VR6 Rebuild

[pete_griff 0]

Thanks Toad, first time I started it I nearly cried :( sounded awful, all cam followers noisey, after five minutes it did clear.

After cooling, standing and restart, it was a lot better but still took a couple of minutes, only one follower slightly tapping.

Hope as it gets more use it will settle quicker to sounding like a sowing machine :cheers:

Going to tackle the heater matrix now, I may be some time :gag:

 

hey Dave, glad to hear your car is coming along nicely. good luck with the matrix, i've done mine; it was a tw*t of a job...

 

 

mr iceviolet, your rebuild is looking great. i love pics like yours - keep em coming! :D

[iceviolet 0]

 

mr iceviolet, your rebuild is looking great. i love pics like yours - keep em coming! :D

 

Thanks, there will be some more pics up next week hopefully, putting the head on and the chains so should be able to get some pics!

[Toad 0]

Thanks Toad, first time I started it I nearly cried :( sounded awful, all cam followers noisey, after five minutes it did clear.

 

Yup... First one I did I had the owner stood next to me when we started it. Was a little bit unsure to say the least!

 

When we finished Dinkus's car this summer, it was so quiet and smooth you wouldn't even have recognised it from the way it used to sound. That was with the Schimmel 263 cams in too. Really can't wait to do mine. Just need to find a spare £1000 or two lying around....

[pete_griff 0]

Just need to find a spare £1000 or two lying around....

 

and spend it getting hold of 24 of vw's valves rather than a measley 12! :norty:

[Toad 0]

Just need to find a spare £1000 or two lying around....

 

and spend it getting hold of 24 of vw's valves rather than a measley 12! :norty:

 

:tongue:

 

I could buy a 24v for the value of the spares I've built up... But I love the old 12v, the engine was the only reason the car didn't get broken.

[pete_griff 0]

Just need to find a spare £1000 or two lying around....

 

and spend it getting hold of 24 of vw's valves rather than a measley 12! :norty:

 

:tongue:

 

I could buy a 24v for the value of the spares I've built up... But I love the old 12v, the engine was the only reason the car didn't get broken.

 

fair enough bud - the 12v does hold a certain charm (even for me!)

[KipVR 1]

But I love the old 12v

 

Just think of the 24V as a pair of 12v's going at it in perfect harmony :grin:

[Toad 0]

I must admit, I did think i might just do an R32 convo on the quiet, but I simply can't be arsed. My cars been off the road for 14 months already. Will start work again soon!

[EJCarNut 0]

Hey Buddy, How did you get on with your VR6 rebuild.

 

I have a blown head gasket on my VR6 - I bought it like this and wondered how you got the timing chain cover off the left side of the engine (as it faces front of the car - not as you look at it!) as I am stuck here - any advice you can give would be helpful.

 

Thanks

[iceviolet 0]

hi mate, think easiest way to explain your question is in this link: http://wiki.the-corrado.net/category_engine_bay.html

its vr6 timing chain replacment, an excellent guide by someone on the forum. i did the headgasket a while back on my vr and was quite straight forward.

[mkveedub 0]

Tis a good guide there is also a good one on the vr6 owner club site

 

Nice thread by the way keep the piccies comin

 

cheers

mart

[iceviolet 0]

Small update:

Was hoping to have the engine finished at the weekend, not to be. Unexpected weekend activities! Had to go for some vaccinations to go on a work trip to Thailand in the near future! :clap:

 

I have managed to get a brand new oil pump from normancoal :salute: . So when that arrives i think i will try and get the engine finished soon as!

I have done a little bit of work but not much. Cleaned a few bits up at work, and put the head on.

 

A few pics of my slow progress:

[bruny 0]

Better than looking at porn, brill, if I did it again I'd have more sandblasting done, keep up the good work :notworthy: :notworthy:

[TomB 0]

A superb thread, and just looking at the inside of those bores makes me want to do a re-build. Time to start hunting for engines.... :D

The best way to learn & all that!

 

Cheers,

Tom

[Emkayvr6 0]

Know what u mean tom, love building engines, just wish i hadn't had to got rid of my broken mk3 vr as a whole, if i'd had the space to store some bits would have kept and rebuilt the engine

Mart

[iceviolet 0]

Hello there,

Been a while since the last update. I was out of the country for three weeks with work so not much work got done on the rebuild. However, I have decided it needs finishing, so I have got the rest of the week off work to try and get it done. Need to finish building the engine, get the old engine out and the new one in.

I have been working on the engine today and it is nearly complete, I am picking up a few bits that I need to complete it tomorrow from VW. (Manifold Gaskets,Flywheel Bolts and Engine Mounts)

I am also hoping to get the old engine out tomorrow, or at least make a start on taking the front of the car apart, weather permitting of course.

 

Anyhow, few update pics of the build so far:

[Serial 0]

Hi iceviolet

 

Did you replace the crankshaft oil seals before reassembling the bottom end? If so did you need any special tools? The Peter Russek manual I have specifies all sorts of fancy things for extracting and replacing the seals...

 

Great build thread by the way, I've been following it with interest. I've just stripped down my VR6 block and taken it to the machine shop to be rebored, so I'll be following in your footsteps over the next few weeks/months!

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[pete_griff 0]

Hi iceviolet

 

Did you replace the crankshaft oil seals before reassembling the bottom end? If so did you need any special tools? The Peter Russek manual I have specifies all sorts of fancy things for extracting and replacing the seals...

 

Great build thread by the way, I've been following it with interest. I've just stripped down my VR6 block and taken it to the machine shop to be rebored, so I'll be following in your footsteps over the next few weeks/months!

 

Cheers

 

Tom

 

the best thing to get the seals out is something that won't scratch the seal seats (personally i carefully use a round parallel punch with a nice flat end - if that makes sense...)

 

as for getting the seals back in - you should be able to position them very well by hand, then just get a nice flat piece of wood and carefully tap it into place with a hammer on the other side of the wood - make sure it goes in nice and square when you're doing this...

[iceviolet 0]

Yes you can just use a large slat punch and tap them out slowly and evenly. I have access to a lathe and i made up some discs and pressed them out, either way just dont damage the locations.

[iceviolet 0]

Todays update: Been quite busy today, didnt do much yeaterday as it was raining most of the day!

Heat wrapped my 6 branch manifold and removed the engine from the car today. Went smoother than i thought it would,apart from two exhaust nuts on the downpipes which had to be chiselled off :bad-words: ! So plans for tomorrow are to just try clean up the bay a little and get the new engine ready to go in, possibly drop it in on its mounts depending on the time. I am hoping to have the engine fully in and connected up by sunday! Depends how ratted i get on saturday night really! :D

 

 

Few pics from todays shift!!

[bruny 0]

Nice to see you are at it again, just fired mine up today after the second rebuild, :bad-words: really wished I had done it myself. Anyhow when you fit it would you mind letting me know what compression readings you've got, Mine is showing 185/190 on 1 to 5 but no.6 is down, it would be nice to compare!

And, if you dont mind me asking, what are you doing with the old lump, is it well past it or could it be rebuilt :shrug:

[iceviolet 0]

Yea ill take some compression readings and put them on here, I hope i dont have to take it out again once its in! Hope it runs too and doesnt just go bang or when i turn the key! This is my first engine ive built from scratch so im a bit nervous about it being an absolute disaster!!!! It turns over quite smoothly by hand which is a good sign.

 

The old lump, I dont think its past it by any means, it pulls like a train. The only thing thats made me change the engine is this weird knocking/tapping noise it makes and it uses a little oil, but not loads . Sometimes it sounds perfectly fine then other times its sounds bad! Especially when cold and when its quite hot. Since i bought the car just over a year ago the engine has had; chains and tensioners done,big end bearings,new tappets, complete head rebuild,new serp belt,different oil pump and still no cure! A mechanic i know said it could possibly be a little end that gone, rare but possible, and to get to that you might aswell just do a rebuild.

 

I have another ABV block which apparently is low mileage but i have not got round to measuring it up yet. So to be honest i dont really know what to do with the old lump yet.

[bruny 0]

When you have installed the motor I would recommend removing fuse 18 [fuel pump] and compression testing, this will prime the lubrication system before start up. I'm sure you already know this though! Your bores look better than mine , just wondered what difference this makes to the compression readings!

 

My motor turned much easier after the second rebuild, I suspect it was over torqued last time, which scored the new shells, they looked worse having done about 20 miles than the old shells that had covered 105,000 :shock:

 

I was asking about the old lump because I fancy having a go at a rebuild incase if I have any more problems with this unit, although I could do with the early distributor engine :shrug:

[iceviolet 0]

ouch! well i have torqued the bolts up to what it says in the bentley manual,so should be ok i hope.

As far as i know the only difference in the coilpack and dizzy engines are the upper timing chain cover is different and the camshaft has a drive key on instead of a trigger wheel for the cps. The block which i am using was a 2.8 dizzy engine, so i have the bits for both.

[iceviolet 0]

:clap: :clap: :clap: Got the engine in and running today! Had a few problems with coolant leaks and fitting the 6-branch, but sorted now! Going to be taking it very easy to begin with, below 3000 revs everywhere for the first 100 miles or so!

I was well pleased with my efforts, got the engine all connected up,leaks sorted etc, braced myself for disaster, turned the key to try start it, the engine must of only cranked 2 or 3 times and it fired up straight away, no clattery noises or tapping like my other engine!! :clap: :clap: Just needs a bit of tidying up though as i had to kind of rush to get it finished before it started raining, and also my inlet manifold that ive been polishing isnt ready so i will have to change it at a later date, just wanted to get it running!

 

There is just a couple niggles i had from the first test drive, i was driving sensibly, did about 35 miles or so, the oil was getting quite warm. it was sitting at around 110, it usually sits at around 100 driving like that?? this just because its wearing itself in maybe??

The other thing was that when its idling you seem to feel the vibration through the car a lot more, could this be due to the 6-branch at all?? or if the exhaust isnt sitting correctly??

 

Apart from that the first test drive went quite well.

 

Bruny, i did a quick compression test before i fired it up and i was getting around 11.5 bar on all apart from cylinder 4,which was only 9.5???? strange,maybe that cylinder wasnt aswell lubed as the others?i dunno? but i was reading somewhere that the true compression readings should be taken with the engine at operating temperature, was going to take them again with it warm but i just wanted to drive it once i got it running. I think i will do it when i change the manifold over again.