My RE-build thread - ouch

[nory]

Alright so first hello everyone!
Ok so I'm really not much a mechanic and as I was bidding farewell to the car payments in anticipation of my daughter i decided to pick up a little project car that i could use as a daily.
After searching around on craigslist i found a what seemed to be nice looking 1995 Golf GTI VR6. Ive always wanted one of these cars I have a Mk2 GTI that my grandfather owned that I was considering putting a vr6 in but thought i should have a few projects under my belt before trying that. So anyway i met this kid who was in the military out at fort hood and picked the car up for 2,500$ I noticed that the engine initially sat a little funny but thought nothing of it since i didnt know much about them. Also the car was hesitant to go into first gear but it did and i really didn't mind using second to leave a stop light.

Anyway i left with the car had good 96k mileage ugly ass rims a horrid roof rack and a soon to be gone first gear. I bought it for it to be a project car right ? :-D ( try explaining that to the wife lol)

(took the roof rack off obviously)

Well about 2 weeks go by before i completely lose first gear on the tranny and i drain some tranny fluid and there is more metal inside the fluid then required to make the bell housing.
I kinda knew that was gonna happen soon anyway so whatever. While im under the car though checking out the transmission fluid I notice a few "cost effecient" modifications done to the car.

HACK job wiring.

Improvised (foil) Heat Shield

At that point i started making a list of things i needed to start collecting and didn't really pounce on them because they were not something i needed to immediately fix as they weren't hindering the performance of the car ( aside from the transmission ) and i was unable to locate one within my area at the time.

So i slapped the car back together and about a week later... BAM oil pressure light comes on and goes off instantly...then again. I was driving home from work and they are pretty funky roads so i figured maybe the oil was just shifting to one side of the pan....next morning on the way to school oil light comes on and stays on and about a second later whilst doing 65 on 35N my car .....dies :-(.

Confused and annoyed (remember no prior mechanic background) i checked the oil and it was fine a tad bit low but not enough to cause major damage. coolant was fine no over heating. So i let it sit for a while oddly enough it died and rolled enough to get it into a pep boys parking lot. So i ran in grabbed a QT of oil and put it in and she turned over but sounded like someone was under the hood smacking a hammer against the block. At that point i knew it was beyond repair and i was like 5 minutes from my house anyway so we cried together on the trip home.

Now less talking and more pictures .
Started gutting her down pretty much guessing at this point ( spent a good chunk on some tools as i said didnt have any or a jack for that matter)



Some heavy reading and some good music goes a long for the enexperienced lemme tell ya had never taken a head off before but there she is. Was getting dark out at that point.

After reading the timing chain DIY thought to myself ( how can you properly time the engine with this piece broken ;\. )

Bye Bye Tranny hello lightened flywheel i had no idea was even there...

Bright and early to get this guy out .

Now i dunno much about cars but that does NOT look very healthy...

Shes all empty like :-(

It was only AFTER getting the block on the stand that i realized i couldnt take any covers off with it sitting that way lol.

Little better but slightly discomforting... kinda looks like how it was when it was originally in the car lol.

So after reading and trying to figure out what was out of place everything actually looked perfectly fine on the head aside from the chipped Cam shaft and the gunk build up on the valves.
Same with the top of the block.. no cracks some gunk but nothing off putting. Although through the de-build i was finding a lot of metal shavings and had no clue what or where they were coming from. So i flipped the block over on the stand and take the oil pan and it looked like Tinkerbell had a wet dream in there with some pixxie dust cause **** was sparkly! Well it doesnt take a mechanic to know thats never a good thing. So i started ripping at bolts to remove bearings and had a particularly hard time with one of them and that would be because it was pretty much self welded to the crank shaft! I was pretty pissed off at that point so pretty much wrapped things up and didn't bother taking pictures sorry lol.

So after pitching a proper hissy i needed a solution it was obvious to me that it would be cheaper to get a new block and crank than to have that one measured hot tanked and buy the tools needed to replace the crank shaft so i set out for a new engine AND tranny..... Did some research and found a obd2 engine that had a blown head gasket and a tranny that was in working order with 92k on it. THANKS AUSTIN VEEDUB!

So dumped a grand and to get those parts and figured i have a good head on my old block and there is chance this new one is warped so did the old swaperoo with a new head gasket and obd2 cams (no chips) and here she is !

Sorry pix upside down was doing a hand stand after torquing on all those goddamn head bolts and fly wheel bolts....

So at this point i started clearing out the wiring in the engine bay to put the new engine in there and ran into ... a bit of a problem....



THE CULPRIT... the cause of the entire problem a piece of metal that has no mechanical function or electrical purpose at all ruined my original block. A broken transmission mount that caused the entire engine to sit side ways therefor not feeding the oil pump and welding my bearings to my crank.

Not only was it busted but some ****en idiot decided to try and put two screws through it to keep it square and tack it back onto the subframe... i pushed it off with ONE finger.



The other side.

So called it a night and went to austin veedub the next day and got a entirely new subframe for the car and installed it that night.


Fresh and stirdy....



New tranny and engine in on the new subframe :-)



Pretty much done with all the coolant and kinda guessed at a few of the wiring dilemmas....
I was confused by the SAI and EGR systems so uhh... i just deleted them all together that and the EVAP canister in the back was completely imploded due to the dip **** previous owner who used some crap hose that flattened under heat.

This was all done by myself i had a guy from here come out one day but he never showed up again after taking the intake manifold off but took me about 5 months to complete it this far. Turned her over for the first time last night and she sounds GREAT! but i think the slave cylinder on the tranny is out because after bleeding the clutch i can get it to engage but then it goes out so will be ordering a new slave cylinder on Monday but shes alive again !!!! will post some new pix and a video of the idle.

I know its nothing special but its just a complete rebuild by someone with absolutely no experience before so was pretty nervous that the timing might have been off or the wiring and coolant system might have been done wrong. More pix coming soon!


And btw Ive got a few extra pieces i need to get rid of if any locals wanna grab em for cheap
OBD2 Intake Manifold ( no throttle body )
OBD2 Head ( might need to be shaved since had a previous blown but not sure valves still in place and in good shape)
OBD1 Block with stock pistons in good shape but the crank needs a little work done or replaced
SAI Pump and Solenoid
EGR Setup

I don't know the differences on the blocks themselves but i had no wiring issues because i used the OBD1 throttle body and intake manifold but its essentially a complete OBD2 vr6 with a bad crank and a head that just needs a look over. Ive got my old cam shafts too if someone knows a work around that chip on the end they are in otherwise great condtion.

Anywho thanks for reading and let me know if anyone in central texas has any interest in those parts kinda just need them out of my storage unit so i can clean it and get out of there to stop paying for it lol.

[polofreaks]

Cool story, bro. .. . not sarcastic tho. . .

it looked like Tinkerbell had a wet dream in there

I LOL'd . ...

[nory]

Thanks Ill get some pictures up this afternoon just wish the clutch would work so i could take her out for a spin.

[shadow_X]

wow man, good work!!! are u near austin? cuz i like go to veedub like if its my mall lol. i just got done with my rebuild just now. just the problem im having is my pass motor mount i cant tighen it up, it keeps spinning, i have bfi mounts, but it torques than i hear it spining lol

[VW-G]

props for doing work and learning along the way

[THISISMYNAME]

that really sucks. sorry about your luck. but great job getting her back in shape

[THISISMYNAME]

wow man, good work!!! are u near austin? cuz i like go to veedub like if its my mall lol. i just got done with my rebuild just now. just the problem im having is my pass motor mount i cant tighen it up, it keeps spinning, i have bfi mounts, but it torques than i hear it spining lol

which bolts are you using? the one you took out or the one they supplied?

[nory]

wow man, good work!!! are u near austin? cuz i like go to veedub like if its my mall lol. i just got done with my rebuild just now. just the problem im having is my pass motor mount i cant tighen it up, it keeps spinning, i have bfi mounts, but it torques than i hear it spining lol

Yep i actually live in south Austin about 10min from Austin Veedub. I would double check that bolt you got sounds like its too long. and im assuming the engine is already putting pressure on the mount to keep the bushing from spinning?

[shadow_X]

which bolts are you using? the one you took out or the one they supplied?

to be honest i got the car with mounts, i tighten down the allen bolt underneath but i cant do it too much cuz it spins, so i get it as far as i can, after that i put the mount on, with the 13mm bolts x2, than i sit the engine and crank away on the pass mount bolt, and it tighens but after a while is spins and spins

[shadow_X]

Yep i actually live in south Austin about 10min from Austin Veedub. I would double check that bolt you got sounds like its too long. and im assuming the engine is already putting pressure on the mount to keep the bushing from spinning?

oh ok, im using the bolt that was on the tranny before. but its wierd cuz it dont have the little nub to mount the o2 and knock sensor brackets?? lol

[nory]

to be honest i got the car with mounts, i tighten down the allen bolt underneath but i cant do it too much cuz it spins, so i get it as far as i can, after that i put the mount on, with the 13mm bolts x2, than i sit the engine and crank away on the pass mount bolt, and it tighens but after a while is spins and spins

What year and model ?

[nory]

If you are talking about that front shared mount then i had the same problem until i had pressure on the mount to keep it from spinning. I dont have a bracket for the sensors either though but honestly dont really need one would most likely get in the way more so than the wires free floating.

[jwill187]

doin work

[Dmoneythegreat]

Keep it up man!

[h2ovwlover]

To a fellow Austinite. I find that Austin Veedub's prices can be high, but they are the only yard around with VWs. Did you go to Novemberfest this year? Also if you haven't done so already check out http://aircoolers.org

[regendub]

Props to you OP for learning to do work yourself, and making a good, flowing thread about it.

[root beer]

Going at it

[nory]

To a fellow Austinite. I find that Austin Veedub's prices can be high, but they are the only yard around with VWs. Did you go to Novemberfest this year? Also if you haven't done so already check out http://aircoolers.org

Will be registering today

Went out to AVD today and paid 110$ for a brand new slave cylinder :\ hopefully that sorts out the clutch issue so i can get her back on the road!!!

[oldskoolveedubbin]

You sir deserve some for doing all that work with little previous knowledge.

If you can find a dieselgeek or rsd short shifter you will LOVE the difference it makes.

[98vwgls]

Wow. Hats off to you man for having the balls and confidence to dive in there like that

[dceola]

damn dude. you did some serious work here! Very nicely done sir!

[nory]

sure do appreciate all the positive comments Thanks guys. And yea i fully intend on making an actual build out of the car but gotta get it running right first :-P no point in having a good looking piece of $hit lol

[nory]

Swapped the old slave cylinder and bled it and she works again took her for a little spin around the parking lot and runs good couldn't go too far cause i had to fix a coolant leak and drained the coolant so need to go buy some more tomorrow. Didn't have anything clean to put it into :\.
Scary thing is when i pulled the slave cylinder there was no rod on it ... so im hoping it busted off before i installed the transmission or its fumbling around in my bell housing :X

[dceola]

make sure you get some of that fancy G11/G12 coolant from a VW place.. don't run green stuff in it..

[DaddyOfPayton]

You covered a lot of ground in very short order...

Well done

[ToekneeT]

wow im impressed ... for not being a mechanic.

makes me think im slackin on my project

[Mr.loops]

Nice work nory!

[nory]

Thanks again for all the positive feedback. And yea I'm having trouble finding that coolant ;\ Can you get it from a dealer or do i have to order it offline ? :\

[dceola]

Should be able to get it from a dealer.. if not - get it online.

[VolodkaVR]

Wish you had a better camera

[nory]

Wish you had a better camera

Yea im gonna go take some with the digital if it clears up for the first time in like 6 months i parked her by my other cars instead of the garage lol feels so nice. Realigned. Now that ive blown all my money on getting it running again itll be a bit before i can drop it and get some better looking rims these Rota's make me feel like im driving an EG hatch instead of a golf New pix and video will be up tonight

[MYGTI_MA]

good job man, way to jump in with both feet and just keep pluggin. Get a bentley if you haven't already, they will save your life!

http://www.amazon.com/Volkswagen-Jet...4175883&sr=8-1


also www.germanautoparts.com is very helpful for when you need a part and need it quick.

[nory]

Right so i think i missed a few plugs when rewiring my temp guage just sits flat when i turn the car on and let it sit running for a bit. Anyone got their front end off that can take a few snap shots of the front loom plugs ( the same braid that shares the starter plug not the headlight and radiator harness ) I have both plugs in on the radiator but it seems like the fans never come on which could be kinda scary

[nory]

Forgot had another question.
What is the difference in the bumpers mine has black side panels and a black texture like top on the front and rear bumper but ive seen a lot of guys on here with color matched bumpers was it an option or did they just repaint it ? Some history would be appreciated ^^ thanks again.

[gianni versace]

Forgot had another question.
What is the difference in the bumpers mine has black side panels and a black texture like top on the front and rear bumper but ive seen a lot of guys on here with color matched bumpers was it an option or did they just repaint it ? Some history would be appreciated ^^ thanks again.

You have NA bumpers sprayed with texture spray paint to resemble a euro bumper that is textured from the factory.

id get euro bumpers or paint those because "ghetto texture" is pretty tacky