Racing a Fox

[HappyJack]

I am currently building an 89 Fox into a circle track racer for my son. Last year he drove an 84 Rabbit, that I used to ice race with. Here is a pic as an ice racer.



Then converted to a oval racer.



Even a win in his first season of racing.


But it was wrecked in the last race of the year.



So for the coming season, we thought of getting a Golf, but the sponsor donated a new car, an 89 Fox. It needs a clutch, but it is a free car.

The track is a 1/3 mile paved oval. The class is a 4cyl, stock, class. But discreet swapping of VW parts onto a VW isn't frowned upon. But swapping in a whole different motor that never came in the car would be pushing it.

So I'm here for some help. How can we make this Fox a winner? I've read that I need to remove the restrictive exhaust gasket just ahead of the cat. I also read that an exhaust manifold from an Audi 80 will bolt up and breathe better. What else?
Will a head from a Golf bolt on? Apparently they have bigger valves?

What about a brake swap? Golf or Scirroco rotors bolt on? Will I have to change the whole front hub?
What about any suspension upgrades? What bolts in with little or no modification?

Any help would be appreciated.

[slo goin]

its good to see another vw racer on here.... i owned the vwf racing jetta. for starters remove the dash, heater core and anyother amount of weight you can down to every last nut and bolt. then make your self a 75lb piece of lead and put it in the left rear in the trunk against the lr wheel well. we ran our car in 2nd gear and our trans was from a 4 speed diesel rabbit. with this combo you wanna use a techtonics 270 hydro cam. you will be turnin high rpms but it will rocket you out of the turns and down the straights. as for tires we ran 14in..... lf 185/60r14 rf 185/60r14 across the front you want 1/2in of stagger.......lr 175/65r14 rr 195/75r14 this will get you the stagger you need across the rear. suspension trick run ford escort stationwagen spring in rr and find some aftermarket springs for the rest and scuff them up and sit them out in the rain to get some surface rust so no one can tell that there not stock... hopefully this helps you can look at pics on here at our car to see the stance that we had it worked awesome

[twenty4valve]

Cool stuff

[HappyJack]

Originally Posted by slo goin

its good to see another vw racer on here.... i owned the vwf racing jetta. for starters remove the dash, heater core and anyother amount of weight you can down to every last nut and bolt. then make your self a 75lb piece of lead and put it in the left rear in the trunk against the lr wheel well. we ran our car in 2nd gear and our trans was from a 4 speed diesel rabbit. with this combo you wanna use a techtonics 270 hydro cam. you will be turnin high rpms but it will rocket you out of the turns and down the straights. as for tires we ran 14in..... lf 185/60r14 rf 185/60r14 across the front you want 1/2in of stagger.......lr 175/65r14 rr 195/75r14 this will get you the stagger you need across the rear. suspension trick run ford escort stationwagen spring in rr and find some aftermarket springs for the rest and scuff them up and sit them out in the rain to get some surface rust so no one can tell that there not stock... hopefully this helps you can look at pics on here at our car to see the stance that we had it worked awesome

Thanks for the advice. But we have to weight a minumum of 2200 lbs, and no more than 55% left side weight. So we will probably have to add weight, and if we can, yes we will put in on the left rear. We found that out racing the Rabbit. The class he is racing in is called "4Fun" It is a beginner class, and doesn't allow too much to make you fast, hence the weight. Also we have to run at least 65 series tires, and same size all the way around. The cars have to be automatic, but there are a few exceptions, mostly 3 cylider Sprints etc. But we got the ok to run the 4 speed Fox. But if he starts dominating, he will be bumped up to the next class.
If/when he moves up a class to the ministock class then we get into more mods.

What size is the track you ran at? We aren't sure what to expect for RPMs with the 4 speed tranny, and whether to run 13 or 14 inch tires.

[slo goin]

we ran on a small 1/4 mile track with slight bankin

[HappyJack]

Well the Fox is built, and didn't do bad for the first time out, finishing 4th. We have to work on the handling. First we had to replace both front springs because they were broken. Couldn't find and Foxes at the wreckers, so we put in Golf springs. But that made it look like a 4X4. Plus with all the interior gutted, the back end is up in the air.
So this week it is new springs and we have to add weight, the car is 200 lbs under weight. Maybe that will help lower the back end again.

[slo goin]

looks real nice!!!! when u add weight put it near the driver to keep ls weight. i dont know if it will help u but it worked on our jetta use scirroco springs and struts. goodluck this season