Time attack beetle

[Humble]

DORIGTT, I'll stop when I'm bored BTW, next time you hit sunnyvale vw you should tell the guys there about your ride in my bug, especially Samer. He's the one I bought the golf through.

Volkdent, Do you usually instruct with HOD? That's one of the few groups I haven't run with and I was wondering what they're like?

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Now on to the good stuff! I started tearing into the STI motor some more to see what I bought, but the more I looked, the more I liked. I pulled off the crank pulley and timing cover to take a look at the timing belt and crank trigger wheel. The timing belt was in great shape and didn't have any cracking or defects much like the accessory belts I pulled off. The trigger wheel is a 36-2-2-2 setup which will make setting up the megasquirt nice and easy since it's a supported tooth profile.





While I was at it, I pulled the coils and spark plugs, and checked down the bores with a bore-scope. Cylinders and piston tops look great, and the plugs are all iridium tip gapped to .028". Coloration on the plugs was good and there was no debris or flecks that signal detonation. While the plugs were out I put a squirt of oil down the bores and put the motor through a few rotations and everything is smooth.



Got my new (to me) flywheel in this week. It's a gently used Aasco aluminum 11lbs. flywheel that should be perfect for race duty, purchased off one of the nasioc guys. I had to run down to the subaru dealer to grab some flywheel bolts and I'm hoping I can use the vw flywheel tool to help tighten them.





I spent the day Saturday on this little project. On the newer Subarus they have a small half-butterfly in the intake called the tumble generator valve, or TGV, that helps develop turbulence which keeps fuel droplets suspended in the air and improves low speed driveability. Unfortunately, even when they are wide open they block a lot of airflow, about 50%. I've seen TGV delete manifolds for sale but I figured I could do the work myself and it would be a fun project.

First step, pulled the butterflies and shafts from the TGV bodies. I got excited ( a little frustrated ) and had to drill the screws out of the butterflies which seems to be a common problem, but in the effort I forgot to take pics. Here's the TGV body in the vice, and I already removed the divider on the left side with a hacksaw. The TGV only blocks about 65-70% of the opening and you can see the lip the butterfly rests on in the body.



After a little work with a die grinder to smooth the edges here's a nearly finished TGV body, and then both of them together.





Once they're all cleaned up, you put in some plugs where the throttle shafts were and you're done! All in all it took about 3-4 hours to complete and should make a big difference in flow, especially since I took the time to port match the TGV bodies while I was at it.

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But wait, there's more! This is like the never ending update. It was also a race weekend! During the week I had replaced the throttle cable, and tweaked the tune to help the cold start a bit. The bug was running much better, and more than a couple folks had noticed at the autox. The course was very tight and technical, which is kind of a bastard thing to do for the first run of the season while folks are rusty. The last few corners were particularly bad with 150 degree turn backs between short sprints. I managed a 50.117 and beat my nemesis by .040 seconds, so close!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDkgARva40Y

[volkdent]

Will, HOD is pretty much all I instruct with now, there is no charge, in fact the last Thunderhill one they paid me $200 to do, so that can't be beat. I'll do Audi and BMW club, but BMW has only a couple of events a year and Audi still has the instructors paying half price, they do have a dedicated instructor run group though, and HOD is kind of a free for all, you get on the track during sessions you're not instructing.

I found this, it happened in your neck of the woods, look out for this one!!!

Wrecked Exotics McLaren MP4-12C

Jason

[Humble]

Once I get the bug finished I'll have to take it out to a HOD event

That's probably the same mp4-12c that was in the supercar group I came across in the mountains, I know right where that pic was taken.

[Humble]

Got some more parts in this week. Finally got my transmission, and TY754VBAAA from a ver 5/6 sti.





After doing some research the flywheel I picked up is for a modern subaru 6spd which has a larger 228mm clutch disk and beefier pressure plate. It'll work with the trans but not without some modification. There's a bunch of webbing in the bellhousing that will need to be clearanced and i'll have to do lots of test fits with the motor off the stand.



I also got my new megasquirt MS3X ecu this week. I opted for a prebuilt unit with a couple mods, the mapdaddy 4bar dual baro sensor, and the real time clock to time stamp logs. I've temporarily turned the dining room table into a lab and started testing and programming the MS3X. I'm looking into a lot of new features I didn't use/have on the ms2.





What I've setup so far:
waste fire ignition
batch fire injection
radiator fan control
tach output
boost control through table blending
water injection pump control
water injection valve control
front axle VSS input
transmission output shaft VSS input
VSS output to drive speedo
traction control with dial-a-slip

That's it so far, I'm still configuring everything. I need to get a couple 3 wire potentiometers to use with the adjustable boost and traction control settings. I have the wiring looms ready to go and once the motor and tranny are ready the fun can begin!

[Humble]

The subaru swap hit the skids while I work on Joy but that doesn't stop me from going out and racing. Event #2 was this past sunday and boy was it nice. I was running in the afternoon, which was pretty hot until the wind picked up, and it was a light crowd thanks to competing events. I didn't have a co-driver this time so the car only did half it's normal amount of runs... which taught me a lot. Oil, tire, and head temps were all down, heads stayed around 375, oil around 150F, and the front tires never got sticky. Without a co-driver I had to wait longer between runs and in that time the front tires lost all temp, which means all grip. I was .9 sec behind my nemesis in the turbo miata which means I was losing about 1 sec from cold tires.

I was going to add a little more front shock to see if it would help stabilize the car under braking, but I was also thinking I might decrease the front camber as well and go back down to -1.5 or -1.3. I'm not getting onto the front tire shoulders at all even with low tire temps, so I can probably dial out some camber.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xYVSlOUVuM

[Humble]

Event #3 for 2013 and another double points grab. I was running in the afternoon again, and the weather was great. Well, except for the random 40-50mph gusts and large dust devils that wrecked the course a few times. I played with the tire pressures a bit, raising the front to 18psi and the rears to 17psi. That got a lot more grip out of the front than I've had in a while but the rears were now sliding around. She was a handful but with the front sticking better I was able to go faster than before. The fun was short lived, however, since after each run I could hear the exhaust note changing. I had a small exhaust leak, not that big of a deal, but the car started to lose power which was very noticeable off boost. By the end of the group we were pretty much hot-lapping the car, and after my 3rd run I knew something was off. I tried to get a 4th run out of her anyway since I was about 1.5 seconds off top time of day, but halfway through the run the oil light started coming on and I shut her down. I ended up with a 44.4 which should have put me in the top 10 raw times with my 3rd run, and still beat my nemesis by .3 sec which was good for 1st place.

The victory is bittersweet though, and I think the cam might be going as well as the exhaust gasket. There's now a rush to get the sti motor and trans in the bug before the next event in June. I don't think it'll happen by then but we'll see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjRO2UR_-gQ

[Humble]

Moar updates!

Despite racing and breaking things, work does actually continue on the car, but I have to apologize for not updating in a timely fashion.

I finally got some parts in over the past couple weeks. I got my cast aluminum 2 piece shortened sump, and I finally got my transmission conversion goodies from the land down under. Subarugears makes a flip ring & pinion kit for the 5sp and I'm way impressed with the quality. Besides the R&P the kit comes with a setup tool, center diff spool, plug for the shortened center diff housing, output shafts (mine are type2/porsche pattern), a machined shift knob and a couple of stickers for good measure.



This week I've been working on the transmission and tearing it down to see what I bought. It's a TY754VBAAA from a 99-01 ver. 5/6 STI and supposedly one of the strongest 5sp built, or so I've read. It came apart in short order, found lots of corrosion on the through bolts that clamp the transmission together, not sure if that's normal galvanic corrosion or what. Before tear down I checked the shift action and it was still tight and notchy which gave me hope.



Looking at the gear stacks, they didn't look bad at all. First and second syncros got beat up pretty good but I've definitely seen worse. I tried to get close up pictures of the synchros but dropped my camera instead. :P I never did take the pics and now the stacks are off getting rebuilt with the new pinion shaft.

Another quick project that didn't get photos is rebuilding the OBX lsd. I got the rbryant kit, tore apart the OBX expecting to resurface it and was pleasantly surprised. The OBX wasn't perfect but was very serviceable in the shape I received it. The bolts and washers were replaced anyway as a precaution and everything bolted back together just like it should.



Last night I modified the case to accept the flipped differential. This is going to look so wrong to subaru guys I used a grinding disc to take care of most of it and I have some flap discs that I'll use to smooth things out later. I accidentally ground through the case on one of the bolt holes so that will have to be patched up later. For now the diff fits and spins easily with no contact and plenty on clearance.







Next on my to do list is to clearance the bell housing for the sti clutch parts. I have an Exedy stage 1 STI pressure plate and disk on the way and once they are here I can check for interference.

[Humble]

Big holiday weekend means lots of car work! I started the weekend by working on the other project first and finishing up the rear suspension. I finished the weekend by pulling the motor out of the race bug.

First up, got my gear stacks back with a collection of new gaskets, seals and shims.


Also got the new pressure plate and clutch, Exedy stage 1



Lastly I got some wiring components in, 100' of 8 colors, 14ga, chemical and heat resistant wire, and a couple of 22pin bulkhead connectors.





"I should have this outta here by dinner!" Nope. Drained 2.5 gallons of oil from the tank, then some from the motor, then some from the lines... and there was still oil dripping from here and there. I didn't get a picture of it but the header had separated at the slip fit. That would cause all the symptoms I was having right before I trailered it. Still going to check the lift at the valves to be certain.







It took a while to get the header, intake plumbing, and oil lines out of the way. Besides where the header separated there was only a bit of an exhaust leak on #4 and everything else had sealed tight.

Sunday, I started pulling everything else to get the motor out and on the stand before BBQ time. Fuel lines out, and manifolds off, and the motor pops out nice and easy. I wheeled the EJ25 out of the garage for some good comparison shots before cleaning up.











Transmission comes out next then it's time to pull the seats and the oil tank. The subaru trans needs to be finished up in the coming days, and wiring is also on the horizon, which will be a tedious job, but should be easier with the wiring diagram I've been working on.

[volkdent]

Maybe get some A/B weights of those things while you have apples and apples to compare?

Jason

[Humble]

I wish I had a scale that could measure them, but I can already say that the type 1 is easier to move around with a couple guys than the ej25. I'm hoping the ej25 gets a little lighter once it's drained (it shipped full of oil) and the header/turbo come off, but I don't know if that will even things out.

[Humble]

Got some more work done on the car this weekend, even though it was 95F+ in the driveway on saturday. I spent most of saturday inside designing the new wiring harness and reading up on the MS3X VVT control. I want to see about using that for the ej25, but it adds 10 wires to the engine harness. Once it cooled off outside I started trimming down the center diff housing for the subaru trans. The guys at subarugears put an awesome video up on youtube that shows where to cut.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXEUSVSpGHg

On sunday I headed over the Ambryn's place to get some help welding up the center diff housing, and to meet up with Ron who has a subaru swapped porsche 912. The 3 of us are at different stages in our swaps and so far have picked eachother's brains quite a bit. After chatting a bit (hours) Ron headed home and Ambryn and I got to work, but really Ambryn worked and I supervised.

Cleaning up some shoddy grinding that *somebody* did and making it look pretty




Looks much better after removing what's left of the freeze plug boss


Ambryn welded up the subaplug and the leftover holes. He blasted it afterwards to check for pin holes and clean it up.


I treated Ambryn to lunch and a great little taqueria (a staple food for me) and headed home to get a little more work done. Sean, my tire warmer/co-driver, came up to give me a hand for a bit. We pulled the seats out to make getting into the back easier to pull engine/ecu wiring and oil lines.




While I was at it I pulled the shift coupler free and Sean removed the trans and trans strap kit from the back.




I've been going over cage re-design ideas in my head a lot recently. I haven't been happy with the cage because it cuts into the driver space too much and it needs to be closer to the A/B pillars. I also want to eliminate the rear package tray so the firewall slopes from the bottom of the rear window to just above the transmission nosecone. That will give more room for the turbo and oil cooler underneath but I'll have to modify the rear cage stays. I'm contemplating chopping the cage forward of the main hoop, then shortening the rear cage stays to match the new firewall, and staying with a 4 point until a new cage can be welded in.

[SuperRSi]

Progress looks great! How nice that the three of you can get together and discuss different ideas in person. Very lucky on that count.

[Humble]

Things have slowed down a bit, but progress continues. Work has been killing me lately so I spent last weekend out camping near Yosemite with a bunch of friends and it was a great way to unwind. I learned a valuable lesson about drinking at 8000', not too much and not too fast.


I got some new parts in that will go on the car soon. Back in March or so I put an order in for these 935-style adjustable spring plates and they finally came in. They are 7075-T6 aluminum, with a burly M20 heim for the pivot, and grade 12.8 hardware throughout. Thanks Alex!





They replace the spring plates forward of the rear disk in this picture.


I bolted up the rear motor mount/adapter from subarugears.com since I was worried it might not clear the mendeola rear suspension brace. It's a tight fit but it works.





Speaking of Mendeola, I saw that they offered their own mounts for the subaru swaps, so I ordered their front mount and shift rod coupler. Top notch parts from great guys!




Racing season is still in full swing but the car is on blocks, what to do? I called my friend (and closest competitor/nemesis) Ian to see if I could co-drive his car. Ian has an OSP '99 miata with the Flyin' Miata catalog thrown at it and it's a fast car, faster and better setup than my beetle. Well, I was able to best Ian in his own car by 1.23 seconds, and drive it to a 7th overall in raw time, and 4th in pax. It's not all bad, I did pay his entry, and he had a datalogger going so he can compare our runs to learn from the whole thing. I learned quite a bit as well, like how wonderful an lsd is and what lack of understeer feels like on turn-in. I'm pretty jealous I have to say, it's a sweet ride.

UFO 2013 Autox #4 07-9-13 - YouTube

[Mr_Zed_ZX20]

Good to see things are coming along, I've been watching your progress for some time as we seem to have the same goals in mind. So when are you gonna bite the bullet and put the Mendeola S2 suspension under your car? I'd say it would probably help reduce if not almost eliminate the understeer you're experiencing now. I can't wait to see how your car does with the new tranny and powerplant, keep up the good work.

[Humble]

Mr_Zed_ZX20: I would love to throw the S2 suspension under the car but it's still a bit cost prohibitive, about the same cost as the entire subaru swap. The front suspension would help a lot but I'm learning that many of my handling issues are mostly setup related. The 1302/1302 suspension is capable of much more than folks give it credit for and I'm still trying to get the most out of it (nevermind the porsche updates, its still struts up front and semi-trailing arm rear).

Now that being said, I may end up with the S2 suspension parts on my street car