We're together with a full of butterflies and crazy car. We came to the first turn. Yes. Very good! Its performance is very good on turns. It's like I'm driving a loud go-kart car. Hello everyone! Today we're together with a sweet but full of butterflies car. It's a 1st generation Golf, has very unusual features. 1st generation Golf models were started to manufacture in 1974 as you know. And they're continuing with 7th generation on today. So, the past of Golf almost became a half century. And it is one of the most produced and sold cars of world. So, a that much special car. There are many enthusiasts of especially these 1st generations which is called as MK1, also I like too.
Even, my uncle had green version of this car at past. And interestingly, original colour of this seen car was green at past. I want to open the bonnet now, later I'll invite the owner of the car, Burak. Our engine is here, look at it. It looks tiny, isn't it? When you look at it. We've a 1.6L engine and it has nearly 120 Ps power. However, all parts of engine like camshafts and valves etc. except engine block were overhauled by Burak. He's my colleague, a mechanical engineer. And he made an excellent work on engine, created an unbelievable car. Now, I'll call him. How are you, you made your car perfectly. – Hello, thanks.
We drove it before, it really screamed the turns down. We'll show you these soon. But if you please, firstly he explain what is inside of his car. Yes bro, could you explain what you did on your car? – Hello. Firstly I thank for your nice words and giving this chance to me for show my efforts. – We thank. We have had this car for nearly 22 years. My dad bought it while I was taking my driving licence, on that era. It belongs to us since that day. Enthusiasm about engine were started with that search: I was seeing two engines, both is 1600cc.
But one is 70hp and other is 120hp, why? Because of my job is mechanical engineer, I learned all details of this issue firstly. Before starting of this project, I picked up pieces for nearly 3 years. I want mention to changes that were made on engine at that point. – If you please, let's talk about it in front of car. The original state of engine was Volkswagen engine which is 1.5L, 70hp and with JB code name. I didn't want to change the engine block. So, I started to think about what can I do on this existing engine block.
The first thing done was supplying the cylinder head of 1.6L with EG code name which belongs to Golf 1 GTI. Later, I found a forged crank which is used on AUDI 80 and Golf 1 GTI model cars. Supplying them were easier in Turkey on that days, today it's pretty hard. And I bought Kolbenschmidt 81mm pistons as brand-new. All of these were procured from Turkey, not from abroad. These pistons were enlarged 1,5mm on intake valves and 1mm on exhaust valves. I did all of these on my own but used various workshops.
I have had many friends, I had that kind of an advantage. Cylinder head porting was made. Camshaft, 272/272 street type one is available on car. A Turk on USA that I met on internet produced and sent it to me, so that part has a different story too.. – So, it's custom made too huh? Yes, but in that way. The easist way to gain power from a naturally aspirated car, so, the first step is changing of cylinder head. Now, that power could be higher, so, I could use a 305-degree camshaft but actually I didn't want kill the lower engine rpms' because of using the car generally on streets. Also I was obsessed with a topic, I was wanting to make car carburetted. However, prices of Weber carburettors were very high and supplying manifolds of it wasn't easy. Actually I had some Weber IDF but I mounted 38mm motorcycle carburettors of Yamaha YZF-R6 to it. And I caught a nearly perfect order with a wideband lambda sensor and gauge. But I really made huge efforts to do it, I don't know how many times these carburettors were removed and mounted again and again.
– If you please, show it to us. These are carburettors of a 2005 model motorbike which has variable venturi system. An air filter were again made by me is available on it. Also a funny thing, I'm using a cake mould inside of this filter as carcass (frame). – Ahaha, super. – Yes. Apart from that, our transmission is coded as FM and a close ratio gearbox of Volkswagen. It reaches to 190km/h speed nearly on 6400rpm. It isn't a high speed car but driving it is amusing. – You said it is not a speedy car but already the top speed of Golf GTI of the same era was 190km/h as I remember. Already, it was 183km/h. – Yes, but with respect to its own era, you caught that value and got ahead of it on this car.
This engine is Heron, so the cylinder heads are flat like on diesel automobiles. Combustion chamber is inside of piston. Also, this engine was used on Formula Vee series for many years. It gives naturally aspirated 180hp with Kugelfischer injection system on there. Actually it was inspired me a bit. I was liking that engine on my emotional world.. – Then it's on that way, let me give an example to put it into practice. There is a space which looks like a bowl inside of pistons. But our cylinder heads are flat. – Yes, smooth. 2 valves are standing above of them firmly. And what happens, combustion chamber occurs inside of piston, I mean inside of this bowl (gap on the top). – Yes, there is a detail on that way.
Is it a very good engine? Its production was ended because of emission problems on next years. But an engine that liked by me. – Now, let's close the bonnet if you please. You elaborated on exterior part, there are nice features. – Ok. We tried to keep its exterior view as standard condition. My favourite parts are wheel rims. These rims… ATS Cup 15×5.5". These rims are forged rims. Its weight is 5.3kg. Actually, the reason of having "cup" name of ATS Cup rims is these rims.
Because a racing series which is named as Scirocco Junior Cup was made on 1977. These rims were manufactured for this organization. And nearly just 400 units were made according to data obtained by me. So, pretty rare rims. I found and bought these rims on a website on Izmir/Turkey by totally luck at past. And I hided them for production of this car. Rim+tyre combination is below of 11kg in total. So, pretty light and I very like them for this. Also we did some changes on drive train of car. Engine power was increasing but standard brakes of car was not enough. So, there were not a proper and good brake for this power on car. I followed a different route and thinked how can I solve this issue on more economical and efficient way instead of buying a ready-to-use product.
Front brakes have Volkswagen Caddy discs. – Super, commercial vehicle discs are able to getting through with power all in all.. – Exactly same ideas. Brake callipers belongs to Vectra A GT car. – All in all it's a performance car. – Yes. I had need make a small modification to fit it, but it worked. On rear side, I used Golf II GTI discs by turning and making a bit smaller. Custom fabricated brake caliper carriers are aluminum to make it lighter. I used AUDI A3 brake callipers. In here, to keep the balance of rear and front brakes, a proportional (brake bias) valve is available inside of car. It controls brake pressure that goes towards rear side. – May, these attracted your notice. It's like netting, not netting but I couldn't do an analogy now. This part has an aim, it is not for looking as a race car. Normally, people use these to prevent not taking head of their pet out.
But in here, on place where he hide his car, Burak was keeping windows open to prevent getting humid of inside of car. However later some animals like cat entered to the car and breeded etc. Then he solved this issue from reverse, not for taking head out of cat but for preventing entrance to the car. Let's look at rear side, we don't have extra features on there.
Already having no extra things is beautiful on this car, it's better to say this by the way. If you please, let's pass to driving part.
– Okay. In here, many sharp turns which is fitted well with the character and sound of engine are available. Let's see this, entertain us! -laughings- – Okay. Yes, we started to our fast driving and came to the first turn. Yes. Bro, it's fantastic. Very good on corners! Let me develop idiom of it, very good on turns.
It enters to the corner amazingly. Woohoo! Although being a small engine, also having only 120Ps power, it flies you, you feel it exceedingly. Now, we came to another turn. By the way turns are very sharp, they're 90º and it's better to give this info to you. We're cornering (turning) clingingly. It roadholds very good on turns. Also your pilotage affects it too. You became like you're wearing the car. I'm feeling it, because everyone can not drive in that way. – I'm driving this car for 22 years.
– Are you its second owner bro? – Yes, we're second owners of it. I was a kid when bought it. – So you grew up with this car. Woohoo! Bro, this turn was super. It's really very enjoyful and like a go-kart car. It's like I'm driving a very loud go-kart car. We came to a speed bump now. It's like a ping pong ball. -laughings- By the way our speed, look at it, is reaching to 130-140km/h. So, we're going almost like on a ralli now. We've a 90 degree turn again now. Yes. And look, we turned such a sharp turn with 50-60km/h speed as I see. And I see 50-60km/h when Burak first pushes the gas pedal, later when I look at the speedometer, it already became 100-120km/h.
So, the oil set (reached ideal level) now. We've various indicators on here. Wooooo! On a good space, car really clinges to the ground on that way. And this car is front-wheel drive. Burak made nice arrangements on it, not just on the engine he adjusted many different things also on suspension and transmission according to his expectations. Car slips very few from front side but slides much from rear side. So, you feel as a rear-wheel drive car. – A front-wheel drive car that is set up carefully too, as seen, exhilarates pretty much of course on a true track. By the way our oil temperature increased a bit much. It's better we slow down the tempo a bit. – It'll be better, also we forgot this. We didn't talk about the interior part of car on exterior talking. What we do normally, we explain the interior on that part. If you please, explain interior of car briefly to us.
Indicators are available, already typical standard MK1 indicators. – Yes but there are some extra features. May the camera caught them while shooting before. There is no rev limiter on car. For that reason, it's limited to 6500rpm value now. Also there is one shift light. When rpm reaches to 6500, this light warns me for gear shift. Because of being of gear very close ratio, you can miss the gear probably. I mounted this for not damage the valves. Indicator console is standard, we've a speedometer with 180km/h top speed now. But there is 220km/h version of this on my house, I couldn't mount it yet. In here, battery voltage indicator is available. We've oil temperature gauge, also oil pressure gauge. These inform me about the health of car. For example, oil temperature approached to 120ºC. So, we can say that it's time to slow down.
Intake manifold vacuum indicator is available on here. This is a few… for example it informs me about taking air or not of carburettor or if there are problems on manifold. Because manifold comprised of two pieces and made by me. For that reason, there are merge points with mounting clamps. Because of it may give a permanent damage of air intake of manifold to engine, I mounted an indicator like that. Air/Fuel ratio indicator is in here. It shows air and fuel ratio. This is important too because of being carburetted engine. So, when I feel a performance decrease or anything else the first indicators that I look are air/fuel ratio and inlet manifold vacuum indicators. By understanding of our mixture (fuel) and manifold vacuum is true (normal) from these two indicators and if I'm searching for a problem, I can pass these two in that way. – Super, apart from that, I'm looking at inside and seeing usage of some sporty details on door interiors etc.
For example window operating handle too. Already original state of Golf MK1 was protected on interior of car. – Yes. – It became very nice. And your steering wheel is too very sporty and leather. – Yes, steering is one of the steering wheels that used on first series of MK1 GTI. They had used this steering wheel until 1978. Finding it was not easy but we reached it at last. – It's nice too, so it's original steering? – Yes, original steering. – I'm remembering it, middle of it was a gap.
And the car is really beautiful. Rear seats are not available because of the concept of car. Battery is on there. – Yes, we put it in that way to adjust centre of gravity of car. – So, there are such fine adjustments on this car. How many kilos this battery, probably it's 2-3kg because it's a small one. Even if it is 3-4 kg, you thought and considered it anyway.
– Actually it was put there for gaining a clean view on engine part as an another reason. – It's a good think too. By the way our seats are Recaro. They fitted well with our car very well. Already it fits exceedingly with the character of car. You already need sport seats with side supports on such a car which you enter to sharp turns. Now, if you please let's do a last thing and finish our video, driving. Let's find a flat and smooth road and do a 0-100km/h acceleration. Yes, 100km/h! Very nice, pretty. Did you measure time before? – No, I didn't measure it before. But I have a computer software. You input the torque curve of car to it, you input many data from various gear ratios to rim-tyre weights to this application. When I run the simulation on that software, it was nearly 7.8 seconds. But it looked like a bit optimistic to me, it can be more in my opinion. All in all this car is 1600cc and naturally aspirated. – True. And there is no electronic controller on it.
Car is going totally mechanic now. – Exactly. All in all, it's carburetted.
– Carburetted. So, we can make all adjustments easily thanks to it. – Yes. When injection get involved to it, brain (electronic) get involved too. At least, I'm not considering the oldest mechanical injection systems. But there is no such things on this car, everything can be adjusted one by one. – I made this car by taking it as a mission. I didn't want to remove the car from its 70's style and atmosphere.
– You did it very good. You shared your car with us, we (team) really thank you for this. – I thank too for giving this chance to me. It was a perfect driving. Yes, dear followers, we completed this fantastic Golf MK1 driving review too. We'll continue to driving a bit more, will have fun. Hope that you liked this driving. Thanks for watching us..