The Project Pad

Im banking that my cooling mods have improved the inherent deficiencies of the 20v head. For those that may not have seen these they are on page 5 of this thread. I know it may not solve the temp imbalance, but I do know that it has improved it. Others on MG can attest to this as Im not the first one to do it.



As far as the A/F ratios, they are being read directly from an LM-1. The rich mixture is a well know requirement for a 20v on high boost. This can be leaned out slightly if the car is being run on water / methanol injection (which the 20v REALLY loves).

Singh grooves? You should try it if you have a spare 20v head laying around.

I held back my WTF and just simply googled Singh grooves. Looks interesting, makes perfect sense.

What happened to the custom intake manifold?? It was looking very good! did you ever get it fitted??
The car looks really good :-)

Once the car got running for UrQ25 with the original intake we shamefully put the custom intake on the back burner. We simply ran out of time, and it has been running well at 20psi with the current setup. I'll need the help of two very busy people to get that project back on track.

For now, Im having to focus on the suspension. I absolutely hate the current setup which is Eibach progressive / Bilstein Sports. Once the car is set in a corner if feels great, however the soft initial rate of the Eibachs makes the car feel very unsettled in transition from one corner to the next. Too much roll...

I got a chance to take a short spin in the elusive 2.7TT UrQ lurking here in Vegas which is running the full boat 2Bennett setup with Koni's. To say the handling was razor sharp would be an understatement. I hated driving my car home afterwards which points me to the next project.

I have been gathering parts for quite a while. Im going coil-overs. I have all the goodies for the rest of the suspension, solid subframe bushes, Delrin control arm bushings, Diff mount, and sway bar bushes. Depending on the choice of coil-overs I will either be using 034's track density strut bearing or 2Bennett's adjustable solid upper mount.

Im looking for some input as to what combination of coil-overs I should go with.

Option one is either 2 Bennetts coil program, or A1 Racing for all of the components teamed with Koni's and the 2 Bennett adjustable upper mounts. Requires a fair amount of down-time and my own labor and possibly some help. Roughly $1500

Option two is bite the bullett and go with the KW setup from 034 paired with the track density upper mounts coming in at a hefty $1800-ish but esentially drop-in as I understand. Little downtime on the car.

I don't have the budget to use the $500 adjustable mounts with the KW setup from 034 - just can't happen...

Next I want to revisit some suggested rates for the springs. Is 400lb F and 350lb R a decent combo for the UrQ? What works best? Car is either driven for fun, or at the track, Im done with this luxury setup...

Sean - I went with the Mance upper mounts and his coil-over conversion stuff. I cut the stock perches off and am quite happy with it in the end. Using the UrS4 dampers all around too. Spring rates to start with were 300F/350R per Mance recommendation. Conversion hassles were limited to grinding down the original perch weld, and then welding on the new perch. I imagine it's basic stuff from what I remember of your garage.

Ride quality is quite firm and only becomes too firm on very poor roads. Turn-in is difficult to judge because of item-B below, my intitial observations were on 25yr old bushings. The quality of his upper mounts appears very good, and I very much like the large dia spherical bearing approach since that's what the S2 rallycar used as well.

Caveats
a. I'm still playing with spring rates - doing maths on it today actually
b. I'm also as we speak replacing every bushing in the suspension and subframes as well as installing all new F&R tie rods and steering rack during the 20v conversion.

I think I'll bring down the spring-rate a bit like 20% just to give it a more roadable feel for the GT-style mission. As a drivable track car, I'd leave it. Track-only I'd go up.

Thanks goes out to everyone for their input about the suspension setup.

I have been receiving parts and have everything in-hand except the struts. My biggest decision was the struts, I ordered Koni's - and to my dismay they will take two months to get - pushing the project right into the triple digit garage temps.

Most of the components were ordered between A1 Racing Products and Pitstopusa.com with the exception of the Koni's, they are coming from shox.com as I had no other ideas where to find them quicker. Between John and I we have a pretty good assortment of springs to play around with in the 350/375/400 ranges, in different lengths.

It was painful yet inspiring to watch Dean Treadway's UrQ run around the track all weekend with mine sitting at home in the garage.

In the meantime I have decided to take on a second coil-over project. After comparing all the components along side my suspension from the Lancia, it seems silly NOT to do it while its all out of the car. I already have Konis for it, and believe it or not I can modify the top perch to accept the 2.5" springs. All I have to do is remove the stock bottom perch and add the threaded collar. The springs will be in the 225/250/275 rate in 10" length. Progress on this may move fairly quickly and I might just move the details into the suspension forum since it doesn't relate to my UrQ thread.

How was athe event Sean?

You and your Dad missed a great weekend at the track. It was cool finally meeting Jim Green and seeing his yellow 90 rip up the track, Greg was there with his 4.2 powered Coupe quattro. Richard had his 2.7TT UrQ out for its maiden voyage but a fuel leak ended his weekend early. Deans UrQ was runnig strong as always, pulling double duty as he and his wife shared it. The father/son team Cowan had their Coupe Quattros there as well.

About 8 people had spent two days on the track at Laguna Seca and Deans wife organized a transporter to haul cars from Monterrey to Spring Mountain so they could spend Saturday and Sunday on track here. Talk about dedication!

Weather was perfect, and the track amenities were excellent as always. The only sad thing about the event is how we can't get the local Vegas guys to come to the event. Maybe 6-7 drivers out of 70 were locals, the rest were from hundreds of miles away. I made it to the track in Pahrump in 55 minutes from my house way up north in 55 minutes - in Friday afternoon traffic!

You tracked the Cayman? I would have been there had we not been in Burbank. I was pretty bummed about it actually. There was a UTAH meet too taht I miss out on.

You didnt by chance get a ride in Jimmy's 90 did you?

I would have loved to ride with Jimmy, however I had two students and was already in a car for 3 out of every 4 run groups. One of my students was in Jimmy's run group and we managed to get passed by Jimmy several times per session. I think he sucked out our headlights the one time he passed us with that GT35 sounding like a 747 lol. I came home exhausted. The cayman did a great job on track. Of course when they see Cayman S on the registration you go into the fastest group where nothing is stock - including 911 Turbos and Z-06's and V8 M3's as well as the Spring Mountain Club Members running their Formula cars... In all the Cayman was a blast, it's the frist time I have been on a track in years and I haven't had to rely on left foot braking to get a car around a corner lol The Yokohama's held up pretty well, you know when they overheat though and then its just time to take it easy for the rest of the session.

:( I'm not sure I really wanted to hear all of what we missed out on. My father in law's 80th surprise birthday party went well down in Burbank. :frustrated:

So it doesn't sound like you need the coilover sleeve rings right away?

So did Richard figure out half shafts for that car? I thought he was blowing through them at a fast lick last time i heard.

I talked to Wolf before I left for LA last Friday and he said that they finely had some custom shafts made up. He didn't really have time to go into detail however.

quattro87 wrote:So it doesn't sound like you need the coilover sleeve rings right away?

...at least not for the UrQ

As far as Richards axles they held up for the three warm-up lasps he managed to complete in the car Saturday morning. He was very fortunate someone spotted the fuel leak - could have been disastrous... Im not sure what Wolffs fix was for the axles but he got the car back online in time to make the event.

It was a shame to see the 2.7TT UrQ ride back to town on a flatbed, but at least it wasnt charred and smoldering.

Dragging this to the front of the line since I been anxiously awaiting my Koni's. I also got me top mounts from CompBrake in UK. I'll toss a few pics up here, they are fairly impressive units for the price.

good. i hope i can see one of those CompBrake mounts when i am down there next week....

i just have not run my car yet to decide if i need them, which i probably do

and i am pretty depressed that i could not go to the track day, we had lots of work to do and we were there for the job after all.

John said you may make it over to his place tuesday-ish? Let me know and I'lll bring the mounts and the Coupe S-Line ;o]

anytime this coming week.

and i would like to see the new coupe..... that'd be cool as well.

had the Iroz Ranch BBQ..... mmmmm.

always nice hospitality coming down here.

got to see the Helios in action, too. saw Sean and he chased me down, BS'd for a minute or three, then he went about his day. of course after giving us a nice AWD burnout launch and rip thru a couple gears :bump:

and the red coupe looks great, too. really a nice car, and worth every penny he spent on it. for some weird reason i thought it was turbo'd....

and the CompBrake top mounts, i am going to be getting some of those as well..

After being home the better part of the last two months, I found out my Koni's are in the country and will be delivered the day after I leave for my trip. I guess its time to order those last few bits and pieces so I can blast through this suspension overhaul before it gets too daggum hot here. There might be a portable A/C unit in my future for the garage this year.

After looking at my travel schedule I can see that Im on the road 5 of the next 7 weeks ?!?!? ugh... I guess my per diem and overtime withdrawals will be ending soon enough.

:woowoo: Will it be ready for the vegas gtg?