I'm blown away at Chris' communication. He's already sent me detailed records of everything he's found so far. Photos, videos, emails. This is super exciting! My wife says "your car is going to be ready before you know it" (she worked automotive for 25y)
radiator out, fans out, coolant pipes inspected. AC components being removed. looks like I might need air duct components (the duct that goes from the front of the car, the flat square one)
so total investment so far: 17h at $120/hr plus parts. I'm actually pretty impressed at how much work he got done in 17h. we talked on the phone yesterday, one thing that he's pleased is that I'm not looking for everything to be restored to like new, I just want things clean and working. he said he was pleasantly surprised to hear this as most customers are looking for show quality restorations. he said it's definitely going to save me time, which in turn saves me money. the whole goal with this is to not end up under water.
carb is installed, timing belt tension adjusted. we're moving right along! going to go visit the car on Sunday. it'll be a lovely day to go burn some $6/gallon premium down and back the coast.
so (I knew this) my nose band side mount is broken. At Chris's recommendation it's been removed so I can take it home tomorrow and repair it. he says they've been known to decide to detach themselves and literally fly off the car when broken like mine is. I figure I'll reassemble the mount using epoxy resin and fiberglass strips like I've fixed VW plastics unless someone here has an unbroken one they'd like to let go for a fair price.
so had a wonderful time visiting Chris and my car today. we hopped in the hotrod (my built 24v GTI) and hit the road for Santa Cruz. I continue to be impressed with the guy. after our visit we drove back to the bay area on hwy 1 and enjoyed the beautiful weather.
it's amazing he does so much in this beautiful historic barn!
so Volkswagen in around 1990 released the VR6 engine which is a narrow angle V6 with a common cylinder head. The design of the VR engine was actually a Lancia design from over 100 years ago!
in 2003, Volkswagen did a major redesign of the VR6 and incorporated 24 valves (4 per cylinder) instead of 12. these engines in base 2.8L trim made 200hp and 200lb/ft. this engine was then stuck into the front of the period's GTI resulting in the most powerful normally aspirated GTI ever made before, and since. They were only made for 3 years.
mine has cams, a tune, exhaust, plus suspension mods. it makes about 240HP now with a similar torque number and is a TON of fun in this little car... and the exhaust note is absolute joy.
here's a clip of me bombing through a tunnel before we installed the cams. at this point I was making about 220HP. I need to make a new video because the exhaust note is even more incredible with the cams in.
Side note, because of the Lancia history, this was actually a drivetrain swap I considered for about a minute.
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