Aims & Objectives
So what am I going to do with this car, well to be honest I havent really made my mind up yet but I do have some things in mind.The overall aim of the project is to create a car that feels new. Now I know thats a bit ambitious for an old car, particular when the manufacturer doesnt make parts for it any more. But I'm going to set the bar high and try not to fall too far short.
At this stage I can see it going one of three ways:
1) Remove the rear bench and put a cage in the back with a smoothed rear interior. Weld up the rear doors cause they're not needed and smooth them. Shave the front door handles with switches under the wing mirrors tvr style. This all depends on how a 5 door would look with the rear doors not there. It would effectively be a 3 door, with short doors.
2) Keep the rear bench and the rear doors. Use audi 80 handles on all the doors to get a smooth profile (I wont be able to shave the rear doors as theres nowhere to put the door opening switch).
3) Its pretty clear from reading no. 1 that I really want a 3 door golf. However, this is the one that was available and it is it relatively good condition, certainly no project stopping issues. The third option is to get rid of this one, either make it road legal and sell it or break it, and wait until a suitable 3 door comes along. I'm already a bit attached to this one though, and at least I can get on with it now, and not spend ages waiting for the ideal car.
Option 1 is a bit silly. Why compromise what could be a nice 5 door. This is going to be a costly project and it would be silly to spend all that money on a concept that is fundamentally flawed. I'm going to do some photoshop work and just see what it might look like. Its just that I've always wanted a car with a cage in the back, but theres no point in making a mishmash of a car to force that.
Option 3 is a possibility, however solid shells are increasingly hard to come by and increasingly expensive. What I have is a pretty solid car, its not perfect, far from it, but its all doable, and I'm quite looking forward to turning my hand to some bodywork and learning some new skills along the way. At least with a car that didnt cost too much to start off with, it doesnt matter sooo much if make a complete mess of it.
So option 2 is looking like the favourite, and I can always squeeze a half cage in there, but I'd probably just be adding weight. The audi handles look really nice, bummer is tho that being a 5 door I have to do 4 of them!
Engine
At the moment its got a 1.1l, I intend to pull that out and put something a lot more interesting. The options at the moment are:
- A 1.8 8v digifant from a mk2 gti
- A 1.8 16v KJetronic from a valver
- G40 polo engine
Putting a big block into my car means I have to move one of the engine mounts, which is ok. I'm also going to have to uprate the brakes (16v conversion) though I'll probably leave the rear drums alone for now.
Other things that need to be changed include:
- gearbox (5 speed)
- driveshafts
- gear linkage
- steering rack (to accommodate the gear linkage)
- anti roll bars (doesnt have any at the mo)
- wishbones (for the anti roll bars)
- fueling system.
- speedo, clutch and throttle cable.
I'm going to lower the car (obviously) not sure how extreme though. I can just imagine building it and then finding I cant get it out of the drive (top gear in paris style). I'm not sure about coilovers. I've never been in a car that has them, but I'm told the ride is pretty bumpy and I dont want to have to get my fillings reset everytime I drive somewhere. This is stuff that can be decided later of course.
Anyway, I've finished thinking with my fingers. I should get the car in the garage in the next few days and then the fun begins :)
posted by intraclast @ 9:36 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home