vr6 transplant into my blown up 16v-easy?

[leedan1 0]

Hi everyone,

 

just bought a 2.8 vr6 lump and gearbox as blew the head gasket on my 16v rado,got this engine and gearbox out of a mk3 for £100 with 90,000 on the clock and as i'm working with a tight budget and limited ability thought it was an ideal swap.I'm going to start in the next couple of weeks and just thought i'd get a bit of research in first to try and deal with any potential pitfalls i may come across,so my question is.................is it as straight forward as everyone seems to think?

any hidden expense?

wiring loom problems?

electrical issues?

Anything i hav'nt thought of,i know there are some handling issues with the bigger engine but i am asking for any info on the actual swap of the 2 engines please.

My brother is a mechanic and is doing the work but i would rather be prepared for any potential problems before they actually happen!

 

Thanks for any news-good or bad!

[Yandards 0]

Er, lots.

 

Wiring loom will need some major swapping around at the fusebox end, the subframe mounts are different, the front crossmember mount is different.

 

Apart from that lot, not too much...

[Reggit 0]

You'll need the later bonnet, CDI unit for the engine. The driveshafts may be different front springs may be different to cope with the heavier motor. I'm sure someone will confirm or correct that.

[Toad 0]

You basically need the front subframes, suspension, crossmember, slam panel, wiring loom, radiator, fan control unit, airbox, inlet trunking, exhaust manifolds and downpipe from a VR6 corrado. Plus probably the hubs, driveshafts, brakes. You'd jst as well get the wiring loom too.

 

You'll need VR6 clocks on the inside.

[dukest 0]

and if all that seems too much then i might well take the vr6 and gearbox off you....

[mrbeige 0]

To be fair, you would probably be better off fixing the blown head gasket and selling up, if you really want a VR. 8)

[Chris 0]

tbh it was quite a straight forward swap for me, but you do have obd2 which i cant say ive personally wired in but cant see it being too hard. if you get ecu imob/transponder box/chipped key problems then you can send the ecu to g werks to get it un-imob'd for a good price.

 

Tom (Toad) has summed it up unless you would like to stay with 4 stud hubs (narrow track) which i did for wheel choice reasons, then you wont need wishbones, arb, power steering rack, hubs, hub carriers, cv's + drive shafts or suspension (but you should treat yourself with this as the engine is quite a weight).

 

if you get stuck drop me a p/m.

 

but like mr beige has said above, if you can fix the head gasket in yours and sell for a decent price. go and buy a vr whilst they are still down in price.

 

the reason why i did this is because i wanted the diy experience, plus my car was almost a scrap yard case awhile back. fair play if this is your reason too, its good to start small sometimes.