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Just made the switch to 13" wheels on our Mk2 ITB Jetta and, for the first time, the car is sitting at the minimum 5" ride height. We are shocked at how different the car looks. It has a much lower profile . . . looks like a rocket sled :D. I have read about the geometry of the control arms...

Hey, folks! We continue to make progress with the Jetta. The next time we go out we will have 13" wheels with the locked diff tranny. The last time out we were competitive, so we really feel like we are going to have "something" for folks one of these days. Things are certainly getting "fun."...

Just stumbled across this for the Mk2 VWs. Does anyone have any experience with it? If so, what kind of HP gains did you see? Also, . . . The Bilstien BE5-2738 rear coilovers have been discontinued. What should I use for the rear of my Mk2 Jetta. Is the Techtonics 4-1 - 1 5/8" header the...

Our local machine shop does everything we need to have done to build an IT head EXCEPT port matching. So, I have been practicing the art of "DIY port matching" on an old cylinder head and feel pretty confident that I can do this myself. But, I do have a couple questions . . . How smooth does...

We spun the #1 bearing testing a couple weeks ago. We just about have everything back together, but we are worried about what caused this in the first place. We have a pretty big aftermarket oil cooler on the car and the oil pressure is over 100 until the engine heats up (at which point it then...

As I have been working to build my car in a manner that is compliant with the rules I have been alternately encouraged and discouraged by the comments of fellow competitors. The folks that I have encountered typically seem to fall into two main groups. The members of the first group work hard to...

Hi, everyone. I am thinking about investing in a durometer in an effort to be somewhat analytical about assessing my tires. I intend to try to track the degradation of the tires and try to predict when they are done before I find myself out on the track with crappy traction. Questions: *Will...

Just wanted to remind everyone that, starting on the 27th of this month, Nelson Ledges is hosting a bunch of "Fun Days" that are an extremely inexpensive way to test & tune. The gates open at 8:00a with on-track time running from 10:00a to 4:00p. The cost is only $130.00 for the entire day. Open...

I am happily on my way to Chicago where, among other much less important business/family things, I will be picking-up my tranny with a locked differential. I have zero experience with this and do not want to break anything, so sage advice on the care and feeding of this "configuration" would be...

Registration is open for this event on MotorsportsReg.com. This looks like a great weekend with track time each day and Grand-Am racing in between. Also, ITR is included, which I seem to recall was a point of discussion last year. Who's going??

Hey everyone, We are fiddling with odds and ends and one of the things we are working on is eliminating a bit of a clickity-click that we have in the engine. We do not think it's a valve noise. Instead, we think the lifters are clicking. We pulled out the lifters and found that the little...

I have been digging around the web looking for "rule of thumb" estimates about the relationship between weight reduction and horsepower gain. I know that reducing dead weight doesn't increase horsepower, but there is less that the horsepower has to do. I have seen in a few places where folks...

Hi folks . . . As many of you know we run a MkII 86ish Jetta GLI. We are currently trying to figure out how to bypass the knock box. So, in theory we believe that we are trying to take the wire that sends the signal from the hall sender to the knock box control and jumper that to the wire...

Not quite ready to rebuild our own trannys and/or weld diffs. Who do you all recommend for this kind of work? TIA

Have you all seen any gains by adding a cold air intake to the ITB 1.8L 8V engine? Although the stock air intake is already away from the engine it does seem, in theory, that there would be some benefit to getting cooler faster flowing air into the air box. Is there anything to be gained with...

First, thanks to everyone for all the help. The car is finally running well. I certainly do not want to blow-up the stupid thing again in the near future. But, there is no better way to really learn about your race car than to go through a re-build like the one we just went through. Now we are...

Finally got the new engine. Got the rebuilt tranny (third gear synchro was in 3 pieces). Everything is fresh. Had to get a new water pump and pulley because the old one ended up somewhere in the weeds at Mid-Ohio. Bought both new for a 1986 VW Jetta but the water pump pulley does not align with...

I have been on the look out for 2DR MkII Jettas that I can buy so that I have a spare car or two . . . I am particularly interested in the body/chassis, as I can find engines and trannys without too much difficulty. I have located a 1991 2DR Jetta that seems to be a good candidate, but it's a...

Hello, everyone! Where do you all recommend I purchase pistons for my ITB engine build? I'm having some difficulty sourcing these. I would also be interested in hearing your recommendations about the type of piston to use. As always, thanks!

I'm going to replace the plug wires. Simple. However, there are so many to choose from, and the price ranges from $30 to $200!! I'm interested in reading your opinions about which plug wires are the best. I'll spend the $200.00 if it makes a difference. Do plug wires make a big difference? As...