the rebirth of the red devil ( update 12/05/12)

[missingmyvrs]

This is the start of a project thread that ive been doing for a good few months and still currently doing

so as some of you may already know i brought des old car the red devil off him for a good sum

so after a few messages and planning a time to pick it up as its had just been rebuilt by mike at ip and whoever else who knows lol

i cold morning i set off trailer in tow to pick her up still in ore as this was a sort of iconic car on the forum but also had a reputation for never running properly etc etc

so after the cash was handed over and the car was strapped up we drove back to my mate yard to give the car a good check over and see what did or didnt need doing!!!

it became apparent very soon after this was not going to be as simple as we though !!!! loose bolts and disconected pipes and shocking wiring was to be seen so me and my mate made the decision that we would leave the engine alone as this had just had a fresh rebuild but essential we will sheel the car and re do everything again so i will list what been done in sections and where we are now

first up was the seats we had noticed there was alot of movement in the seat and after we unbolted them we found the reason why !!!! the seats had been mounted on 3mm alloy 90degree plate bolted to the floor with 2 bolts!!!! a disaster waiting to happen ( Quote if you crashed the car with these you would be killed !!!! )

so we unbolted the alloy plate and removed excess crap from the floor and had the seats welded in using proper bucket seat bases done properly

front end chassis

with the car came a spair r32 front end setup brand new

r32 subframe

quick rack

alloy arms

powersteering pump etc etc

so i decided i would build this up off the car so i orederd a full set of superpro bushes with camber adjuser on them! so strip all the bushes out and replaced with nice new shiney ones and rebuilt the subfame.

first issue was we found the new hubs used a different driveshaft to the vrs so down to tps orderd 2x new skoda hubs and bearing and a few £££ later we had the perfect front end setup so the old standard fron end on the car was unbolter and thrown in the bin and the new setup was bolted up with all new bolts and fitted the new power steering pump and additional pipework as its a differnt higher pressure pump.

afew extra plates added to help stiffen the subframe where also added along the way.

suspension

as we decided to pretty much shell the car we removed the suspension kwv3 and took them to a friend of mine who tested and cleaned and all was good result so theses where bolted back up and that was that

rear subframe

the rear cross member was removed and new superpro bushes fitted and the 32mm rarb was cleaned and checked all okay

fueling

on this car came a swirl pot etc in the back with bosch 044 pump on inspection is was found the **** head who fitted this was about as compotent as a snail!!!!!! the fuel pump was not only hard wired to the battery the termainal had be crimped using pliers so the conectors all fell off !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not good and even worse they had fitted braided hose and on inspection the braided hose had been push fitted on the high pressure plastic pipe under the car WTF madness this was a fire hazard awaiting big time the person who did this needs a slap !!!! the wire running to the pump was a 1 amp cable !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how thin

so we have fully re wired the pumpms and replaced all the pipeing with new and done properly !!!!

interior

i have decided to strip the car to just a dash board and seats as its going to be a track car this was just the sart of a big job!!!!! we checked the gauges as we wanted to move them and omg this was going to be a pain the person who wired them really didnt like des and the wiring could have been done better by a baby!!!!! again connection loose etc etc

so i decided i would remove the complete loom and fix it and then re wire all the gauges back in with the correct cable and inline fuses so now im happy the wiring in the car is spot on and all connections are tight etc etc

intercooler setup

des was running a pro alloy front mount setup with intercooler pipes made to go around the front of the engine after speaking to pro alloy we deiced it wasnt up to spec as its only good to flow 350bhp and i want more than that lol also the pipe work that had been made had more bends that a country road !!! not good for supporting big power so that had to go also

so now sits a very large core with 76mm end with new 2.5 inch custom made smooth pipework tig welded so no silicone joins aprt from to turbo and throttle body.

OIL cooler

the oil cooler was place where the oem sidemount used to live however again the dickhead that fitted it used one m6 bolt to hold it on a 1mm piece of bracket wtf

so have moved the oil cooler to on top of the front mount behind the grill it took a bit of fabriction but it will work well

turbo intake pipe

this car has had a few a 4 inch ip alloy one a 3 inch one etc both shocking and porely made so they where thrown in the bin and replaced with a new intake with new 3 inch mafe and massive filter sitting behind the headlight.

we also noticed the engine was still on oem engine mounts so these where replaced with new ths uprated mounts

so we had by this point changed just about every part apart from the engine as it had just been rebuilt so we decided to take it to mapping for running in and a mapping session with r-tech so off we went and the plan was toleave it with nick until ready!!!!!

this was just the start of the nightmare

the call came from nick to say clive there is something wrong with the engine its not running right and the exhaust gases are leaking everywhere and the crankpressure is way to high !!!! at this point i wanted to go mad but off we went to collect the car last week !!

i then removed the engine and box in record time 1.5 hours lol and took the whole lot to my mates to strip down and see whats wrong oh dear it wasnt good

the brackets that hold alternator etc on where loose and bolts missing etc so head was removed and straight away the proble was seen when the car floated the valves it damaged the pistons and istead of replaceing all 4 they have replaced the one that was fecked so 3 old pistons with valve damage left in and one brand new piston fitted but it gets worse the piston they replaced wasnt event hte same as the others it was a compression ratio 8.5.1 and the others 9.0.1 this has really ****ed me off now so we though we would check ring gaps also yep million miles out one was even 1.46mm when it should have been max0.20 !!!!! wtf the person that built this car didnt have a clue and should never be aloud to work on cars ever !!!! mike from ip please read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ******

so i have had to order 4 brand new pistons from je to rebuild this engine. the block was supposedly a diesel 2.0ltr block another load of *******s its a standard 06a 1.8 block bored to 82mm with a stroker crank !!!!! so once i have the new pistons it will be fully rebuilt with all new gaskets all new race shells and oil pump and pickup and coulour coded to ;-)

it will be rbuilt with some more upgradeds also

arp crank bolt and dowled gear

arp cam bolt

ie manual tensioner and performance belt

arp flywheel bolts and friction plate

arp 11mm head studs

acl calicoated shells

so at present the engine is stripped in my mates garage ready for the pistons to drop it

as you can imagine i have removed the turbo and mannifold again this was without issue the mannifold had no gaskets to the head no wonder it leaked lol and its a nice mannifold but where a **** has repaired it the welds have closed parts of the runners to 50% wtf so that gone to an engineers shop to be pressure checked and runners bored out..

the turbo is new so thats a relief but while its off i have sent it to have the bearing replaced with a wrc spec one

this has given me a good oppotunity to sort the full engine bay out while engine is away !!!

so i have removed just about everything to re do or remove if not needed but this is ongoing at present so will update this part in a few weeks

i have also invested in some cut slicks and track wheels and have also re stripped the brembo brakes etc etc and double checked it all

so jobs left to do

rebuild engine

weld in passenger seat

fit wmi kit

remove battery from boot and refit behind passenger seat

back for mapping

have lots of fun lol

i will update this every week showing progress of enigne with pics and write up and will show some pics of the other stuff done

lots more to be sorted but it will be the best mk1 around in track form

and this will not only be faster than before it will have better handling and will be reliable build properly build once

this really has become my car over time and i have had a proper love hate relationship with it but its getting better lol its cost a small fortune so far but thats part and parcel i was just shocked at how crap this car was in terms of what people had done to it and i feel sorry for des paying mike all that money when all he did was feck this car up!!!!!

p.s i will sell once done for the right price ;-)

p.s.s hope i havent bored you !!!!

[RobClubley]

Wow, sounds like, er, fun! Looking forward to the pics.

[missingmyvrs]

bet your glad you didnt buy it lol it will be amazing once finished going to get the bay reprayed etc etc so this car will nearly be brand new mechanically on every part just body thats not been touched yet !!!!!!!! but i have a friend who does carbon fibre but if im honest i might just sell once im doing making it the best mk1 track car around !!!!

[Volvomeg]

Never seen car but some of the stuff done to it sounds shocking, people should not be allowed to work on cars unless they know what there doing,

suprised it ran with one wrong piston in it

[GeeVRSman]

im far to un educated to read so much writing in one night, so i will wait for pics to tell the story.

[JohnRS]

I often wondered what happened to this, nice to see it went to someone with the patience to get it running right and within the forum.

Good luck

[dsmithmobile]

Sounds interesting,shame the car had been bodged so much and hope you get it running how you want,look forward to seeing pics and hopefully vids on rollers and eventually on the track,good luck

[mdk1]

I'm supprised at the state of the orginal " build " Will be good to see the Red Devil in it's Second life as the Red Rock.

It has always been a crowd puller at RR days.

Good luck with your rebuild.

[missingmyvrs]

new custom pistons orderd and new je pro rings orderd wow that emptied the wallet !!!!!!!

i have a spair 82mm block with 4 82mm forged pistons if anyones interested pm me

[BossFox]

I'll be keeping an eye on this!

[chicken_eyebrow]

Finally it's out in the open whats happening with Des's old car!

Good luck with it mate, you'll need a lot of patience. Sounds like IP didn't do a great job on it, no wonder Mikes not around any more!

Wouldn't be suprised if you need to bin the manifold and just get a new one fitted. Has it still got the extrnal wastegate fitted on the manifold?

[missingmyvrs]

mannifold will be okay just need doing properly as its a good bit of kit just the **** that welded was rubarb !!!!

[Wayne Kerr]

You've got my intrest, I've clicked the "follow this topic"!

[GeeVRSman]

lol cool name

[VRS Mike]

So not such a bargain then Clive. Could you not have taken it back to IP and get them to do the rebuild properly, or at least supply you the parts to fix their bodge? Des must be p****d off. Had the car been run since their rebuild?

Look forward to seeing the pics mate, really need to swing by once it's finished and check it out in the flesh.

Make sure you get Nic to film the RR sessions lol.

[chicken_eyebrow]

Could you not have taken it back to IP and get them to do the rebuild properly, or at least supply you the parts to fix their bodge?

LOL they're not around any more, haven't been since about 2 years ago.

I'm not surprised to be honest. There are a few people on here who would like a word with Mike...

[VRS Mike]

LOL they're not around any more, haven't been since about 2 years ago.

I'm not surprised to be honest. There are a few people on here who would like a word with Mike...

Fair enough, sounds like they were right cowboys.

[missingmyvrs]

lol whoever work on the car over the years didnt have a fecking clue !!!!!

but it can only get better the problem i have is i cant just throw a motor together if its going to be done it will be the best !!! so its costing a good feww ££££ but it will be the badest mk1 track car around with a few more ponies to help lol

its going to be truly extreme i can assure of that ;-)

mike once done mate you can have a go see what you think ;-)

started removing all oem fuel lines to be replaced with aeroquick lines etc etc

and removing all the old lining on the bulk head engine side as this was fire damaged and this will be replaced with kevlar fire wall and taped to ensure it all nice and protected from the heat !!!! i have also completly changed the routing of the brake booster lines etc etc

start with the cable tuck on saturday and smoothing of the inner beams

going to town with this so if anyone fancys getting there hands dirty im working on it all weekend trying to get the engine bay sorted !!!!!

will upload pics over the next few days

[missingmyvrs]

£££ lighter today just been to tps to pick up

1. every gasket on the bottom end

2 every gaket for top end

3 2x tubes of sealent

4 a 1.8t sump gasket of an audi better than the sealent ;-)

5 2 x new oil filters

not bad for all that i say ;-)

p.s when the car is fully finished and mapped it will be for sale so any interest pm me maybe you could see her being built etc etc etc etc

i wont sell until she is 100% mapped and run in etc etc it comes with a mountain of spairs including a second engine that is also forged ;-)

it will also be ready for various mag features that its going to have ;-)

i would love to keep but im going to go jap and buy another project car ;-)

[SNH]

Should be fun when it's done gay boy

You need RWD next much more fun than FWD lol

[blueR36]

Good read, this could have killed you on many levels, glad it is being sorted by a perfectionist Cant wait for the pics

[missingmyvrs]

thanks mate

some say i got ocd lol

removed wiring looms today to remove crap not needed and re sleeve it and try a cable tuck as best as poss ;-)

got to look good as well as go ;-)

wiring looms = hours of misery

[Jonneh]

Pics yet?

[missingmyvrs]

yeah got loads of pics but need to get 5 mins to start uploading working nights at the moment so the little time i have is under the car ;-)

i will try and spair 10 mins later today

[snow_muncher]

Good luck with the rebuilt

Quite shocking to hear the truth about this car