts, I'll no doubt sing his praises at a later date

Gas bits (bottle heater):

Keeps a constant pressure by heating the bottle, maintains ~950psi

NA vs Boost:

Santa Pod time, boost wound down to 20psi but was pinking, so backed out of each run (only managed 3) best 13.1 @ 109mph, showing power is there, but need to sort the pinking issue before next outing, I suspect aquamist isn't working.

Pics, ronald is my mates, awesome little toy!

If I can sort this issue out, I'm hoping to get some runs in on Sunday at VW Action, should be quieter then, although it's twice the cost.

Cheers

Pete

Been looking forward to an update for a while Pete, cracking job! Sort out the niggles and maybe low 12s/ high 11s haha. Action??

Edited 20 August, 201312 yr by etches69

still my fav mk3 polo

have you dropped back into the 12s

I've looked through your whole thread once again, I just wondered if you had any the photos of your rear diffuser? Did you make it yourself? I'm going to make one for my mk1 and I'm trying to plan how to do it. I've plated the wheel well so there's no turning back now.. tried to PM you but your 'box is full.

Cheers in advance dude, all the best.

Jim

were are the wide arches from you got a link ?

What are the silver wheels that you were running called?

Edited 27 May, 201412 yr by LaurencesMk3GT

I guess they`re Mattig SSF?

Engine and gearbox out:

I've had enough of breaking drivetrain components, so am fitting a larger 02J gearbox- although the list of modifications required is long, I'm hoping it will be worth it, tuned 20v don't seem to bother them until 400bhp, so I'm hoping a little more than half that shouldn't bother it too much.

Time to get the grinder and welder out :)

History

085 Transmissions have a reputation of being weak especially in higher powered boosted applications. Not surprising given the 084 is was based on had to handle 895cc of power and a lightweight Mk1. Add a little weight, and lots more power (about 4 or 5 times the amount of the Mk1) and it’s not surprising a 230bhp G40 will strip gears for fun.

So far my 085 failures have been:

• Inner CV Joint

• 2nd Gear

• 3rd Gear

• 5th Gear

• Diff/Final Drive Bolts

Time for a change...

Gearbox Options

Various options are available depending on budget, time and ability. My own headline figures to work to are:

• 200kW (268bhp) Crank Power

• 300Nm (221lbft) Crank Torque

• 750kg + 2 Passengers (150kg)

Other consideration needs to be given for:

• Gear ratio options

• LSD options

• Clutch/Flywheel Combination

• Chassis Modifications Required

• Quantity of non-OEM parts

• Cost

That leaves some obvious choices:

085 Gearset

http://www.klaus-bernert.de/rennsport.shtm

Not a huge amount of information about these, especially at the power/torque levels required. To benefit from the sequential requires an EMS change, or additional control for torque reduction (ignition/fuel reduction) during shift. Cost is high (6500EUR+)

Getrag R65 5C39

From a Mini Cooper S, 6 speed with triple shafts, so is shorter than most conventional FWD boxes (ala 02M). Custom clutch and flywheel required, along with mounting, shifter mechanism, and must be hydraulic clutch. Good spread of ratios with a 540mm tyre diameter (175/60R13 or 20/54-13 slick) gives 150mph in 6th at 7000rpm. One to think about...

Sequential Sadev/Gemini/Ricardo etc

£10k+ not being considered!

02a/02J

Validated to 250Nm for production in larger (note heavier) applications, so should be capable of handling more torque in a lighter Polo chassis. A good range of gear ratios, gear sets available, wide range of LSDs readily available. Gearbox can be had from £50 upwards, and have been in production recently. A mix of VW parts means cable change for the clutch, and flywheel/clutch combinations should be achievable without too many custom parts.

Worth noting 02M is a 6 speed, but is heavier and larger than the 02J, it has a torque capacity of 350Nm, and obviously has a bolt on transfer box for the 4wd applications (S3 etc) little overkill though.

Gear Ratios

I run various wheel/tyre combinations on the Polo, for gear ratio calculations the diameter/circumference of the tyre is important, here’s mine:

175/60 R13 (Stock G40) – 540.2mm

20/54-13 (Slick) – 540mm

18/53-13 (Wet Slick) – 530mm

20.8-14 (Drag Slick) – 508mm

For the comparison I’ve used a 540mm diameter tyre. I rev the Polo to 7,000rpm on track and have used half max rpm to calculate a cruising speed at 3500rpm.

Stock G40 gives:

150bhp 20v 02J gives:

Not really ideal, similar to a GT box in terms of ratio spread.

180bhp 20v 02J gives:

Ratio spread with ATV on a 540mm tyre:

Next instalment will cover adapter plate design and machining to couple the 02J to the PY block, all for now!

Pete

02J to PY

The last post covered a brief decision on which gearbox I have chosen, and why. This will explain my solution to getting an 02J gearbox bolted to a G40 engine.

Plate vs. Bellhousing

Sorg have offered for a good number of years, the option to mate an 085 and 02A/J bellhousing together. This involves removing sections of the 085 (all 5 mounting locations and the starter housing) and welding them into the 02A/J bellhousing.

This is no trivial task, the tolerances between dowel locations and the gearbox input shaft centreline must be <0.1mm to avoid premature wear on the spline. To add to the difficulty some of the later aluminium casings (02T) which could be used, have higher magnesium content, a very skilled task, and one outside of my ability.

I also didn’t like the thought of having a one off gearbox casing; I’ve damaged two with failures previously, which was fine as they are easily and cheaply replaced. The cost of the Sorg option was roughly £900, plus a custom clutch (I don’t include other custom parts as they are necessary for both adapter plate and bellhousing options, I’ll cover them later).

So, the Sorg option uses the following:

- 085 Bellhousing

- 02A/J Bellhousing

- PY Flywheel

- PY Starter Motor

- Bespoke clutch (200mm with Golf spline)

- Custom adapter for Golf to Polo Clutch release bearing

Total for gearbox mounting, and clutch/flywheel hardware is ~ £1200. I was hoping to achieve everything for under £1k.

Designing an adapter plate allowed me to use a standard 02J gearbox, with no modifications. I could choose to use a Golf flywheel, with an off-the shelf clutch. The main disadvantage of the adapter plate is the extra width it adds to the powertrain. In my case this is 10mm as I have a steel plate, some aluminium solutions in Germany add 15 to 25mm. On a Berg car this isn’t an issue, but I didn't want to encroach on the wheel well too much (despite low offset wheels), I also wanted to keep the driver’s side chassis leg stock.

Adapter Plate Design

When designing the adapter plate there were several key considerations to think about:

- Differential positioning remained the same for 085 and 02J installations, this gives the inboard CV joints sensible articulation, and does not necessitate the need to alter suspension geometry

- Gearbox installation angle to be the same in the Polo as per Golf

The above caveats dictate the angle of the engine. I exchanged a few e-mails with a German friend (who I owe a few beers!) regarding his installation, to check I was on the correct track. Although he has a Sadev box in his Polo now, he’d previously done a similar conversion on another car.

With that I set about measuring some of the components. Robin helped with gathering some figures greatly, so thanks to him- I guess he might end up with one of these at some point, so it’s in his interest

The first design looked something like this:

That achieved a differential centre line delta of 2mm(X), 26mm(Y) which I think is acceptable.

To keep this diff centreline, and the gearbox installation angle, means canting the engine over from its original position. My measurements roughly showed the PY block sitting at 12° from the vertical. This would need to be nearer 40°, clearly requiring some inlet/exhaust manifold modifications and some thought around the sump/oil pickup. I’ll cover that at a later date as/when I’ve thought about it!

Clearly the box would require two new mounts (B mount, and C Mount) and with the new engine angle I’d need to cut and shut the old A mount to increase the 12° stock to 40° requirement. I will cover this in a later update, as I’m hoping to fit a smaller/lighter alternator too- so will end up making 3 new mounts, possibly adding a 4th to the subframe at the front.

So, enough waffle about the principle! I mentioned previously a 10mm steel plate- I’d decided on Steel for a number of reasons:

- Plate would be thinner than an aluminium counterpart

- Easier to machine than stainless

- Can be nickel plated for corrosion resistance

- Similar expansion rate to block

- I can machine/drill/tap/weld it

- Cheap!

Aluminium offers a nice solution, but I’d need to double the width and helicoil everything. Now, those of you with a background in engineering will probably be thinking, M12 thread, 10mm plate- yes I realise I’m short of the 1xdiameter standard requirement, my excuses:

- 10mm plate easy to come by (12mm was a longer lead time)

- I like round numbers

- 2 out of 5 fixings I can secure with an additional nut

- Golf box uses 6 M12 securing locations, Polo has 5 M12

- I need to keep the plate diameter as small as possible for starter/flywheel engagement (a topic I will cover later)

- I can switch to a fine pitch thread if more engagement is required (standard M12x1.75 currently)

Adapter Plate Mockup

With a design in the virtual world I needed to transfer it onto something physical. Most printers can’t print 100% and suffer from shunt so a plotter is required. A good mate printed a few copies of the design off for me.

I transferred this onto some 3mm ABS sheet I had knocking about, would be strong enough to bolt through with abit of support, and give me a decent idea of what needed to be modified.

I still had the Polo starter motor mountings at that point as I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to go. Once I’d cut it out roughly it got mounted in the car, the angles aren’t correct, but gave me a flavour of what to expect.

Before I removed the engine and 085 gearbox I did various measurements so have a good idea of where the engine should sit indexed 40° round.

With this done I did several more iterations of the design- to increase output shaft clearance (use the larger Mk4 Golf items) and to delete the Polo starter motor assembly, with some slight tweaking to hole locations, and double checking all 4 dowel dimensions, which are the most critical part.

Although it looks like it would fit in that picture- the crank is hard up against the chassis leg, and has no pulley/FEAD on it, so need to move over another 35mm or so. Chassis must be cut... :(

Next up is the adapter plate manufacture, and the machine work required post water jet profiling. I’ll save that until next week

Cheers

Pete

Adapter Plate

The last post covered the design of the adapter plate; this post covers the manufacture of it.

The plate starts life as a 10mm thick piece of mild steel sheet roughly 400 x 400mm. The profile is then cut with a water jet, these are a nice alternative to laser cutting in my experience, accuracy is dependent on the machine, but typically ±0.02mm I believe this also depends on the thickness of the part and hardness of the material.

In an earlier post I mentioned the accuracy of clutch alignment had to be <0.1mm, I will cover this later in the post, but remember 0.1mm for now.

So, first job was to get the plate cut out, once profiled it looked something like this:

Fairly uninspiring, and not much use- the holes for the golf mounts have been sized for an M12 tap, hence the different sizes, Polo bolt pattern uses through bolts (bar one) so have clearance holes.

Staring at a drawing, lots of tea, and using the Polo spacer plate helped get things sorted in my head:

In my old unit I used to have a pillar drill, I’ve since moved and had to get rid. This was the perfect excuse for PPP to purchase a drill so I can make these adapter plates; I doubt the profits from adapter plates will ever payback the cost of the drill mind

Drill Time

Axminster with a 16mm chuck (important):

So, first job is to bolt the plate down and start lining things up. (The first job was actually the laborious task of getting the drill perfectly level, bolting it to the concrete floor, greasing it all and rebuilding it after dismantling it to securely mount it, but that’s boring...)

The drill is fitted with a conical shaped bit which allows a true center to be found. This is vital, we can assume the holes have been profiled accurately (±0.02mm) so the biggest inaccuracy comes from me setting the drill correctly.

Once the center has been found (i.e. the headstock isn’t pushed in any direction when engaged with the hole) I then swapped to a 16mm slot drill for the dowels.

I lightly scored the plate and measured the witness marks and convinced myself I’d got everything true:

Time to make some swarf:

So, first hole cut. I wasn’t happy with the drill, upon measuring the hole it was 16.38mm (Dowel OD is 16.0mm) so the dowel was like a dick in a shirt sleeve. The drill was chattering slightly, I decided to reduce the drill speed, use a different oil (0w40 fully synthetic from the other half’s car) and not be such a wimp.

First Hole with dowel:

Not good!

Second hole with revised cutting speed, lubrication and a little more pressure resulted in 16.09mm, result!

Second hole with dowel fitted:

At this point I decided to measure various boxes I had laying around, I expected bang on 16.0mm from each, I was wrong. 16.08mm to 16.23mm- now some of my boxes have been on and off multiple times, but it was encouraging to know I could get the tolerance towards the tighter end of the spectrum. So, my target of <0.1mm from earlier was looking possible. I have no way of measuring this in an installed position, so I can only go from dowel locations.

My tolerance stack is 0.09mm on the two Polo dowel holes, and 0.02mm on the Golf dowel holes. Although I’m using the holes which had been profiled to locate my center find in, so assume I can get a Polo dowel to 0.11mm and a Golf dowel to 0.02mm. So not quite the <0.1mm original target, but without a milling machine I can’t get this any better, plus it’s an improvement over some of my stock gearboxes!

Onwards!

Countersink

The plate bolts to the Polo block, this dictates the face must have countersunk fasteners, I used an A2 grade stainless M12 countersunk bolt. Quick check of the DIN/ISO standard gave me the angle of the countersink bit I needed to order (they’re usually 90° but worth checking).

So big countersink bit arrived, these are known as snail shells apparently, they don’t chatter and I've been really impressed with it, leaves a nice finish and swarf is easily moved.

This process is the same as the slot drill, fit the center find, adjust, clamp the piece down, check, recheck, measure, adjust etc. Then countersink until the bolt fits flush!

All the bolts holes requiring a thread are then tapped- I used the pillar drill to start them all off, ensuring the thread was perfectly square, worked a treat!

Post Machining

Quick clean up and the plate looked like this (both sides shown):

You’ll notice there’s a mark from a grinder- for some reason I’d cocked up the measurement of the crank end oil seal housing. Bit of a pain, but it can be removed for mockup and the design revised before the next iteration.

Few more close ups:

Dry Build

Once I’d done some measuring and checked the plate was straight and true, I then bolted it onto the Polo block. It is necessary to keep the standard plate so the dowel engagement is correct.

Looks something like this:

When bolted up the gearbox starts to look fairly large! You can also see the engine canted over to accommodate the driveshaft and output shaft clearance.

In the next update I’ll go over chassis modifications, cutting big holes out the leg, and hammering a square peg in a round hole. Although it will be fairly boring as it’s me making lots of measurements and swearing. I did get to play with my grinder though.

Cheers

Pete

Nothing much to update as I've been busy with other cars, managed a few hours on it this week, started to mock the A-mount up, and engine/box are currently in a position I'm fairly happy with.

So, take some sheet steel, some CDS, grinder and file and one of these:

Give yu a load of random shaped pieces of metal:

In situ looks something like this:

Currently looking at which MIG to buy, then I'll start welding pieces back in, rather than chopping them out ;D

Fabrication - Part 1

So, I haven’t been working on my Polo that much over the summer, but now with winter time, I’m in the garage a few nights a week. Deadline is to have it running and MOT on the road by Easter next year, and use it as my wedding transport June 2015.

On with some fabrication, it all fairly self explanatory, cardboard cut-out, transfer to steel, weld in steel... a few points I had to consider:

- Retain subframe mounting points

- Not spaceframing the front end (although with hindsight this may have been easier)

- Fitting everything in with a reasonable static clearance (20mm+)

- Driveshafts

- Everything else, shifter mech, starter motor, clutch actuation, speedo cable, reverse light switch etc.

The engine will be fairly stiffly mounted at 4 points, A and B mount on both longitudinals, these support the powertrain roughly in its desired installation angle, then C & D mounts to resist torque, Polo as standard doesn’t use a front gearbox mount, but due to how I will mount the C mount, it’s necessary for this.

So, after I’d cut a fairly sizable hole, and made a Polo even more wobbly than usual, I got to welding bits in. For the next stage of welding I’ll mount the subframe back up so the chassis is as per previous geometry. On to the pics...

After cutting a big hole, I had a think about supports, my intentions was to mask as much as possible under the original chassis legs, it's neater and doesn't raise as many eyebrows come MOT time.

So, this was the plan:

Which obviously required lots of cardboard templates, measuring, cutting, and making of mess:

And my least favorite part of fabrication, getting old seam sealer, paint etc off the chassis, deep joy.

First on the list was to weld the two lengths of CDS together and insert them in the chassis, several tack/mock ups prior to this to ensure it was right:

Hole saw used on the chassis that had tube passing through it, gave a nice tight fit, these have plates welded over the top to spread load.

Before I welded the plates in I stitched the chassis leg where possible.

And then next was to weld plates in around these tubes, tube poking through the upper chassis leg will be the last one to be completed.

A quick tidy up of previous stitch welding on the chassis was done too:

And then moved onto the NSF subframe mounting point, the access tubes are for the fixings, will try to find some plastic caps for them so they don't get full of crud.

I ran out of gas at this point, so progress has halted up to here:

All for now- please feel free to abuse my welding... it's not like riding a bike, I've still burnt myself several times, still I've remembered what Spanish underseal smells like when it's burning.

Cheers

Pete

Thanks Max, few more recent pics:

Little more done recently, B-mount is now done, and mocking the A-mount up currently. Time consuming part is dropping the subframe and engine/box out constantly. Hopefully I can get it sat on it's own mounts this weekend, and then measure up for driveshafts.

RobT and Gurds have been useful sources of knowledge regarding gear shift/clutch cables so thanks chaps! More pieces of the puzzle coming together.

Cheers

Pete

Completed the A-Mount now, dropped it down to give similar mounting heights cross chassis to the B mount, engine now sits on its own mounts ;D Need to weld up the C-mount, and push it outside for a wash.

Chopped the front panel for turbo clearance, I really don't like it in it's current state, so will invest in an edging tool and neaten it up.

Cheers

Pete

So, the last few weeks has seen a few steps forward, and several back!

First off, the Team Guru Derby sold- appearing in VWDRC 2015/16 8) some pics of the old girl all clean:

And I finished all the engine mounts and pushed the Polo outside for a wash, first time in a long while!

So with that bit done, my next bit to sort out was the driveshafts. I need to get measurements as soon as possible as they're fairly long lead time items. Now, Polo CV joints aren't the strongest out there it's fair to say, so with my new stronger gearbox, it makes sense to look at the driveline too.

Inner CV joints easy- bought a set of 100mm bolt in flanges and some Mk2 Golf GKN joints. Job's a good-un. Outer CV joints, little more difficult...

A Mk1 Golf and a Mk2f Polo share a very similar wheel hub design though:

After spending a few hours in a huge SKF catalogue, I had myself convinced they'd fit... I was wrong.

Split everything down (discovered my brakes need new dust seals) ready to go:

And had two clashes (after some light machining) still with the outer CV to bearing housing:

and with the bearing housing to rear of the wheel hub face:

Solution is fettling in all available areas - I'm about 3.5mm off it fitting, so removal of some more material from the outer CV face, the bearing housing, and taking the 0.8mm feature of the rear of the wheel hub (polo one doesn't have this) should see it all clear.

Main pain is every time I fit everything together to check clearances, I knacker a set of bearings, £60 down thus far... ho hum.

So with that I also started looking at shifters, I need a short cables to fit in the Polo- so I did a little reading and purchased a set of 2003 Polo cables and shifter mech, only to find it's identical to the Mk4 Golf one I have... d'oh - Gurds confirmed cable lengths on his Mk1 for me (thanks mate!) circa 960mm and 1010mm.

I was hoping to avoid bespoke cables, cost and availability (in future) are the main worries- so if anyone knows of any VW gearshift cables that are much shorter than the ones above, I'm all ears!

VW Lupo/Fox/Up lengths would be good- I can't find any information on the interwebs.

Cheers

Pete

So, a little more fettling and everything fits up. Modified wheel hubs, strut housing and outer CV... all good fun!

And wheel studs re-fitted with Loctite 270 - stood up well the last few years

Brakes back on and mounted:

Subframe modified for clearance at the rear, now picks up on the redundant cat brace, d-mount also added:

C-mount finished:

Engine back in, OSF strut assembly to finish then I can measure up for driveshafts:

Cheers

Pete

Mounted the Mk4 Golf gear shifter:

Now can measure up for cables and get Ringspann to make them

And I've mocked up both driveshafts, will send off to Reco-prop to be made properly. Parts used are:

Mk1 Golf GTi Wheel Hub

Mk3 Polo Strut Housing

Mk3 Polo Wheel Bearing

Mk1 Golf GTi Outer CV

Mk3 Golf 100mm Output Flanges

Mk2 Golf Inner CV

Mk3 Golf GTi driveshafts

Fairly good mix of VW bits!

So, starts with two halves of shafts:

Make sure both the CV are halfway in their plunge depth:

Find a piece of CDS that will slide over:

Tack and weld together:

Refit to car:

Driveshaft has hardly any angle, which I'm happy with ;D

Rinse and repeat on the OSF:

Cheers

Pete

This might sound silly, but what are all the custom engine mounts for? Are you trying to reduce the angle of the drive shafts when the car sits low?

And what size turbo are you putting on having to cut the front panel so much?

Simply amazing!

One massive leap forward again

By the way, are you racing this properly now? I heard a rumour!

If so, what sort of specifications did it have to comply with?

Edited 3 March, 201511 yr by MaxGT

This might sound silly, but what are all the custom engine mounts for? Are you trying to reduce the angle of the drive shafts when the car sits low?

And what size turbo are you putting on having to cut the front panel so much?

The pictures are deceptive, but the engine is ~35mm higher than stock, and roughly 15' further canted towards the slam panel, this is all to give the correct diff centreline height (in both plan and front view) hence the driveshafts have no angle despite the car being on a 7" spring with a 540mm tyre. This helps CV joints, as you can see wishbones/tca are also fairly flat, steering arms could be better, but that can be worked out in the future.

Turbo will remain GT2554R at ~20psi, although now I've got a drivetrain that can handle it, it wuld be rude not to wind the boost up a little...

Simply amazing!

One massive leap forward again

By the way, are you racing this properly now? I heard a rumour!

If so, what sort of specifications did it have to comply with?

I think that's Chinese whispers! The Yellow Team Guru Derby is in the VWDRC this year (we no longer own it), perhaps that is it. I've no plans to race this properly.

That said, I have built it with one eye on general hillclimb/speed championship/sprint regulations. Note worthy is original suspension pickup points have been retained (hence all the chassis cutting and engine lifting etc), and the lack of any spaceframe structure.

It would have been far easier to lop the front end off and weld a couple of tubes in! But I'm fairly certain I'd be in with similar vehicles (Atoms, Radicals etc) which the Polo doesn't stand a chance against.

Short term plan is MOT and wedding car, then Club Polo trackday as a shakedown, probably some RYWB and a few more trackdays throughout the year. I'd like to get to a point where the car is reliable enough that I can develop it further suspension wise.

Cheers

Pete

fab work looks great!

I&#39;m glad you haven&#39;t space framed it