The Project Pad

The car will not have to be smogged, but for the time being I have decided to run the stock cat. E85 sounds nice, but the availability out here is limited currently, and I would have to drive over an hour to fill up (or just buy a drum at a time). In the future I will most likely go larger exhaust from the turbo back and lose the stock cat obviously. The current setup was mocked up and tacked this weekend with the help of Tim. Ryan has it for welding when he has time. The downpipe consists of the stock 200 20v dp cut before the y, connected to a 2.5" ~90 degree sweep under the cv shield. A 6" flex section connects to a 2.5" vband clamp welded to the cat where the factory 4bolt flange was cut off. The CQ cat is 60mm I believe, so there is a slight diameter reduction that opens back up to 2.5" center section after the factory sleeve clamp. At the back is a Stebro rear section. Pictures. (sorry, forgot to resize them and the last one is a bit blurry. good photos upon completion)

Made a bracket to mount my after-run pump to the driver's motor mount. It shall get powder coated eventually, along with a bunch of other parts I've made. I'll be sure to clean up that coolant pipe that feeds the heater core and the after-run pump. Also did a bit of plumbing into and out of the heater core. A little more work to do there in order to have the line to the back of the block complete. I'm thinking an UrS6 after-run outlet hose will fit nicely with some trimming - anyone have a nice spare?

Progress is being made on my super-hacked-up AAN water manifold. All sorts of modifications are being made to accommodate my intake manifold and still keep power steering. The angle that the PS pump has to be at to fit sends the factory CQ PS hose directly into the MFTS and after-run sensors, so Ryan is moving them. I've cut so many bits off of this manifold that it probably would have made more sense to build one from scratch (it would definitely look better). Oh well - it'll be hidden by the intake manifold. I hope I don't lose show points HAHAHAH
I'll have some pictures of that monstrosity up soon.

Nice!!

Down pipe is welded, intake should be finished up tomorrow morning

WooHoo! Maybe a little DP TIG teaser shot?



Thanks John, I'm really pretty happy with the path that this build is on right now, just have to keep up the good progress. You 'cruising' down the strip yet?

Many many thanks to you, Ryan, at Higbee Performance Fabrication. Really quality work at a very reasonable rate has allowed this project to happen.

Toph...no cruising the strip, no cruise control installed, and no rearend under the car. I did however get the actuator all cleaned up and painted only to find that the rod and my custom fuel rail want to share the same location. :( I will have to figure out a different bracket or something. It looks good though.

Maybe just a new rod section that has a hump in it to clear the rail? Looks great though!

Yea, that is what I was thinking also. It's on the back burner for now though.

Here's a teaser while we wait for some good ones. Water manifold will be done this week

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oh u fancy

and i came home to find more parts for tophs car had been dropped off!!

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A little update:

Haven't worked on the girl in a bit, but I have been gathering parts. I have nearly everything I need to finish up my oil cooler plumbing, breather/catch can setup, and fueling. I need a few AN parts here or there, but no big deal. My main issue right now is my radiator - or lack thereof. There are a few mockup OE copper deals here, but they all leak. Here's where I'd appreciate some input:

I only have 2 real options that I'd be happy with, with a very lightly used B2 radiator being a third/last resort.
(1) I'd love to buy an aluminum radiator core and have endtanks made (or have a whole radiator custom built). I know the easy answer involves a certain forum sponsor link, but I'll pass on that due to fitment issues (16" will be too wide for my application at 2.75" thick...I can get about 14.5" and still have it sit perpendicular to airflow). The aluminum core will be thicker than stock, so a custom fan and shroud setup will be in order. I'll be looking at about $650 or more to go this route. Maybe something like this mounted vertically with a different endtank setup obviously (13"x22"x2"):


(2) I can have the copper(or brass?) B2 radiator rebuilt with a 4 row core for about $325 and reuse the stock shroud/fan combo. I have been mocking everything up according to this route. It will sit at a bit of an angle, but that doesn't concern me since it will be properly ducted. I am leaning towards this option at the moment.

get it rebuilt !!!

I'm ready to give Dale a call back and set the wheels in motion, figured I'd see if anyone could convince me otherwise. I also emailed a fellow in the UK about new B2 units which I doubt will cost anything near reasonalbe....nevermind the cost to ship.

I think 325$ is reasonable considering stock replacements can be found for ~$160+ for an aluminum core with plastic endtanks.

less grunk more execute

My radiator works fine...plastic. Youre crazy to spend 325 on a rad just to keep it copper, thats madness.

glibobbo21 wrote:My radiator works fine...plastic. Youre crazy to spend 325 on a rad just to keep it copper, thats madness.

youre car runs too hot

Below 3/4 is not too hot, you guys are being pansies. My fan outputs are reversed, only comes on the second speed(later) just haven't swapped the pins yet. and idling 20v doesnt make more heat then an idling 20v. The only cooling increase youll see is running the aux radiator, which he obviously has no room for, along with anything else he wants to put in there now.

My 4ktq ran aat 3/4 almost all the time and never over heated

ok so its below 3/4

but above 5/8 is too hot

But does any of that really matter if I have to replace the plastic units twice as often?

Splitting hairs about a car that doesnt run! Could be my lack of ducting on the block side of the rad too! Idling I'm pretty positive is just my fan outputs being backwards, because I have the cq fan and MK2 golf/jetta harness controlling it.

Thats bullshit that rad(your plastic one) is probly the original factory piece, and its lasted this long. Ill eat my hat if my plastic one blows in my lifetime.

and i dont own a hat, ill go buy one and eat it.

glibobbo21 wrote:which he obviously has no room for, along with anything else he wants to put in there now.

And when it's all said and done it'll look like there couldn't possibly be a 20vt in there. That 20v euro bumper is a pain in the ass sometimes though...

Well, you do have a point. How long have you run your current radiator?