First update since May 2020.
Grab some coffee and internet bandwidth… this is 8 pages of text without the pictures.
2001 VW Golf, 2009 Subaru WRX, and 2015 Volvo 60 news… and a 1980 VW Scirocco.
Where this dramatic story left off, the German mistress gained a new suspension and is still, to this day, sitting on jackstands.
And includes a love story. (well, a very “strong like” at the very least.. save the love for family, friends, and small animals)
All the nuts and bolts on the suspension were torqued and pretty much ready to hit the ground to finally stand on its new suspension. I will have a lot of adjustments to make at that point… ride height, setting on the struts/shocks, and perhaps some corner weighting (maybe).
Star date 11237.5… I mean, Chapter 1: Next in line is the leaky hybrid oil pan. Stock for my year car is an all-aluminum pan that doesn’t play nice with objects that might be introduced at speed. When I did some creative parking at the Mt. Washington hillclimb in 2017, I managed to get a hairline crack in the pan.
I replaced it with the hybrid oil pan that is an aluminum base with a steel bottom. This is the stock oil pan for 2004 forward on the 1.8t.
It leaked last summer, so I removed the steel bottom, cleaned it up, sealed, and reassembled. I guess I didn’t do it good enough for leak free service in the long term.
Oh, well, off comes the hybrid pan and back on is a new aluminum pan (part # 038-103-601MA).
I ordered the oil pickup that goes with the aluminum pan to make sure I was using the correct one. There is a slight difference. “A”luminum vs “H”ybrid. The hybrid version goes deeper into the bottom of the pan.
Chapter 2: Next, time to focus on the driver’s ABS wheel speed sensor wire that was damaged. I tried to order the non-brake pad wear sensor version (what I pictured in earlier posts), but it turns out that I ordered the wire for a Passat instead of my Golf. Opps. FCPeuro allowed me to make the exchange even with some time passing since I ordered the part. Nice people!
I tend to order all the parts for the various things that I will do to my car well in advance to when I actually need them.
The non-brake pad wear sensor version is just the passenger side wire, therefore, it is quite a bit longer. The outside coating is very hard to slice to expose the wires to attach the terminals.
I ordered the proper terminal crimping tool (does the terminal and weather seal).
Removed the two terminals from the plug, installed the two new wires, connected the brake pad wear sensor wires together (from the ABS module to the ECU to complete the circuit).
I ran the wire a little different than stock. From the wheel, I went to the back holder on the strut, then the front, and through the fender. I am hoping that doing it this way will keep the wire away from the rim (how the wire was damaged in the first place).
The order from FCPeuro included the ABS wire, front control arm bolts, rear brake disc retention screws (torx heads), two ball joints and outer tie rod ends (I always have an extra two in the trailer when racing), along with two bottles of power steering fluid… that will be part of the major pain in the buttocks story in Chapter 3.
Advantage of cooler weather later in the season… side door open instead of running the AC.
Chapter 3: Uggggggghhhhh! I hate working backwards. I had to address a leaky power steering rack. The rack came from the 20AE when I rebuilt the frontend of the Golf after an incident in 2010. I used the transmission, engine, PS rack, etc. etc. from the donor 20AE. Last time that I am going to use old parts… yeah, riiiiiggghttt.
I filled the power steering reservoir as it was completely empty, started the car, and turned the wheel back and forth.
I spent a lot of time crawling under the car and taking pictures as my camera could get in a better angle to see the rack. I thought for sure it was the new flex lines that I installed on the rack since that was the last thing that I did prior to it leaking.
The pain in the buttocks… remember in introduction when the suspension was all tight and ready for action?
Time to backtrack and drop the subframe to access the power steering rack. Fluid all over the top of it.
This is the source of the leak. It is actually the nipple from the rack that is leaking, not where the hose connects to it.
Close up. The “drip” is because I removed the line, but look at the metal on the rack. The source of the leak.
I ordered a remanufactured Bosch rack from FCPeuro… my favorite go to for our Volkswagen and Volvo parts… wish they also had Subaru parts. I figured that someone mentioned that she could see Russia from Alaska, so I figured Japan must also be pretty close to Europe. Nope.
…the “strong like” story…
Pictured on their site when I ordered Bosch 1J1422075P was a fully loaded steering assembly. The rack/pinion, inner tie rods, boots, etc.
What arrived was a little different… though, a nice looking unit.
I sent them an email, had some good constructive conversations with Gus at FCPeuro, and it seems the image on their site needs to be updated and I did get what I ordered.
Okay, I asked if they had the fully assembled rack (less work for me!) and he put everything that I needed together in my cart so that I didn’t have to fish around for what I needed. Big help.
I understand that the website images might not always be correct. No biggy.
Let’s just say that FCPeuro did a solid and handled the whole situation very professionally and beyond my expectation. It might be because I was so nice during this exchange (that was not supposed to be sarcasm.. I was very nice) or it is just because of their business ethics. I have always said that people make mistakes; what they do after they are aware of the mistake is what defines them.
I “strong like” FCPeruo. Enough where I proudly included their sticker on my car. Not something that I take lightly.
I don’t have stickers for brands of parts because I use them. Stickers are on my car because of people. People who helped make racing possible. FCPeuro is a good company with great people… I will continue recommending them.
The gang is (almost) all here.
I realized that I needed the clamps for the boots.
I ordered the clamps from ECStuning
N90834901 (large inner clamp)
N10197601 (small outer clamp)
I noticed that I had a credit sitting at FCPeuro (might have been from the Passat ABS wheel speed sensor that I returned) so I ordered the tool to use on the power steering rack clamps (same as CV joints, it seems… good tool to have) and the tool for those PITA clamps on MK4 coolant lines where I have struggled with channel lock pliers.
I noticed the distinction between “early and late” tie rods, but I do not know if it is driven by model year.
343.1mm is approx. 13.5” (early)
318.9mm is approx. 12.5” (late)
Gus at FCPeuro looked up the inner tie rods based on my VIN just to make sure I was getting the correct rods.
It is interesting that the “late” version includes 2001 (my actual Golf) and the 2003 (20AE donor rack). What the heck is “early” then (assuming it is by model year)… the MK4 came out in the US in 1999.
Chapter 4: I still haven’t installed the rack yet because of a track day coming up that has me focusing on the Subaru WRX. More unexciting news on that.
But first, let’s have a word from our sponsor and flashback to June 2020.
The hillclimbs in Vermont (and Mt Washington in New Hampshire) were naturally canceled this year. I had to make a trip to see a friend to pick up some “car parts” (inside joke, and no, it isn’t drugs) so I stopped by Mt. Ascutney. To my surprise, the access road was open. It just so happened that I arrived on the very first day that the parks were open in 2020.
Ascutney being my favorite (minus the bigger bumps growing at the top of the hill) hillclimb, I paid the day fee and headed up the hill slowly.
Beautiful views. I got FTD as no one else showed up… same scenario is needed for me to get FTD during a real hillclimb.
Picking up those car parts at a secret location in New Hampshire.
And now back to our regularly scheduled program that is in progress.
I replaced the passenger side control arm with a BFI complete control arm with VW R32 bushings earlier this year. I noticed that the driver’s side was also bad.
So, I decided that I didn’t want to find another dead bushing while at an event and ordered the SCCH front control arm bearings.
I’m a little confused who makes them and what SCCH stands for…
The instructions with the bearings show “SCCH: Suspension Components & Cylinder Heads” and provides a link to www.SCCH-Heads.com, but the actual website states “SCCH: Southern California Cylinder Heads”… don’t know.
The instructions also show “Innovative Motorsport Solution”.
Regardless, I purchased the bearings from MRP (www.performancemrp.com) and Chris (Cheesefactory Auto in Colchester, VT) did the pressing. Thanks Chris!
I have the steering rack out of the car, I might as well replace the old stock bushings with Powerflex polyurethane. I looked at the solid metal bushings (brackets at this point?), but could not justify the price. I lived this long with rubber.
Might now seem like much of an update, but I needed a horn. I am missing the high tone (didn’t replace it after the 2010 front end modification incident) which left me with the dull and muffled low tone.
At the hillclimbs, we are required to have a working horn to communicate with the checkpoint workers if something happens unexpectedly… could just be a mechanical issue and the car doesn’t run (one honk) or we hit something and need help (two honks). (removed verbosity soaked attempt to explain the complete rules that you just don’t need to know… you’re welcome)
Anyway, the PIAA horns were inexpensive and louder. I plan to mount then inside the engine bay as I figure the stock location of the horns (front bumper) would make them useless in a frontal impact. Plus, it will make it easier for me to remove the bumper in the future as I won’t have to play with the horn wires.
When I removed the rear wiper blade so that I didn’t accidently turn it on and scratch the back window and damage the stickers, I just put black electrical tape over the hole.
It worked okay, but I wanted something a little better than tape.
Heck, I even graduated from zipties in some cases.
Ordered the rear wiper delete plug from ECStuning (part number ES#3170849).
The description: “The exterior cap is made from Type-6463 Billet Aluminum to achieve the ultra-high gloss bright dip anodized finish to match the rear hatch glass and to maintain protection against ultraviolet light”
And I’m just thinking, “plugs the hole and looks pretty”
Installed…
Chapter 11teen: Reported from Joey at Kales Custom, the cage on the Scirocco is done! I am heading over there on Friday so that we can determine the proper location to mount the fixed seat (no sliders this time). Gotta remember to bring my helmet.
That is it for Volkswagen news…
Time for the Subaru WRX.
Trying to adjust the hover mode…
Or, I just have it on jackstands to install the “track only” brake pads and the Toyo R888 tires for the first (and only?) car event for me this year.
I am currently running the Hawk HP Plus if I bring the car to a small track (and I love them for daily driving), but I noticed at a track event at Canaan (http://www.canaanmotorclub.com/the-track) last year led to hot and fading brakes.
I went with Hawk DTC-60 pads front and rear for the 2020 track event.
Back on the ground with new pads and rubber (the Toyos were already mounted on my “race” rims… easy swapping)
Headed off to Club Motorsports in Tamworth, NH (USA) for a time trial event with some open track on Oct 12. Great track… lots of fun and still so much to learn.
Here is a video of part of the open track session. Because the car doesn’t have a cage or harness, and I didn’t know the track, I did spend a great deal of time coasting into the brake zone and not trying to go as fast as I could. Normally, I would drive in deep and put the brake pads to work. Don’t get me wrong, I was trying to be quick in the corners, etc., but I was cautious with my top speed and how deep I went into corners before hard braking.
Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O4wpXlvHhs
The folks that I race with in the New England Hillclimb Association (NEHA) series organized this great event. Very little sitting with a lot of driving. 40ish drivers with a car leaving the start line about every 30 seconds. Kudos!
Some photos from the event… diverse group of drivers and cars.
This is a cool car to have back in our ranks. Charlie Rutan (brother to Bill Rutan who built the Scirocco that I have now) built this fast 1964 VW Beetle and raced it (at the very least) in the NEHA hillclimbs for many years. He retired from racing in 2000.
Somewhere along the lines, his son autocrossed the car and then ended up trying to sell it in 2016. Sometime between 2016 and the Oct 12, 2020 event, the Beetle was sold, rebuilt, and was ready for a track event. Very nice seeing this car back in action again.
