The Go-Kart: A College Budget Build

My name is Cole, and I am currently a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. So far I have had three vehicles (since I turned 16), none of which I was ever all that happy with. I just picked up this 2002 VW Golf TDI Saturday (4/11/15) afternoon. This thread will be more of a progress log for myself of what has been done to my car, but feel free to ask questions or get off topic. I pulled this off of vortex, where I started the thread, but no one really followed it, so I thought I'd try here. It is a TDI anyway!

My current vehicle: 2002 VW Golf TDI (one owner)

Dyno'd at 111 hp, and calculated ~200 tq. Retune just installed.

Here's a few more pictures.





And a dirty engine bay.

Changed the intake and cabin air filters today. He clearly never changed the cabin filter, but the intake filter wasn't that bad.
Cabin filter:

Replace my rear hatch struts as they were shot. Ordered these from fixmyvw.com. I definitely recommend him. Fair prices, high quality, and fast shipping. (had them at my door in two days).

A little bit of an update. I did a full detail of the car on the inside: carpet steam clean, armor all, and new floor mats.

I've been ordering a few parts here and there with my "leftover" Paypal funds. My passenger window has been broken so I am in the process of replacing the regulator.

I have been shipped two wrong regulators already, (one was my fault), but Andrew at fixmyvw.com came in with the save of the OEM part for a discount!
#1

#2


I also ordered some new shifter bushings...all aluminum ones. My stock ones were shot. I LOVE the new tight shift feelings.


I got this in the mail a few days ago as well. I drive back and forth to school (2 1/2 hours one way) quite often. Plus I'm really into music and the quality of sound, so this will make a great improvement in the quietness of the ride.

I plan to eventually cover the whole inside of the car - doors, roof, floor, trunk, spare tire area, rear quarter panels, etc.

So today, I got smacked into leaving Walmart. The driver at fault didn't have a license or insurance...of course. Having just liability insurance, this accident was not covered. So it will be out of pocket to fix. Awesome. Off to court I go...

Body shop appointment set up for June 16th. Hopefully after that I can get somewhere with this small claims case...probably never get any money out of the guy though.

I finally started working full time again for the summer, so hopefully a few mods can be done this summer. I am in college, so I guess I can't just blow all my money on the car like I'd like to though.

Got my shifter mount bushings installed today. I went with the ECS brand ones because they had free shipping. They were a little sloppy, which was disappointing, but they are better than the worn out stock ones I had.

Not the best picture but if you look closely, you can see them in there! I didn't feel like paying $7 for a piece of metal to do the shifter alignment afterwards, so I used a 16D nail (didn't have a 20D either lol), and then wrapped a little tape around it to make it fit snuggly. It worked great actually!


I also put in an order for a few things from ECS last week.
Solid Shifter Cable Bushing Upgrade Kit - Round 10mm - Round 8.0mm
ES#: 2840872
$42.95

Fuel Filter
ES#: 947
$22.95

Sealing Plugs - 5
ES#: 318089
$0.99 each
Lower Bumper Grille - Right (mine was missing)
ES#: 2189820
$19.95

Indigo Gauge & Center Mount Pod Kit - 0-35psi Boost Gauge (No Vacuum)
ES#: 250818
$119.95
Silver Gauge Trim Ring
ES#: 248862
$5.95

Shipping - $0.00. Yay free shipping!
TOTAL:
$216.70

This came in yesterday!




I began installing a few things I had not put in, and others that I just got.
Before:

After:


Ordered this from England! Such a better looking boot than the worn out stock one.


Since I got the plugs to fill the holes for water drain I started putting in the FatMat. I'm starting to get the hang of using it, but as you can see in my gaps it took a little bit to get used to.

I can already tell the difference between not having it and now adding it. Quite a bit quieter.

Got this all hooked up too.

I tied the power into the dimmer switch and ground. Then drilled and tapped a brass fitting into the intercooler charge pipe.


During normal acceleration in first its about 9lbs, 2nd is about 7lbs, and third cruising is like 1-2lbs. Heavy acceleration in 3rd through 5th spikes up to about 20-22lbs and holds at about 17lbs. Highway cruising at 70mph is about 2-5lbs. It buzzes a little bit so I need to get a no buzz fitting or filter or something. Very happy with everything so far!

looks like you have a good eye for detail. a couple suggestions:

- ecstuning is normally not the best place to get good quality parts for the price
- not all sound deadening material is equal.

i haven't used fatmat myself, but many of the cheaper materials have poor adhesives. for example, i've tried GTmat - the adhesive is poor (the rubber part is fine, but it stiffens over age). dynamat is expensive, but holy crap, the adhesive sticks and never lets go, and the "rubber" doesn't get brittle as it ages like other cheaper products

burpod said:

looks like you have a good eye for detail. a couple suggestions:

- ecstuning is normally not the best place to get good quality parts for the price
- not all sound deadening material is equal.

i haven't used fatmat myself, but many of the cheaper materials have poor adhesives. for example, i've tried GTmat - the adhesive is poor (the rubber part is fine, but it stiffens over age). dynamat is expensive, but holy crap, the adhesive sticks and never lets go, and the "rubber" doesn't get brittle as it ages like other cheaper products

Click to expand...

Yeah I have heard bad things about ECS, but so far I have had good experiences with them. The stuff I buy there usually is name brand, so the quality isn't really an issue. As with the sound deadening, so far it is awesome, no complaints. I got 100 sq ft of it, and it was about $150. It is really sticky stuff. There were a few pieces that I put on the wrong spot and almost couldn't remove them.

Thanks for the advice!

i actually sometimes use old shingles that i rub the rocks off for sound deadening....lol. and adhere myself

Got all of the FatMat installed in the boot. So much quieter now!


Also stopped in at the body shop. Progress!

but on a serious note, it doesn't really matter. on the older VWs they used vinyl-wrapped sandbags ontop the floors of the car. as well as shingle-type material glued to the floor boards

Not to beat the proverbial dead horse, but when was the timing belt done last? The car definitely looks nice, good work!

JDSwan87 said:

Not to beat the proverbial dead horse, but when was the timing belt done last? The car definitely looks nice, good work!

Click to expand...

Done at 100k.

Currently at 129k

Nice Car and plans. Also went to P-Vegas, great school.

Went to the jy on Saturday with my brother. I made out pretty good with an almost complete black interior trim swap!


Car was done at the body shop today, so I picked it back up. Very impressed (he even polished my headlights!)

Today I "started" swapping parts over: Before


After:


Not much different so far, as I have only swapped two panels, but I like the look already.

I also installed my dogbone mount bushings. I got the 70 duro ones from ECS, and they are way too stiff. The extra stiffness doesn't bother me, it's the extreme interior panel rattle that annoys me. I will probably swap in one of the old rubber mounts.

Very nice car and a great project! It's nice to see a good TDI in the hands of someone who appreciates it.

ugh! i hate the hideous half-black half-tan crap. always a good call to just make it all black you know... now that i think about it, shingles are often black too

I agree, so happy my car is black not tan interior.

OEM motor mounts are the best for the sides but i like to have the slightly stiffer dogbone bushings. but not the ultra-stiff ones, just a tad stiffer than stock. shifting is much improved, perhaps a slight increase in idle vibration

burpod said:

OEM motor mounts are the best for the sides but i like to have the slightly stiffer dogbone bushings. but not the ultra-stiff ones, just a tad stiffer than stock. shifting is much improved, perhaps a slight increase in idle vibration

Click to expand...

What duro are you running? I had heard 70 would be fine, but they aren't. That was the only set I could find that were increased duro but not so stiff. The next step is something around 80 duro. It's only at idle that it bothers me, because the panels rattle around so much. Once my RPM's get up over 1000 you wouldn't even notice a difference.

Cotton in the boost hose takes care of buzzing.

Rapid Transit said:

Cotton in the boost hose takes care of buzzing.

Click to expand...

Please Elaborate.

Take a bit of cotton off a cotton ball or Q-Tip and put it in the hose at the gauge. It'll stop the noise and the gauge will work fine.

Found this information on this forum and it cured my buzz.

Rapid Transit said:

Take a bit of cotton off a cotton ball or Q-Tip and put it in the hose at the gauge. It'll stop the noise and the gauge will work fine.

Found this information on this forum and it cured my buzz.

Click to expand...

that won't cure everyone's buzz. maybe it did yours.

Rapid Transit said:

Cotton in the boost hose takes care of buzzing.

Click to expand...

I have also heard this as well. I will have to give it a try. You put it on the gauge side of the tube I'm assuming?

burpod said:

that won't cure everyone's buzz. maybe it did yours.

Click to expand...

I have heard it works from a lot of people actually, just haven't gotten around to trying it yet.

burpod said:

that won't cure everyone's buzz. maybe it did yours.

Click to expand...

For free, it's an obvious first attempt or are we no longer talking about cars?

Rapid Transit said:

For free, it's an obvious first attempt or are we no longer talking about cars?

Click to expand...

Maybe it works for both cases...? Haha