Kevin Bacon

/\ I rest my case!! I have no idea how I escaped a ban driving a VRT for 60,000 miles. I only got 3 points in that car. A TS20. "Failure to comply with double whitelines". Crime of the bloody century!!

Got some 18" Superturismos for you. Lovely and light at 10.5Kg :lol: Seriously though, you won't get any lighter than the good old ProRace 1 7x17 @ 7.5Kg. That wheel with a ContiSport 3 on it weighed 1Kg less than a stock Speedline with tyre.

Absolutely! Bung them all in :)

They weren't specifically designed to be used with the Shrek. People (inc me) just found that the Shrek filled in the Specific Cam & intake partnerships tend to have different profiles on certain cylinders, such as the North American MK4 12V for example, which had the R32 style variable intake. The 268s are the same as the stock cams, but with more duration and lift.

I think your noise was subtle because only 1 or 2 bearings are dead. If all 6 bearings were shot you'd definitely hear it :D If all looks OK, I would just throw it back together and cross your fingers! As Roger says, if the motor has to come out, that would be a good time to check the mains and all the oil galleries etc. Anyway, onwards and upwards. I'm surprised how cheap the bearings were!

The MK4 gasket increases compression ratio slightly as it's thinner. Not sure that would yield more power on it's own though. Yep, stick the cams in and then roll it on up (or down, east, or west!) to stealth for a map!

Hopefully the bearing didn't wear down to the steel but the shredded shards have come from metal on metal contact, i.e. no oil. Does the crank journal look blue? Hopefully you caught it just in time. A plastigauge will confirm if the bearing tolerances are still within spec. They can all be done in situ but you'll have to rotate the crank a few times to get at them all, so I would remove the plugs to make life a bit easier. Good luck!

The old tensioner remnants just hang around in the sump unfortunately. Bottom tensioner is plastic and never fails as it doesn't have anything like the same load on it as the upper one.

To be fair, any modded VW can bag you a ban fairly swiftly! Better to go out with a big 6 bang though :)

Lambda control starts at 70 deg C water temp. If you have VAG COM, you should see the CO reduce drastically at 70 deg. If not, your lambda probe may need replacing (with a VW one, cheap ones don't work as well). Could it be your emissions test is being done before the engine has warmed up? Does the smoke smell of fuel or burned oil? Hopefully fuel!!

+1 on the oiling. The MAF won't be your friend anymore if you drown him in oil!

/\ Yeah, that! All the missing bits are available seperately!

Roger, VW had a dodgy batch of tensioners. If you buy a replacement now it should be the latest version. There is no way the chain gear will be worn out after 20K. If you do take the upper cover off, check the plastic guide rail as they are prone to breaking. Don't need to prime the later bolts. The internal spring prevents tooth skipping on initial startup but if it's a concern, remove the plugs and disconnect the crank sensor, then crank it over for at least 45 seconds.

Yeah me too! Had the big 6 in my life for 11 years now, but that pesky 2.0T is tempting!

Passat R36 shells are coated if you want something uprated, but may not be worth if if you just want to get it up and running again. Stock VW as Jim suggested but they're not cheap. I think Stealth can supply the Glycol ones, might be worth giving them a ring. I used those in my VR6 turbo and know they are up to the job. Primary cause of shell failure - oil starvation. I don't want to cast any aspersions as it's a member's old car, but it can occur through neglect or hard cornering with a low oil level. 1 or 6 dies first, depending if it's a left or right hander. If 3, 4 & 5 are less worn, we have the cause. VR6's don't have baffled sumps and a couple of members lost rod bearings on track days because of it. A pricey but OEM solution is the R32 sump / pump. If you're thinking of replacing the pump anyway, it's a good time to do it.

Looks plenty tidy enough to me! Once you feel that thrust, you won't concern yourself with what it looks like under the hood :)

It's been done to MK2s mostly but I do know that the TFSI fuel and electronic hurdles have been overcome. I think Q peng do a conversion kit. The throttle map would need taming down as it's savage low down. Wheelspin city!

I would stick with stock springs and a max rev limit of 7200rpm and you'll be fine. Schrick recommend their own uprated springs (oddly enough) but in my experience they do nothing but increase valvegear load. It's only if you want to go up to 7500rpm that valve bounce becomes a problem, but hydraulic lifters don't like that rpm anyway! Save your cash :) I had Schrick 268s and the only thing worth mentioning is the hot idle can get a bit lumpy. Torque is about the same as stock below 4000rpm but the top end is great, feels like a 2.9 litre valver! Best used with a VGI imo + remap. Should bag you a tidy 220hp and a fat power band. Everyone loves the 263s because they were bloody cheap, don't touch the idle quality or the bottom end torque :)

I never once grinned when I did the NA tuning or the Supercharger, but turbo was always hilarious! Be prepared for big fuel bills Nick because VRTs are the very car you take out for the hell of it. Just popping to the shop for milk dear....... 5 hours later..... :lol:

Stick to the BMC mate. It's the only one with a proven track record on here, in both power and a pleasurable noise :D

A pipe with a filter on the end and a ridiculous marketing name. Move on. Nothing to see here.

You mean the solenoid? I believe it was just a cheap Ford part in the original Schrick kit but an R32 SAI or intake flap solenoid will work. If not, you need the following for it to work:- 1) The plunger / flap assembly on the intake 2) Electronic rpm switch box 3) Solenoid 4) Vacuum resevoir 5) A connection from the electronic box to the rpm signal in the ECU harness (thin green / black wire).

/\ Tried that, didn't help :) Thanks for the vote of confidence Clumpy :D And yeah, cars are just a hobby for me. Not sure I could work on them every day! Yeah I'll be honest, the MK4 mount conversion is a tad extreme but it is a better way to hold and engine in place for those who like a little project :D I've tried loads of mounts as I'm really picky about NVH. The best setup in terms of outright performance was Vibratechnics competition front mount, fast road rear and competition gearbox. The gearshift is just in a different league to a soggy mounted engine and a still engine round tight corners was great too. It did whine a lot and harshness increased. For a daily road car, competition front, fast road rear and fast road gearbox was about as far as I'd go for noise and harshness. Vibra front and rear + OEM gearbox took away a considerable amount of the noise and harshness (the gearbox transmits the most noise and vibration) but as mentioned previously, as the engine gets hot, the rubber heats up and the gearshift gets sloppy again but not as bad as the GSF mount. It's because the rubber box mount is a large area of soft rubber. VT mounts use less than half the amount of rubber, so isn't as susceptible to changes of shure rating from temperature. It's a difficult compromise! FWIW, with 3 Vibra mounts, the NVH is worse when cold and around 2000rpm when hot. You feel a slight mechanical coarseness through the floor. At idle, cruising and giving it the big beans, hard cornering etc, the Vibras are superb.

Knackered rod bearings cause a deathly rattle from the block and the aforementioned low oil pressure. I guess as you've got the sump off, it would hurt to drop a conrod shell and inspect a bearing. I can't see your pics as I'm at work (image hosting sites are blocked here) but metal fragments at the bottom of the filter are normal, but only a few little bits. If the filter has loads of metal bits in it, yeah, you've got a problem! Based on your description, it's not sounding healthy and I'd probably start looking for a replacement engine tbh.

Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't bother with an R32 conversion :D I'd put a TFSI in there. Might still do that some day.