Brad, introduction.

[golftdibrad]

Hi Guys, Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm probably going to put in an order for a rocket with in the next week.

My automotive backround.....

I've had 2 rabbit convertibles, one with a 16v swap and some work, so i'm very familair with the mk1 and 2 VW's. The last one had:
1.8 16v w/CIS
header, exaust
suspension work

Very familiar with the VW TDI's, espically the mk4 1.9 ALH; hence the username. Its my daily.
Chipped, aprox 110 BHP and 200 flbs torque
gti brakes and suspension
other minor 'standard' mods for tdi enthuists
jetta front end swap

Currnet project/racer is a 94 miata. It has:
konis,
GC coilovers
poly bushings
megasquirt w/MAF delete, WBO2
M45 supercharger soon to be MP62
exauhst.
much more...

Next Project is a rocket!

My senior desingn project in college was an FSAE car.

and now.... some pics!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SccQMp-eg04&feature=PlayList&p=1495FC66536FA643&index=0&playnext=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ2UmIw8a_o&feature=PlayList&p=1495FC66536FA643&playnext=1&index=2


Hope to get cracking soon! Time to source a ford focus of all things.... never thought i'd own one of those :D

-Brad

[Karlo]

Welcome Brad!!

[cordycord]

Too funny Brad--I had a 1980 Rabbit convertible, and helped my dad put a 16v GTI motor in his 1980 Scirocco S. The Rabbit was milder, with 9 spoke Scirocco rims holding HUGE 205/50's :), a Jetta rear sway bar, and Euro bumpers and four headlight setup. Sure wish I had kept the Scirocco.

The guys helping me with my Rocket are Tony Woodford from AWR Racing, who make suspension bits and roll cages for the spec Miata series. Hopefully we can all help each other put together our respective MEV's.

Welcome!

[golftdibrad]

Too funny Brad--I had a 1980 Rabbit convertible, and helped my dad put a 16v GTI motor in his 1980 Scirocco S. The Rabbit was milder, with 9 spoke Scirocco rims holding HUGE 205/50's :), a Jetta rear sway bar, and Euro bumpers and four headlight setup. Sure wish I had kept the Scirocco.

The guys helping me with my Rocket are Tony Woodford from AWR Racing, who make suspension bits and roll cages for the spec Miata series. Hopefully we can all help each other put together our respective MEV's.

Welcome!

Small world, eh? I still miss my rabbit and keep in touch with its new owner. I look forward to helping each other through the build.:coolnana:

Welcome Brad!!

Thanks!

[Karlo]

The guys helping me with my Rocket are Tony Woodford from AWR Racing, who make suspension bits and roll cages for the spec Miata series. Hopefully we can all help each other put together our respective MEV's.

Welcome!

I think you mean Sonic7 Cord.

[cordycord]

I think you mean Sonic7 Cord.


Nope, I meant MEV's...the Rocket and Sonic are both Miller Extreme Vehicles. They both have the same suspension, steering, shifter, engine/tranny and plenty of other stuff, right?

[cheapracer]

Hey Brad, happy to see you get the second best exo car deal around (chuckles).

But seriously, what's the Jetta/Rabbit engine scene like in the States? The reason I ask is because the series 2 Jetta...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Jetta#Second_generation

... is still made here with the 1.8 or the 1.6 taxi pack (most taxi's here are Jettas) and the parts are incredibly cheap for me to buy and its always been a consideration for me to offer a kit with this base (subframe, gearbox, engine mounts, control arms etc.) If you look at my pics you may even reconise the lower control arms :-)

I would like to find out more info on interchangability of engines, primarily dropping a 2.0 into a 1.8 hole (gearbox, mounts etc) - are you aware of this or could you point me to a forum/info that could help please?

What power unit are you going for?

Good luck!

[golftdibrad]

Hey Brad, happy to see you get the second best exo car deal around (chuckles).

But seriously, what's the Jetta/Rabbit engine scene like in the States? The reason I ask is because the series 2 Jetta...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Jetta#Second_generation

... is still made here with the 1.8 or the 1.6 taxi pack (most taxi's here are Jettas) and the parts are incredibly cheap for me to buy and its always been a consideration for me to offer a kit with this base (subframe, gearbox, engine mounts, control arms etc.) If you look at my pics you may even reconise the lower control arms :-)

I would like to find out more info on interchangeability of engines, primarily dropping a 2.0 into a 1.8 hole (gearbox, mounts etc) - are you aware of this or could you point me to a forum/info that could help please?

What power unit are you going for?

Good luck!

Good place for VW swap info is the swap/hybrid forum on vwvortex. The moral is: mk1, 2, and 3 four cylinder drivetrains are very interchangeable. If it will mate to a 02O gearbox, the mounts are nearly identical. You'll have three of four for sure. For example, my swapped rabbit required NO, as in zero zilch, none, cutting or welding mods. Added a knock 'brain', did some wiring, and had an extra 30 hp to the wheels.

The dub scence here is pretty good, especially in the northeast US. You can spends hours on VWvortex in the swap section.

Good luck on your design, I've followed it for a few months on locostusa.

-Brad

p.s. officially ordered my rocket today :D

[Gage]

Welcome. =0)

[cheapracer]

Good place for VW swap info is the swap/hybrid forum on vwvortex. The moral is: mk1, 2, and 3 four cylinder drivetrains are very interchangeable. If it will mate to a 02O gearbox, the mounts are nearly identical. You'll have three of four for sure. For example, my swapped rabbit required NO, as in zero zilch, none, cutting or welding mods. Added a knock 'brain', did some wiring, and had an extra 30 hp to the wheels.

The dub scence here is pretty good, especially in the northeast US. You can spends hours on VWvortex in the swap section.

Good luck on your design, I've followed it for a few months on locostusa.

-Brad

p.s. officially ordered my rocket today :D

Thanks Mate,

Yeah my eyes are hanging out of my head, found the VWVortex swap forums last night and read till 3 this morning!

Seems the 1.8T is a bit of a winner, they seem to get 200hp basically and more than 300hp within reasonable methods.

What I really like about the whole thing is the budget side of things, choose what you can afford - if your poor or easily pleased then grab a cheap SOHC carby 1.6 and all the way up to a VR6/2.5 20 valver/hot 1.8 turbo, all on basically the same mountings. This and the availability of parts for me (not to mention the price) Has tentatively put it at the top of the list. I need to make this drivetrain decision next week.

The gearboxes are available here but i need to find out which ones, currently they sell the 1.6, 1.8, 1.8T, 2.0 and 2.0T in Jetta's and Passat's. Some will be cheap but supplied to OEM and others only through OEM.
Example, probably for the 1.6 taxi's - http://www.made-in-china.com/china-products/productviewbeoEzaGTIxhk/Manual-Transmission-AQ015-.html

Ok so the 1.8T is Mk4 on. what major difference to the 1,2 and 3 for the mounts? (not OT, this can be a choice for the MEV's also!). It's really the 1.8T I would mount up for but how does that effect the others?

PS; Sorry about the last bit, keep up the pills and ointment, you'll get better :D

[golftdibrad]

Ok so the 1.8T is Mk4 on. what major difference to the 1,2 and 3 for the mounts? (not OT, this can be a choice for the MEV's also!). It's really the 1.8T I would mount up for but how does that effect the others?

PS; Sorry about the last bit, keep up the pills and ointment, you'll get better :D

between the mk3 and 4 VWs underwent a major design change. The mounting locations are similar, but the method is totally different. Now there are ways of 'making it happen' . Most of the new 4 cylinder motors still bolt to a O20 gearbox, how about that. Thats three of your 4 mounts; too bad the 020 won't handle that kind of power too long. There is someone in the vw world (its been awhile since I had my mk1) that sells a conversion kit to mount a 02A into a mk1, its a way stronger gearbox. (found: http://wrdusa.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=wrdusa&Product_Code=010A180&Category_Code=a1rabbitgtitranny) Some of those 4 bangers can use the old style engine mounts if the holes are modified a little bit. I'd look at TDI and 1.8t swaps into mk1's and mk2's that don't use the early passat 1.8t DBC motor, see how they did it. like this guys project:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=789621

IMHO, you should make it to the mounting scheme of the old cars with clearances for a new engine (1.8t). That way the newer more expensive drive trains can be used with a little extra work, but you completely backwards compatible to almost all water cooled VW's

hope this helps,
-Brad

[cheapracer]

IMHO, you should make it to the mounting scheme of the old cars with clearances for a new engine (1.8t). That way the newer more expensive drive trains can be used with a little extra work, but you completely backwards compatible to almost all water cooled VW's

hope this helps,
-Brad

Yeah I'm figuring that after another half day on the net researching it! My eyes are sore but it looks like it's worth the effort.

It also certainly has the potential to open up some sales in Europe.

The Mk5 Jetta (called Sagitar here) has been used for taxis in 2.0L form for over a year now, I'm going to try and track down aftermarket suppliers tomorrow (if they exist yet). I notice they are 5 stud pattern too, maybe opens up wheel options as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Jetta#Fifth_generation

Thanks again, great help, you owe me a beer :-)

[golftdibrad]

I made a budget tonight. Not including tools that I may need.... 11850. More refining is needed but its a good place to start.

[Karlo]

Can you give more details?

[golftdibrad]

sure,
6900 for kit with options
2k for shipping/import taxes fees
1500 for a foci
500 for maintenance bits on said foci
500 for hardware

There was some other stuff i itemized/estimated on my excel ss but i'm at the office- i'll look into it later tonight.

[cordycord]

That looks reasonable. I'll be adding paint (my own fault), motor mount fabrication (my own fault), custom fabrication (you'll see :)), wiring & ECU help (my own fault) and a nice set of wheels, tires and Wilwood brakes & rotors. I think that the last one needs to be reasonably added to any budget.

[cheapracer]

sure,
6900 for kit with options
2k for shipping/import taxes fees
.


So your saying the kit is $9K at your doorstep?

[golftdibrad]

So your saying the kit is $9K at your doorstep?

Thats is what I'm estimating, give or take a few hundred. Is that high or low? I though it was a pretty good deal. :coolnana:

[cheapracer]

I guess that depends what you compare it to, seems pretty good deal to me. Theres certainly some other kits around with very questionably high price tags, after all and as I say, it's only steel and fibreglass!