itc rabbit performance upgrade

I

ITC Mercury

New member
As you will surely figure out, I am new to all this. I did a bunch of 4 cyl circle track racing and got my two SCCA schools and five races in last season and hope to run most of the NERRC/NARRC next year. The car I bought came "fully sorted with a refreshed engine". I have stripped it to the chassis for a rebuild and would love a laundry list of what other folks would do to rebuild. I can run off a laundry list about the car and how it felt this season but if this is better handled via e-mail please let me know.

Thanks. Erik
[email protected]

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Erik
 
Nope, I think this the perfect place to pick other racer's brains about what go-fast pieces they would install, configure, not do with out, wish list, would like to have, etc.

What does the car have now?



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Tim Linerud
San Francisco Region SCCA
#95 ITB GTI, GP for 2002
http://linerud.myvnc.com/racing/index.html
 
Here are teh specs on the car as it ran this year:

New 1600cc crank, & bearings
New +0.040" KS pistons & wrist pins
Rods sized, honed, balanced, and matched to piston wts.
New Cam ("G"), with cam spray tray.
Spec.Valve job.
Block bored +0.040", & decked flat. Tapped oil galley plugs. New Freeze plugs, New int. shaft bearings.
New Head Bolts
New Timing Belt & tensioner
New hi volume oil pump with full screen windage tray with pan gasket
Fresh clutch, flywheel and driven disk.
New Water pump
New alternator Belt
New water hoses
New air & fuel filters
Accusump and oil cooler

The head was said to have been match ported but looks pretty rough and could definitely stand to be re-done.

This engine had 2 races on it when I bought the car and has seen 3 schools and 5 races this year.

The header cracked (disintegrated) at the Pocono school and was replaced with a 4 into 1 Pacesetter header.

The Transaxle is a stock 5 speed (tranny code is FF), with a stock open differential.

Boge Turbo Gas struts/shocks w/ 600# front and 375# rear hypercoil spings.

It has a fairly beefy adjustable anti-roll bar in the rear but I don't know its rating and had a welded in lower stress bar, which I cut out and plan to replace with a bolt-in.

** One final note. Like I said before I'm new to this and am learning as fast as I can. I bought the car on good faith and an over anxious desire to join the fray. As I spent more and more time with the car and learned a bit more about what I was looking at, some of its issues began to surface. Stripping it to the chassis has exposed it all. The car has had more than the descibed minor off. The driver side axle/trailing arm mount is welded not bolted in, and the front left horn has seen a hefty impact. There has been some grafting, welding and bending to the front end. That being said, aside from the front left looking lower than the right, the car seems to run and handle ok. (remember novice driver) Should I be thinking about a new shell?



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Erik
 
Erik,

First off, welcome to the wonderful world of VW IT racing! You will get more info from this site than anywhere else.

Ok, let me see if I can start w/ some things you need to look at.

Header - I would ditch the pacesetter and either go w/ an OTS TT 4:1 or talk w/ someone like Walt Puckett (in NC) about having him make you one.

Tranny/diff - The FF box already has a good R&P (3.89). You can't change the gear ratios (like to a 2H or 4K GTI box), but you could go w/ a 4.20 VWMS R&P. I would certainly look into some kind of LSD or spool. For LSD's, you have OPM, Quaife, and VWMS (lowest to highest in cost). For spools, you can have someone weld your current diff. or talk to the folks at www.bildon.com about a new spool they have available.

Springs/shocks - First thing to do is dump those Boge shocks. Those are street shocks, and there's no way they're handling the springs you have in the car (especially the 600# fonts!
eek.gif
). There are pretty much two schools of thought on shocks for these cars, Konis or Bilsteins. I run B's, but I know several folks that run K's. For B's, talk to Shine Racing, for K's, talk to BSI. You also may want to get the front and rear spring rates a bit closer to each other. When you talk to the folks about the shocks, they can help you w/ the springs as well.

Lower stress bar - I assume you mean the front one. I'd go w/ the "K" style (ala 16v Scirocco). You can get them from TT for <$100.

Since you're in the NE, another guy you probably want to talk w/ is Brian Mushnik. He won the '02 ITC NARRC championship this year in a Rabbit.

Now, as far as your tub goes. It certainly sounds like it's been pranged a few times. It would be great if you could get it on a frame machine and see just how tweaked it is. You may not have been able to tell short-comings in the tub due to the poor spring/shock combination and since it was your first year. You can still find good tubs out there, but they're getting harder to find. Also, you have to ask yourself what kind of shape is the cage in. Is it a bolt-in one, is it one that you feel safe and comfotable with, is it one that you would think about making changes to? If it's a bolt-in cage, it's easy enough to swap to a new tub.

I would have someone w/ a fair amount of experience w/ A1 VW's take a look at the tub. Brian can probably help you in this area.

Good luck!!!


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MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI
SCCA 279608
 



Now, as far as your tub goes. It certainly sounds like it's been pranged a few times. It would be great if you could get it on a frame machine and see just how tweaked it is. You may not have been able to tell short-comings in the tub due to the poor spring/shock combination and since it was your first year. You can still find good tubs out there, but they're getting harder to find. Also, you have to ask yourself what kind of shape is the cage in. Is it a bolt-in one, is it one that you feel safe and comfotable with, is it one that you would think about making changes to? If it's a bolt-in cage, it's easy enough to swap to a new tub.

I would have someone w/ a fair amount of experience w/ A1 VW's take a look at the tub. Brian can probably help you in this area.

Good luck!!!
Click to expand...

Don't pay to have it put up on a frame machine. all a frame machine does is straighten the car. the person operating the frame puller still takes measurments form a book. Get that book and do the measurments yourself. I would hate to see you spend $100's to find out it's only a 1/16th off. The frame puller will charge you just to look at it (Unless you hook yourself up with a deal from them!) I'm sure if you ask around you can get a book that has all the measurments. Noe of these VW racers must have one! We got one for our cars from a frame pulling body shop with tons of measurments. (Nothing like the manuel that has about 10)

Stephen
 
>>I'm sure if you ask around you can get a book that has all the measurments.

It's in the Bentley Manual that you are required to have anyway.



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Bill Sulouff - Bildon Motorsport
Volkswagen Racing Equipment
 
It sounds like the car was hit pretty hard, but as far as looking for a new shell, you already own that one. Chances are, the thing you need most is seat time. As long as you can set up the car properly,(toe, camber caster, etc..) you should go with it for now.
Also, Mr Millers comments are accurate.
Best wishes
 
Thanks for the input. I would agree seat time is the most important thing. The mismatched dampers/springs are probably a good part of the porpoising I experienced in turn #9 NHIS and the right hander before the straight at Limerock.

Thanks again for the suggestions and I welcome any more.



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Erik
 
Erik,

Honestly, I'm surprised the car is even driveable w/ that spring/shock combination. Those 600# springs are at least 3x too much for what those shocks can handle. I'd be surprised if you're getting any dampening at all up front after 2-3 laps.

It's a good thing you race it up north and not in Fla. otherwise the folks at SeaWorld might want to talk w/ you!
biggrin.gif


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MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI
SCCA 279608
 
I would also look into getting some camber plates for the car if you don't already have them. I would also reccommend going woth at least one of if not two of Shines rear tubular bars. They would also be the people to contact in the Northeast if you have any other questions. You can get a good set of Bilsteins from them as well as the Camber plates at very decent prices and a wealth of set-up knowledge especially for the tracks in the Northeast. just my 2 cents
 
Erik,
Good to see you here. Erik and I met at Pocono this year. It will be great to have you back. Have you been able to wipe the smile off of your Dads face since WG? LOL! Erik's Dad bought a Volvo ITB car and took his first school this summer and did fantastic. Good luck with the car and keep in touch when it gets close to Pocono, maybe you guys can stay at my house for that one. My car is stripped to the bone also, hopefully I will be ready for Pocono, LOL!
God Bless
Jack Weigand


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ITC Scirocco #48

http://www.jackweigand.com
 
Hey Jack, nice to see you again! What's up w/ the Scirocco if it's "stripped to the bone"??

Happy holidays!!

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MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI
SCCA 279608
 
As some of you may know, I'm building an ITC bunny for my dad and me to race together next year (and beyond). It'll be interesting to see how much slower (if any) the Rabbit will be compared to my ITC Scirocco. I'm glad to see that guys like Andy Stapor and Brian Mushnick can still win in ITC. I raced against Andy at VIR, and was a little quicker, probably due to aerodynamics. When I went up to Summit Point, Andy was always at the front and there were great battles between Rabbits and Sciroccos. So maybe it depends on the track?

My only hunch is that the Rabbit will need to be slightly stiffer than the Scirocco because of the slightly higher CG.

See y'all on track in '03, hopefully starting in March at VIR. Then once dad moves back to NC permanently, we'll tackle the ECR's (enduros) together. Our big debate right now is whether to use a Quaife or VWMS limited slip (we have one of each to try) to build the ITC gearbox (although I'd LOVE to slip the GP gearbox in there just once to see how much a difference it would really make!)
wink.gif


MC
 
Mark,

Andy's and Mark Baracka's Rabbits are always near the front in the ITC races at Summit Point. Jay Frye and John Higgins are up there w/ their Sciroccos as well. All of these guys have hours upon hours of seat time there (Mark actually lives ~5 min. from the track, and his shop is maybe 15 min. away). Most of the IT races at Summit are really good, and fields are usually 20+ cars per class.

Good luck to you and your dad!!

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MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI
SCCA 279608
 
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