Specialist Garage in Midlands? & Potential Engine Conversion help.

[Samwain 10]

Hi all, can anyone recommend any specialist garages in or near the Midlands? I've been recommended Jabbasport, any views on them or anyone else?

 

As a bit of background, my VR is running like **** - plenty of blue smoke, noisy, and this week i had the crank sensor changed and the old sensor came out with metal shavings on it. I want to take it to a garage and basically say "just do what needs doing" without being ripped off.

 

This brings me to the second part - if, as i suspect the engine is stuffed, I might go down the conversion route. I want to stick to 6 cylinders which makes the r32 logical. I've not looked into this in much detail - has anyone had it done professionally and know (roughly) what I can expect to pay - or recommend any other lumps?

 

Thanks.

[pbradley98 0]

You should certainly look up stealth racing in Southam - been taking my vr there for over 10 years now for everything from basic service to full engine rebuild and there's very little they don't know about the vr. I live about halfway between stealth and jabba and used to take my wife's a3 quattro to jabba as they were close to my work - seemed fine but more focused on newer and charged stuff.

 

Hope that helps.

[Samwain 10]

Thanks for your reply, Stealth Racing is another one I've heard mentioned so might give them a go. I'm in Leicester so probably easier than Jabba. Thanks again :)

[southerner88 10]

Hi, Have a little look at my build thread, think from about page 5 it starts the R32 Conversion. My mate does engine conversions for a living, can sort you his number if you are interested? He helped me through the process of the conversion (along with others on here).

 

The conversion itself is reasonably straight forward but quite pricey, the engine can set you back 1K to 1.5K on its own! There is plenty of great guys on here who are willing to help with advice etc if you choose to do the build yourself, I had plenty of really good help from here!

 

I am so glad that I went R32, speed and soundtrack!

Edited September 13, 2016 by southerner88

[Wendy 0]

Loads of us use Stealth at Southam and have done for years- Give Vince a ring.

[Samwain 10]

Thanks both for your replies, I'll get in touch with them. Southerner88 I shall have a look at your thread, doing a build myself though is not an option, my skills probably wouldn't even fall into the 'limited' category lol. Thanks.

[southerner88 10]

Thats where my skills level started, there is always places to start and a Corrado is decent one!

 

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[swiftkid 1]

What are you wanting to achieve here? The engine is going to be your biggest expense aside from labour, the r32 engines fetch a premium so you'd be looking at anything between 800 and 2500+. The 4motion engine has less bhp but are selling for next to nothing these days, both engines you gain the 24v low down torque and you'll still see increased power.

 

If you want the power go r32, if you want a vr6 but newer go 4mo, if you love the vr6 noise I'm afraid you won't get that from the 24v. It's a good noise don't get me wrong but I really miss the vr roar.

 

And never assume professional means good job, I've seen some horror stories from so called professionals.

Stealth however are the best, without a doubt. I do everything myself but if I ever needed someone to work on my car it would be stealth

 

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[Samwain 10]

Hi swiftkid thanks for your reply. As daft as it sounds I don't really know what I want to achieve as such. There's arguments for each of the 3 engines. Part of me doesn't want to deviate from the original vr6 engine, another part of me wants to go power. Basically, the way the car runs now something drastic needs to be done so if I ever want to go r32, nows the time to do it.

 

Thanks for another good report on Stealth though. I will get in touch with them this afternoon and take it from there :)

[swiftkid 1]

Yea know that feeling! Just another option to throw into the pot, stealth do a drive in drive out turbo conversion. I would have thought it be a similar cost to r32 conversion, plus 300-350bhp. Few guys on here have had it done, vag hag for one.

 

 

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[g0ldf1ng3r 15]

Yea know that feeling! Just another option to throw into the pot, stealth do a drive in drive out turbo conversion. I would have thought it be a similar cost to r32 conversion, plus 300-350bhp. Few guys on here have had it done, vag hag for one.

 

 

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good advice swiftkid but you need very BIG brakes & really a whole hell of strengthening in the gearbox, as i am sure poor VAGhag would confirm :(

 

not to mention lots of other things; good suspension, big wheels to fit big brakes, LSD the list goes on

 

personally, i think the 12v VR6 is a main feature of our rado's & should not be removed - plus the sound of it is just bloody awesome as we all know. i was, & am still, very happy with the increased performance & the way it delivers after Vince & Co breathed on it

[bristolbaron 10]

I called stealth about conversion cost before, he wanted £4500 labour..

[Dox 23]

I called stealth about conversion cost before, he wanted £4500 labour..

 

You don't give any details of what the conversion was?

 

£4500 @ £50 per hour is 90 hours.

 

So if it's drive in, drive out big power conversion where everything needs stripping / updating / cleaning etc then there's loom work, fabrication, mapping and snagging etc

 

that's based on £50 per hour which is cheap / fitted in around other jobs as and when we can etc

 

At the end of the day Vince runs a business built on reputation and has done for nearly 20 years, how many others can say that?

[g0ldf1ng3r 15]

At the end of the day Vince runs a business built on reputation and has done for nearly 20 years, how many others can say that?

 

true Dox & Vince also makes sure the customer is happy

 

i had quite a torrid time when my VR went there due to the poor workmanship of a young lad he had there - who then wasnt there on my final collection day

 

if it wasnt for Vince's tenacity to want happy customers my experience would have been very different.

 

Vince put every effort into making sure the end result was 100% right - even sending my hand polished inlet manifold to a local bodyshop as it had been scratched & installing the lower door trim plastic out of his own rado cause mine had been scratched as well

[bristolbaron 10]

I was replying to OP's original query - vr6-r32 conversion, drive in with lump/wiring/ecu etc in boot, drive out with it all installed and mapped.

[Samwain 10]

Thanks all, does anyone know what he charges for rebuilds? I've emailed him yesterday (hard for me to call during business hours) but no reply yet. The more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards rebuild rather than conversion...

[g0ldf1ng3r 15]

Thanks all, does anyone know what he charges for rebuilds? I've emailed him yesterday (hard for me to call during business hours) but no reply yet. The more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards rebuild rather than conversion...

 

that would really depend on how much you want rebuilt

 

have a read of my build thread http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?44751-g0ldf1ng3r-s-VR6-amp-1-8-16V/page2 for what i had done & then hopefully a forum member can expand on the bottom end side of things too

 

vince is always silly busy but best thing will definitely be a good chat with him about your issues & potential solutions

[Jim 2]

Thanks all, does anyone know what he charges for rebuilds? I've emailed him yesterday (hard for me to call during business hours) but no reply yet. The more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards rebuild rather than conversion...

 

For a standard VR6 engine rebuild you're looking about £3700'ish though that will depend on what actually needs doing! My rebuild price included new pistons, as the block needed a mild overbore.

[Guest sam1990rhodes]

If you're based near Birmingham try DynoTorque, Craig there is a wizard at putting any engine in to anything.

 

https://www.facebook.com/DynoTorque/?fref=ts

[Wendy 0]

I would add Stealth and Vince is a specialist VW man, Corrado's in particular.

 

As said before have a chat with Vince - he is open Saturday mornings. Even if it was a quick call to arrange to call him back at a more convenient time to you.

He will be open and honest with you, you still have the right to go elsewhere of courser, but at least you would be armed with the information to know to ask others.

 

Having had my Corrado 15 years now, I know many instances where Vince has being putting right others poor work through lack of understanding of the Corrado.

 

Good Luck in whatever you do.

[Samwain 10]

Thanks Wendy, I'm going to give him a call as soon as I can, so appreciative of everyones good feedback so thank you all.