Various Race Oriented Volkswagens... hillclimbs and some HPDE events.

Seems Sep to Dec 2024 was spent planning... and spending money.

Jan 01 was a good start to getting ready for the 2025 race season.  

It seem to take longer getting everything ready for the project and cleaning up than it took to actually do the work.

The welded nuts on the mounting points for the front end pretty much checked out a few years ago.  I have been using the stock bolts with separate nuts on the inside.  Time to fix that issue with some rivet nuts.

Drill the stock holes, dremel the nuts off (in some cases), install 8mm rivet number, and chase the threads with a tap to clean them up.  Happy with the results.

Had to share that with someone as I pointed it out to my wife and she was less than excited about my project.  (sigh)

Next, moved into the cockpit.  The goal is to have a fix seat (no sliders) which means a quick release steering wheel is a must.

I don't like the hardware to connect the quick release to the hub... bolts came with the quick release, while surprisingly the instructions state no hardware is included.  Hunting down some grade 8 bolts to connect to the hub.

After I  get the new bolts, I will use locktite on both hub and steering wheel bolts.

Devil is in the details.

I could not remove the engine because I could not remove the braided oil line that goes from the filter housing to my oil gauge.  And it turns out a T-block under the dash to go to oil pressure sensor for the ECU.

(long boring story about removing oil line from gauge to remove it from the filter)

After installing the quick release steering wheel hub, I determined that (1) I didn't like the 5mm x .08 x 16mm bolts that came with the kt (2) the steering wheel was very very very hard to remove and install.

(1)  First... I was surprised that I had the bolts as the instructions specifically said that bolts were not supplied.  Went to hardware store to pick up some button head bolts.  Drawer of bolts was such a charlie foxtrot that I could not find what I wanted.  I bought some hex head versions of the same, but the head was too tall.  Options are to grind down the head or continue looking for button head bolts.

(2) Spoke with racing friend with a lot more experience with quick release hubs (www.facebook.com/meadesports) and he said in addition to the dry oil that I already had on my list that lightly sanding the painted surfaces helps.  He was right.  I used a foam sanding pad and lightly did some sanding.  I plan to revisit it again to make the wheel easier.

Seat adjustment for new fixed mounts.  I spent some time trying to find the exact position of the seat... this is actually a little further back that I am sitting now.  Still good distance with the steering wheel (wrists hanging over the top) while getting a little further away from the pedals.  I felt I had to lift my clutch foot up too much to release the pedal.

I have to review the harness mounting points to make sure everything works.

Ordered some more parts.

Dedicating at least 30 minutes every night just to force myself to work on the details.  Taking a few days off here/there to work on the big stuff.

The first hillclimb of the year is scheduled for May 3-4 and I have a bit to do to the car to get ready.  I did such a great job starting really really really early at the end of the 2024 season, ordered parts, and then didn’t do everything.

Now I have a month to get ready and a few challenges that I cannot solve myself (like new seat mounts and skid plate mounts)

Just catching you up on the past two weeks.

Engine out to install the replacement 02M transmission.  Had a spare on the shelf that is 100% race ready.  Swapped over transmission mount, installed Nothing Leaves Stock (NLS) slave cylinder spacer kit, new slave cylinder, and mounted it to the engine. 

I would enthusiastically tell you “Done!” but this is something I could have done back in October 2024.

While engine is out, I cleaned up the exhaust V-band clamps and noticed the flange that held on the external waste gate was loose.

This means the turbo wasn’t seeing all the pressure (slower spooling) and the waste gate was not seeing it either (risk of overboosting).  I know I didn’t see any overboosting.  Replaced the bolt and back in action.

Here is the old hydraulic timing belt tensor setup. 

The internet tells me these are prone to failure... I never had an issue... so I installed the Integrated Engineering manual timing belt tensioner.  Essentially bringing 1980s Rabbit technology to a 2000-era car.

Installed with new Gates timing belt.  The yellow mark on the top of the timing belt on cam sprocket was to help me move it over one tooth to dial in the timing.

Next on the list... new wheel studs.  This is the set that I purchased from 034 Motorsports in 2010.

They were getting a little old and I like the design of the new bullet nose 034 Motorsport wheel studs. 

I was having a challenge with understanding the usable length of the stud... the rotor face to the end of the threaded stud, so I had to digest the information on the 034 site and come up with my own visual to help me understand what I wanted.

These are their 65mm model... my goal was to get longer (next size up is 75mm); seems I ended up with the same length.

The old style used an allen wrench center for installation and the new requires the double nut.  It was a little harder to install on a car that had its control arm and axle hanging.

Installed and looking pretty.  I also purchased another set of the Gorilla lug nuts as I would not have had a replacement if I lost one at the track.  Cheap insurance.

Wife is out of town this week, dancing girls are too expensive, so going to get a lot accomplished.