Mk1 Golf conversion to VNT diesel power

[carrizog60]

great work!'
how much time on that all

[regcheeseman]

How much time? Far too much, the turbo controller alone owes me 100's of hours and it's still not right, I had the laptop plugged into it last night to try and set the servo up.

Re-birthing my tired looking seats

If you remember, I bought some seats...


Started off by trying to rejuvenate what I had already but I wasn't 100% on the results,


also the back bench wouldn't fit and the fronts needed the centre rail changing on the runners

I annoyed Andy (ART1234) some more and came away with a hanging mk1 rear bench and front seats, they got stripped and cut up for bits, the rear frame was rusty and needed plates welding on.
Then I dismantled the rocco seats and was left with a large pile of various seat components.
I tried various combinations of parts to see what might fit or be made to fit before coming up with a plan....

After I unpicked the worn and faded center panels from all my 'rocco covers I took them to a local upholsterer, he made up new centres and sewed them in, and then he replaced another section with a small fag burn - and as he had some vinyl left, he replaced the side sections on the rear seat back because they had holes in them for the (now defunct) scirocco mounting hardware. The holes were not visible with the seats fitted but you 'know' they are there and he obviously takes pride in his work.
To cap it all, he was doing them for a good price but 'in between jobs' and had told me they would take about four weeks, so I figured six before I started to nag him.
He phoned me within 3 weeks to come and collect them.

The rear seat I've built is a hybrid, the foam is mk1 golf, the frame is mostly mk1 golf with a few mods to allow the 'rocco covers to fit, I could have used the rocco foams, but they are really thin with no density - the Golf ones are about 6" thicker and slightly smaller - the upshot of this is the 'rocco covers need some stretching to fit but eventually they were coaxed into place.
The clips are holding the cover in place while the glue dries, not normally glued but the cover was threatening to ping off as it's only just tucked in.

Quite often the seat backs on a mk1 are covered in a bubbly shrunk scruffy vinyl, I freshened mine up with a layer of carpet left over from trimming the boot area.
The fronts very pretty straightforward to recover and were soon back together

Not sure if the blue one will fit though.

The rear bench went back in no bother and I'm proper chuffed, even the missus was impressed.


I also hooked up the alt, the oil cooler and the radiator was sat in place to measure up for a bracket.... getting there!

[rallydiesel]

What's your oil pressure while running two turbos?

[regcheeseman]

I'm not running two turbos - just the one. 

Anyway, an update is due and it seems that for the last few weeks I have mostly been lying in puddles of brake fluid swearing.

the rear o/s had three hard lines made up, before a REALLY sketchy double bubble flare managed to seal.

It was so sketchy that I couldn't leave it like that and ordered extra long rear lines to do away with the hard lines that run along the rear beam.

However having disturbed the fitting on the hard line to the chassis, they were both now leaking. They'd appear fine until the pressurised bleeder was fitted and they'd start to drip

Whilst this was going on I discovered the clutch master had also seized, I bought another that was full of rust and knackered seals , using bits from both I've made a usable unit, once bleed I find that the thick plate it is bolted to is flexing nicely and needs bracing
Made up a bracing plate from 4mm stainless and then welded a bracing bar back to the column.



two nights ago I fitted the rear lines (having to drop the rear beam AGAIN.) cutting off the old fittings and re-flaring the pipe. When the bleeder was fitted they held fluid but now the front offside is dripping.

I had to put the back end together before working on the front, which thankfully was a simply case of re-flaring the line and changing the nipple - never use TTE (thread-to-end) fittings with concave female fittings.

Finally the system is sealed and I can bleed it up.

Bear in mind the car has no front wheel and the front O/S is up on the jack so the rear N/S is tight to the wall. I start to bleed the rear and when I finally squeeze between wall and car - I find a new puddle of brake fluid.
Turns out the fitting wasn't tight, easy fix.
 
Finally I have the brakes bled and they are absolutely rock solid

To relieve the pain of all this hassle, I've added a few carbon bits to the engine bay and the body.....






Hopefully I can get the bonnet/tailgate and a couple of spots painted this weekend. And take it for a quick spin.

[regcheeseman]

Finally, three year have passed and I finally get to drive my golf.

Engine off, with the brace in place on the clutch master cyl, the action is short and all the ratios seem to engage, precisely - no hit or miss sloppy rod linkage here.

The engine fires instantly and I let it warm for a bit. Bear in mind I have two bolt in each wheel and none have been torqued. The front camber is obviously a mile out as the front end resembles the sort of broke look normally found on air-cooled VWs.

I snick into first and lurch out of the garage.

The engine seems noisy - not helped by the lack of bonnet, whiff of throttle and short shift into second and up the drive.

I do a few gentle runs up and down our drive and all seems fine so I return to the garage.

Walking back to the house I'm disappointed by the noise and the fact it seems quite slow - the turbo is fixed into it's most laggy position where it also has the potential for the most boost - maybe that's to blame???


A few hours later and I cant resist a quick spin again, I pull out of the garage and leave it sat on the drive idling whilst I check all is ok - the vac pump is wobbling and spewing oil, just a loose clamp.

I go for another quick spin, the motor seems quieter this time.

Temptation gets the better of me and I floor it in second, it starts to accelerate then  sweet baby jesus! everything goes a bit mental fast forward. I back off and coast to a halt.

In the mirror I can see a sizeable cloud which clears to reveal a thick black line, odd because I never felt any wheelspin but it did all happen a bit quick.

I turn around and go back, as I approach the line, it's obvious why I felt no wheelspin.



I'm laying darkies with soot. 

I appreciate I've been driving a poxy 1300 polo for 12 months but this Golf is quick, quicker than my caddy was, and that would rape a mk1 GTI