My Track Car Project

Here we go,

I have had my mk1 since feb this year.

The main reason i bought it was because i wanted a track car after getting the track bug at the end of last year. I shared a car one of my mates had got as part of a trade in, it was an Escort RS Turbo which was pretty standard apart from being lowered and chipped to about 180bhp. We had a top day at Oulton Park and ever since i wanted to get my own car.

I spent many an hour chatting in the pub trying to decide what the best car would be to turn into a track car on a budget and in the end decided that a small hatchback that is lightweight and will handle like its on rails with a decent engine power to weight ratio would be the key to sucess. We narrowed the cars down to an XR2, pug 205 or mk1 golf. The decision was easy because i dont like XR2's or 205's and love the retro style of the mk1.

I started looking around for a mk1 and found one that was already race preped going for ?1500 on pistonheads but by the time i got the cash sorted and phoned up it had already sold, GUTTED!!! So, i had to start looking around again and realised that i had missed a good oppertunity. As time went by i knew i wasnt going to find a car that was already preped for ?1500 so i started to look for a car with a half decent shell and engine and decided to do all the hard work myself. I had got it in my head that i wanted a white, non-sunroof 1.8 GTI.

After a while, i saw one on ebay which was only 10 miles away that had been sorn for about 12 months. It had had an new engine an box put in it just before it was sorn but the the guy i bought it off couldnt get it running unless it was constantly on jump leads. I didnt think this was much of a problem and the shell was half decent apart from the inner sills needed welding up and the brakes didnt work. It also had a few things on it which were quite appealing like full samco hoses and a newman race cam. 750 quid later and the car was mine!!!!

This is when i bought it:




More to follow…………..

UPDATED - 27062008

With my budget only being ?1500 i wasnt left with much change to get a cage, suspension, brakes and seats etc. My only option was to try find them second hand. I wasnt having much luck until one night when i was scouring ebay and found a lower front strut brace that looked like it was going cheap. I messaged the guy to ask a couple questions and to improve my luck he replied and said he was breaking his mk1 euro saloon. BINGO!!!, he had all the parts i was looking for….

I got the following off him:

- 6 point safety device cage with fixed diagonal and door bars
 

- fully adjustable front Leda suspension with alloy top mounts




- koni rears and custom 700lb Eibach springs all round

- Willwood 4 pots and G60 280mm disc on new hubs and drive shafts




- 16v master cylinder


- Front quarter windows
- Battery

All this was purchased at the bargin price of ?600  The only thing was, i had to go and get it from Cardiff…   and also after all that i didnt even win the strut brace!!!!!!! god dammm

I then got the suspension on which made it sit very nicely…




The cage is still waiting to be painted, im thinking either white or red but im a bit undecided still. This will be done when i get the car to my mates garage and get the sills welded. I also attempted to do the brakes but all the bolts are siezed so i will get them off with the air gun at the same time…

With all my money nearly gone it was time to start making a bit of money back, so i decided to strip the interior and see how much i could get for it all. Anything that wasnt needed was taken out, and put on here and ebay. I sold a few things and managed to get around ?300 back so next on the agenda was bucket seats. Another ebay night and i found 2 Sparco evo bucket seats which were 6 months old. The guy wanted ?450 which was way out of my budget so i tried haggling abit, which he was having none of. I carried on watching the seat getting listed week in and week out and they still didnt sell so i decided to try haggling again. I managed to knock him down to ?260 (get in there!) which was more than i wanted to pay but these seats were ?700 new.



With some spare cash i had i bought a few oher bits and bobs:

- Sabelt 3" 6 point harnesses - ?50 for the pair
- OMP upper rear and front lower strut braces (cheapest from rally design)
- Steering boss (still looking for a wheel) ?15
- Raid snap off kit - FREE
- Alloy side mounts - ?30 (ebay bargin)
- exhaust rubbers - ?5
- bonnet pins - ?5
- Alloy Pedals - ?8

It started getting to the point where i was just buying stuff and not doing much, i was getting loads of stick off my mates saying it was never going to run and i might as well go weigh it in at the local scrappies. I was going to leave the engine till last and look at the wiring when it was nearly done. To be honest i didnt have a clue, why would it run but only on jump leads??? This is when i had some more luck. I got chatting to "Cabbydave" on the forum and wwas going to swap some parts. He called round and was looking at my car, we popped the bonnet and he noticed straight away that all the wiring was wrong. 5 minutes later and everything was put in its right place he was confident it would start first time. I got my battery on charge and tried it that afternoon. To my surprise it worked! So it just goes to show that the 20 odd years experience of having mk1's Dave had was top notch. BIG THANKYOU DAVE, you have saved me loads in auto electrician charges…

At a similar sort of time thought i would see if the BBS RA's which came on it would fit over my brakes. Unfortunately it was a big NO NO… Mmm, i was going to have to get some new wheels which would fit. I knew G60 steelies would fit but i didnt have the spare cash so it was another night in with ebay. I ended up buying some 16" alloys and tyres for ?65. They would keep me going until i got the money for the G60's and the 888's  on that i want. The RA's went on e5ay and i got ?155 back, top dollar.

This is how it looks at the minute:







And the rusty sills and floor pan, which is getting sorted soon:



Think thats it for one night, i will try and keep the post updated for anyone that is interested. My planned completion date is mid August so watch out Oulton Park  

UPDATED - 07072008

I woke up early on sunday with bit of a hangover thinking what should i do today. For some silly reason i thought sniffing paint fumes all day would be a good idea and make me feel better, so off i went to B&Q and armed myself with a tin of Hammerite and a brush.

Check out my hungover handy work:

BEFORE:


AFTER:  


I think it turned out well, the only thing was the smell made me feel 10 times worse!!!!

Also i have ordered my carbon fibre door cards so i will get some pics up once they arrive.

Updated 16/07/2008

I got a few things fitted last weekend:
- Carbon fibre door cards
- Perspex rear windows
- Harness eye bolts



Updated 28/07/2008

This week i finally saw a bit of progress and can see the car coming together. I decided to paint the cage myself using spray cans and opted to go for red so it would match the OMP strut brace.







After the paint had dryed i gave the car a good wash and took some new pics:











I now have a date for my first track day in mind, it is at the begining of November at Oulton Park. I would have liked to do one sooner but i am away during September and there is none advertised in October at the minute. I now have 3 months to finish it all which is easily achievable.

Here is the current spec:

Things i have done:
- fully stripped interior
- full safety devices roll cage
- rear strut brace
- front lower strut brace
- seam welded wishbones
- polybushed
- leda front coilovers with adjustable top mounts
- rear koni adjustables
- Eibach 700lb springs
- 16v master cylinder
- Willwood dynalite calipers
- braided hoses
- 280mm g60 discs
- sparco evo bucket seats
- sabelt 3" 6 point harnesses
- carbon fibre door cards
- perspex windows

Things in the pipeline:

- audi throttle body + wur
- G60 wheels
- Toyo R888's
- 4 branch
- modify the airbox
- moving the battery inside the car
- new brake line run through the car
- Race decals
- fire extinguisher (Safety first, or last in this case!!!)

very nice , just need some perspex windows tio finish it off  

Funny you say that, they are next on the list!!!  :mrgreen:

very nice  will have to see whos is quickest round oulton as soon as mine is done, i have a large throttle body going spare was going to bay it pm me an offer it could be yours

Looking good matey, those the wheels you got from Dubunit?
If so i was speaking to you while you sent your misses the cash point, lol

nice mate i like that  8)

Looking good - and I like the budget approach - give us a shout we have plenty of used strut braces and probably anything else you need.

Cheers

Rich

A21GAV - I did get the wheels from Dubunit. I forgot to mention your "aladdins cave" of mk1 bits, you to were top guys so if anyone is ever stuck for a part give them a try www.dubunit.co.uk

Thanks to everyone that has shown interest, i am open to advice and debate about the best things for a track car. I cant wait to get it finished so i can go and show a few of the more expensive track schlags a thing or to. Im going to love getting one over on them, ha ha

**Pictures updated**

Well done ,that is some top scavenging, damn why did'nt I see these :cry:

Looking really good. How much did you pay for the sub frames for the buckets you got such a deal there. They look awsome i must say.

I have just got the alloy sidemounts off ebay, they were ?30 for the pair. They are not in the best condition but alloy sidemounts usally cost around ?60 per seat so i save quite alot and they can be cleaned up or resprayed.

The problem now is fitting them as you cant just bolt them to the floor incase you are in an accident. I have seen various ways of fitting them, some people modify the original mk1 subframes and attach the sidmounts to them, where other people have had to take out the cross members on the floor and weld in box section where the seat needs to be placed. The second option is the bigger job but the proper way of fitting them really, so im a bit undecided what i am going to do yet.

UPDATED - Rear interior of car painted - Check Page1

looks good
wel post when you have done the seats and im looking to get some buckets. But as you said subframes and all that.

Great project! Well thought out mods and i like the fact that u not just throwing money at it, it makes your achievement even more rewarding i'm sure!!!

looks even better in the flesh

UPDATED - 16/07/2008

Carbon fibre door cards
Perspex rear windows
Harness eye bolts

Updated:

Roll cage painted look at page 1 for pictures  

Its been a while since i updated the post but here are a frew pics i have taken recently:











I should have it finished soon!!! (fingers crossed)

nice
theres loads of bits i would love to have off that
anyway what tyre size and profile are they?
195/50?