Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Topic: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD (Read 4530 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #30 – August 21, 2020, 07:50:06 PM

As I’m waiting on a sourcing an 02M 6 cylinder gearbox, I did some of the things I’ve not really had the urge to do, the Mounting for the Adrenalin tuning shifter was one of them, as the tunnel is so sloped, I had to level it out and knowing that it wasn’t going to be an easy “cut at X angle for 200mm” it was going to be a bit of a pain but I had to do it and I’m glad I did as it really makes me feel that bit closer to getting it running..

2mm Steel nuts welded on the back and she fit like a dream

As the seats were out to weld in the shifter mount, I made up the spreader plates for the passenger side 6 point harnesses and lap belts.

The haldex rear beam was all put together so I could start getting an idea of rear driveshaft lengths and angles

The TT rear shafts were cut and I took out about 30-35mm from both, I then slid some tube over which had an ID of 27mm which matches the driveshafts, what I plan to do is get it at running height and then weld the sleeves in place to account for the angle of the arms, I’ll then send these off to get them made as one piece

Then it was on to the slam panel, don’t get me wrong, the original is lightweight and it would of been less of a headache to use but it lacks adjustability, strength and is flimsy as soon as you start cutting into it (not good when I have two oil coolers, a MK3 VR6 radiator and possibly an Intercooler/charge cooler radiator to mount

So following on from the last post:

Current specs are -

3mm steel for the mounts
38.1mm tube
12.7mm tube for the headlight mounts
30x15x2mm box section for the radiator bracket and grill tabs

The biggest problem I had was the headlights, lining them up With each other, the grill and making sure they’re solid enough, it is heavier but it’s allowed me to rake the radiator forwards and I can add to it at a later date

Once I figure out what cooler I’m going to run for the gearbox, I’ll mount both the engine and gearbox oil cooler behind the grill and then once the arches are on, the aerocatch pins will have brackets made up and will be welded onto the top tube, all in all I’m pretty happy with how it came out from a simple idea in my head that I’ve not seen anyone else do

And to finish, the dash plastics rocked up so they were fitted along with the speaker covers to hide the roll cage holes

And once the gearbox is here (should be next week), the engine will be dropped in to enable me to fabricate the cross member, prop bearing mount and haldex adapter bushing bracket and then I’ll start throwing the fuel system together

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #31 – September 15, 2020, 01:36:18 AM

Not a lot to really update on this..

Managed to get hold of a 4 motion 02M gearbox which meant the engine could be mounted up, no idea on the history of the gearbox but it’ll be split and rebuilt with whatever gear set I throw into it. As with everything, the box was cleaned down before mounting in so that I didn’t cover everything in CV grease and mainly because I’m pedantic..

The engine was cleaned down as it was covered in metal dust, dust, cob webs and all sorts.. as it’s been out for about 3 years and 10 months...

Engine and box married up, although no clutch and flywheel fitted to make it easier, then hoisted in and mounted with a Dutchbuild front 02M conversion bracket and a epytec gearbox adapter bracket. Stock corrado cross member was used just to locate where it needs to sit but ran into a snag due to the fact that the drivers side rear engine mount was shortened in a lathe just before I took it off of the road and due to the epytec adapter, it sits on an angle so a new rear engine mount is needed.

The other problem which I started to see a few months ago was the front triangulation fouling the turbo, stupidly when I put the tubes in, I thought the turbo would end up in the middle of the engine bay.. completely forgetting that the engine is sat to the left of the engine bay sooo.. the turbo will only fit if underslung, leaving next to no room for a downpipe against the engine mount and will melt the steering column boot, so that’s an excuse to get a tubular one made up to sit the turbo to the rear right of the engine

(The engine is currently jacked up off of the aux bracket to keep it level and not sit on the chassis legs

Because the gearbox was in, I decided to mount the rear haldex system so I could fab up the prop bearing bracket and haldex cradle tubes, just trying to finish all fabrication so I can start putting things on..

I was under the impression that the prop would need shortening, but it actually married up pretty well, all that was needed was to pull the cup back to expose the joint, pull down a little bit and they both went together

Although this exposed problem number two.. Which I had again, foreseen..

The tunnel needs to be extended to prevent the prop from rubbing on the floor where the rear seats previously were, this isn’t that much of a problem as it’ll go back on the jig anyway, but it does mean more cutting and welding.

I also made a start on the haldex cradle hanger tubes, the rear turrets has 3mm spreader plates welded onto them and the boot floor was cut open so I could make a start on the tubes, although this is literally all that has been done as I ran out of time today..

And that’s it really, I spent a few hours the other night making a game plan on how to finish this, or Atleast get it to a stage where it can be painted to prevent any more rust from the humidity in the air and having it all laid out really does help! Aiming to have it back on the jig by Christmas to do the tunnel and under seal it and finally put the welder down..

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #32 – September 15, 2020, 09:12:44 PM

Carrying on from yesterday, I cracked on with making a cardboard template for the box which will sit on top of the epytec haldex bracket so it’s level.

The rear cradle was jacked up to ensure it was level, tightening the mounting brackets at the same time, using powerflex black series rear haldex bushings also helped as there is no give in them.

This was then transferred onto 3mm steel and cut and tacked

I’m planning on using M12 bolts to hold it all together so the holes were drilled using a 12.5mm drill bit

The uprights posts were also made up using 38.1mm ERW tube, 3mm end caps with 12.5mm holes drilled in the centre

The uprights were then bolted down to the bracket and the gap measured so I knew how much I had to notch from the bridge tube

some more tube was cut down for the bridge

And placed inside

I haven’t been able to do more than tacks as my welding mask won’t retain charge, while there was daylight I’ve been putting the mask outside in the sun to let it charge, running back inside and tacking then repeating it a couple of hundred times.. the fun stopped when it got dark though so haven’t been able to do more which is an inconvenience to say the least..

A new battery ordered though so I can crack on with mounting the other tubes, putting the boot floor back together and finishing the welding

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #33 – September 16, 2020, 09:20:58 AM

Great updates, really enjoying watching it coming together.

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #34 – September 17, 2020, 07:55:16 PM

Quote from: Monkey on September 16, 2020, 09:20:58 AM

Great updates, really enjoying watching it coming together.

Cheers man, want to get it done now so just trying to crack on with it, trying to see every little job as progress

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #35 – September 17, 2020, 08:02:33 PM

Managed to get a battery for my mask so it was full steam ahead to finish off this diff hanger.

First was to finish welding the mounting tubes

Then it was onto notching the tubes which mount to the turrets, making sure they were both even and both at a 40 degree angle

(My notcher is out by 5 degrees due to the clamp pulling it when tightened)

Then tacking in place and welding

And then finally the horizontal bar to tie it all together

I was planning on doing cutting the holes in the floor pan which I had cut out but I’ve managed to lose my 40mm hole saw so with another one on order, that’ll have to do for today. Just needs to be welded to the turrets once I have that bit of boot floor back in

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #36 – October 22, 2020, 08:43:43 PM

So after a delivery of my 40mm hole saw bit, I finished the spreader plates for the boot floor which allowed me to weld the plate i cut out and weld the tubes onto the turrets

And more holes in the floor had to be cut, felt like I was going backwards but once finished, I really felt like I had overcome a huge hurdle

As the rear donut for the prop was very very close to the floor of where the rear seats go, I had to raise it. So as I used a mk1/2 escort front and mid tunnel, I bought a rear tunnel as that should fit right?

Yeah kinda

I didn’t foresee this when I was installing the tunnel so I chopped off the end of the tunnel to make it fit the MK2, really I should of kept that bit I chopped out as it would of mated up perfectly, but I threw it so I had a bit of a gap between the centre tunnel and the rear extension

So I had to bridge the gap..

And sent it with the welder

Then wire brushed it all, getting in all of the corners and removing the 4-5 layers of paint which didn’t exactly stick well..

Another issue I had with the prop was the centre bearing being too wide for the tunnel to go high enough so the prop was straight

After finding the part number and dimensions of the TT bearing, I found a BMW X5 bearing fit with a smaller bracket.. this is next on the list to weld in

And also mount the fuel tank and route the fuel system as I’ve got my shiney new fuel cell container

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #37 – October 24, 2020, 01:29:10 AM

I'm envious of your welding skills. Not that I'd be embarking on such a project. Just the ability to do my own welding and not pay for someone to make a mess of it!

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #38 – October 28, 2020, 01:25:02 AM

Quote from: AndyBa on October 24, 2020, 01:29:10 AM

I'm envious of your welding skills. Not that I'd be embarking on such a project. Just the ability to do my own welding and not pay for someone to make a mess of it!

Honestly, I thought the exact same thing 3-4 years ago. I really envied people who could weld, but I picked up the torch and started practicing, I wouldn’t say I’m good, I’d say I’m average and confident in what I’m doing and what I know I can/can’t do.

The best thing you can do is just grab one from tool station or eBay and give it a shot. Apart from some pointers from some friends at the unit, I’ve taught myself with a few google searches to assist.

What I now envy is those who can tig😂

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #39 – November 14, 2020, 06:57:53 PM

Few little updates:

One of the things which was really bugging me was the accumulation of metal filings, dust and just general crap which had built up on the rear seat bases and in all the hard to reach areas. After finally installing the rear section of the tunnel I knew I would be coating it in primer to prevent rust creeping I decided to crawl through the rollcage and sat inside with all sorts of wire brushes and twist knot attachments for grinders and drills to remove it all, typical of me not to get a “before and during” photo.. buy I got a finish photo when the etch was put down

Seeing as I was in that area and I had a fuel tank sat around, I started on the mounting for the fuel tank, taking the idea from battery tie down brackets, I made the mounting from 4mm flat bar and equal angle

The design still allows the fuel tank to be removed but is held firmly in place when the top bars are tightened down

Meanwhile everything was roughed and coated with zinc 182 to assist with the humidity creeping through the porous etch primer

And finally, she’s in place

Moving on from the fuel tank, I managed to get hold of a 16 row 235mm mocal oil cooler for next to nothing a few months back and has been collecting dust ever since, so it was time to mount my existing oil cooler and the new one..

15mm box section with some plates from the flat bar.. I need to get some nylon washers to mount between the brackets and the coolers but apart from that, it was easy enough!

The plan is for the 235mm wide one to cool the engine (with a thermostatic valve to prevent the problems I was having before) and the 115mm heavy duty one to be for the gearbox with a mocal gear driven oil pump to supply the oil.

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #40 – November 28, 2020, 07:52:00 PM

Small few updates as I need my AN fittings and manifolds for the dual Bosch 044 pumps but instead of buying them to continue making progress.. I’ve been sniping some dirt cheap parts on eBay which I need later in the build such as a wastegate, BOV, gearbox oil pump and new exhaust manifold..

So as I haven’t got anything new to put on at this moment in time, I’ve been ticking off a few jobs which I have been putting off for a while

First off is the glovebox

The corrado glovebox is too long to fit in the dash so needs shortening, stupidly I haven’t got any photos of be butchering it, but what i do have is of it being rebuilt.

Simply all I did was cut the middle section of the glove box out and married both sides up and fixed them together with woven roven fibreglass

I also removed everything from the front and painted the floor in the same zinc paint I painted the back end with, again to prevent rusting especially going into winter with the condensation of running a 9kw fan

And what I’m part through doing at the moment..

The whole saw came back out for the sill stands

I really have been putting this off for ages and said to myself I would do it when it goes back on the jig but as I have a lot of time sat around and not doing anything.. I thought now would be the best time to do them

Using 30.5mm tube with an internal diameter of 25.5mm I went to work cutting through the sills which wasn’t fun to say the least, would be fine if the hole saw was long enough to send it through all at once but that just isn’t the case

I had to cut an “access” flap for the back hole as the void is just far to big to get the hole saw through to the other side

This also allowed me to weld the tube to the inner support

I went to work on making the tubes and spreader plates, bending the plates to shape and cutting them at the correct angle so that the tube would fit through the plate and the sill

Then the tubes

The welds were ground down as the tolerance was quite a tight fit as the hole saw was 31mm

And then welded in.. not an enjoyable experience as I needed enough heat to penetrate the 3mm but not too much so that it blew through the sill

I still need to do the passenger side, finish welding any gaps or holes around the spreader, make up the inner spreader plates and also bend the bottom of the plate up and weld it to the bottom but this will wait until it’s on the jig to prevent welding upside down

I will also be trimming them down so they don’t stick out so far once i have the stands

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #41 – November 29, 2020, 09:38:40 PM

Interested in how you've cut and shut your glove box. I took the easy route and made straight enough cut so I could epoxy a cut down piece of A4 modelling plastic at the back.
There is a serious amount of time gone into this, assume it will be more than just a track car?

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #42 – December 01, 2020, 09:22:56 PM

Quote from: AndyBa on November 29, 2020, 09:38:40 PM

Interested in how you've cut and shut your glove box. I took the easy route and made straight enough cut so I could epoxy a cut down piece of A4 modelling plastic at the back.
There is a serious amount of time gone into this, assume it will be more than just a track car?

Yeah in hindsight I should of just done that.. would of been far easier and cleaner

Literally just took a dremel to it, think I took out about 30mm from the middle, and joined them back up again, used some gorilla glue to hold them together while I fibreglassed around the outside to strengthen it.

As for being solely a track car..

It’s going to be more of an all rounder really.. something to bring out in summer, “performance orientated” shows and sending it across to Germany and around the ring

My ideas and plans for the car change every other month so it’s never straight forward and if I had just planned it out to start with, it would of probably been done by now!

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #43 – March 08, 2021, 10:43:29 PM

Getting back into my old habits and forgetting to update the thread regularly...

Few things happened over the past 4 months, it hits home saying 4 months and then realising how much I’ve done.. or haven’t done, really need to pull my finger out

So, following on from my last post..

I noticed my rear 3/4 lexan windows had welding splatter on them, most likely from when it was on the jig so I decided to mock up the rear NACA ducts for the ventilation

Using a template from cardboard, I marked it on the window and cut it using a jig saw on low speed, the tight corners came out a bit rough but the long edges were smooth, nothing that can’t be sorted out by using a buffing wheel on a dremel or drill

The inline fans were then mounted to the C pillar’s, higher than the duct itself so when it rains I don’t have it pooling inside the car

Following on from my adventures of using fibreglass, I cut up my carbon old door cards and made a backing for the dash2 pro and fibre glassed it to the speedo surround

With some extra carbon left, I also made an “insert” for the centre of the dash, blanking off the lower pocket, ash tray and heater slot and mounted my bias valve adjuster and switches for the ignition

I also ordered some gauge holders for the vents and a single din radio gauge blank, unfortunately I bought a LHD centre dash vent and was told it can be flipped around to fit a RHD.. it can, but it will fall out if you knock it forward and it sits out about 30mm so I’m having one made up by a mate who 3D prints which will be RHD

Fuel system fun..

By now you’ve probably realised I can’t do anything the easy way and if you’ve followed this build from the start, you’ve probably winced at some of the ideas, methods or plans and this is no different.. consistency is key

I wanted to consolidate as much as I could of the fuel system into the boot, I didn’t want to run filters and check valves half way down the car, trying to change things out while a climbing frame is in the way isn’t fun in the slightest..

I’m running dual Bosch 044’s which have a check valve incorporated Into the banjo stub at the end, these are M12x1.5, so the outlet manifold caps are also M12x1.5, something I couldn’t swap out but I wanted to do away with the standard check valves as they make the pumps noisy on full chat..

I also needed to find an adapter which went from 1/4npt to xxx as my filters are 1/4npt

so I managed to find a walbro outlet banjo stub which was M10x1.25 and m12x1.5 on the other side

So now my fuel pump system could be condensed into:

Inlet
044
044 an6 billet check valve
An6-1/4npt adapter
Sytec 8micron filter
1/4npt to m10x1.25 adapter
Walbro banjo stub
Outlet

For Christmas I also got hold of a T3 SPA exhaust manifold to move my turbo over to the centre of the engine bay for more downpipe room and so I’m not melting steering column boots

I also spent a fortune on AN fittings and Teflon lines as I needed to start routing stuff

I’m thankful I bought the correct tools for them as the steel braid is an absolute nightmare, not a fan of being stabbed by it more than once, so the core separator was well worth the money

AN8 on the supply, AN6 on the return with a check valve to keep fuel in the return for a better response when cranking after the engine being shut off

I ordered the pump for the gearbox oil cooler, mocal diaphragm pump, I was planning on running AN10 fittings but have downscaled to AN8 but I’ll come to that in more depth once I get it fitted and plumbed in...

One thing which has bugged me is my pedal box position, I’m 5ft 8 and seem to have a long upper body and short legs and I was struggling after sitting inside for 30 mins, not even driving.. just sat there

So I made the decision to rip it all out.. again as I’d rather do it now than do it once it’s all together and I’ve driven it..

It took a full day to remove but I’m glad I did, I still have some grinding to do to remove all the welds fully, but it was worth it once it was all out

The problem with the whole thing is due to the main hoop X, I can’t move or tilt my seat back any more than it is, along with the bolster of the bucket seat Goulding against the door bar and being a MK2, it hasn’t got the biggest footwell, after trying multiple positions of the pedal box in the car, I came to the conclusion that it’s the wrong pedal box for the car.. you can’t mount a forward facing floor mounted pedal box with a full rollcage unless you’re a midget, so with that in mind..

I spent another fortune on a tilton 600 series reverse mounted pedal box..

but it is in a different league in terms of quality and adjustability, but I don’t think my bank account will agree.. third time lucky ay

And finally, whilst I had made the jump to sort out the floor pan, I noticed whilst turning the car around that my steering column flexed like crazy, the mount I made for it just wasn’t up for the job even with 6J wheels and ditch finders, nevermind some wide wheels with sticky tyres so I ripped it all out and started again..

It needed to be removable to be able to pull the dash out, I toyed with the idea of a corsa C EPAS system but after hearing some views on the feedback, especially some posts from the residential nige (pinderwagen) on some Facebook pages, I opted to ditch that idea and will keep the standard column.. I’d love to be able to
Make my own steering column, but I don’t have access to a lathe to be able to mill down the tubes and bearing cups.

What I done was remove the OEM bracket, from the steering column then use some 38.1mm roll cage joiners and some 38.1mm CDS, cutting them down with the new toy and notching them with the tube notcher

And this is the result, removable, absolutely solid with no flex...

I’ll make a lower bracket soon once I get another joiner

And that’s it for the moment!

Re: Berg Cup Mk2 VR6T 4WD

Reply #44 – March 09, 2021, 09:08:11 AM

Serious amount of work going into this. Very impressive.