1.8T swap into mk3 GTI

[Flavourless]

so did the MKIV 5 lug stuff ever work out or whats going on with that man?

[punkassjim]

it's more mk3 stuff than mk4...basically the only mk4 stuff I used was brake lines and calipers. The rotors, pads, hub, spindle control arm and all that junk needed to come from a mk3 VR6 (pads and rotors from LATE vr6). And of course the axles were a problem...

[punkassjim]

I got both window regulators together last night, so maybe today on my lunch break I can plug them in and put the windows up. Still gotta find an elegant way to mount the motors to the regulators.

I forgot to mention that I tried the sunroof motor last week...I'm not exactly sure what happened, but the wheel might be off-track from the internal gearing. Or the gear might spin the opposite direction of the mk3 motor. If that's the case, I'm gonna be very unhappy. Does anyone know if, by switching the positive and ground wires at the sunroof motor, I can reverse the normal direction of the motor? Or will it just fry the motor's controller? Maybe I'll have to REALLY pull it apart and switch the wires AFTER the module, and BEFORE the motor itself. Damn. Either way, I ended up putting one side of the sunroof up, while the driver's side stayed put. I'm lucky I didn't break it. I have to work on lining the gear up better. That motor doesn't want to sit flush with the mounting points. Go figure

I'm on vacation all next week, and I'm staying right here. For the time being (during the work week), I'm trying to chill on the car stuff, just doing the little things. I figure the axles will probably be back to me right at the end of my vacation, and I'd like to have the radiator/coolant, intercooler and exhaust all buttoned up by then so that I can install the shafts and take it for a test-drive. Wish me luck.

[lukedwag]

if its a simple 2 wire motor then yes .... just switching the ground and hot will work fine with DC motor ..... if its more then 2 wires it will require more work .... but still can be done I think

[VAG Parts Bin]

Jim-

Correct me if I'm wrong, you're running into axle issues because you chose to use the O2J tranny, right? (too lazy to sift through 8 pages of messages)

[punkassjim]

that's correct. The O2J is a wider diff case. I think if you go O2A with your existing axles, everything should work out fine...the only thing I can imagine is you might need to do the other half of the the Plus Suspension swap (inner CVs, a-arms, tie-rods), but I don't think that'll be necessary.

EDIT: it's actually not a wider diff case, it's just different stub axles, so my mk3 axles wouldn't mate up. And using the mk4 axles as-is wasn't gonna work due to the wider track of the mk4.


Modified by punkassjim at 12:02 PM 10-16-2003

[punkassjim]

window regulators got a test-install. Up = Up, Down = Down. That's a plus

The minus is that I forgot some shaving of the inside part of the cable-wheel-mount on the driver's side. I'll have to take it back out and do that. Plus, the window tracks are creating too much friction on the glass, so the pinch-protection is kicking in.

Anyone know what the professional method is for making the glass tracks more frictionless?

[punkassjim]

oh, and the other day the door's window switches weren't illuminating. I got worried. They're illuminating now. It was just that the window motor (aka door control module) wasn't connected. All's well now.

[punkassjim]

thanks AGAIN, UPS man!

I might be re-selling that Sprinter vent, I'm not sure. If I bring the CAI back up into the fender, I'll keep it, but I couldn't pass it up at the price I got. If the CAI fits with the headlight motors installed, I'll get the vent welded in when I get the other fender work and respray done.

And big thanks to Mike and his girlfriend (shoot, wife? I can't remember now. sorry) for trudging all the way to Ithaca with my new replacement Votex grille. It was great meeting you two, and I'll be sure to show you the GTI in person when it's all done. Dig that 20th AE GTI, man...it's pure hotness. I wasn't aware of how similar my car will be to yours when I'm done...especially those Recaros Big encouragement for me

Modified by punkassjim at 1:46 PM 10-29-2004

[Cabrio1.8T]

Oh, ya bastid!! Nice vent! Pleasae tell us how and where.

[punkassjim]

I bought it off a guy who most likely bought both sides from TZ awhile back, welded in the passenger side vent, and had no use for the driver's vent. He sold it to me for a fair price, marked down a little...but it was nice to be able to buy just the one.

[Cabrio1.8T]

OIC!, didn't know they had both sides.

[punkassjim]

The mk4 brakes worked great with the WE wheels, but that was on the mk4 spindles. On the mk3 spindles, the brakes rub on the inside of the front wheels, so I needed to buy 5mm spacers up front. I got them today (thanks to GTI2001), and they worked perfectly. The wheels rotate free with maybe 2mm to spare. I would have spaced them out a little more, but I'm running Plus, so I don't think it's necessary. I'm gonna get 8mm spacers for the rear to make it match the wide track in the front. Right now, it's a little weird.

Stock wheels were ET45. My 17" MM wheels were ET40. These BBS are ET 42, spaced to ET37 up front, and I'm looking at ET34 out back. With the Plus up front, it still might look odd out back, but I really don't want to chance rubbing...and I'm not pulling or rolling the fenders. Don't want to.

I spent a good deal of yesterday studying the wiring diagrams for the front and rear lighting, and today I spliced the mk3 headlight and taillight harnesses onto the ends of the mk4 lighting wiring. The front stuff was even all the same color wiring (very nice)...the only issue was connecting the 5 ground wires from the lights to the ONE ground wire going to the mk4 headlight plug. That one ground is distributed within the headlight on the mk4, but splits in the harness on the mk3. Out back, the wiring from the mk3 goes to the left light cluster, and branches off to the right one. I decided to leave it ALMOST the same, but wire it more directly...I did all my splicing at the driver's side, but I made the wiring more independent, like the mk4. Only problems so far: I blew out the passenger's side low beam, and the cyclops wasn't working, but as I drove home, I realized I might not have plugged it into the passenger taillight cluster. That would explain it. Oh, and I wired up the fog lights and leveling motor plugs, but I'm not installing those Votex until after the winter. I learned that lesson last December.

Modified by punkassjim at 1:50 PM 10-29-2004

[George]

nice work brotha!

[punkassjim]

oh yeah, and my cabby mirrors should be coming next week

I took my AC lines down to get modified today, should cost me about $40. Then I get to hook up my mk4 compressor and test it...but that's AFTER I start it. Need to mount that radiator tomorrow.

Got some more piping en route from JC Whitney, so I can finish plumbing the IC.

[GJ18T]

[QUOTE=punkassjim]The mk4 brakes worked great with the WE wheels, but that was on the mk4 spindles. On the mk3 spindles, the brakes rub on the inside of the front wheels, so I needed to buy 5mm spacers up front. I got them today (thanks to GTI2001), and they worked perfectly. The wheels rotate free with maybe 2mm to spare. I would have spaced them out a little more, but I'm running Plus, so I don't think it's necessary. I'm gonna get 8mm spacers for the rear to make it match the wide track in the front. Right now, it's a little weird./QUOTE]

Not only do you need the 5mm spacers to prevent the calipers to rub the inside of your wheel but it is also needed as otherwise the caliper won't line up in the middle of the disc.
This is the same as for the TT 312mm brakes.

See http://18tproject.stealthracing.co.uk/brakes.htm

[punkassjim]

Quote, originally posted by GJ18T »

Not only do you need the 5mm spacers to prevent the calipers to rub the inside of your wheel but it is also needed as otherwise the caliper won't line up in the middle of the disc. This is the same as for the TT 312mm brakes.

I ended up using late mk3 VR6 rotors up front, so centering wasn't a problem...just the size of the caliper.

[punkassjim]

Someone please help me out on this one:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1081493

[punkassjim]

Modified by punkassjim at 1:58 PM 10-29-2004

[evolveVW]

slow but sure Jim. looking good

[punkassjim]

yeah, I've been comforting myself today with the thought that AT LEAST once I get it running, I'll be able to drive it almost immediately. Little consolation, but at least I'm close. Just need to get the IC piping in the mail...hope it stays relatively warm for a few more days.

...thanks man.

[punkassjim]

apparently JC Whitney couldn't be bothered to ship my pipes overnight like I paid for on the 23rd. What's the plural of dingus? Anyway, I called them this morning and got a refund on the difference in shipping. And they should arrive today.

[punkassjim]

oh yeah, and my axles came in yesterday. Prolly not gonna install them for a day or two, provided I can install them without a hoist. I'm gonna focus on the radiator for a little bit after work, but I wanna go chill with amazedone

[lukedwag]

you should not need a hoist ..... take the 3 bolts out that hold the lower ball joint to the wishbone ..... but if you do ... you know where I live ..... in fact maybe I would even deliver it for that tierod

[evolveVW]

or.. if you dont want to take the ball joint out(cuz this supposedly screws up alignment) like luke said, with the Mk3 control arms you can take out the bolt that clamps around the ball joint and whack the control arm down to get the spindlle out of the way enough to get the axle in and out

[punkassjim]

Quote, originally posted by evolveVW »

or.. if you dont want to take the ball joint out(cuz this supposedly screws up alignment) like luke said, with the Mk3 control arms you can take out the bolt that clamps around the ball joint and whack the control arm down to get the spindlle out of the way enough to get the axle in and out

lol...alignment is the last of my worries. I've had that shiz apart and mismatched so many times, I'll be lucky if I haven't got the toe-in of a snowplowing ski-bunny. Front-end alignment is a must, at this point, or those front Pirellis will be dust in a week.

I'm thinking, though, that I might just unbolt the two control arm bolts, and swing that whole assembly out. We'll see once I get my ass out there. I seem to recall one of the ball joint bolts was siezed last I knew. Might have to remedy that

Looks like FedEx has my IC pipes waiting at the office. We'll see if I can get to that soon, but I think tonight will involve little work.

Still haven't seen the cabby mirrors, but they're coming USPS...might be tomorrow. I don't care, they're prolly gonna sit until my paint-work anyway.

[evolveVW]

oh and next time skip JC Whitney and use Summit

[punkassjim]

can you find 2.5" tubing of any kind on their site? I see aluminized straight steel tubing, but no elbows or u-bends.

All I wanted was 2.5" true aluminum, and couldn't find any anywhere.

[evolveVW]

call and ask.. they have way more stuff than whats on their site

[lukedwag]

or jegs .... they have it on the site .... thats where my stainless J bends came from

[punkassjim]

It's looking like I need to use the mk3 radiator. I'm gonna mount the mk4 condenser onto the mk3 radiator. What I wanna know is this: The mk4 stuff needs G12 coolant (pink), but the old rad used G11 (the yellow stuff). Is it bad to just use it as-is? Do I need to flush the rad a few times? Put some pink stuff in and shake it around a lot?

What did you guys do?

[evolveVW]

Well I had regular coolant in mine before..l and switched to G12

[punkassjim]

So...do I need to flush it, or can I just connect and fill?

I got my cabby mirrors today. Sweet-ass. Took one apart to make sure I could do what I want to do. They are heated-glass, which helps, but they are manual adjust. What I'm gonna do is take the adjustment motors out of the shattered mirrors from the Wolfsburg, and transplant them into the mk3.5 housings. That should work out nicely, I'll just have to place the wire splices in strategic locations so that they don't interfere with operation.

I'm not sure if I'll edit the mounting fascias to fit the mk3 a-pillar, or if I'll mix-and-match parts with my mk3 mirrors to make them fit just right. One way or another, they reportedly won't fit the mk3 door's mount without modification of some sort.

The outer housings came off really easy, so getting them painted properly when I do my fender should be a snap. For now, they're green.

[evolveVW]

umm I am not telling what I did.. but it would have been just the rad with any green left in it flush the radiator at least

[punkassjim]

1. went out and flushed my radiator twice on my lunch break. hope that was enough, cause I plan on filling the system saturday.

2. made a feeble attempt at planning out the IC piping again, but lost steam when I looked over and saw the driveshaft boxes sitting there.

3. installed my driveshafts. they fit perfectly, and I couldn't be happier. Thanks Drive Shaft Shop! And thanks to Frank in particular for scoping out the fact that the driver's side shaft was close enough to my measurement that it didn't need modification. He saved me $150. The other $50 went towards a rebuild of the shaft, since he took it apart to measure it.

4. installed the mk4 A/C condenser onto the mk3 radiator. Required some bending of the driver's side attached hardline (being careful not to kink it), and drilling of new holes in the lower mounting tabs. For the upper mounting points, the tabs didn't line up with the holes, so I made brackets to hold the top sturdy. Needed to cut off part of the upper mounting tab on the passenger's side, cause it interfered with the rad support.

5. the fatter of the 2 A/C lines (goes from the firewall to the compressor) was done being modified yesterday, so I installed it today. It's the mk3 line with a mk4 fitting on the end. The mk4 line interfered with the coolant bottle and the rad support. For the line from the condenser to the firewall (the thinner one), I just used the mk4 line. Hopefully it won't get in the way of the coolant reservoir, nor force it up into hood territory.

6. Checked out why my rear defrost switch was always illuminated yellow. I bridged the two wires out back, and it went back to red. Then, stupidly, I turned on the defroster. POP. No more fuse. Time to get some 25's. Got 20's, got 30's. No 25's.

7. scoped out the FMIC mounting space. Gonna need to devote a lot of time to that this saturday, so I don't butcher the bumper/rebar/rad support too badly. This needs to be done really strategically so I don't end up pissed at myself.

8. Removed the plug-in check-valve from the mk4 evap hoses, and plugged it into the hose between the throttle body and the evap canister. I'll consult the Bentley to make sure it's roughly in the right place. The problem is, on the mk4 the evap canister is at the gas tank, and the mk3 one is up front in the wheel well. The blue bubbly thing that's in the mk4 front wheel well is not well documented in the Bentley, so I'm guessing it's just some form of expansion tank for the vapors. Anyway, I'm hoping that just installing this valve will keep the DTC I was expecting from happening. I hope the mk3 evap canister used with mk4 motor is not a bad thing. The power plug for the canister in the mk4 is routed to/out of the trunk. The mk3 canister requires no power. I'm thinkin' I'll still have a DTC from that. Crap.

9. Took apart the busted passenger mirror from the Wolfsburg, and it looks like the motor will mount perfectly inside the cabby mirror, and I can even tap the wires into the cabby mirror's plug. That'd be handy. amazedone offered me her spare mirror motor from her Civic, and I'd use it, but it's lookin like it won't mount in there. I kinda figured, but thanks for the offer, kiddo Looks like I gotta scope out a driver's mirror motor from classifieds or JY.

It's been a long, productive day. And I just got home to find out that a high school friend of mine died this morning, two months after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Some days just aren't good, no matter how much good you do.