Sunset Red 1.4 TSI(TFSI) GT Sport - daily drive & track car

[GVK]

Great pictures Rex 

[rex]

Merry Christmas!
The car is now 18+ years old, but the mods will not stop here :).
Even if I consider I've done a lot to the car, there still are things I can improve on...

First of all, the driving position... I am a bit too high in the seats and the steering wheel is a bit too far away. For the seat height problem I am in the process of finding a solution, but I think I've solved the other part...
I think ever since I changed the seats (14+ years ago if my memory serves me right), I wanted to fit a steering wheel spacer. But I just couldn't find the proper spacer. Until a few months ago when I, again, searched and found a very elegant solution:

https://spacershop.com/product/steering-wheel-spacer-for-volkswagen-golf/?srsltid=AfmBOorfGOJlw-h5Wq33qcHE0MOAYHO6xVfASOLEWpf-a4tsdSdLAIQ_

And the same spacer works for all 4 of my cars - in case I might not like the steering position in the other cars as well.





Since I took the steering wheel off, I notice it had a bit of wear and I decided to have it re-trimmed to Alcantara - as it should be better for trackdays.









Next up, lowering the seating position - but only next year.
Until then, Happy New Year!

[rex]

So, managed to fix the seating position...
As I previously said, the Recaro Pole Position seats are, on their lowest setting, significantly higher than the stock seats. I kind-of got used to them like this, but since I fixed the steering wheel I said I could fix this as well.
So, I manufactured some side mounts, about 3cm shorter thinking it would solve the problem. But I didn't. The seat base would come in contact with the horizontal part (base) of the side mounts. In fact, by making the base thinner (as the original base was, in parts, wider), I could lower the seats by about 1.5 cm. This was clearly wasn't gonna cut it. But there was also a seat belt mount (for the OE seat belt buckle) what increased the seat height by 2cm.
I decided to cut a whole in the side mounts and fix the seat belt buckle to one of the side mounts to seat rail, bolts. So, I basically removed the need for the extra 2 cm seat belt adapter.





I also changed all the nuts and bolts (with 12.9 grade bolts), powder coated the side mounts and bought RECARO stickers.



As such, here is the before and after.





The wider washers are more visible in the second image but, except for that, the mod is, visually, indistinguishable. Which is exactly what I was looking for.
Overall the final decrease in height is 3.3 cm which clearly makes a huge difference - "that's what she said, right!?"
I quite like the new seating position but I have to wait for Spring to truly test the car.

 

[JamieSmeatonVW]

Hi Rex Did you notice a improvement with the steering wheel spacer?

[rex]

I don't drive the Golf in the winter time (I sold the winter tires some time ago and there has been a lot of snow). I only got to maneuver the car in my yard. So, I can't really provide an accurate feedback. I would have really liked to see how the seats and steering wheel feel, but I'll have to wait for spring. I'll provide my first impressions after the first, proper, spring drive.

[rex]

Due to the recent warm weather, I managed to drive the Golf... And I have to report the seating position (with the lower seats and steering wheel adapter) is awesome. I truly love it. I feel much more connected tot the car than previously.
As of now, so after only a 15km (9 mile) drive, I have to say the mods are worth it.
Compared to the driving position in my previous 718 GT4 or my current 911, I only dislike 2 things: the pedals are offset to the right (at least for LHD cars) and because of the steering spacer the steering wheel stalks are 5cm further away from the steering wheel (and harder to access especially if you have small hands).

And, something new:











These are BBS CH024 made for Audi (8P0601025R). The offset is 54 (7,5 x 18, ET 54, CB 57.1), so not ideal especially for my car, but I'll fit larger wheel spacers.
Just couldn't pass them on because they were heavily discounted by Audi themselves.
Can't wait to have them fitted!

[rex]

Got to work on the Golf a bit...

Changed the spark plugs and the induction coils. Went with the OE version.







It's quite a bit thing for me because it is the first time I've changed the spark plugs on a car. Quite happy with how things went.
BTW, saw some videos about changing the induction coils and I can say the technique with using a few zip ties to pull the coils out works great.





I also looked inside the cylinders and I think there is a bit of carbon buildup. I'll try to fix this in the future...



And, then I washed the car and took a few pictures of the new wheels.
I am using a 40 mm spacer (20mm per side) on the front axle (with the Kerscher fenders) and a 30 mm spacer on the rear axle (15mm per side).









I quite the look of the car. What do you guys think?

[rex]

Had the chance to take the car on the track and, even if the weather was miserable (maximum of 8 degrees and continuous rain), the car behaved wonderfully and I had lots of fun.
First, I have to say, after changing the spark plugs and coils my random missfires at high RPM in 2nd and 3rd gear went away completely. 
After the track day, I also added some of this to take care of the carbon deposits - so no conclusions on the effectiveness of this yet.



Here are some photos from the trackday:























The video will follow shortly.

[mjmallia]

Looking good 

[rex]

Before sharing the video, one thing I forgot to mention... I said a few posts above I changed the engine oil, moving from Motul 300V 5w40 to Mobil 1 0w40. I noticed that, on track, the Motul oil would peak at around 129 degrees while the Mobil one peaks at 121 degrees. Curious to see how it behaves on the long run...

And here is the video:

A few words about it:
- it was really cold and wet. The suspension setup was for dry (I knowingly did this) and the tires are Michelin Pilot Supersports. So I anticipated the car would not be quickest but my bet was I would be able to play with the car. And so I did!
- the car was quite predictable and easy to place while on the brakes. I tried different brake pressures, racing lines and driving styles just to see which one felt better.
- the last slide I think could have been saved but there were some cones at the beginning of the curbs because there was a big hole there. As I was close to that, I didn't want to damage my brand new wheels so I decided to bail out and go on the grass.

Any advice/comment is welcomed.

[RBS]

You’re still full throttle😎👍🏻👍🏻
Enjoy amigo❤️👍🏻

[rex]

Late May, the car got to see the Nurburging again... So buckle up for the story behind the visit  ...

This year, we planed for 5 cars to be the "main" part of the trip, but our friends @Acidutzul's car (MK5 Golf TDI) didn't make it... It stopped after a large cloud of smoke came of the exhaust. So @Acidutzul rented a Mk8 Golf R and a Hyundai i30N.

Here are the other cars:





Almost all the cars had some minor issues during this visit...
The TTS had some brake and low pressure fuel pump issues
The Peugeot GTI (209PS with factory fitted brembo 4 pots and LSD) had some tire rubbing that basically required some metal cutting and buying new tires
The GTR had a sudden oversteer so the owner didn't really push it
Even the rentals had some issues with the tires and wheels (a puncture on the track).

We also met other friends at the track with an M2, M3 (also owning a 992.1GT3RS MR) and GT4RS.







Unlike the previous visits where we targeted Saturdays and Sundays, now we focused on the week days and these proved to be far better, traffic wise.
All in all we had a very good time despite the small issues.

My main goal of the trip was to get closer to the car's limit. After my 2022 Nurburgring crash, I never really got close to the cars limit or if I did I wasn't really comfortable there...
I am please to say I managed to get within 18 seconds of my personal best, with the Golf, considering I now had high performance street tires (vs semislicks previously) and about a 10km/h (6 mph) reduced top speed (on all major high speed sectors), something I attributed to the very hot weather. More on this in the future post...
I was also much more comfortable with pushing the car and not really scared to control it. So, mission accomplished, right?

A few, more professional photos:







Cheers!

[GVK]

Great report