Mk2 Golf - 3.1 12v VR6, widebody, carbon, shiny bits...

MOAR!!

/refrains from comments about doors, bonnets and Ford Kas.

*n

bookmarked.

Now crack on with an update Bab!!

Back when I first got into Mk2s, when the term "dubber" (I HATE that word) probably implied that you frequented bath tubs with tradesmen from the local community, I remember reading about a Mk3 running a fairly respectable 3.1 VR6 lump. With research on how to do it fairly thin on the ground, a call went out for help on some Facebook groups.

Luckily, I was contacted by a guy who has a stupidly powerful, boosted Mk3. He'd successfully run his 3.1 at circa 6-700bhp for 18 months without issue, and had built a spare bottom end, which he was thinking about getting rid of. Quicker than you can say "that generic Futurama meme featuring Fry," a deal was done, and the bottom end was in the back of my company car.

With a spec as long as your arm, it wasn't cheap, but a damn sight better value than building it myself. Forged Mahle pistons, shot peened H-beam rods, billet crank and all sorts of other bits with names I can't remember. And oh my lord did it look good:




This meant that a suitably beautiful head would have to be built. Introducing Hungarian engineer extraordinaire, Schubert Leventhe. I've probably spelt that wrong. Sorry.

He was tasked with creating the best flowing head possible, complete with +1mm oversized valves, titanium valve springs and Victor Reinz valves.





I'd also managed to source a already gutted OBD2 engine manifold, which eliminates flat spots through the rev range. It looked a bit untidy, so things happened to that to make it less...untidy.




Cams next. I wasn't willing to remortgage the house to buy Schricks, so i turned to Doughtery Racing. Widely renowned in the US as the best cams you can buy for VR6s (as they're basically Schricks), I managed to get hold of Jim Dougherty himself and ask his advice. Not wishing to go too lairy, it was decided that 272s would be the best compromise with the setup I'd be running. He even made a set up for me, and within a few days they were here. Eat that Demon Tweeks!

Annoyingly, I don't think I took any pictures of them out of the engine. But they're cams. Shiny ones. Here they are in situ:




One thing I am very aware of with these engines is that they can suffer very badly from oil starvation, especially when hot and out on track. Which this car will be. Lots. With all baffled sumps discontinued, a set of baffles were knocked up and tacked in. With the ever present fear of twatting the sump on something, a rather hefty manganese plate was attached to the bottom of the sump.





Having checked valve clearances using the latest cutting edge techniques...




...it was time for assembly.







Having seen all manner of chrome engine bays with god knows how many bolt on bits fitted, I wanted to go for something more subtle. Something that would wear well and not be ostentatious.

Stain black it is. With carbon. And gold bolts. And polished bits.






With uprated oil pump, bigger injectors and lightened flywheel now fitted, it was time to concentrate on some other bits.

I'd decided, after spending the GDP of a small country on the engine (which hadn't been run yet), that gauges were needed. For some reason, I thought generic Chinese digital examples would work fine.

Well, they look kinda cool I guess...



More on that later.

After realising that the insanely cool Vabric seats were actually a terrible idea, as you could lose your bodyweight in sweat within an hour and become permanently stuck to them, I bought some very lovely carbon Corbeaus. They actually look better than the Vabrics, and are insanely comfortable. In they went:





We needed to stop procrastinating at this point. It was time to fit the engine...

With the freshly painted gearbox and 4 paddle clutch attached, it was time to get the engine into the car.













A few months before, I'd been speaking to the guys from Fifteen52 about them making me a set of forged 16" Tarmacs for this. Obviously that wasn't going to happen, despite my best efforts, but they did come up with another option. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the first set of 16x9" Formula TRs. Originally I was going to go for the 16x8"s and carry on the narrow body, sleeper look, but after seeing the first picture of the 9"s, it was a foregone conclusion...



With the help of the guys from Toyo Tires (it's American, don't judge me), a set of 225/45 16 Proxes found their way onto the wheels. Which resulted in this:




Yeah, they're...wide. And don't fit. More on that later.

With sexy wheels, it became glaringly obvious that the ropey old callipers and discs simply wouldn't cut it. So out came the paint...






...and on went the brakes.



Can you tell how easily distracted I am? Back to the engine...

Now it was in, it was time to bolt on all the important bits:






A must when building a VR6 is a billet crack pipe, as the OE plastic one can't cope with the temperatures generated. This threw up all sorts of interesting Google results, but eventually we found one.



Keep reading to see how we overcame the issue of the silly wheels...

Aaannnnnd; bookmarked.

Aaaand...we're back in the room.

So, we were faced with the quandary of how to fit 9" wide wheels, without stupid stretched tyres, onto a narrow body car with a full widetrack conversion.

Answer? Silly arches. Obviously.

Numerous options were explored, including the frankly ludicrously priced and actually not all that great Voomeran option. I would've won all the scene points, but I'm not about that.

Eventually stumbled across a (then) little known Austrian outfit called MBL76. Husband and wife team Patrick and Monja are undoubtedly two of the most awesome people I've met, and restored my faith in the "car scene," with how helpful and supportive they were. I'm glad to say that the company has finally picked up the recognition it deserves and it's absolutely flying now.

Anyway, arches and a cheeky extended duckbill were ordered, all in finest composite. We were expecting to have to do at least a bit of re-shaping or trimming, but on arrival, the fit was perfect. Like actually, 100% bang on perfect.

Front and rear were test fitted, to get an idea of where we were at:






Yeah. They're pretty wide. 4.5" wider per corner in fact. Best try a wheel on really...



Splumph. Literally perfect. Due to calliper clearance we ended up having to run 12mm spacers up front unfortunately, but they're proper hub centric jobs with the correct sized spigots courtesy of Fifteen52 UK, so I'm not overly worried.

Back to the engine I suppose. It was time to wrap the manifold (thankfully that job was left to Hodgy) and bolt all the final shiny bits on:














For yet another distraction from the engine, we decided to bolt the extended composite duckbill on, which again fitted [ace ventura] LIKE A GLOVE [/ace ventura].




I'd also managed to acquire a mint set of genuine Ryder bumpers (black strip) to replace the Driver (red strip), along with a 7 slat grille, which I thought I'd give a go.






Hmmm. Not really feeling the grille. Love the splitter though!

Next up, it was the turn of the back end to receive some loving. Fnar.

The Mk3 rear beam had been looking a little tired:





It was solid and sound, so we replaced the wheel bearings, and gave it and associated parts a coat of Hammerite:





We soon realised that even with the wider beam, it wasn't going to be enough to fill the extended rear arches. So a set of stub axle spacers were knocked up:





All refitted and ready to go:


The 12mm spacers had arrived, giving us an idea of how the car would sit on the arches for the first time. Ooof...




We needed to spot procrastinating and actually get the arches on. Which was a fairly terrifying prospect, as it meant cutting up what is actually an incredibly good shell. Oh well, you can't make an omelette and all that jazz...













Perfect. A big sigh of relief was made all round. But we still had to do the rears. This is where it got tricky...

Glad to see you've popped a thread up, I've seen the car in multiple groups on fb for a while now, looks great!

Great build, bookmarked for progress.