Not Vauxhall but VW (engine conversion)

[G-nova]

Hi been talking to a mate who is wanting to put a VR6 lump into a MK2 Golf any one on here know whats involved ie mounts, running gear and wiring?
Any help would be much appreciated :thumb: and plus rep as its not a Nova I want info on lol

[shed-on-wheels]

give me to mins fella will go dig out the conversion guide i used when i done one to a mk1 golf but its the same

[Tony M]

http://www.clubgti.com/forum/archive/index.php?t-28.html

Hope this helps mate :thumb:

[shed-on-wheels]

Chassis - You will need a decent set of coilovers or shock/spring
combination with the correctly weighted springs. You can use mk2 shocks
with mk3 springs, or use a whole corrado vr6 setup. I used the latter,
FK Coilovers all round designed for the raddo vr6, they are a straight
fit. You may also wish to uprate the topmounts due to the extra weight,
I didnt, just used new 16v items, and they appear to be fine... although
they will probably wear faster. Next thing is anti-roll bars, this is
somewhere where you really cannot skimp if you ever want your car to
handle. Eibach and Neuspeed bars come highly recommended, you will need
to choose the right bars depending on which "track" you go for.
There are two different rear subframe setups you can use. Setup A:
Entire setup off the mk3 golf(subframe, mounts, wishbones, wheel hubs,
brakes etc). This is the "wide track setup". Setup B: MK3 golf rear
subframe, MK2 wishbones, G60 brakes/hubs/calipers etc - this is the
setup that i used. Very easy to assemble. Regardless of which setup you
use i would suggest using new engine mounts, and poly-bushing every
bush. You will also need to remove 15-20mm off the height of the rear
engine mount to make sure it clears the bonnet. The front subframe from
the mk2 is fine to use, however i would suggest replacing the rubber
bushes with poly varieties, and of course you will need to change the
front mount to something more substantial. There is no reason why you
cant use a solid mount, although i chose the vibra-technics option,
around £130 direct.
Finishing off the chassis, you might want to consider poly-bushing the
rear beam too, and replacing the standard brake lines with goodrich or
similar braided lines. You will also need to fit the steering rack and
tie rods/ends off the mk2 onto the vr6 subframe. If using the widetrack
setup you can use the mk3 one.

Transmission etc - Starting inside the car, you will need to replace the
mk2's pedal box with a corrado or passat item which supports the
hydraulic clutch. This is easier said than done. I needed to remove the
steering column to fit mine. In addition to fitting the box, you will
need to fit the hydraulic master cylinder to the bulkhead behind the
pedal box. I fitted my box first, then flattened the area behind the
pedal box in the engine bay carefully with a hammer. Using the pedal box
as a guide, you will need to drill two holes for the master cylinder
bolts and a large hole for the shaft, you can then bolt the master
cylinder to the bulkhead and attach to the clutch pedal. If converting
an 8v, i would suggest changing the master cylider for a 16v or g60
item. You will also need to swap the fluid reservoir for a corrado one
with an outlet for the clutch cylinder. While your there you can connect
up the feed fromt he res to the cylinder, and attach the line from the
cylinder to where the gearbox will live. For this I simply used a length
of copper brake line run along the same route as the brake lines. You
will need to make sure that whoever makes this up uses the correct
threads on the unions. Following on from this you will need a mk2 1.3
speedo cable, as it directly replaces the speed sensor in the vr6 box.
You may also want to run your wiring loom at this point too, while the
engine is out... described later.
While your interior is in bits i would suggest fitting the mk3 cable
shifter. You will need the shift box and the cables from mk3. Very easy
to fit, simply remove the heatshield from under the car, unbolt and drop
down the old rod shifter, drill new holes for the mk3 box and bolt in
place, easy. At this point i would suggest also flattening your chassis
leg for the massive crank pulley on the vr6. You will need to roughly
swing the engine into place, mark where the crank pulley is, then hammer
the metal down by about 10mm to allow clearance along the chassis
leg(the corrugated bit).

Electrics - now this is where a lot of people get scared. But its really
not that bad. You will need the engine loom from a mk3 golf or corrado
vr6. Fitting this is fairly straightforward if using a 90 spec shell and
fusebox, as its literally just plug into the fusebox and play. Im not
sure now easy it is on an early car if im honest. You will need to
retain the mk2 lighting loom, if your loom(such as the mk3 loom) comes
with lighting stuff included, i would suggest fitting the engine,
connecting everything up and then cutting off the excess. The rad fan
connections will depend on which rad you use, i used a passat vr6
radiator(which required some modification of the front x-member).
Connecting this up was just a case of running a fused live to the rad
switch, then using the high and low outputs to the fan motor. If you use
the corrado radiator I beleive you will need to use the fuse/relay box
off the corrado vr6 and/or golf. This will allow you to control the rad
and aux pump. As a sidenote, you will need to connect up the aux water
pump on the engine to either the relay box as above, or switch it via
ignition live. Ideally it needs to be running constantly, to ensure
maximum cooling. To make it all look neat you should locate the ecu in
the standard position. There are some nice holes in the bulkhead to
allow you to run the cables correctly.

Fitting the engine - once you have done all the above, fitting the
engine is actually a really simple process. Literally swing the engine
over the mounts and bolt up! When you fit the front crossmember, you may
need to slacken off the front mount bracket on the engine while leaving
the rear mounts slackened off. The engine may need to be "jiggled"
slightly to get the front bolt hole on the mount to line up. From the
vr6 engine you will need: Engine, box, inlet, tb, inlet hose, attached
valve, airbox or big air filter, alternator, pas pumppas pump etc etc,
basically all ancillaries. Connecting all these up should be
straighforward. It may be worth getting hold of bentley or haynes manual
for the mk3 for this. You can now attach all your wires to the senders
on the engine, attach the hydraulic hose to the gearbox etc etc. As far
as the exhaust is concerned, you will want to get a decat pipe made up
to fit the vr6 downpipe flange and to accept the lambda probe from the
vr6. With slight adaptation, your standard or performance mk2 exhaust
system should fit the decat, providing you get the right sized pipe!
Connecting up the driveshafts at this point would also be a good idea.
The 8/16v shafts are fine for this conversion, better still though are the
cabby ones, as they can take more torque. Attaching them is the same
as removal. It would be wise to check all your cv joints/boots at this point.

After all this the lump should be ready to fire! It may seem like a lot
of work, but is very much worth it, and it only actually took me 2.5
weeks to complete. This would have been quicker if I hadnt had a few
screw ups with parts. In all honestly i would suggest doing some
research and sourcing all your parts before the conversion. In
addition, make sure you budget for small niggly parts which are bound
to break while converting. These cars are getting on now, and a lot of
components seize. I found disassembly was actually more difficult than
assembly in some respects, make sure you put everything back together
with lots of copper grease, and make sure you have a shedload of WD40
when disassembling!

there you go fella

[shed-on-wheels]

sorry laptop went mad can somone please delete these to posts thanks

[shed-on-wheels]

sorry laptop went mad

[G-nova]

That's great mate many thanks Plus REP on way