Project VR666: A MK2 VRT build

[22beast]

Hey everyone! After going through many ups, downs, and even almost parting out my build, I am closing in on getting this thing running so I thought I'd share some pics and info on my build.. I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures due to a broken phone.

This is where I started.

Looking for a project to build, I found a 1987 Wolfsburg Jetta coupe AND a 1993 Corrado VR6 donor car on Craigslist in the SAME day!



My original plans were to do a Traditional OBD1 swap with everything from the Corrado and turbo it later..

I ordered a bentely Manual and it was game on!



I pulled the Corrado VR6 to have it rebuilt



While the motor was at the shop I started to strip down the coupe





Stock 8v that barely ran, going to the junk yard..



I swapped the whole Front and rear subframes over from the Corrado for a full 5 lug conversion, sorry I lost the pictures when I broke my phone

I threw on some new Raceland coilovers when I installed the subframes..





Although it's not for everyone, I have always been a huge fan of stance! with the 5 lug conversion it opened up some wheel options. I found a set of salad shooters locally on craigslist for $100 bucks! They are 8.5 front and 9.5 rear



test fitted just for fun



Pic of my old car with a nice stance



Ordered some Adaptec adpaters 5x100 to 5x120 and some federal tires. I went with 205/40/R16 all around because they are really inexpensive. If I could find them, I would have gone 205/40/R16 for the rear 9.5's and 195/40/R16 for the 8.5's in the front for a little stretch..



Finally got the VR6 back from the machine shop after a month, I had it rebuilt with ARP headstuds, mainstuds, rod bolts, all new gaskets and seals, piston rings, rod bearings, and new timing chain kit. also had the head rebuilt oem. $1800 in labor, and $700 in parts later this is the finished product



After becoming submersed in my project, the research told me that OBD1 was not the way to go for turbo applications, and I would eventually be converting to OBD2 regardless.. luckely for me a new donor car came up for sale. This was a low milage GTI VR6 (38k miles), it was also already turbo'd so I decided to pick it up and keep the motor I had rebuilt as a back up.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!!

Most of you reading this are probably experienced mechanics and have numerous builds under your belt, for those of you planing a first time build like myself, please do the following..

Research, Research, make a game plan, know what parts you are going to need, stick to your game plan, trust me it will save you time, money and stress in the long run!!

Here is the new donor car



The setup includes the following

stock bottom end
Head 1mm overbore
ARP headstuds
EIP turbo set up
aftermarket clutch
quaiffe LSD





Some other goodies I got with the new donor car..

Unfortunately I do not think these are going to fit with my current wheel set up



So I am now using the motor, trans, wiring/ecu, and dash from the low milage gti. With the coupe sitting as a rolling chassis we started to put everything together.

The mk3 wiring harness



We started to run the wiring throughout the car, dont worry it wont be this ugly for very long



Corrado VR6 pedal cluster



we fitted the mk3 GTI dash support by cutting the ends off and making brackets on the sides, we also welded some supports by the steering column ( because that's kind of important)



Ordered one of these bad boys from vw- only



here is his fs thread where you can order them

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...8#post75906468

as of right now here is how the car sits





More updates to come

[Heidelberg2az]

coming along nicely. I had thought bout getting those same wheels for quite some time but then went with something else.

[22beast]

Thanks pal. If I had known they would have issues clearing my brakes I would have chose something else. I'm running a 20mm adapter and they will barely clear the stock corrado brakes that are on the car now..

[!!Wild Man!!]

Nice build thread... if I email you pics will you make one for me?

[22beast]

Here we almost have the mk3 gti vr6 steering column almost in place. We are going to adjust the length about an inch or two so it'll meet up with the corrado steering rack. More wires being ran as well

Also since they won't fit without getting new wheels, I decided to trade the brake kit for some parts.

[22beast]

Haven't done much the past few days. Once my short runner gets here we should be well on our way to being running

[Mean 'n Green86]

nice build. i would throw the rebuilt vr in the donor mk3 and sell it for project money

[22beast]

That thing was wrecked pretty bad and went to the scrapper

[22beast]

So i got a bunch of goodies in this week, Short runner intake manifold, 42lb injectors, C2 42lb chip, and my intercooler stuff came. As of right now i'm waiting on a MAF sensor and a few misc screws and bolts.





I took the old eip intake manifold off (for sale $150 shipped).





Upon doing this I descovered this motor looks like its running an old school eip headspacer with the copper gaskets

does anyone know about these?? any input or experience with them would be greatly appreciated!!

[Capt.Dreadz]

'scribed. Looking great so far. I wonder if that mk3 was this one...

[22beast]

I don't think the car ever had decals on it but you never know!

[zwogti]

I don't know but it doesn't look like a copper head gasket, it looks like it does have more than one lay for the old copper head gasket they had to o-ring the head for better sealing and i even used some nice green tractor head glue that i can't remember the name, if you can go with a regular head spacer like the C-2 or some like that, it will seal way better

[zwogti]

that look like copper spray, if it is, that's fine, i also use it on my head spacer to seal better.

[22beast]

Woo that makes me feel better. It does look like spray because it's flaking off as you can see in the pic.

[Capt.Dreadz]

FYI, There's nothing special about C2's head spacers. They are all the same, made the same way. The spacer is reusable, the gasket is what you change.

Another thing. The spacer overlap (whats pictured) is not the part you need to worry about. You gotta expect the copper to dry up. It's not bonding anything & its exposed to the hot engine. All spacers have overlap. If the compression is on point...don't mess with what ain't broken. If the mileage is low, i don't see why there should be a problem. If it goes, throw the spacer (with new gasket skins) on the rebuilt spare.

[22beast]

Picked up a journal bearing precision 6262, waiting for that and a maf sensor. Updates to come..

[red85GTi]

cool build man1 i miss my old coupe, this makes me happy

[22beast]

Okay, sorry for the lack of updates! A lot has happened in the past two weeks, Andy got the short runner intake manifold installed and started to mockup the intercooler stuff. I broke another phone and have to use an old one so the pics are terrible for now.



the new short runner and radiator support are blocking the oil dipstick.. we are going to have to cut an inch or two out of it..




there is an inch or two cut out of the bumper support and the intercooler is welded to it..

[22beast]

Here is the new daily.. as if one project wasn't enough..

[35i 2000]

this is an awesome build! keep it up

[mafosta]

mhhh

[Capt.Dreadz]

Move the stick tube in between the intake runner. Here's a pic of mine to give you an idea.

[22beast]

Move the stick tube in between the intake runner. Here's a pic of mine to give you an idea.

Thanks Dreadz, great solution!!

[22beast]

This week I installed the new injectors into that shiny billet fuel rail and we finished all of the intercooler stuff..





Few problems..

The first and most serious is that I droped a bolt down this hole in the transmission (just my luck) is their a way to get it out without dis-assembling the tranny??


second, we started hooking up some of the connectors for the wiring, I'm going to delete ac, power steering, and abs. What other connectors are not crucial? I just want to make sure I have everything i need to get this thing running (which is a mk3 vr6 motor, mk3 wiring harness, and mk3 interior all from the same car).

[22beast]

Good news, got that stupid bolt out and pulled the plug for that hole off my other tranny. Hopefully that will never happen again. This week we are hooking up all the wiring that we can and hoping she fires up, from there we will be pulling out what wiring I don't need little by little..

[FLATBLACKMK2]