Dannysyncro1.8hello im dan, bought a 1990 golf syncro RHD tornado red £450 shes got:
Weber 32/34 DMTL carburettor
Blue Igniters Silicone HT Leads
K&N Air filter
Golf Rallye rear springs
New rear Drums and shoes
a full service by me
i had a mint show worthy jetta that got rear ended and this is my next project.
so far the syncro is awesome but i want to crispen up the handling and some extra power in the future would be nice.
exhaust – i want stealth performance dont want too loud but dont want any compromise on performance, im thinking custom made 2″ stainless system with a well designed centre and backbox, it has a box at the front with a 6 bolt connection ive read on here somewhere its a catalytic convertor but my mechanic said its just a front silencer, cat’s sap on average 10% of an engines power,
has anyone had good results removing this from the system since the car is pre cat requirement of 1992 i.e. de-cat it,
suspension im going to fit the rear rallye anti roll bar with poly mounts, i dont want to lower the syncro much ive heard its bad 40mm max, so has anyone got any good advice on what works well, i don’t want any mickey mouse ebay import crap either, my jetta has nearly a grands worth of gaz gold gga fully adjustable coilovers but these ive heard are not transferable due to the shorter rears, they were overkill really ive seen some koni struts not coilovers still damping adjustable from the top yellow body or they have a cheaper option being a red body design with i think no damping adjustment, i could settle for something like this as i dont want to lower it much it ruins everthing the cars good at i just want to crispen the handling from past experiance the adjustable stuff you can get even top of the market stuff you can never set it right every roads different. whats reccomended?
can you do anything to get more power to the rear.? or make it full time 4wheel or more rear biased, what happens if i take my front drive shafts out will it work and will it last.
engine wise things happen in stages so ill sort the suspension and exhaust out then have a think,
ive had a read all over and couldnt find specific answers to any of these
cheers from dan
no such userthe frount box can be cat but on RHD models it’s just a pointless box but there is littel point playing with the exhaust after the frount box as there are no gains to be had there, look at the downpipe and you’ll see what i mean.
as for handeling you’ll be wanting the rallye rear anti roll bar, i had some right games with suspention, rear struts came off and went back on about 5 times, and tryed 4 diffrent sets of springs and dampers on the frount tho it now grips nicely thats with spax psx frount struts and rsx rear coilovers a combonation i must reccomend. the other alternative was going to be H&R golf ralley springs on koni dampers
tuneing the motor a k jet dizzy and gti head and cam works well after that a 2ltr bottom end. if you want more you ether need to sort the downpipe out or apply boost
no such userHave a read through Danny and my threads in the tuning and upgrades section. There’s a lot for you to learn in there.
Removing the front drive would be a foolish thing to do. The 4WD system works so elegantly and effectively it would be my opinion that you’d be a fool to remove it.
As the power distribution is infinitely variable it will drive to the rear when needed. By developing the handling with spring rates, the right ARBs and some good dampers you have the ability to make your car far more tail-happy and enjoyable to drive. If you’re not too far from Danny or I I’d suggest that you meet up with us at some point and come out in one of our cars, or get along to the next track day we’re at. We have two very different cars that will show you what can be done with a Golf Syncro.
I’d say your first decision will be what motor you want to use, as the biggest piece of custom work will be getting the exhaust out of the engine bay.
Dannysyncro1.8yeah im not taking no front drive shafts out the system just wondered if anyone has done, the syncro system works well, the more you know it and understand the more you appreciate it.
a big job broke out by accident i went to put an amp cable in and the underlay was damp so i had to strip the complete interior of trim, seats, carpet, underlay and soundproofing, and also stripped all the hard compound layer off the floor pan back to bare metal because it had started to peel up and got wet under it no real rust 1 small patch and i managed to poke a screwdrive through it with a good whack so need to weld a patch, i will be re-painting this weekend and have taken some pictures, going to have to do the underside next, glad i found it before winter anyway,
anyway shes a lot lighter now wet underlay weight quite a lot i have disposed of this it was no good to anybody,
dannyp – i see what you mean about the manifold egyptian looking thing, can you get a 4 branch from anywhere?
gti head, cam, k-jet dizzy – i have all of these what do i do?
i have a stage 3 ported & polished mk1 gti head with a good fast road cam in it, will she fit? or best 2 get the gaskets and see if all lines up,
if this was the case and it did fit
the injector holes instead of blocking these they are the perfect place to put nitrous foggers, carb’d car needs a wet kit x4 foggers extra fuel and n20 are injected right where volkswagen wanted it to be diectly into the port. very nice
the dizzy looks like a straight swap i compared mine next to 2 mk1 gti’s 1 being standard and 1 stage3 tuned and it looks like everything botom end wise is the same i can add an oil cooler aswell a proper air cooled one that is that bolts to the block and sits behind the slam panel, not a mickey mouse coolant cooled thing.
will i need the tci-h unit from the gti aswell like a mini basic ecu thing in the scuttle pannel?
Dannysyncro1.8the head will phisically fit but is the ignition timing going to differ? and nitrous will have to wait until it’s all set up properly so i’ll use the 1p coin method.
no such userk jet dizzy is plug and play, iirc you can put mk1 head ob the gu block the gu has an extra oil return not sue if you need to do anythgin with it or not tho. manifolds for syncros it appears you have to make yourself – enjoy
Dannysyncro1.8cheers, ive ordered a rallye rear anti rollbar today from volkswagen stockport £78.80 total price including 2 new inner and outer rubbers to suit, no uk stock will be here from germany in 7-10 days cant wait.
ive also got a new carburettor service kit and inlet flange on the way clean her up ive done a dmtl not long ago and its suprising how much fuel solidifys everywhere waiting to break loose id rather do it now than in a few months winters nearly here and since i plan to keep the car a while its worth while.
skattrdI don’t mean to hijack, but has anyone fitted front strut braces (upper or lower) and if so how does it affect handling?
I’m quite tempted to get a mk2 golf lower strut brace as I find the front a bit wallowy so was hoping this might improve it a bit.
no such usersiffer shocks and negative camber work a treat, strut brace should help but dosen’t have anywheer near the same effect on a mk2 as a mk1, it’s very worth checking you wishbone bushes and wishbones or just replaceing them. poorly wishbones can make handeling awfull