My mk2 Golf VR6 - Project Britney

misteralz · My mk2 Golf VR6 - Project Britney

A valver this time. Why Project Britney? Well, think of her early singles. Yep; Oops, I did it again... I brought home another mk2!
I never meant to - I went out to buy some cable for wiring my garage and stopped by someone's house to buy a couple of mk2 bits. He asked me if I wanted a spare. A spare what? A spare rolling shell, of course! It was dark when we got it back that night, and it was forecast to pee down overnight. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem, but with a huge chicken run under construction in front of the garage, well, suddenly it was. Why? Because there was no side glass in it. Or tail-lights. Or mirrors. Normally I'd have set the tripod up and got some long-exposure pics, but with the rain starting to spit down I wasn't prepared to let my camera or my new purchase get soaked. About an hour later and with aching fingers - couldn't find any cord anywhere, so the glass went in by hand ... typically, I found a roll of cord in it today in the light - it was watertight again...

There was a nasty scratch on the tailgate, so I covered it up:

And removed the alarm which looked to have been fitted by an absolute idiot. What d'ya mean you'd normally power it from the fag lighter? And wire it into the stereo and heater, too?

Managed to salvage some loom:

Which is nice.

Anyways, I'm doing this a bit backwards! Blame photobucket again. Here's a few shots taken this morning, with glass in, mirrors on and a spare front bumper in place. The driver's door is scabby - I reckon it's been broken into previously - but the whole thing is amazingly straight. The filler cap is perfect, as is the scuttle, spare wiper grommet, etc, etc, etc!

Ohhh yes. They're Hella Pyramids.

Plans? Well, Lizzie's claimed it for herself so it'll be a bit softer than mine. The 256mm brakes on the front are brand spanking new so they can stay but I'll be remaking all the lines and sticking on Goodridge hoses. All the bushes will be getting replaced with fresh ones, but not Polys as they're insanely harsh. There's no question regarding what's going under the bonnet - my spare ABF's taking up space! The calipers, GTI badges in the side trim and the stripe around the grille, well, they're going to be hot pink.

I love Persley scrappies. Grabbed me an steering column loom with the MFA bit from a B3 Passat. It's the first purchase I've made specifically for it which has now taken the total expenditure up to, errr, zero pounds and zero pence.

Couple of pics:

Completely complete steering column loom with MFA stuff. Mk3 column stalks, too.

Was in Persley's/Stan's/whatever you want to call it again yesterday afternoon and spotted an L-reg Audi 80 up in the corner. Thought it prudent to open the sunroof:

Because stainless sunroof arms are much nicer than carbon steel ones, and don't rot their ends off, either.

The wind deflector needs some paint, mind you.
Net cost is still zero; I'm wondering how long it's actually going to be before I actually have to specifically buy something for this beast...

misteralz

Got me a donor car for insanely cheap and couldn't pass it up!

Only got the one pic of it so far - stuck some wheels on it and drove it off the trailer. The alternator belt tensioner died when I started it up, and driving it down the road was uncomfortable what with the stoved in roof being where my head wanted to be, but hey, it's closer to having something done with it now...

No pics as I'm offshore, but the VR is pretty much stripped! Started hauling the dash, interior and wiring loom out of it yesterday after I got home early and carried on until well after it got dark. Pulled my big halogen out the garage and just kept going! So the seats are now in my garage with an entire VR6 loom on top of them, the front end is sitting on the rear of the Mad Max Disco and hopefully my neighbour will drag the shell over to his this weekend and buzz the subframe bolts, top mounts and rear axle off with his airgun. Late VR6 wiring is a pain in the bottom as the whole engine bay loom is integrated, rather than the engine and lighting looms being separate like earlier mk3s. I'll get the engine and 'box on a pallet soon and replace the timing chains and the crack pipe.

Stripping:

Engine loom out:

And from another angle:

Could have had the engine bay wiring completely out last week if I'd have seen that the reason it wasn't coming was down to the ABS loom being attached to the battery positive lead and nowhere else. No matter, as I've stuck all the multiplugs and loom through the mk2's bulkhead now. I've got the top mounts off, too. I think I'll probably unbolt the subframes and the back axle with the weight on them, then just lift the shell off with the forklift. If anyone needs any mk3 interior trim, the back bumper or the doors then speak now or forever regret it...

misteralz

Well, after stripping the VR back to the bare bones we got it off the driveway last night:

And across to my neighbour's, where there are air tools:

Now since all the fuel lines, looms, gearshift tower, top mounts and everything else had been buzzed off at this point, we stuck a sling around the engine, and...

:rthumb:

Didn't get anything more done to this until late on yesterday, sadly. Stuck the Toledo TDi front crossmember in:

Wrapped a rope around it and the Rangie and hauled it out of the corner, too:

And did the obligatory laying flat of the back wiper and swapped the skanky old perspex 'plate for a lovely metal one in the old German font.

Realised that I don't have any pics of the lump as it is now, so here you are. Do I get scene points for my method of moving it about?

Was having a look at the loom a few days back, doing some thinking and then the fact that the mk3 grommet wouldn't fit throught the mk2's bulkhead hole sealed the deal for me. What deal? The sitting out in the sun with some ginger beer and removing extraneous crap from a mk3 engine bay loom deal, that's what:

After ages of unwrapping:

Leaving a big pile of removedness:

All I need to do now is get a bit of mk2 wiper loom and re-wrap it and stick on a mk2 grommet. The mk2's original lighting, fluid levels and screenwash skoosher looms are all intact.

Got the VR6 subframe apart, too.

Ordered new polybushes for it yesterday morning, so this happened:

As I don't have a hydraulic press! I spent a bit of this afternoon cleaning up the subframe so that it's fresh for another few years. The wishbones will get the same treatment. Pictures of that when I can be ar$ed...

misteralz

Well, my polybushes arrived yesterday after a two-week wait, so figured I should get stuck into the front end. I'd already painted the front subframe:

So I cleaned up my spare Ibiza GTI rack, pressed some bushes into the freshly-painted wishbones and got to assembling:

Just waiting on fresh track rods, rod ends, rack boots and bottom balljoints and then I'll shove it all back under the front end.

misteralz

Done a couple of things to this beast so far this weekend. Got the bent back axle out and proceeded to chop off its ends. A spare set of disc stub axles may be useful some day!

And as I'm doing this swap wholesale, I dropped the tank for swapping. I could have used the original tank, but I would have to change the fuel lines anyway. And as that would require the tank to be dropped, I figured I may as well swap it and take advantage of the extra gallon capacity. I need some mk3 tanks straps now, though!

Waiting on ARBs and then I can get it back on its wheels. Need a water pump, too, and I'm still wondering whether or not I should rebuild the engine while it's out. :think:

misteralz

Well after waiting ages to stick the front end back together as I was supposed to be getting some bargain eibachs, I got a PM saying they wouldn't be ready for another month. Sack that, thinks me, so I get stuck in again. As this is mainly going to be Lizzie's car, there's lots of hot pink detailing abounding:

Subframe built up and ready to go in:

The drop links are probably easier to fit later, so that's what I'm doing.

To save faffing about with too much electrickery, I'm going to be using the VR6 clocks. Pulled a set out of a GTI in Persley's, along with a mk2 dash surround - fiver, naturally - and started cutting, filing, et cetera. The dash itself has required a bit of cutting as well, but that won't be noticeable. I'll need to fab up some supports for the clocks as the mk2 ones just plain old don't work.

I've cut a bit much off the surround, but that's fine. Loads of Pirtek parcel tape has got the clocks where I want them, so now I can make up a template for the cut proper. Or I could just use this surround. Nahhhh...

misteralz

Alright, here goes... First off I slid the subframe under the front on an old tyre, and with the help of my right foot, managed to get the front two bolts in by myself. A trolley jack sounds like it'd be easier, but I've got a gravel drive. So it isn't.

New ball joints, drop links, etc:

Painted up the back shockers and springs:

Like I said, hot pink detailing...

Whilst they were drying, did the final cuts to the dash:

It looks alright on the ground, anyway. I guess I'd better empty all the shite out the car and test fit them properly? Been using it as a shed for too long:

Yeah, they work.

Had a fair old tidying-up job to do:

Before I could tackle the wiring. This is the ABS loom:

And this is the fuel pump loom, run:

And that's the amp and rear speaker looms run, too:

Plus the start of the dash looms:

I've also decided to use the VR's interior, which fits with a bit of modifying. The Split back seat doesn't fit straight in, but with a small bit of cutting cloth, the covers and foam fit over mk2 split frames:

They're not in properly yet as I'll need to lift the rear carpet again for hooking up the rear ABS sensors. Fitted my rear seatbelts, C-pillar trims and replaced the plastic-paper-stuff boot sides with carpet while I was at it, too. Feeling properly spurred on, I stuck a front numberplate on it and mocked up my RXIIs:

I'm going to ditch the old German typeface 'plates and replace them with the old, curvaceous British font ones. They'll look quite good with the 'Dovercourt' dealer surrounds I picked up in Persley's...

Mojo's back, methinks!

David · NICE JOB

Keep up the good work !

IainC

Thats gonna wheelspin like b*ggery... would be less so with some rubber on the wheels though

My mk2 Golf VR6 - Project Britney

NICE JOB