ffp cup VW Golf

Originally the idea was to build a taxi-style racer from a five-door US-market mk2. It turned out to be too good a starting point to spoil, so we decided to leave the air conditioning and other American-market extras in place, tidy it up and keep it on the road.

Then came the idea of assembling a car from the shells up on the hill... a Golf rear end and a Jetta front.

Suddenly it began to feel as if time was running out. Rolle happened to spot a shell online with a roll cage already installed, so that is now reserved. It is a bit far away, in Joensuu; when will we find time to collect it?

According to the seller, the car has only done sprint events, mostly club competitions. It was built as a rally car three years ago, in 2005, with a cage supposedly made to Group F rules. A couple of dents... not much information about the floor.

Rounds three and four of the ffp Cup were held at Alastaro last weekend during Audiclub's track day. Right from the start, the yellow racer was clearly slower than Haapala and Matikainen, who had previously been evenly matched rivals. We were losing a few seconds a lap. Nothing felt particularly wrong behind the wheel; the times just weren't there. I checked the plugs at one point, and cylinder two's was noticeably blacker. A warning sign. Crankcase blow-by got steadily worse through the day, and during the second final the smell of burning oil in the cabin was sometimes strong enough to sting my eyes.

Today we checked compression, suspecting a broken piston ring. As expected, cylinder two had very little. Time to strip it down. Bits of piston ring, and a few other things, turned up as far away as the inlet manifold…

Now we need a piston, or a set of pistons and rings. A 20 mm gudgeon pin, 30 mm from pin centre to crown, and an 82.5 mm bore.

A couple of years ago, I bought a 16-valve Golf GTI after the ffp Cup car's engine failed and we needed a replacement. Ever since, I've considered using its bodyshell for a new Cup car too. Today I finally took a proper look. Not exactly flawless. Some welding ahead…

In the picture, the axles are being dropped.

All ready to set off for Räyskälä!

Thanks to the bumpy roads of the city of Kankaanpää, I got a new sponsor right from the start!

There it is, following along behind…

People have been asking what on earth we were towing in the last post, so here's a bit more information. It's an ordinary Mk2 Golf, intended as the basis for a new ffp Cup car over the winter. Cheap, and already stripped, so we had to bring it home. Thanks to MDComprex!

A “new” gearbox came with it. The 02A is making way for an 02J.

For a few years now, I've wanted a tidier ffp Cup car — and hopefully a slightly faster one too. Until now, it's mostly been talk. At least there's some action now, as revealed a few days ago after last weekend's purchase.

There have actually been two potential starting points: the genuine GTI bought a few years ago mainly for its engine, and the better shell we picked up last weekend. The red GTI was just too rotten to make welding it appealing. Not impossible, but the floor needed work, one sill, the tops of the front chassis rails… then rear arches, rear valance… and the spare-wheel well. Free to anyone who needs it. It even has a sunroof.

The stripped red GTI shell heading for its spot under the spruce tree.

The plan is to work through the new shell over the winter. Strip off the underseal, make the modifications the rules allow, fit the roll cage and paint it. Plenty to keep us busy…

In the background, the faithful yellow car looks a little sadly at its replacement.

I'd like to keep the old car running as a spare. That means finding at least one KR engine. Leads welcome. We already have a gearbox and pretty much everything else.

Today I finally got a closer look at the shell I picked up just over a week ago. It's not even that bad… Thankfully, it isn't all like this; the photos probably make it look worse. And the one we parked outside was much worse. Crushed-glass blasting next, probably.

The Golf shell is off for crushed-glass blasting.

The shell has been blasted with crushed-glass media. A bit of a disappointment, really. The white underseal hardly noticed, so the blasting mainly focused on rusty areas.

Shell going into the blasting booth. The axle assemblies were blasted too.

The underseal resisted, but rust and paint came off nicely.

Front chassis rail after blasting.

Paint stripped from the cabin floor. More of that sealant along the bottom of the bulkhead…

Axle assemblies after blasting. Crushed-glass media works very well on suspension parts.

Time for the rust repairs. As the opening photo shows, we started with new rear wheel arches.

A few hours under the Golf with the angle grinder today. Originally, I planned to have the shell high-pressure cleaned, but my inner cheapskate intervened. A €10 wire-brush wheel and just under four hours have cleaned most of the floor and two wheel arches. Another couple of evenings and it'll do me nicely.

Click the photo to enlarge it.

Part of the floor and two wheel arches cleaned up.

A few more hours and that'll do for stripping the underseal. On my fourth wire wheel now…

Just a few tight corners, one wheel arch and a little inside…

The ffp Cup project got its cage this week, from Custom Cages in England. Buying things is easy. Now Pekka needs to find the motivation to weld it into the shell.

Weld sample for Custom Cages. It needs sending in to get the roll-cage installation certified.

The ffp Cup Mk2 is progressing slowly but surely. We bought chromoly welding wire and made a test weld to send to Custom Cages, so we can eventually get the cage certified.

Chromoly welding wire from Germany for the roll cage.

Success ballast for the win: 20 kilos.

A round win for the team in the ffp Cup, our first in a while! Pekka and Jaska made it to the pits at Pesämäki for the first time in ages too. Immediate results.

It was a great day and the Pesämäki track was nice to drive.

Pictured is the award.

What dubious modifications are we cooking up this time…