Hey Ian, been a while mate, hope you're well!
Hi Matt
Been a while since I updated this post and I didn't realise you posted in it..... Sorry
Was thinking about your car the other day and decided to look it up on here (never did get round to renewing my ABS membership...) Looks really good and making really good progress!
Well there was pretty much zero progress in 2011 on the Monza, the French track day in Feb was a disaster on the reliability front so I resolved to fix the car for Marham in April - started fixing it and then Marham was cancelled so went and did stuff on other cars and just ignored the Monza - got back into it in preparation for RRG2011 but had a few problems sorting out the planned tow car (E38 without a tow bar eventually became E38 with tow bar and electrics that worked but too late for RRG2011) so ended up going to that in the better halfs daily SLK
Marham in September also got cancelled so the half fixed Monza stayed half fixed......
I was beginning to regret making the Monza track only when events kept getting cancelled
PS who's senator was that that hit the wall? SMJ?
And when is the 3.7 going in?
It was Tony Staceys car that hit the bank SMJ moved on from Senators to Omegas and now runs a VXR8
The 3.7 - hope to build it this year but I've got another Monza project that may result in it being postponed
PS - seen anything of my old GSI recently? (don't wanna go off topic - send a PM about that if you wish) Damn I miss that car... Got rid of the V8 Commodore over here as it was costing too much in fuel - got a diesel Golf now (boring!)
Not seen any sign of your old GSi
Anyway so better update this thread with the recent progress
First what went wrong in France - fuel pump first - jammed/siezed solid and I hadn't taken a spare luckily one of the French attendees had a brand new spare and as he'd broken his car he sold it to me for what it cost him and after much effort in the rain car was up and running again and it looked like we were back in business albeit having lost most of the mornings track time.
A quick drive round the pits and disaster struck the clutch pedal go down to the floor and stayed down – the pedal box on the clutch side had broken up – took a while to work it out as initially I thought it was the actual clutch that had failed.
The pedal box bodged (braced using extension bars, cable ties and jubilee clips to stop the clutch cable disappearing thro the bulkhead) enough to move the car under it's own steam but there was no way it was trackable.
So normally I write a long list – if you are familiar with this thread you’ll see that - However in preparation for a track day normally a lot of things on the list don't get done so in preparation for the first trackday of the year (in France again) I’m just trying to get sections of the car completed and finished - then move on to next section rather than my normal scattergun method where I tackle lots of stuff and achieve only 50% of lots of stuff....... Let’s see how well that works....
So looking at the issues (this is not a list)
1. Ventilation. The amount of holes left in the scuttle pannel due to stripping out original heater/blower asssembly and where the cage went thro the original fresh air vents - duct tape just wasn't cutting it. I've always suffered with engine fumes in the cabin – a lot worse after converting to carbs but the main reason is the bulkhead has a lot of holes (surplus to requirements) now that there are far fewer wires coming thro from the engine bay to the cabin.
Hopefully this should improve the temperature in the cabin - the Polo heater works well but the level of outside air coming in knocks the edge off it.
2. Clutch – well pedal box part of it
3. Plastic Tailgate - I converted the tailgate glass to plastic but had to do it in a hurry ready for france last year - bottom line it filled a hole but lifted at speed in the top corners as the plastic didn't have a curve like the glass and to open it and put anything in the load space (like wheels and tyres) was a three man job - two men to hold it open and a third to load it up and this was rubbish.
4. Brakes – These had really deteriorated over the past 5 years of track activity and I'd really lost faith in them (could stop it on a sixpence when I first re-built the car for track) but despite a lot of servicing and 3L of brake fluid being forced thro they remained soft on the pedal with lots of travel and I couldn't work out the reason
5. Turret bracing bar move – It was fitted after the engine and not ideally placed as well as permenantly welded in (can’t get the engine out with it fitted how it is) and as I plan an engine swap this year need to do something about it...
6. Finally - Everything else that has been fixed using cable ties or duct tape and not had a proper job done – this is a bloody long list going back the length of this thread but as I’m not doing lists nothing will be mentioned unless it’s done.
Progress to date (I’m sorry for the lack of pictures I will add some when I have them but my garage camera turned up it’s toes and I like my Digital SLR too much to subject it to the grage)
Ventilation
So I’ve been dealing with the Ventilation first – dash removed, pedal box and steering column are out and heater box has been pulled back to give me access - I’ve welded up probably 90% of them now and the 10% that are left I’ve got to leave till I work out where and how I am going to fit the heater properly (less cable ties and duct tape – more proper bolted installation
Old ECU wiring hole - now filled - ground back, primered, seam sealed and a coat of rattle can black
Old ABS Loom hole - now filled - ground back, primered, seam sealed and a coat of rattle can black
Hole next to throttle cable - now filled - ground back, primered, seam sealed and a coat of rattle can black
Old heater matrix pipes hole - now filled - ground back, primered, seam sealed and a coat of rattle can black
I had to add a hole for the speedo cable when I converted the car to analogue dash - - now filled - ground back, primered, seam sealed and a coat of rattle can black - I'm dispensing with the speedo (I don't have to count miles for limited mileage insurance and it doesn't need mileage for MOT's - how fast it is on track doesn't matter so just a rev counter and essential gauges are required and I've got those in a nice handy little pod that I can mount on the dash cross brace
So that left the hole in the floor that I repaired badly (short notice right before an MOT early attempts at welding and in the dark) when the throttle pedal mount fell thro the floor. Little hole became big hole now has first half of the plate in it (had to make it in two pieces as it's a bit complicated to shape in one bit - so 50 % done on that one
This repair also encouraged me to get rid of the floor mounted throttle pedal and convert to a conventional set up and I’ve nearly finished fabricating that now
Brakes & Clutch
So in ripping out the pedal box to fix the clutch problem half I found the cause of the soft brake pedal problems turns out the whole pedal box was breaking up - 10 spot welds hold it together and only 1 was still spotted rest were broken and the whole pedal box was moving rather than the brake effort being transferred to the brake master cyl.
So I've been modifying the pedal box to stiffen it up after using a zillion clamps to get it back into alignment.
Now I could understand my issues with brakes I had a bit more confidence to remove the ABS unit, associated wiring and control units and sensors and save a load more weight.
I also needed to re-pipe the brakes from front to rear and fit the goodridge rear hoses at the same time (I ran out of time to fit these as well as lacked some alternative parts when I first fitted the 24V engine) and get rid of some 25 year old steel brake pipe (which was in excellent condition all things considered)
Pedal box now painted and ready to fit back in the car when the welding on the drivers side is completed (lets see if I can break that now - probably 1/4 KG of strengthening and miggy wire in it over std)
Tailgate mods
So making the set up more ridgid and work like a proper tailgate (just lighter) - I've had an alloy frame fabbed up and I'm using the original tailgate trim to sandwich the plastic between an alloy frame and the original trim I hope will enable me to open the tailgate like a glass one but still get the benefit of less weight
I'd like to concentrate on getting it running – stopping and steerable asap as well as a tad less wet inside when left out on the drive and I've got another Monza project that's coming home shortly and I need a big space to park a non rolling shell.
More as it happens