pics and text, courtesy of Brad Beardow at 1552v2.com

The C2 Motorsports 9.0:1 head gasket arrived today, so it's time to reassemble the head and re-install it on the block.

We took some time to clean up a bit of wayward oil soak as well as removing some grime here and there. Of course the old gasket material was removed and the block surface prepared for the C2 gasket. We're using OE "stretch" head bolts vs. higher-strength items such as ARP due to the fact that they're less expensive, require no re-torquing after installation and have proven themselves over the years in the relatively low boost environment this engine will be seeing.

Perfect timing is as beautiful as it is rare, and our FedEx guy has just walked in the door with the Kinetic turbo kit we've been waiting for. As you might imagine, tomorrow is turbo time!













Pretty Tial wastegate.



Rotomaster T3/T4 turbo.

dude: while i think the money you spend on your cars would be better spent to help the homeless and aids victims, i will admit that they are pretty cool
dude: however, i will never publically admit this
jkrew: haha thanks doode =)
jkrew: HAHAHA
dude: you're welcome
dude: this conversation never happened
jkrew: haha *right click save as

pics and text, courtesy of Brad Beardow at 1552v2.com

More pics from the timing chain maintenance portion of this project. We're waiting on a new rear main seal, and then we'll update this section with the final pics for this job.

pics and text, courtesy of Brad Beardow at 1552v2.com

We've got enough parts to get started.

As mentioned, this engine has some 160,000 miles under its belt, but we're about to double the power as if it had only 60,000 miles. Crazy? Not really, since a compression test revealed a healthy 160-psi across all 6 cylinders and the VR6 pistons and rods are known to be incredibly stout. In all our years of adding forced induction to VR6 engines, we've rarely seen a rod or piston let go without some sort of major tuning issue as the culprit. Still, 160k is a lot of miles and a bit of basic maintenance is certainly in order.

We plan to replace the timing chains, guides and tensioners as well as the headgasket and head bolts. Rather than simply replacing the headgasket with an OE 10.0:1 version, we're going with C2 Motorsport's custom 9.0:1 gasket. The way we see it, dropping the compression ratio down a point is something these particular pistons will welcome.

There's a pretty new Sachs OE clutch already in place, so even though timing chain maintenance presents an ideal opportunity to install something with a bit more clamping force, we'll forego that extra expense since Jason and Kate are not drag-racers by any means and a new stock clutch should last a good long time (at least until it's time to install an LSD).

The first few pics offer up a few details on the car itself and then it's pretty much a play-by-play on the cylinder head tear-down. More pics in Part 2 from the same date.



Side-exit exhaust.





Old school Recaros.



Check out this custom blinker/fog set-up! It's pretty rare these days to see something new on a Mk3 Golf, but this mod certainly qualifies.



No comment.

pics and text, courtesy of Brad Beardow at 1552v2.com

Kind of a special project we have going here.

This 1995 VW GTI VR6 is a labor of love between our web-designer, Jason, and his fiancé, Kate. They've been building the car from the ground up for many months, and it's just been delivered to Sarasota by way of northern Virginia. Jason and Kate have a running blog that chronicles the build so far and for those of you looking for some serious background on "Roxy" (as she's known), visit http://www.kratemotors.com/roxy

As an intro, here's some info in Jason's own words:

"Roxy started off as a $700 car and turned into the biggest project Kate and I have ever undertaken; full respray, two engine swaps, reupholstering seats, custom fabrication, dash swap, heater core swap (biggest mechanical accomplishment to date on my own), custom body work and it was all done by Kate, some friends, and me.

Though I'm currently working with fifteen52 on their website, the truth is I've been a friend and customer of theirs since '97 - back when they were called VW Sport USA. It's pretty cool that after all these years we're finally working together on a pretty major vehicle build."

Our part in this project consists of adding some much needed forward motivation to the old Golf, and we'll achieve this using a bit of old-fashioned forced induction, á la a Kinetic Motorsport Stage 2 turbo system. This added power won't just be used to terrorize drivers on the Capitol Beltway - no, Jason and Kate plan to drive the car to Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats and take a shot at the 130-mph club.

Before effectively doubling the horsepower for this 160k-mile engine, we'll also be performing some much needed maintenance as well as adding additional mods along the way. We've ordered all the necessary parts and once they come in we'll get to work.

Oh, and by the way - check out those custom license tags. If those don't merit a discount, then nothing will...

brad: Yer car is in pieces right now
jkrew: haha oh god
brad: BTW, now would be a good time to do a clutch, since we have the trans coming apart
jkrew: I just put in a sachs replacement about a 1000 miles ago but if I need to go stg2 or 3 then just lemme know what I need
brad: Ah, I forgot you had a new clutch in there. If you don't drag race, you'll be fine for a long time, so let's keep what u got
jkrew: never dropped a clutch in my life
brad: pussy

hahaha wheeeee!

and Roxy is still in the gate haha

After 19 calls Saturday night, Dank is now up and running albeit a bit shaky (*winks). A few boost leaks here and there and some smoking and what not but the Jetta is now officially boosting.







All buttoned up


Hopefully we'll get some photos of Roxy this week to show him up a little ;)

Man, I am WAY behind haha

No more downpipe


And off with the goofy stock manifold




Oil line that his girly fingers couldn't tighten all the way.


New kinetic manifold bolted up.


Annnnd, famous last words...

"should have the car running tonight i hope. If not it will definitely be running tomorrow..."

OMG! It's a TURBO OFF!

It's on like viet kong folks. In the coming weeks, we'll chronicle both buildups of dankvwguy's Jetta and our little Roxy. Why? Because it's winter and there's shit else to post about other than Kate and mine increased amount of snuggling. At the end, there will be a race for pinks. Or dinner. Whichever has a greater value at the time.

So dear readers, I proudly announce...



The contestants:

dankvwguy:
- stage 1 kinetics kit
- snow performance stage 2 water/meth injection with controller
- innovative DB series gauge with LC-1 wideband controller
- vdo boost gauge and a few other small things
- spec stage 2 clutch and a peloquin LSD

jkrew and kate:
- stage 2 kinetics kit with front mount
- c2 headspacer
- engine rebuild including chain job, rods, rings blah blah blah
- some sort of new clutch and flywheel
- 2.5" exhaust from zee turbo on back
- some sort of glowy gauges
- high flow cat



And the first photos arrive from the dank camp!

Here's his piece... looks like a nice jetta. Obviously dank is too good to give the poor thing any water and soap.


dank's mom is gonna be hella pissed about her carpet. Oh look, someone just haaaad to copy jkrew with the black couplings...


Rotomaster T3/T4 Oil Cooled Turbocharger, kinetic mani and TiAL 38mm wastegate


the business end

Well, it looks like dankvwguy and I are going turbo at the same time. He is obviously trying to shove it into my face that he is more mechanically inclined than myself by doing it on his own but whatever... I could if I had a garage! (not really)

So in the coming weeks I'll be posting some update pics from his build as well as mine and then hopefully when both setups are done, we may have a lil race down in the dirty dirty when I go to pick up Roxy from 1552 *winks*

You'll also notice some new changes to the site. We've picked up a few more sponsors that have their pretty logos at the top of the page so check them out if you have the time.

Archives are now available on the right rail of the page just FYI.

Stay tuned!

God speed little Roxy.

It's been a slooow winter. It's cold out, I have no garage and work has really been demanding within the past few months. No time for cars except on the weekends but even then, wedding planning, work or other things have taken our time away from us.

But lately, I've been noticing that we have finally turned the corner with winter. The sun stays up past 5pm FINALLY. It was 70º just the other day and the bug has hit me moding HARD early this year. What started with plans to finally finish Roxy has now snowballed into a mixture of wedding, Roxy and now Dara getting a little bit of attention for the warmer months.

I may have to call this blog the Roxy and Dara show for a few months, or at least until I get Dara finished with a few surprises that are coming down the road. I guess it all started when we took her down south and she took a shit on us in the middle of the highway. Ever since I started working on project cars, Dara has taken a backseat to all of them. Sure she had decent wheels but when I popped her hood open two months ago to do some plugs and wires, I was surprised at how dirty it was. I literally hadn't cleaned or detailed her in years.

So there ya go. Now she's getting some surprises soon, has a set of killer wheels just waiting for her and I also decided to upgrade her stereo a bit to match her upcoming look a bit better.

I had a craving for a new tool so I could make a sub box. It's hard living in a condo sometimes...


Due to the cold, we don't work on cars anymore. Now we just go out drinking with weird asian girls.


With awesome tattoos on their feet. (The right foot had "woohoo!".


A few days later, while kate was out shopping, I went to sears and snuck a table saw home and made a box.


Then I cut a hole for a lil' JL 8".


A lil' sealer here and there...


Oh snap! Like ya didn't see that coming.


Sneaky sneaky.


Jacks in the back.


Viola. Hit's harder than an angry stepfather.


Stay tuned for more!

And who knows how long this thread is going to stay up but here ya go:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3674850

Essentially, I want to paint a mural on roxy... so I made an ad.

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/crg/567403295.html

Kate obviously wants to crush my dreams but I'm pressing on as she just needs time to see my vision.

I'll keep you all updated.