The Project Pad

Either going to POR 15 or powdercoat it. Actually depends on if I can really get it out of the car

It is handy to be able to move it around though. Like when I have to re-do the headliner, etc.

I have FIA seats that require 6" of space behind them for flex, so that made the harness bar a pain to put in the main hoop. Some retrofit a back brace, but I am not putting one of those on a seat not designed for it.

I dunno, POR is so great out of UV exposure. It's so easy and covers so well and even. But powder coating is nicer... But more $$. Who's counting though right

POR can be sealed against UV exposure, for what it's worth.

Roll bar looks great!

I have the flat black topcoat:)

Cool addition to the car. What size plate did you use to tie roll bar to rear strut tower ?

I have FIA seats that require 6" of space behind them for flex...

Ah, that's a tall person problem Us short folks can't get the seat that far back otherwise I can't reach the pedals

Makes sense though, and why I see the harness bars that arch away from the seat and back again. Never realized the spacing behind the seat was even a requirement! I was always curious about harness stretch though, so if you have that much material, could it stretch TOO much? I have nothing to back that up, just a thought that popped through.

Regardless - nicely done.

And if you can get it out, I just rattle canned mine. Still looks great, and holds up well. Not as nice as PC'ing it, but given the limited interaction it gets with everything around it, the epoxy spray can I used worked great!

Harness stretch does happen, but honestly, most of the cars I looked into were setup like this. From dedicated track cars, rally, and a world challenge car that was there.

Soooooo Hank posted a dyno vid on Instagram....

Update on the car, been crazy busy.

My BMW electric water pump failed so I installed a Davies Craig EWP150 system and also replaced the headgasket. It seems to work well, but I am still burping coolant. Hoping maybe it's just the reservoir cap.

I am going to try a cap that I found that has a nipple on it so you can redirect the coolant to a catch can. Right now it overflows under the car and gets scooped up by the brake ducts. This made turn 4 at spring mountain extra dramatic a few times this weekend.

Since the head had to come off, I built up a new head with TTRS cams and supertech valves. The idea is to make the motor bulletproof, and the stock valves always scared me.

So that's why I was on the dyno. The cams are just kind of Meh. Nothing spectacular, I had to add a little more fuel up top, but I am not sure I am a big fan. I think I lost some spool which I could use more than the top end.

Coolant in the brakes . Yikes .
Cap with a bleeder to an overflow sounds like a good idea . When I was having issues with an old car I found that you can also get caps that relieve at a slightly higher set pressure which may help to raise the boiling point just a tad to get you out of hot water.

Must have been pretty cool to drive the 90 and the RS3 , Be interesting to hear what your thoughts were

Interesting! So no big/custom cams then. Definitely don't like the idea of coolant hitting brakes, yuck!

Hey Pat, the two cars are completely different beasts. My car, I have to detune, and it's full of compromises to get it to be fast. The RS3 on full boost with the DSG is totally drive able all day long, as long as it's not 95 out. We did find the limits of the stock oil cooler and had to chill at times, but the car just goes like stink. Hank had a staggered tire setup on like stock, and it makes the car a lot of fun through the corners, with some stepout of the rear end.

With a few more mods like oil cooler and maybe some better seats, the car will be pretty solid.

If only they release it in a manual . Then I wait about 5 years and Ill be able to afford one.

Re the rear end stepping out I Imagine you were able to get your 90 pretty well balanced with spring setup and stuff? Or does it still have a tendency to push?

It still pushes at the end of the day. The rear tires are back there doing practically nothing on my car. Save the manuals for the old cars or get a gen 1 TTRS, the DSG is the best part about the RS3 in my opinion.

audifreakjim wrote:It still pushes at the end of the day. The rear tires are back there doing practically nothing on my car.

Have you ever considered running wider tires on the front? Just curious , I have no practical experience with this.

That's what the RS3 had from the factory, and what Hank had at the track. I mimic this with higher pressures in the rear, then I can still rotate tires as needed.

I am also hopeful the coolant problem is fixed, I put a new expansion tank cap on yesterday and everything stayed in the tank after quite a few high boost runs.

Here is a video of the coolant on the brakes

https://youtu.be/6Cph5ZRFp-I

Hi Jim,

Can you elaborate a little more on what happened with your thrust washer?

Did it spin around from the clutch engaging and munch the crank?

Great build!

It's a shame most of the old pictures no longer work (even with the Chrome photobucket plug in - assuming you were using photobucket to begin with).

Cheers

The old pictures are all on my old motorgeek thread, they didn't come over with the thread import.

Not sure exactly what happened with the thrust bearing, but yes, the clutch, which is much stiffer than the factory clutch is probably to blame. It's a common problem on other motors that only have a 180d bearing when upgrading the clutch.

Thanks, Jim.

Will take a look.

I posted in the 07k basics section, but it seems like there may be more traffic of 07k knowledgable people through here.

Do you know if the ECS RA4 flywheel would work with 07K & 01E? It is a 240mm flywheel but is designed for 1.8t (228mm) guys looking to convert to the larger 240mm style S4 B5 clutches.

Can't say for sure. The clutch will probably work, but the starter may need to go a few mm deeper to get full engagement. This is easy if you are building your own starter adapter.

Keep it in the other threads if you don't mind

sure thing. apologies, jim.

cheers

The giggles after your ag work made me smile

https://youtu.be/6Cph5ZRFp-I

Did you figure out what was causing the coolant to burp?

I've solved the problem by switching to Evan's water-less coolant. The problem with my setup is the electric water pump is not constant flow. This would lead to hot spots in the head when I would hit boost and the pump wasn't flowing, or flowing enough and flash boil the coolant. Jeff Gerner had to switch to this on his top speed car as well.

The stuff is amazing, The EPS Pikes peak car ran the last half of the course without a water pump, 180C coolant temps, and still finished with a good time and without incident. They just pulled the motor for inspection, but it still ran fine. The only thing cooling the car was the massive oil cooler.

After seeing this, I was sold. Plus it barely pressurizes the system so it's not as hard on the hoses and less likely to burst all over the place.

audifreakjim wrote:I've solved the problem by switching to Evan's water-less coolant. The problem with my setup is the electric water pump is not constant flow. This would lead to hot spots in the head when I would hit boost and the pump wasn't flowing, or flowing enough and flash boil the coolant. Jeff Gerner had to switch to this on his top speed car as well.

The stuff is amazing, The EPS Pikes peak car ran the last half of the course without a water pump, 180C coolant temps, and still finished with a good time and without incident. They just pulled the motor for inspection, but it still ran fine. The only thing cooling the car was the massive oil cooler.

After seeing this, I was sold. Plus it barely pressurizes the system so it's not as hard on the hoses and less likely to burst all over the place.

That eps car is a work of art ! Have you seen the oil pan they made? well, and the rest of the car .
It’s crazy that they ran that long without a pump without some sort of major meltdown, it seems like they’ve been putting that engine to the test.

On the water pump I wonder if there is a way to have it just constantly circulate some small amount . You’d think there would be some sort of natural thermosiphon effect that would keep the hotter water moving toward the cooler area .