AGU engined 1.8T GTI as a track day car?
AGU engined 1.8T GTI as a track day car?
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Oi_Oi_Savaloy

Original Poster:

2,315 posts

290 months

Wednesday 18th June 2008
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Guys

Got a 1.8T gti that I can't sell for love nor money at the moment (it was clocked by the guy I bought it off and me being naive didn't know you could check the provenance of the car with VW).

Anyway.


Thinking - what can I do with her?

What are people's thoughts on turning it into a track day weapon? Can I get her to ever handle properly, lighten her, add a little more power, better brakes. Worth it? Thoughts guys?

bertelli_1

2,431 posts

240 months

Wednesday 18th June 2008
quotequote all
Getting more power is easy - just bolt on bigger turbo's, 350bhp enough for you?
Getting it to handle is a different story....

Oi_Oi_Savaloy

Original Poster:

2,315 posts

290 months

Thursday 19th June 2008
quotequote all
Bertelli - those were my thoughts too. Power isn't the problem it's the handling (and weight - aren't MKIV's fairly portly?)

Scoop940

3,967 posts

257 months

Thursday 19th June 2008
quotequote all
Handling isn't too hard to sort out, replace the suspension bushes with Powerflex/Leon Cupra R ones. Uprated springs and dampers/coilovers and a big fat rear ARB.

Making it lighter could be hard work though!! Binning the interior and replacing the front seats with some Sparco's will shoft quite a few pounds - reckon the recaro's weigh a fair bit... just give it more power to compensate!wink

pdd144c

208 posts

253 months

Thursday 19th June 2008
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Good choice I reckon, we'll all be seeing more of them soon as they are so cheap to buy now. They can be made to handle easily enough, all depends on your budget though!

Oi_Oi_Savaloy

Original Poster:

2,315 posts

290 months

Friday 20th June 2008
quotequote all
Suspension-wise chaps; can anyone tell me (in a nutshell) what are the units to go for if you have a low, medium, high and exotic budget for suspension?!

Just interested to hear people's thoughts.

Would a strut brace across the engine help with maybe a bar across the rear (like you see in tuned Mk2's) help too?

Scoop940

3,967 posts

257 months

Friday 20th June 2008
quotequote all
I have KW V2 ( Koni dampers) coilover suspension ( About 700-800 quid), done over 100k miles on it now and it's still ok. Only downside is rear shocks are not on car adjustable for damping.

neuspeed Rear ARB ( 28mm on hardest setting ) - makes a huge difference combat understeer

R32 Front ARB - only works if you fit KW suspension or 4wd front struts as they have an extra moounting point for the different anti Roll bar - it goes under the driveshaft and avoids rubbing issues on lowered mk4's.

I have OEM Audi S3 upper and lower front braces, not sure I could tell you the difference they make. You can get a rear Brace too - the one thing I haven't done, not sure how much difference they make on mk4's alothough I do remember it made a big difference on my old mk2.

Don't overlook wheels though, handling distinctly improved when I fitted 18" wheels and 225/40 tyres.

Oi_Oi_Savaloy

Original Poster:

2,315 posts

290 months

Friday 20th June 2008
quotequote all
Scoop - thanks for your very helpful reply and also; nice car!

On mine it feels like the car is tucking up when I go round right hand corners - got a feeling that the rear suspension needs a good seeing to and the tracking sorted.....