what is needed to put a vr6 in a mk1??

the mk2 subframe fits in a mk1 if you know wot your doing, the track is perfect the camber is perfect, i have no negative camber or poke as they call it even with 8 " wide 16" rims et35 standard wings and arches, the chassis leg hasn`t been cut and still able to get belt down the side to change, it still has standard top mounting and standard wishbones,

 

nutter how did you bolt it all in then?? any pics?

 

paul c
do you have any pics of your car now?
think il do it the direct route when i get round to it. gota get the engine first haha

what about gear boxes and drive sharfts though? what did you use for that?

 

I have plenty of pics but the car isn't yet on the road. All the mechanical engine conversion stuff was done, but the car, being a Mk1 Golf, basically needs a full body restoration especially some rotten areas towards the rear end. The only reason the engine stuff has not been put back together is it needs a wing painting (and I need a nice sunny day for that). The wing needs to go on before the bumper, before the engine goes in, to guarantee decent access to the bolts. I basically stopped work on the car because I had a friend's car (more welding/restoration) to do first, and also my other Mk1 Golf has had issues of its own; and the daily driver too has had issues. So its 2nd on the list of "things to do".

 

The gearbox is the stock VR6 one; the driveshafts are stock right driveshaft but with 100mm CVJs both ends; and a custom shorter driveshaft on the left, once again fitted with 100mm CVJs.

Using the stock right shaft saved the fabrication of 2 custom ones; and the driveshaft length determines the position of the engine/trans and also the length of the other driveshaft required (the VR6 diff's flanges are 10mm wider than the 020 on the Mk1 GTI).

 

ok cool cheers for that.
good luck with yours..
hope our still having fun doing it

 

No worries. I don't know if a stock driveshaft would fit (be able to take up the 10mm difference), maybe there's a saving there? TBH its quite a logical sequence to get the engine mounts positioned in the right place:

1. Sort out the driveshafts.
2. Fit engine and box and connect to driveshafts, which are connected to the rest of the car etc
3. Set the height of the block so the driveshafts have enough room for movement, the sump isn't too low and the inlet manifold doesn't hit the bonnet
4. The area of concern to watch, is the VR6 sump interfering with the right wishbone bolt. I knew about this and made sure they were around 20mm apart, to allow for some engine vibration without hitting
5. Set the engine/box so the driveshafts are straight - in conjunction with step 4
6. Trial fit the starter/front engine mount, trim off the front mount (subframe side) and tack weld (its reachable quite easily)
7. At this point, I made measurements for the rear right engine mount, then fabricated it into place onto the Mk1 body. The measurements were spot on
8. The above 2 mounts support most of the weight, the engine/trans can be quite easily tilted by hand pivoting on these 2, so the left rear (gearbox) mount is easier to position and tack weld into place.

Its worth also mentioning that I chopped the old engine mounts completely off the Mk1 chassis rails, and also the battery tray, so I had a smooth path in and out. The VR6 engine and box fits through the gap although its a close fit, so for the engine mounts, its worth removing the 2x exhaust manifolds for extra clearance. There's plenty of space behind the engine for the custom manifold to take a pathway.

The front is tighter, so its worth removing the inlet manifold for remove/refit engine, but keep it handy for the trial fits to check it will fit. I modified my front panel and made sure I could fit radiator, and fan shroud, before or after engine. The radiator is recessed forwards of its normal location, sitting within the front panel area, on custom mounts. Its an upside down passat diesel rad (so the coolant hoses connect up with no issues). All the coolant hoses are stock VR6, though some will need trimming down a couple of inches or so, to reflect the smaller engine bay!

No doubt, there's other ways to do the same thing so someone else might point out a different way to do it, etc.

 

ok cool i should be able to handle that. think il got the direct route.. it makes more sense in my head, i cant justify cutting half the bottom off in the engine bay.. not at the stange im at now. abit of welding and cutting is ok but not that drastic!!

plans for vr6 have been put on hold anyway as ive got the 16v running. i will get round to doing it but not for awhile. so maybe next winter... watch this space hahaha

 

It puts most off! stick with the 16v.

 

haha i wud if i can get it to work

 

IMHO its not worth VR6'ing a MK1 unless a) you are going 4wd and b) are going to seriously spend some money on the chassis. ABF for me all the way with ITB's if you can afford it.

 

Agree, if its simply for reasonable power gain, ie a track car or daily runaround, or you want a fairly simple project to tinker with. But there's other reasons for doing it. I am doing it a) for the sound and b) for the technical challenge of it. I already have a very fast 2.0 16V Mk1 and I wanted to do something sufficiently different than the 20vT.

 

Definitely a challenge, but if your up for some fab, anything is possible.

 

ive put a 24v turbo and 6 speed box and added 4wd in a mk1 caddy , apart from the weight wasnt hard to do and a full therd on doing it too

http://www.clubgti.com/forum/showthread.php?t=175625&highlight=powernut
ive also thew a mk3 vr6 into a mk4 polo too
pic here and a link how i did it

http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=509694

 

like your work powernut. thumbs up too you

as for subframes- to do a vr6 conversion you dont have to go wide track. you would use any mk3 subframe gti/16v/vr6 and fit mk2 golf 8v/16v wishbones to it. you would have the same length frame of the mk2 golf but with the required o/s engine mount bracket.

i think the 20vt is the best mk1 conversion, but a vr is a wolf in sheeps clothing in a mk1 golf