Long Waiting G60 Project

Right, I've been on here for about a year now, buying parts and pestering people with loads of simple questions. Now I am finally ready to start a build thread! I apologise for the rubbish pictures!

The car is originally a 1981 1.6 GTI in black, the car has sat in the garage for the last 20 odd years since my dad bought it, stripped it and then it just got left. The car is solid as it hasn't seen rain since it was put away.



The car is pretty low mileage and I know people are going to say put it back to original but I have no proof of mileage, no original engine and I don't se myself ever selling it so I'm not too worried about it's resale value.  Saying that I think I will only make changes that I can reverse just in case, so no real body modifications or anything.

It's currently got no engine and box in and the plan is for a G60 conversion with a stage 4 charger which I had rebuilt at John Mitchell Racing (who were very helpful!). Ive been collecting parts for what seems like years and I think I have everything I need.

I have got to confess that I don't really have the skill or tools to carry out this work on my own so I have found a mobile mechanic through a mate who is going to be giving me a hand so I can learn as I go, thought it was a better idea than just sending it off for someone to do it all.

A few more pictures:..






 

And the pile of parts….

So I finally started to do some work on this for an hour tonight, I split the engine and box and started to give the box a good clean ….



I'm not going to go crazy on this because over next winter I plan to replace this with a CTN box with a diff fitted.

I should probably say that this isn't going to be a show car, just a tidy, fun weekend toy

So… for my first question, when looking at the G60 throttle body there are two outlets coming off of it. I know the one comming straight of connects to the intercooler, my question is what does the other one connect to, the one pointing downwards?? if this doesnt make any sense I will get some pictures next time I'm round there!

That connection goes back to the supercharger, it's the boost return. As you open the main throttle butterfly the boost return closes allowing the air to enter the engine. The engine doesn't need all that extra air at low revs and this allows it to be bypassed back to your supercharger. Hope that makes sense. 

daniboy123 said

That connection goes back to the supercharger, it's the boost return. As you open the main throttle butterfly the boost return closes allowing the air to enter the engine. The engine doesn't need all that extra air at low revs and this allows it to be bypassed back to your supercharger. Hope that makes sense. 

So that goes back to the outlet on the right hand side of the charger (when looking from the front of the car) which a lot of people blank off?

Yea  that's it. You can blank it off and put a filter on throttle body so long as you give the charger a spray with the correct lubricant once in a while.

daniboy123 said

Yea  that's it. You can blank it off and put a filter on throttle body so long as you give the charger a spray with the correct lubricant once in a while.

Thanks, that's a great help!

As per Dan, a lot of people blank the boost return side of the charger off as there is very little room in a mk1 with a g60 radiator. 

Without the boost return the engine will be very loud as air wooshs out of the throttle body. I decided to make a custom joiner to the charger in order to retain the boost return and quieten everything down.

You can add a cap of oil to the charger with a blanked boost return but if you go the lubricant route ensure you get the right stuff from a g60 specialist as using the wrong stuff can do more harm than good.

Cheers

Rich

RichG said

As per Dan, a lot of people blank the boost return side of the charger off as there is very little room in a mk1 with a g60 radiator. 

Without the boost return the engine will be very loud as air wooshs out of the throttle body. I decided to make a custom joiner to the charger in order to retain the boost return and quieten everything down.

You can add a cap of oil to the charger with a blanked boost return but if you go the lubricant route ensure you get the right stuff from a g60 specialist as using the wrong stuff can do more harm than good.

Cheers

Rich

Ok, cheers, I'll probably try without then if it is too loud have to think again

 I'd like to try and fabricate something to retain the boost return myself as well, not sure how well the throttle body filters stop the oil mist getting all over your engine bay either. When the engine is finally in place and my radiator is mounted ill be able to see what space I have to play with. It's very little from memory.

So we got a bit of work done on this today, managed to mock up where the intercooler, rad and oil cooler are going to sit. Also fitter the 02j shifter tower to the 02a box. Pulled the old exhaust and driveshafts out of the bay

Gave the engine a service too with new cam belt, plugs, water pump and belt for the charger, a few pictures below although the quality is pretty bad as it was dark by then and only using a camera phone:

We would have got the box connected back up to the engine but when we opened the clutch box up GSF had given us a random flywheel rather than a vr6 clutch! 

We also can across the our first issue! I am using the epytec conversion mounts but the gearbox mount is catching on the reverse light switch:


It's the mount for cable that is fouling and I need this as I'm not going hydraulic yet. Has anyone had this issue? What's the options? Is just a case of loosing the reverse switch from the tower?

Thanks
 

I have a quick question, I have fitted my 02j shifter tower to the 02a gearbox but it won't fit with the bottom retainer cap (the one on the bottom of the box that the tower sits in)

I've been looking for an 02j cap but with no real luck, does anyone know if they are still available from vw? And if so what they are actually called?! 

Thanks 

nice looking project iim in the process of doing a g60 mk1 as well so if u need any advice ill try an help
MPF85  i fitted a o2j tower as well but u dont need it really if u brought the polo shifter the end clips that clip too the tower come off so u dont need the o2j tower   just swop them over from the g60 gear shifter if that makes sense

o an your reverse switch think u can brake the plastic bit off that leaves u with two copper pins that u can solder to i had to do the same on my o2j tower shifter as that was catching on my gearbox mount

Be here now said

nice looking project iim in the process of doing a g60 mk1 as well so if u need any advice ill try an help
MPF85  i fitted a o2j tower as well but u dont need it really if u brought the polo shifter the end clips that clip too the tower come off so u dont need the o2j tower   just swop them over from the g60 gear shifter if that makes sense

Thanks for the offer! 

I managed to get the 02j tower fitted in the end. I bought the end cap from vw 

The problem I'm having now is the polo cables don't fit on the tower! It looks like the pegs on the tower should go through the end of the cable but the cable ends on my shifter look like this

:

Can I just unscrew these and change them with ones that would work??

Cheers  

cool no no just hold them in your hand with the bit that clips on an pull back the top towards ya self an there pull straight off the cable same to re fit pull back an twist so they lock push ya cable in the end an untwist an there snap shut u have to lock the gear tower with a drill bit tho before snapping shut the tower clips hope that makes sense

nice to see a solid car get reserected

16vseries1 said

nice to see a solid car get reserected

thanks! I really need to update this soon, we have made a fair bit of headway, just waiting for some new hoses to arrive and it will be running! (hopefully)