PROJECT CAR: Vento Coupe

[robh]

Wheel on.

I don't think the BBS RC suit the look of the Vento, so will probably just use them for track time as they already have some (very old) Toyo R888's on them.

Think I'll leave the Speedlines on for driving on the road.

[80 Vert]

Interesting Rob, with the big turbo motor and lots of boost we never ran in to water temp problems and with only a tiny oil cooler mounted behind the front grill that was usually ok too except on really hot days but a lap or 2 of taking it easy the oil temp came down quickly.
Our problem was always cooking the brakes / brake fluid but maybe that was due to the baboons behind the wheel.

[robh]

Interesting Rob, with the big turbo motor and lots of boost we never ran in to water temp problems and with only a tiny oil cooler mounted behind the front grill that was usually ok too except on really hot days but a lap or 2 of taking it easy the oil temp came down quickly.
Our problem was always cooking the brakes / brake fluid but maybe that was due to the baboons behind the wheel.

I think even the small oil cooler you had would have made a difference.

I'm hoping it's just heat soaking towards the end of the 15 min session with the turbo being water cooled.

Prior to remap it didn't get hot on the water side at Pukey or Hampton Downs, but now I guess with a few extra KW's it's generating more heat.

Everything I've read from UK suggests that you need an external oil cooler for track work with any sort of tuned K04 setup.

[Filx]

Tidied up Oil Cooler brackets today, but ran out of time to get some proper nuts and bolts for them.

The other 2 areas that could do with improvement for track work are proper track tyres and the front brakes need more feel.

So I fiddled around with the old AP 4 pots that were on Golf and trail fitted 1 side to the Vento.  A small lug needed to be ground off the hub to clear inside face of rotor, but so far everything else looks to fit directly, even the hoses are the right length.

Those brakes look good! They outta do the trick. I like the RCs, they would be pretty light weight as well i assume?

[robh]

Gave up on the front brakes.  Got them all fitted up and lined up nicely, but don't have any braided hoses the right length as soon as you go full lock they are way too short.  The mark 2 hard line is in front of the strut and the mark 3 is behind the strut.

Out of $$$ and energy to go and pay for some new ones.  So just installed the new braided lines on the front of the S3 brakes that are on it already, plus the DS2500 pads are barely worn yet, so should try and get some value out of them.

[robh]

Well been a while.  Long story try and cut to shorter version.

Coolant looked dodgy, but oil was like new, try couple of different leak down testers, ended up rooting one of the spark plug threads in cylinder head, pretty sure it wasn't my spannering but maybe it was.

Anyway got sick of messing around so have pulled engine and box so I could do a few jobs.  Plan is currently:

1. Recoil spark plug threads in head
2. Remove factory oil cooler and just run aftermarket oil to air cooler
3. Upgrade Rods and ARP bolts
4. Light weight single mass flywheel and clutch
5. ARP flywheel bolts
6. ARP head bolts
7. Forge Wastegate Actuator
8. 630cc injectors
9. Remove PRV system and replace with breather tank
10. Remap
11. Drive it

[80 Vert]

You should look at those weld in baffle kits for the sump as well, might as well if its off already.

[robh]

Good point John, might cheat and just get the Forge one as it's already built and I was going to order their wastegate actuator already.

[robh]

Just ordered 4 new Toyo R888R's for the old girl.

[robh]

Forge Baffled sump and wastegate actuator ordered.

[robh]

Progress update, completed the following:

Recoil spark plug threads in head, New head gasket, ARP head bolts
Remove factory oil cooler and just run aftermarket oil to air cooler
Integrated Engineering rifle drilled rods and ARP bolts
Light weight single mass flywheel and south bend clutch, ARP flywheel bolts
Forge Wastegate Actuator, swapped to Yellow – 15 psi (1.0 bar) spring
Forge baffled sump
Re route of brake servo vacuum line
Removed redundant charcoal filter vacuum lines
N249 valve delete

Engine and gearbox back in the hole, just have a bunch of stuff to reinstall/reconnect then remake oil cooler lines a touch longer.

Will bed down with current BAM 384cc injectors before switching out to 630cc and remap

[robh]

Rivets on clutch pressure plate not clearing gearbox bellhousing.

Pulled gearbox back out, so much fun, harder than pulling the engine/gearbox complete, not time wise but in terms of actually getting it out of the engine bay not easy.

Compared old dual mass flywheel/ring gear combo with single mass flywheel/ring gear, and the single mass is sits slightly deeper by about 1-1.5mm.  Getting some material removed from rear face of flywheel and will try again.

[robh]

All running again. 

Ended up giving up on the clutch upgrade and stuck the factory dual mass setup back in.  I know it will start slipping sooner rather than later, but wanted to make some progress on putting it back together and start driving it again.

Just doing a few road kms in it to bed down new rods, etc, then will pass back to Tune Technics with some bigger 630cc injectors for another remap with more fuel and more boost.

[robh]

Remapped by Dave at Tune Technic.

Healthy increase in midrange, top end capping out by size of K04.

Goes quite well now, should really stop fiddling.

Surprised that stock DMF clutch setup is holding...

[robh]

Hasn't sold and I'm not giving it away, so pouring more money into it instead

Removed external Bosch 44 as it was sooooo noisy, replaced with 500hp in tank deatschwerks pump.

Swapped front brakes out for AP 4 pot setup from the Golf, rotors aren't big but hoping they will cope with track work better than the Audi S3 setup.

Finally I'm ditching wheel bolts for studs this, very race car!

Have some other parts and changes on the way in the future....

[Filx]

Awesome Rob - looking forward to the next phase.

[robh]

Vento has sold to someone that has the right idea about how to use this sort of car. I'll let them introduce themselves if they choose to.

[rambo_005]

Nice one Rob.

What's happening with your Mk2? If you want to sell any of the nice showy road bits to make it more track focussed, you should give me a shout. My Mk2 is finally able to be driven again!

[Filx]

I have seen the Vento Coupe pop up on the Playday on Track FB page a couple of times so great to see it is still out there getting used