My 89 cabriolet VR6 build

[riotbeast]

so after owning this 89 wolfsburg cabriolet since 09 and picking away at it bit by bit ive decided its finally time for the transplant.
So the doner motor and trans are out of another VW i used to own a 96 passat GLX that i had totaled. Its been sitting since 09 as well so shes a little rough around the edges but nothing countless hours of frustration cant fix
and now how she currently sit (body fixed up and shaved waiting to be painted)
and also nix a motor in the bay

as she sat the day i bought her

pictures of the shaved trim and front side marker (courtesy of my grandfather)

opps i swear it just kinda fell out

and the new heart


now that i finally have the motor and a girl kicking me in the ass to get this done i should be making some decent progress and any productive input it very very much welcome...i love hearing other peoples thoughts and opinions

[CajunSpike]

Take a few minutes and read up on this..may save you some work.


http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...hlight=14+days

[riotbeast]

oh yea ive read through that and a couple other build threads, unfortunetly i cant justify spending $900 bux on mounts and axles so i may just frankenstein my own design eather with the MK4 mounts or some bastardiazed home made version of the eurowise kit......tho thanks for the input

[nicktcfcsb]

I am very jelous you are starting your vr6 swap...I also think your insane for not getting the eurowise kit...with out it, seems like failing may be in this cars future. I would use a credit card or beg, steal, sell anything I own for a EW kit before I do this swap.

[riotbeast]

I can see were your coming from thinking im nuts, but you got to think people did this swap before the EW kit was made.... Ive got my family and family owned shop to help me out....(makes it easy seeing as i work hear as well) so anything that i think is out of my skill level they have been helping with, Plus i really
Dont care for that kit i just think the mounts are kinda wimpy and would much rather go with the mk4 mOunts.... It will definetly make me feel safer beating the crap out of her non the less i agree im a mad man for trying it this way and i wouldnt change a thing....

[nicktcfcsb]

im buying a kit and a whole complete doner VR6 car... Im not crazy, nor do I have time to mess around when the hard work is done.
I celebrate your DIY determination

[riotbeast]

Thanks sir, course i have to say most of my diy determination comes from my lack of money and excess of decent thick metal

[tgibson]

I would take a moment to read through this thread:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...t-Deathhare-II

His VR swap starts about halfway through the thread, he's got a nice clean setup.

Mk4 VR passenger side mount, with mk1 O2A mounts everywhere else.

[riotbeast]

funny you should mention that, i was acctually thinking about the mounting situation over lunch today and i figured that would be the easyest manner of doing it, aside from the EW kit....so now i just needa get my hands on a passenger side mk4 mount.....and everything else the salvage yard jacked off the motor.......
i made ok progress tonight with only 4 or so hours of work....no time to post pics and whatnot now ill just have to bring the laptop to work and post em on break.....till then

[A1steaksauce]

I am very jelous you are starting your vr6 swap...I also think your insane for not getting the eurowise kit...with out it, seems like failing may be in this cars future. I would use a credit card or beg, steal, sell anything I own for a EW kit before I do this swap.

stage 1 kit $999.99
downpipe $569.99
cable clutch convo $268.99

so $1,838.97 for a complete bolt in kit for a vr swap vs. $600 for a lincoln welder and some determination.

also if you're completely useless in wiring and too lazy to figure out how to join together 6 wires figure you're gonna have to pony up another couple of hundred to pay a shop to wire it all up.



build threads are so much better than buying threads.

here's to you op

[CISinjected]

Here here to that. The EW kit is handy and all but incredibly over priced and totally not mandatory. My personal opinion is that vr6 MK1 swaps are NOT for people that are unwilling to fabricate and do things the difficult/right way.

[riotbeast]

well as i said i got a couple hours of work in yeterday
and used one of the most awsome and useful tools in the shop...(not my messy ass tool box the plasma cutter)


i was hard a work trying to fab out the drivers side mount....so instead of explaning what i did....

step 1 cut up old mount


step 2 cut up and prepare to weld


step 3 - 6849384 weld weld weld weld

By riotbeast at 2012-01-19

and of course repeate with the other side


its put together and solid but im going to wait to drill the bolt hole or even fancy it up at all till i get my hands on a mk4 passenger side mount, so after all was said and done i had an extra half an hour so i took the wiring harness and started getting all the things not needed out the friggan way....thank got for all those years of untangling game controlers i knew it would come in handy some day

:before:


:halfway done:


well probly wont get anything done today i need to get that toolbox cleaned up XD....so expect word on the work friday or saturday.....till then

[riotbeast]

oh and thanks for the support and to the comment about the welder....im friggan spoiled working for my familys shop i get access too everthing .....be it the welder plasma cutter or the cabinet of leftover auto paint just makes my life a lil cheaper with the route that im going.....defeintly a better option imo than spending $1800+ and bolting things in.....plus theirs so much more satafaction when its done

[nicktcfcsb]

im still buying a EW kit....work smarter not harder.

[riotbeast]

im still buying a EW kit....work smarter not harder.

well for one i finally figured out how to quote people...XD and two to each their own dude, good luck on your build

[riddie]

awesome

[A1steaksauce]

im still buying a EW kit

to each their own dude, good luck on your assembly

yes, good luck indeed.

let's get back to the real work in this build thread

Riot,

take a minute and run over your plasma pieces with a grinder and clean them up...will make the cuts look much better...and crank up the heat on your welder, it's heavy plate you're welding to, going somewhat full tilt at it won't hurt. my .02

keep up the progress

[riotbeast]

yes, good luck indeed.

let's get back to the real work in this build thread

Riot,

take a minute and run over your plasma pieces with a grinder and clean them up...will make the cuts look much better...and crank up the heat on your welder, it's heavy plate you're welding to, going somewhat full tilt at it won't hurt. my .02

keep up the progress

acctually i am planning on cleaning it up and trimming and shaping it a little bit more but im waiting till i get the motor mounted and have the holes in the mount before i clean anything up, and yea im not sure on the welds i have the machine up to high temp and i have the wire coming out at about 35-45% speed but i dont know im eather not cleaning up my metal enough before i weld or not holding it on the spot long enough to really get it hot....and other advice on the welding would be great ive been almost completly self tought so im in the dark on tips and tricks

[Run_That]

You going to be changing the color?

[A1steaksauce]

yea im not sure on the welds i have the machine up to high temp and i have the wire coming out at about 35-45% speed but i dont know im eather not cleaning up my metal enough before i weld or not holding it on the spot long enough to really get it hot....and other advice on the welding would be great ive been almost completly self tought so im in the dark on tips and tricks

what welder are you using?

and i agree, hitting up those pieces with a wire wheel to get the paint and crap off them will help.

here's a good guide:

http://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/mig_handbook.pdf

skip the stuff in the beginning about setting up the welder and whatnot.

the welding patterns they show are great, but they're not mentioning a very basic pattern where you just simply go in a circle working your way down the joint while doing so.

it will come out looking like this:



the biggest thing to look for when welding thicker plate is good penetration. if you look at that pic you'll see blue lines on either side of the welds...those marks are the heat the weld is giving off...which shows that it is penetrating and as a result will be strong.

i'm still a novice i'll admit as i've only been at it a year...but i hope that helps point you in the right direction though

[riotbeast]

You going to be changing the color?

im going with a bmw blue for the body most likly...(paint laying around from a late 80's bmw my shop did in the past year....and the clipper im thinking of doing in some sort of grey i dont have my mind made up on color at all but thats where im really looking

[riotbeast]

what welder are you using?

and i agree, hitting up those pieces with a wire wheel to get the paint and crap off them will help.

here's a good guide:

http://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/mig_handbook.pdf

skip the stuff in the beginning about setting up the welder and whatnot.

the welding patterns they show are great, but they're not mentioning a very basic pattern where you just simply go in a circle working your way down the joint while doing so.

it will come out looking like this:



the biggest thing to look for when welding thicker plate is good penetration. if you look at that pic you'll see blue lines on either side of the welds...those marks are the heat the weld is giving off...which shows that it is penetrating and as a result will be strong.

i'm still a novice i'll admit as i've only been at it a year...but i hope that helps point you in the right direction though

all i can say is thanks a ton thats a **** ton more knoldge than i had before

[riotbeast]

so ive been hard at work scratching my head the motor is sitting in the bay bolted up to the stock cabby axles and what do ya know they dont seem to be binding or anything!!! my uncle and myself where standing around the car this morning and he gave me a much better idea for the drivers side mount so i will be completly scraping what ive made for that side, and i also have my passenger side mount on the way for right now the motors sitting in the engine bay kinda ghetto rigged in so we can have it out of the way in the shop

so yea thats a peice of angle iron laying on the frame rail and held into the motor with 1 bolt(ONLY GRADE 8's!!!!)


this is getting completly taken out im not going to use a vw mount on this side period....acctually im going to end up using shock mounts from a c5500 gmc



this shows the axles bolted up motors not in position completly buttt they bolt up and dont bind and im not lowering it so it should be fine

oh yea and i forgot to mentioni started making a mount bracket for the drivers side, cause its impossible to find and im impatient

starting a templet

mocking up the templet on the motor

getting it transfered to metal

lining up the mount holes

and drilling them out....dont forget the lubbeeee!!


and finally the main plate bolted to the motor


got the ecu today and hopefully will hear the motor run by the time im done tomarrow....we will see how it goes till next time

[A1steaksauce]

so ive been hard at work scratching my head the motor is sitting in the bay bolted up to the stock cabby axles and what do ya know they dont seem to be binding or anything!!!

this is perfectly normal if you have your motor placement just right.

the vr tranny is only a 1/2in wider on each side compared to the stock cabby trans. the cv's can easily accommodate an extra half inch per side.

normally people would bolt up the passenger's side axle and get the motor/trans to fit perfect then shorten the driver's side axle by an inch or so. however it's been proven that if you have the motor/trans placement just so there's no need to modify any axles....and you can get low with it and have no binding or problems


nice progress by the way

[riotbeast]

well i have been quite busy indeed, hence not posting for a few days lets start from were we left off, i got the passenger side motor mount in the mail and got to work building the support

marking out the frame rail, for my way of doing it


took some angle iron, put two peices together to make 3/4's of a box and trimmed to fit


Getting ready to weld into place


welding it into place....a lot of welding it into place....this bitch aint moving


making the passenger side mount bracket for the motor, got to have that support....dont forget the triangles


and the mount attached



starting on the new design for the drivers side mount, goal was to make it so the motor is cradled between the two mounts so the one i will be making in the front only determines the angle of the motor and holds no real weight


the mount itself acctually all put together


dropping the frame rail a little bit to stiffen it up and line up with the mount a little easyer



and of course seeing what i have to make for the front mount....i have a few ideas....any way i look at it theirs another half a day of cutting and welding


saw this while it was up in the air, talked to the previous owner of the doner car apperently he opted for the ecs magnetic drain plug


oh and if you saw the picture above of my messy ass toolbox...yea i fixed that too


and her sitting with the hood on and the motor sitting in the bay all on its own...


and the proof that its in their


i had rushed out of the shop at the end of the day today so i didnt get and finished pictures of the drivers side mount ill snap a couple in the next few days.... will most likly have the front mount almost done by tuesday anyways and whenever i acctually get my pedal cluster and MAF ill get her running and setup the clutch....lets hope the salvage yard acctually gets me my s***......and now its time to go drink with the fiance and friends and wait for the new superbowl Volkswagen commercial....

[A1steaksauce]

looking good!

but save yourself a bunch of work on the front by not running the MK3 mount, and instead just run a modified MK4 rear mount and a modified MK1 front mount. easiest way to go about it and it will more than hold.

see deathhare's setup

[superquick]

awsome suff man. i'll definitely be following this one

[riotbeast]

Just a quick update today.... Got her wired up and running .... think the coil is toast by how she runs but hell it progress.... That and tax returns are in so im finally doing some shopping .... Will update when my uhhhh plethora of packages comes in ;D

[riotbeast]

welll well well been on and off having time for the beast but have made some progress, ive been trying to get the harness straightened out and ran.....thank god im good with electronics XD....some pictures i beleve are in order

the only way to sort out wiring....throw it everywere


oh and i got a freeze plug in


for this little hole that needed to be forgotten about (3/4" if your wondering)


and oh yea started building the exhaust manifold, so much welding



oh yea and started mounting the shifter



annnnddddd test fit the battry to its new home/welded in the ground stud


then i ended up getting a used tension with a shot bearing so i sent the s*** pully to the parts store and they sent me back this $15 replacment...beats the heck out of the 70-120 for a new tensioner...and the effort it woulda taken to break....i mean replace the bearing in the pully


i should be getting my clutch pedal in soon soooooooo if all goes well we will be able to stop pushing this bunny and start driving her out of the shop.......till next time(not acctual booze consumption till then.......or maby it is)

[riotbeast]

and on the note of progress hault this is now a lil over two months i have been waiting on this pedal cluster....if it isint hear by this weekend im making the trek to orange MA to get the damn thing out of the passat myself....we will seee

[cab89]

Wow!
I saw some Cabriolets in Europe (Golf) that had the V6 turbos also. Those things can put out up to 800HP with special tuning, and man are they fast!. They will get on the Autoban and race Ferraris and Porsches.
Good swap.
Keep us posted.

[riotbeast]

Wow!
I saw some Cabriolets in Europe (Golf) that had the V6 turbos also. Those things can put out up to 800HP with special tuning, and man are they fast!. They will get on the Autoban and race Ferraris and Porsches.
Good swap.
Keep us posted.

wow thats pritty sick, and beleve me i have a big update coming very soon, i just got the cluck pedal installed with a lot of help from the plasma cutter, but i have 0 time to acctually update the thread while im busy driving in circles around the shop day dreaming of it on the road .....hopefully by monday latlest we will see some more pics up

[A1steaksauce]

wow thats pritty sick, and beleve me i have a big update coming very soon, i just got the cluck pedal installed with a lot of help from the plasma cutter, but i have 0 time to acctually update the thread while im busy driving in circles around the shop day dreaming of it on the road .....hopefully by monday latlest we will see some more pics up

i was hoping you weren't going to do what i thought you might do.

you do realize you could have easily modified the MK1 clutch pedal and simply welded the passat bracket for the clutch master to the MK1 brake booster bracket and made it all work, yeah?

full pedal assembly swaps are way more work than what's required.

[websaabn]

Nice to see another VR6 Cabriolet. Some of the welds look like they could use some more heat, but props for doing it your self and not going half assed with off the shelf mounts. Now put some boost on it

[riotbeast]

i was hoping you weren't going to do what i thought you might do.

you do realize you could have easily modified the MK1 clutch pedal and simply welded the passat bracket for the clutch master to the MK1 brake booster bracket and made it all work, yeah?

full pedal assembly swaps are way more work than what's required.

well the problem i saw with that was i had an automatic to start with and i got the passat pedal cluster with the swap.....im taking every route that leads to spending less $$$$$ while still trying to make it come out as a nice little daily driver it only took a weekend to acctually get the pedal assyembally built and installed so i figure for what i saved its probly worth it