16v to VR6

[20valver 0]

I have been offered a 2.9VR6 engine, gbox, ecu, hub carriers, brakes etc etc to fit to my 16v. I am not an experianced mechanic, and would be asking the garage providing me with the parts to fit them. They said they will replace the head gasket prior to doing all the work, and ensure me that the engine has come from a LHD Golf with 74,000km.

 

A few questions really....

 

How can I check the milage?

 

Will this conversion mean my car must become a Q plate?

 

Is there anything to be aware of before they attempting this job?

 

I am obviously very excited at this opportunity.....wetting myself!!! but don't want to get carried away......please advise!! :?

[bazgreener 0]

I thought all the golf VR`s had 2.8 engines?

[20valver 0]

So did I. But apparently the later golfs used the the 2.9lump, and the car is from Denmark, if that makes a difference.

[stormseeker 0]

Don't think you can check the mileage without the MFA from the car (if it had one!) - i.e. ecu doesn't record it.

 

Unless you can get the Engine no./VIN/reg of the Denmark car and see if they have an hpicheck equivalent over there??? :?: :?: :?:

 

 

Chris.

[vr6storm 0]

sorry but i very much doubt that later golfs used the 2.9 litre vr6 engine,even in other markets as they were always rated as 174bhp.....if you're going to convert a 16v into a vr6 then apart from the added cost of insurance and doing the conversion in the first place at the end of the day all your car would really be worth is the price of a 16v....its better to buy a sound Corrado vr6 in the first place than mess about with fitting a dubious engine which if its out of a golf then is 99% chance that its only a 2.8

hth

[20valver 0]

Roddy I was convinced that VR6 golfs were only available in 2.8l form. But I have had a look on the net and found a few things about VR6 syncro mk3 golfs. http://hem.passagen.se/vwnetz/golf3.htm

I am still very hesitant about this conversion, but this is where I stand;

Basically my 16V engine is 'smoking' to say the least, gearbox syncro mesh worn, and brakes disks need replacing alround. I have looked into selling it and cutting my losses and going for a low milage G60. However I am finding it very hard to sell at a price were I will not loose all the money I have spent, and be able to brige the gap in cost to find a good G60.

 

So while in a local garage getting a quote for some body work, got talking to owner who offered me this engine and all other things neccesary for conversion for £1500 fitted. He has even said that for £150 extra he would fit new head gasket, and offer me some sort of guarentee over the condition of the engine, as fitting new gasket would give him chance to check it himself.

 

It seems a relatively cheap fix to the problems I have, just a bit unsure at the mo..... :?

 

Also I understand selling it on I would loose this money spent, but I don't plan on selling for at least 3-4 years.

 

Anyway, there's my life story............

 

what do you lot think???

[VR6 0]

There were indeed a special edition syncro Golf that had the 2.9 lump.

 

Will have a hunt round if you want a bit more information?

[VR6 0]

In fact, here's a VR6 syncro for sale :) I think the figure of 'only 50 produced' is inaccurate though.

 

[web]http://uk.mobile.de/cgi-bin/search.pl?C ... golf%20vr6[/web]

 

EDIT: ok, so it doesn't actually state 2.9.....but trust me, it is! :)

[Banana Man 0]

Go for it andy if £1650 is the fitted price with a new head gasket and all the trimmings I reckon that is a bargain!! As long as the engine is in good condition what does it matter what the mileage is you just need to know the engine is legit before you commit yourself to anything!! If you do go for it make sure that you can trust the bloke selling it and get it in writing exactly what you are purchasing as if the worst happens and something goes wrong you have something to back you up!!! Another thing to think about is if your bonnet is the later raised type as the vr6 lump needs to have the raised bonnet for a bit of extra clearance as it is a taller block compared the 8v and 16v counterparts I dont know how significant having the raised bonnet is but they wouldn't have raised the bonnet for no reason!!

 

Thats my 2 pennies worth anyway!!!

[G60 0]

..listen to banana. i'd get everything in writting..did you ask what car it came out of and why? could be chopped..

 

why do they have all these extra parts that they need to dump? ..just seems a little low on the price for an install job. of course, its probably cheaper on that side of the water.

[vr6storm 0]

Roddy I was convinced that VR6 golfs were only available in 2.8l form. But I have had a look on the net and found a few things about VR6 syncro mk3 golfs. http://hem.passagen.se/vwnetz/golf3.htm

 

 

fair doos.....never knew the synchro was a 2.9 :oops: .................but i find it strange that this garage didn't tell you it was from a golf synchro in the first place and just said later golf vr6's had the 2.9 lump fitted.........and as for £1650 fitted with all neccasary parts included and a head gasket,that is very cheap as in very dodgily cheap,as you'll need the donor vehicles ecu and other small incidentals such as a new C vr6 speedo etc.....and i don't think a mk3 golf radiator will fit a corrado as you'll be needing that too and of course the later bonnet for clearance

 

at the end of the day its your money/car/decision....but imho this sounds pretty dodgy and more than likely going to end up more expensive than what you've been quoted

 

 

and of course you'll find major problems getting an insurance company to cover it too.....as the car was originally engineered for the engine that'll be in it.......of course you don't have to tell them but if/when you have a crash,they'll aside form not paying out will "blacklist" you too

 

hth

[Jim 2]

Isnt there an old saying.. if something sounds too good to be true, then it ususally is!! If it really does sound that cheap a deal then there might be something hooky going on.

 

Without any real history, its a bit of a gamble!

[VR6 0]

I can kinda see both sides to this - the positive and the negative...

 

If you are really going to be shelling out a fair bit of cash on your car as it is then it might be worth considering the transplant.

 

If the engine comes with the ECU and all the electrical bits etc then it might be worth investing in. What happened to the syncro setup?

 

I took a gamble on mine and paid £3.5k for a car that didn't run and needed electrics doing (something I didn't fancy taking on myself!). In the end, when I got someone to sort it (complete wiring overhaul), it was for a reasonable amount - £600. This included dash in and out as well which is not a nice task in iteslf.

 

My point is that sometimes you do have to take a gamble. But make sure that you have weighed up all of the factors first. Your mechanic could be being very optimistic for the price and you could get a bill for double! If it dies a week later, will he sort it or deny all knowledge?

 

Up to you in the end.

[vr6storm 0]

I can kinda see both sides to this - the positive and the negative...

 

If you are really going to be shelling out a fair bit of cash on your car as it is then it might be worth considering the transplant.

 

If the engine comes with the ECU and all the electrical bits etc then it might be worth investing in. What happened to the syncro setup?

 

I took a gamble on mine and paid £3.5k for a car that didn't run and needed electrics doing (something I didn't fancy taking on myself!). In the end, when I got someone to sort it (complete wiring overhaul), it was for a reasonable amount - £600. This included dash in and out as well which is not a nice task in iteslf.

 

My point is that sometimes you do have to take a gamble. But make sure that you have weighed up all of the factors first. Your mechanic could be being very optimistic for the price and you could get a bill for double! If it dies a week later, will he sort it or deny all knowledge?

 

Up to you in the end.

 

 

oh i agree there are pros and cons to it but imho the cons seem to outweigh the pros

 

also VR6 (tom?)alright rewiring your C would have been a bit of a nightmare but all you were really getting done was basically fitting a new wiring loom to replace your cars fried one....not trying to make it seem easy btw.......but whereas 16valver here is converting an early 16 valve to a spec that his car wasn't originally engineered for....again not that i'm saying that there are vast(if any) differences between early 16v's and vr6's bodyshells either.........but there is a wee bit more to just swapping the engine over,and if the engine has only done 74klms(approx 45k miles) then whoever is offering it to 16valver is giving it away as i would reckon the engine alone would be worth at least £1k if not more and another £2-300 for the g/box again if not more.....so he is going to basically give 16valver all that and fit it for around £200............something well wrong there imho..........also has this garage/mechanic fitted a vr6 engine to an earlier corrado in the past....that he thinks its just a straight "drop-in"?

as jims16v said if somethings "too good to be true then it isn't true"

hth

[VR6 0]

Yeah I agree Roddy......

 

Personally I would leave this one alone unless I knew the history of the donor gear, knew the person doing the transplant had done something similar, knew that it was a fixed cost to do it etc.

 

I think I would pass this one up.

[Joe M 0]

I enquired the yahoo group about this conversion ages ago, heres some of the things that were brought up.

 

With the gearbox, driveshafts, hubs and so on being changed the wheels are converted to 5 stud. With this in mind you would probably want the rear to match so the back of the car needs work as well and new wheels will need budgeting for.

 

The vr6 uses a different front suspension setup and different wishbones from the 16v, possibly subframe as well. Would all this need changed also? If so then are they the same as the Golf donor car? Probably not which means sourcing even more parts.

 

The impression I got was that in no way was it worth the hassle and to me it sounds like the guy offering the engine doesnt know what hes getting into. Do you really want your car in bits before he realises that it wont fit without these parts and a new bonnet. By the end of it, it would probably end up costing you a lot more than the estimated price.

[Banana Man 0]

Joe you have brought up a good point there I didn't think about the rear!! Ther front subframe should be the same as the corrado as a corrado is based on the same chassis as a passat and mk3 golf!! There would be a hell of alot of work involed in changing to thhe vr6 setup and you should only delve into it if all the parts are supplied in the conversion eg, rad,loom, subframe, hubs, ancilleries and so on and only go through with it if you are 100% sure he knows what he is doing!!!

[20valver 0]

Cheers for your opinion everybody. I share many of these views, and I trhink I need to look into it a lot more before I commit. I am meeting with the guy again today, and I now have a few more questoins to ask. Main one being, engine numbers and then try and locate the log book for this engine. Also has the guy done the conversion before. What's he got for the rear end, bonnet and what to do about stud pattern.

 

On a brighter note, I have checked with my insurance company, and the good news is that they price the insurance according to the car that the engine came from. So basically I will have to pay the cost of ensuring a standard VR6 golf, which os course is a lower group than the Corrado. So, aged 22, 5 years driving experiance, 1 years NCB, no points or claims and parked on my drive with a CAT1 = £842 TPFT!!!!

 

...but however do realise that there is a hell of a lot to consider and check first.........but I'll let you all know my progress

 

thanks again, advise much appreciated :D

[Banana Man 0]

That is a bloody good quote for insurance!!! Who's that with???

[20valver 0]

It's with HIC. I was well shocked when the gave me the quote, considering it was £778 for mw 16v, although had no NCB at that point.

[Banana Man 0]

Yeah I'm with HIC they beat all my other quotes by over £300 and they are really good with modded cars they had no problem insuring me on my G60 with quite a few mods. My quote was 761tpft with one years ncb and 23yrs old it went down by £200 over last years premium well chuffed!!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I personally think you'd be better off finding a wrecked Corrado VR6, which is probably a task in itself as they're not exactly common. There must be one around somewhere.

 

The front end is all MK3 'plus' running gear as is the rear. You'll have to be careful with wheel choice as VR6s have ET 46 to compensate for the longer wishbones.

 

You will then of course need the engine and box and complete loom with Motronic module.

 

If you can source all the parts, it should be a straight forward swap over. I've been down this road so many times in the past though and the reality is never as easy or cheap as the theory. Maybe you should consider putting aside the money you would (in theory) spend on the conversion, return your car back to standard as much as possible, stick some thick oil in the engine and sell it. Then you can buy a VR6. Just a thought.

 

Kev

[vr6storm 0]

On a brighter note, I have checked with my insurance company, and the good news is that they price the insurance according to the car that the engine came from. So basically I will have to pay the cost of ensuring a standard VR6 golf, which os course is a lower group than the Corrado. So, aged 22, 5 years driving experiance, 1 years NCB, no points or claims and parked on my drive with a CAT1 = £842 TPFT!!!!

 

thanks again, advise much appreciated :D

 

 

btw maybe being a bit pedantic etc but if its from a synchro(hence why the guy claims its a 2.9 vr6)then its not from a "standard" golf vr6.....sorry for being all doom and gloom but this really does seem the wrong way to go......like kevhaywire says go for a Corrado vr6 from the start

[vr6storm 0]

or here is an alternative.............

g6o engine, box, charger,cooler, thelot all ready for conversion

re advertised due to time wasters £900 o.n.o

 

check out the parts for sale section on this here forum

 

http://corrado.atx-hosting.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=972 >-MOD EDIT

 

 

and i'm sure pau1 could explain the ins and outs of doing this....as he's just sold his 16v changed to 8v g-60(vr6-beater).............and it won't need as much changes as doing the vr6 conversion either

[munkay 0]

I get impressioj you dont like my g60 roddy :)

 

Its kinda max power in a tame way, and too loud..but it pulls well and seems to have good boost.

 

dont hate it ;)