winter changes prepping for 8.xxx 1/4 mile times

[speeding-g60]

i havent really posted any of the changes i have been working on this winter, at least not here. anyhow, some weight reduction, sequential shifter setup, polycarbonate windows, removed the firewall and moved it into the car some, flipped steering arms and am going to see how a VW Corrado steering rack does for me.

some tube frame work up front. originally the strut towers were OEM and i wanted to tie them in to the cage proper. so i started that, and one thing led to another. originally i wasnt going to completely remove the OEM towers themselves, but it didnt end up that way when the grinding dust and welding smoke settled, i guess.

i will just catch you all up to speed on it right now.... copy what i wrote on another forum.

so, the car went low 9.30's @ > 153 mph this year. and i want 8.xx seconds. so i am doing a little work to help in that quest. Audi Coupe Quattro, 1.8T stroker 20v, >900 crank hp.

decided to lighten up the front end a little, and gain access to the motor some. things just naturally progressed as they usually do with me. i never write up a plan and follow it, i just kinda start cutting things. its all metal and it welds back up so whatever.

the steering was always in the way of pulling the trans. it has steering arms off the struts going towards the front of the car, but i moved them to the back of the strut by swapping the housings from side to side. this made the rack work backwards, so i put a Mk3 rack in and am almost done with the modifications.

here are some pictures, and please remember it is a work in progress. i work alone on the car, i do it with what i have laying around or get specifically for it, and i do it at my home in my garage. i have no shop, no machining tools, just grinders and drill and welders. just a guy who enjoys his hobby. if i cut 100 pounds off the car, then i scored BIG TIME!!!

so, everything yellow gets axed. some stuff gets put back in, like the firewall gets moved into the compartment a foot or more, that stuff.



and its time for some trimming stuff out.







its good having a full REAL race car shop not too far. take straight bar stock, have mandrel bends a little bit later!

and some more....

so before, i tied the top front side of the strut tower to the lower framehorn where i chopped it off. and that is good, but i wanted better. it didnt tie in to the full cage. so, i put another bar into the area, from the A-pillar upright thru the firewall/cowl, and run it by the strut top and back into the framehorn. gusset the strut tower top to the bar, and tie it in. then triangulate the tower back to the dash bar center, and no more cross-bay strut bar, too.

its working in my head....













who completely guts their car down to full harnesses and all? me, cuz i am bored.



gettin a last look at it before i go cut crazy.



and a few minutes or so later, i have a starting place LOL





added one tie in bar up front



then i got the true fabrication tools out. cardboard, scissors, Sharpie. and putting in some time on the strut tower.











while doing this, i decided to "notch" the frame rail for more clearance with the rear WG. soooo, i had to fill that hole in some.

[speeding-g60]

and i decided to take the dash out as well. it looked cool, but it was almost 22 pounds i dont need.

now for some fab work to go back in.

and i used my redneck brake. put on one table line up the line. clamp old kitchen countertop to it on top, and push. works great~!!





i need a new Boost gauge. this one dont go high enough anymore haha

gauges and wiring work

and i got things moved over from the old gauges panels to the new dash.

[speeding-g60]

some more work, this is over the past two months plus, so it is just being condensed.... forgive.

and i cleaned up the driver side dash sheet metal some. and found out the hard way (is there any other way?) that fresh cut sheet metal is sharp. man what looks like such a shallow scratch really does leak some!

did some work, and some more planning. cut the rest of the firewall out, took the steering stuff out, bent up/fitted/half welded the driver side tubing.

couple fuzzy pix, forgot the camera was on macro or the little flower emblem for closeups haha.





more scrap for the weigh bin.



old stuff out of the way





now say buh-bye to the CQ/B3 style steering, it is a thing of the past here.





ahhh yes. now i have some room to work. gotta mount that seq shifter somehow!

ADHD x Boredom = maybe going further than i thought i would. but, i saw some shiny stuff and the next thing i knew i was cleaning up one of the old tubes i cut out to put back in LOL.

i put a piece of plate over the framerail where i took out the seam. i may still do this the whole way, i dunno. i hate welding to the factory steel sometimes. its sooooo thin.

i will do the other one later after i plate around the top. and YES there will be another brace to the front of the tower. as well one across the car from tower to tower.

[speeding-g60]

decided at some point that i dont remember, to fully remove the strut towers, and thus i needed to put some strength back in there.

i shouldnt be left alone with my mind and power tools. oh well, its only metal it all welds back together.

if i could only make my mind up on what i want to do the first time. but, its neat that symmetry is so cool, and once i get the one side done the other is decently easier haha.

just about finished with the passenger side. i will be putting a bar across from tower to tower, as well. ordered the DOM tube and weld in bungs last night, have rod ends already for it.

and as usual, i changed my mind mid swing of things. so, i had to do a little reinforcing of the strut tower first. then capped it with a cover plate.





and there it is, side by side. my side vs stock side. i will still have a strut brace across, ordered the DOM tube last night.

[speeding-g60]

and now the driver side.

some more work, to the driver side.

[speeding-g60]

finishing up on the driver side.

did some more work on the driver side. tied in the tower to the new uprights, put the cross bar in, and put a cover on it, just like the other side.

and i looked at my rabbits rack today. maybe i will pull it out and play around with it. imma grab the MK3 rack tomorrow from the shop, as well.











and a lil stupidness.

[speeding-g60]

lets test fit a motor and header and intake in and see how things look.

tossed in a couple parts, just to get a visual of the space i may have created around this motor to see if i gained anything. and i would have to say yeah, maybe just a lil access room.

"hey, can we bleed that slave cyl for the clutch? "
"i dunno if i can reach it from up here. lemme check"
"ummmm, if you cant reach that then something is wrong."

[speeding-g60]

started on the steering arm mods. went with the Mk3/Corrado power rack with custom arms.

yeah, so i got the steering stuff figured out and moved forward with it.

step 1: square off the ends with my manual lathe cutoff tool.
step 2: prep the inner diameter with my other manual lathe ID beveler.
step 3: set the weld in bung (wheel lug nut LOL)
step 4: insert bung, square it up/tack it, and weld in
step 5: cut to desired length

next work? cut threads off stock tie rods, and measure/fit the new pieces. weld on. then fabricate rack mounts to new removable crossbar. fit and weld in steering column. relax.

[speeding-g60]

and now to make them work with the rack.

so, i did some layout and comparing the racks i have on hand. and i chose the VW Mk3 rack. had to shorten the arms, and now i am fitting them to the stock tie rods.

compare racks. top is CQ/B3, middle is B5 A4, and bottom is VW Mk2/3.



layout the throw of the rack, and get center.





lay out the new arms and the tie rods needing shortened.



cut off the new rod ends with my manual lathe, and the tie rods.



layout the plug weld holes. i dont just want one weld at the end of the rod. and in all honesty, i dont think it would go anywhere, but hey my time is free so what the hell. put three holes, both sides, in the rod ends. and then put a chamfer/bevel on them for welding.





get them put in place on my centerlines, with a little angle as thats how it will be in the car, and tack together.



weld out all sides, and wash/rinse/repeat for the other side.



set back up on my design, and make sure everything has good measurements. has plenty of room and support for toe changes during alignment.



and then for shits and giggles i tossed it into the car to see how it looks. i will remove the mock up motor stuff before i get in and weld up the stuff for it.

[speeding-g60]

i have my build thread on Motorgeek, an abridged version on Audizine, and of course my own website....

i finished up the lower crossbar and rack mount and got the rack all mounted up. now to finish the column another day, but i had to take out from the u-joint section a couple inches and about 10" or so from the column itself LOL. that is another day.

lets see. started by measuring the tube, and cutting it to length, then slotting it for some plates.



welded plates in



now checking the car for level and the new crossmember for level. (kinda blurry the second pic)





got the crossbar tabs tacked in and then welded out.





made the mounting plates for the rack, and messing around with angle and center. took it in and out a couple times until i finally locked the thing down with vicegrips on either side to keep center. tacked the mounts to the crossmember, then pulled it out to weld it on the bench (easier to do than in position)





finally, tossed some color on it, put it back in, and mounted the rack. tested the lock-to-lock steering, and i will need to space the rack a little bit back. i cut the slots for the crossmember a little deep into the angle so it put it closer to the uprights on full lock turns each way. now i can also figure out what pedals i want to buy, and the firewall, etc. after i install the seq shifter box onto the trans that is

[speeding-g60]

this is the same kind of thing i will do when i finally get some stuff done on the Quattro Corrado with B3 running gear and a mild built (LOL) B5 A4 1.8T and S4 6 speed trans. if it works here on the race car it will work on the next one.

and now, after starting off the evening with a little Ambiance, i got to work. and have steering.

and yes the Ambiance is started with a propane torch haha. it IS after all the garage you know.



and like pretty much everything i do, it all starts somewhere. this time, its a couple flat pieces of metal and a small pile of nuts and bolts.



and the end result is: a working steering column mount!







and i have plenty of room now to pick some pedals.


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i would have long been done with this and moved on, but i am taking it easy. some days not working on the car, even. like yesterday.

[speeding-g60]

yep, i would say it works. as well as the old Fox manual rack did. i guess i will find out next year at speed what it does!

now where was i. oh yes. shifter install, and then starting to build a firewall. and i got the fenders and bumper mounts made and welded on.

shifter. uh oh, it looks as if it is gonna hit the tunnel.... well, its only metal and it welds right?



oh yeah, i got all that sound deadening off that front well before i closed it up. that sucked kinda good yep it did.



OPEN WIDE!!!!!!

and

and the front end is back together. made all new tabs for the fenders and bumper mount.





and i had to move the center pod gauges up a little, forgot to check it after the new steering column. no biggie.

[speeding-g60]

and more:

and i really didnt do progress pics of the firewall. its all 1" tube 1/16" thick, and 24ga steel per NHRA rules. and i can go to minimum .032 if i want aluminum. i had this, so i used it. its all removable, so its not hard to change especially now that i have the patterns/shapes. 1lb/sq ft for steel, .45lb sq/ft for aluminum, or so i read.

but i think i am about 90% done on the pass side. needs seam sealer and fenderwell done.

its gonna get a removable cover over the shift box thing....











and, things dont always sit idle here.

[speeding-g60]

more progress.

more work on the car. the firewall is completed. the fender wells are completed, i still have some undercoating to remove.

a quick look at how it was at the start of the winters changes to now. and i depleted the Peach mango, went thru a Hawai'ian Coconut, and just tonight got Candy Cane flavored Ambiance Provider.





but the pedals, well they suck ***. i dislike them pretty much. what shoddy workmanship. long story short i had to cut it up and re-weld it so the pedal is centered between the MC's and the pushrods operate straight, and still if i want it to be actually RIGHT i need to cut off the MC plate and move it up so the pushrods dont scrape the side of the MC body when engaged. just ****** you spend $400 and have to cut it all apart to make it right.

[speeding-g60]

and firewall stuff.

so i think i didnt really think it thru when i removed the firewall, because it was a bit of work to put it back in!

and i spent time in the wheel wells with a wire wheel on a grinder, that stuff comes of decently that way, but sure makes a mess.... the inner fender wells are back in and completed.







and the firewall stuff. this was fun, sort of. the driver side took 7 different pieces of sheet metal. lots of shapes and angles and curves, etc. and welding .024 thin really is trying. any kind of gap at all and it just melts away.