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Hackster's LSA / T56 2 door

Man this thread really died off as did my motivation for working on the car. Up until this week it had not moved since I unloaded it off the trailer.

My work load over the summer and what seemed like a year and a half of steady work to build the car then beat on it most of the summer led to 100% burnout mode on the car.

Been back biking, commuting to work some after work rides and mountain biking, that has been great.

Finally figured I needed to deal with the looming overheating issues the car has had. They got really bad in Fontana with the car seeing temps above 230 cutting my track sessions short by 2.

I have felt that the car doesnt flow coolant well for months now. So after a ton of research on the internet I spent a little time messing with the car.

Comments on the internet recommended running the car with the rad cap off and squeezing the upper and lower radiator hoses to help push air out of the system.

I did this with no luck. The engine gets up to 190 and just hangs out there while idling in the garage, 192, 194. This is with a 165 degree thermostat in it.

I had the fans setup for the cooler stat with the fan on temps at 168 and 174 or right around there. I believed that the problem I was having was this was subcooling the water in the radiator, the lower hose was never getting hot even when the temp was above 190. When that stat would open, the cold water would hit it and it would close again.

So I disconnected the fans, ran the car with the rad cap off and a funnel tight in the filler. I ran the car like this until the thermostat finally opened and got lots of flow through the system. Lower radiator hose actually got hot and by squeezing the upper and lower radiator hoses I got a ton of air out of the system. I did this a few times, cycling the fans on and off making sure that I got all of the air out of the system for possibly the first time ever.....I hope this solves my problems.

So hook fans back up , get the car up to temp, same issue, fans cool the coolant down, car gets up to 190+ and sits there.

So I manually jumper the fans on, watch the coolant get up to 185, fans on, coolant drops to 175, fans off, stat opens, up to 185, fans on over and over again. So I have my culprit.

I get into HP Tuners and adjust the fan temps up to on at 180 first fan, then 185 for second fan and that is still too cool. Raise the fan temps up to 185 and 190 and for the first time this thing is working. Coolant temps are running 172 to 185 with the fan cycling on and off while cruising around town, fans off on the freeway.

I am really hoping that I had two things fighting me, air in the cooling system and fans that were setup wrong and that I don't have a drastically undersized radiator.

Other than needing a new set of tires from flat spots my list of things to fix from Fontana is small.

I need to fix my overflow hose and fittings as they leak.

Car needs an oil cooler too, but that will likely be mid winter upgrades.

Other than that not much to report. After not driving it for a month it fired right up, didnt do anything weird and I forgot how rowdy it was after not driving it for that long.

I like keeping the build thread going even though I know the forums are dying but in hopes that I might help someone along the way.

Cheers.

Sean
 
Great update Sean, your thread is sure to help people even if it’s years down the road. Glad to hear you resolved the coolant issue, I would have figured air in the lines as well...Did your tire get flat spots from sitting 1 month? I image a very soft compound tire?
 
I've got an oil cooler on mine Sean. I found there is plenty of room to mount mine low/driver's side and duct the air so the hot air off the cooler does NOT flow right back across the radiator -- so I'm not essentially dumping the heat removed from the oil right back into the coolant. If you take that approach, your oil cooler will offer additional heat rejection capability compared to your current set up. And (can't remember) if you don't have an oil temp gauge...

FWIW - I used the 240 coolant reservoir as the high point in the system with the pressure cap, no cap on the rad. The steam ports vent all the air out through the reservoir when filling. I just keep pouring coolant in until it's between the low and high lines. No air trap issues.

Derek - got a feeling the flat spots may have been from the track time - some of those Optima events. See pics above on the "speed stop" event.
 
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I'm having identical cooling issues with mine right now. What size is your radiator core? Before I start reinventing my cooling system I'm going to look into my fan control.
 
Great update Sean, your thread is sure to help people even if it?s years down the road. Glad to hear you resolved the coolant issue, I would have figured air in the lines as well...Did your tire get flat spots from sitting 1 month? I image a very soft compound tire?

Its good to hear a little feedback and that people are getting some kind of info from it.

I've got an oil cooler on mine Sean. I found there is plenty of room to mount mine low/driver's side and duct the air so the hot air off the cooler does NOT flow right back across the radiator -- so I'm not essentially dumping the heat removed from the oil right back into the coolant. If you take that approach, your oil cooler will offer additional heat rejection capability compared to your current set up. And (can't remember) if you don't have an oil temp gauge...

FWIW - I used the 240 coolant reservoir as the high point in the system with the pressure cap, no cap on the rad. The steam ports vent all the air out through the reservoir when filling. I just keep pouring coolant in until it's between the low and high lines. No air trap issues.

Derek - got a feeling the flat spots may have been from the track time - some of those Optima events. See pics above on the "speed stop" event.

I am planning an oil cooler in the future but that spot is going to be taken up by brake cooling ducts very soon so Ill need to come up with a solution for it but I agree, I will try and keep it away from the radiator if I can.

I currently do not have an oil temp guage, have been changing oil far too frequently in concern that its getting beat on pretty hard with hot engine temps and no oil cooler.

Yeah it had a number of stops like that unfortunately so the tires are more square than round at this point. Off season may get an ABS system.

I'm having identical cooling issues with mine right now. What size is your radiator core? Before I start reinventing my cooling system I'm going to look into my fan control.

I honestly dont know the radiator core size.....I have not ever taken time to measure it but I can if I remember to.

Been spending the last week or so taking care of a bunch of little things that have been bugging me.

Spent a bunch of time wandering the hoses section to find the perfect pre bent hose to get rid of my kinked one for the vacuum to the booster. Also added on some OEM style crimp hose clamps.

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I also noticed that the barbed connections I previously had on the radiator were not up to the task and were leaking and looked well ****ty.

So I ordered in a few fittings and converted the radiator overflow to a -6 an. Then went to barbed. on the catch can. I am not in love with the way the an fitting looks, as its a little too racerboy but its very functional so Ill let it roll for now.

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Engine bay has been fully detailed, fluids all replaced, catch can drained and nut and bolt performed all around the car.

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Stickers all removed, car got a full detail, removed lots of rubber and cone marks from the sides of the car. Clay bar, polished some areas and a coat of Griots new Best of Show wax...stuff is amazing if you have never tried it. Wheels got a full cleaning and coat of wax with a few small touch ups as well.

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A few weeks back I got an email from K&N offering up a spot at SEMA and the Optima Invitational. I dont feel like I did anything to deserve it but I wasnt about to turn down the opportunity so all this has been in prep for being in Optima Alley all week.

Looking forward to spending the week with some like minded car folks and learning a thing or two from some amazing drivers.

Flew down to Phoenix a few weeks ago and picked up a new daily. 2013 2 door MK6 golf R. 2 owner, 45,000 miles and in damn good shape. Was a wonderful drive home, took every possible backroad and stayed off of the interstate for all but 200 miles out of a 1,300 mile trip.

Aside from the seat sucking the car is wonderful, light, handles great, all wheel drive and some great power.

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Cheers!!

Sean
 
Modern Golf-based VWs are great cars. I can only imagine how much fun that R is. The 242 is looking minty fresh. I hope drool will bead up on the Griot's waxed surface.

Congrats on the SEMA / Optima invitation! If you need SEMA survival tips I can chime in with that. I worked the show for 10 consecutive years and never need to go back :pow:
 
I still think you shouldn't worry about temps. The cts-v operating temp is 215-220?

After some driving around on Saturday morning, the highest temps I saw were 185. I sure hope I have things working better now. Have never had the fans shut off at idle before and the car run cooler.

Modern Golf-based VWs are great cars. I can only imagine how much fun that R is. The 242 is looking minty fresh. I hope drool will bead up on the Griot's waxed surface.

Congrats on the SEMA / Optima invitation! If you need SEMA survival tips I can chime in with that. I worked the show for 10 consecutive years and never need to go back :pow:

Dude I am so impressed with that little car. Its such a great drivers car. Aside from the overly bolstered seat for my big ass its wonderful.

Its my 4th trip to SEMA and 2nd time there with a car so I totally get it. 10 years would be waaay too much but I like to chat with friends in the industry.

Its always a different experience.
 
After some driving around on Saturday morning, the highest temps I saw were 185. I sure hope I have things working better now. Have never had the fans shut off at idle before and the car run cooler.

My fan is running all the time. It comes on I think at 188? and the high speed around 192?. I set those 5 years ago and forgot about it.
 
With a 187F t'stat on the inlet, the ecu temp sensor shows 195F-197F under cruise. Set the variable controller to control at 202F - so it ramps up when you come to a stop, and goes off 20-30 seconds after you leave the light. Winter time, I've made the 25 mile round trip to Cars&Coffee sans traffic -- and never had the fans come on at all.
 

Thanks for sharing, I had no idea that was even out there on the interwebs.

Vegas was overwhelming for us. 2 day drive down and 2 day drive home. We walked about 60 miles in the 6 days that we were in Vegas, lots of it for SEMA lots of it from hotel to casino, down the strip and at the racetrack.

I am not sure I need to do SEMA each year, Ill probably take a break for the next year or more. There were so many people there it was insane.

A few of my top pics and fun ones from the show.

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Garage build

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The car seemed to be a hit. People loved that it was something different and well built. Each time we were at the car for something or another people would stop and take pics or ask lots of questions.

I think my goal of subtle from the outside and great content on the inside was a success.

We headed out from SEMA Friday even on the Ignited Exit Parade. It was awesome, tons of people but we were exhausted by then.

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OUSCI was pretty rad, lots of cars and spectators on day one for the Auto Cross, which was half autocross and half road course. Run times were just under 60 seconds and the course itself was awesome, first half was a little loose, second half had lots of grip so it took some adjusting to that.

Road Course and Speed stop were Sunday. I did well on speed stop at 18th out of 32. I had a tough time on the Right side and would have done better if I could get that time down more.


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Saturday Night was Road Rally out to Shelby.

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Sunday LSX Magazine grabbed the car with Kristi and went out to take some pics of it for an upcoming feature.

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And just some random cool shots over the weekend.

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So that's a wrap.

Lessons learned, the car needs lots more radiator. My fixes worked great in traffic and around town even on the auto cross and speed stop the car stayed cool in sunny 80 degree weather but got hot again on the road course. Temps about 230.

I developed some vibration in the car in Fontana and thought it was tires, but we noticed it all the way over to Shelby and Back and it never improved. Sunday on the Road Course, the vibration got worse on hard right hand turns. I got the car up in the air and looked everything over, possibly a little bit too much pinion backlash but everything else seemed ok. I tightened a couple of loose jamb nuts but no improvement. I only did orientation and 1 road course session so I could get a lap time, but they were not hard or fast laps.

I need lots more camber and lots more front sway bar, as I have gotten better and faster, I have been able to push the car harder and harder and getting more induced chassis roll. This is letting the front roll over onto the edge of the outside front tire on mid sweeping turns and I am getting some shudder and push, also have to scrub a lot more corner speed than necessary.

Ill be upgrading the front struts, bigger sway bar and more camber in the off season.

The car needs more power. Will be doing the BTR cam, valve springs, 1000cc injectors, 2.4 pulley, cnc ported snout and a retune on it in the coming weeks. I would love to do an aluminum 6.2 but its not in the cards right now.

A few other odds and ends, hood vents, front brake cooling ducts, tripple adjustable rear shocks and a rearend checkup will be in order as well.

Overall for a car I built in my garage with mostly junkyard parts I have been pretty impressed with it, not only how it handles, but the beating the car took all summer long. The list of things we have done with this car since it was finished up in April is pretty awesome. Not to mention the people we have met along the way have been awesome. Looking forward to more adventures in 2019.

This is all built around a 200k mile 6.0 and a used 2002 Camaro T56.

Time for more chop chop this winter to get ready for March.

Sean
 
Almost looks like you had tire contact on that front left fender during the stop there.

As always, car looks phenomenal, performs beautifully, and you still have plans for improvement. Keep it up man
 
Almost looks like you had tire contact on that front left fender during the stop there.

As always, car looks phenomenal, performs beautifully, and you still have plans for improvement. Keep it up man

Totally hits the fender at full lock and lots of compression. But its never hurt anything so Ill keep sending it. It will get better with upgraded sway bar and more camber so I am not super worried about it....thats if the fenders dont get cut up for 315's.

Finally unloaded the car from the trailer this weekend and took it for its last spin for the year Saturday afternoon. Beautiful afternoon too.

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So here we go Sunday morning, not working at a feverish pace or anything I tore the car down. Drained all the fluids, bagged all the hardware and inspected everything.

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This was about lunchtime. Found a couple of interesting things. The alternator is totally trashed. There is a good 1/8- 3/16" play up and down on the end bearing so it will need to get changed out.

Tore down the Drivers side after lunch and began with removing the rockers and rocker tray and pulled all the plugs.

I ordered all of this stuff from Brian Tooley Racing and everything so far has been awesome, the valve spring compression tool works so good, they have great instructions online as well. These are a dual spring setup and come in a kit with new hardened spring seats and new valve stem seals. I also ordered the valve stem seal installer tool which took all of the guesswork out of the install.

The process is pretty straightforward on these, a couple taps with the hammer to make sure that keeper is loose, thread in the air chuck into the spark plug hole and give it some air to keep the valves closed. Spring compressor to loosen keepers, pull the keepers with a magnet and remove tool, Pop off keeper, spring and pull the seal and spring and reverse the order.

I took my time removing everything to make sure that it all goes back in the right locations.

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Here you can see I have cylinder 2 done and working my way back.

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All 4 done and ready for the other side.

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I am still shocked at how clean this thing is inside. It had over 200k when I installed it last year and has been beat on all summer long. The van it was in was one of our fleet vans and had the oil changed at regular intervals of 7,500 with synthetic fluids. This is a pretty good testament to me that regular maintenance is key to long vehicle life.

I have been running Mobile 1 and WIX filters since it went in the car and after being in here I see zero reason to change that.

Going to mess around with the other side of the engine this week and see if I can get all of this buttoned up for the cam swap this weekend.

Then I can get onto the blower snout, pulley and injector and figure out what to do for an oil cooler.

Happy Monday,

Sean
 
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