VR6 Campaign

I used to have a Mars Red that i converted from a 1.8 DX engine to an ABF from a donor MK3 that i bought from Ebay and stripped.

Well after selling it i saw the errors of my ways and after a year out i have just bought the car below from a guy (B-Man) on here.  Because of the distance and the fact me and the wife have now got a 10week old boy i wasn't able to view the car.  I really should have but just didn't have time and so took a punt! Still not sure how i managed to persuade the wife into allowing me to get another one The car is a 83 Campaign, not sure on the colour, anyone got any ideas?  I haven't had enough time in the daylight to have a look in the boot for a sticker yet, even then it's full of spares and then i can't get in the boot because the tailgate lock doesn't work!! The car has been converted with a Passat VR6 engine, using MK4 mounts.  This thread is just here to keep me motivated (although i don't need any) and to chart my progress in getting it on the road.  Due to the new baby it's not going to be quite as quick as the last one, but i'm hopeful i can get it going this year sometime.

Does anyone know what the wheels are from?  The car has the Mk3 hubs and therefore is running 5 stud.  These will be going as i'm going to run the late cabby 4 stud hubs to suit some 100mm driveshafts i have in the garage.  I knwo i need to get one shortened but that will come later.  It has the VR6 calipers on, but these will be going and some G60 calipers with 280mm discs will be used instead.  The rears have been converted to 5 stud discs as well so i will have to get some 4 stud discs and suitable calipers as well.

I can't wait for the weekend as i haven't had a really good look at it yet, and most criminal of all is that i haven't connected up the battery yet to hear it run   (It did run before as the previous owner has a video of it running.)

VR6 - such a nice engine  

Sorry can't help with your questions on colour or wheels - not seen those alloys before but like them.

Is it MOT'd and road worthy or full on project right now?

Hairyarse said

Is it MOT'd and road worthy or full on project right now?

No MOT, not even checked the engine runs myself yet!  

Will be a full project, but firstly i want to get it on the road and tidied internally and the engine bay, then think about sorting the bodywork afterwards.

I see that you have the mk4 mounts.  Do these connect to the mk1 mounting points or do they need to be welded into place?

butleraw said

I see that you have the mk4 mounts.  Do these connect to the mk1 mounting points or do they need to be welded into place?

I think they are welded onto the chassis legs, i'll take some photos for you later when i get home.

That'll be good.  Thanks a lot!

Nice purchase mate. Let's see some more pics of her.

smudger1980 said

Nice purchase mate. Let's see some more pics of her.

Hopefully have a good look at it tomorrow and take some photos of it  

View topic: 1.3gt Bike Carb Conversion...NOW A VR6 CONVERSION! - The Mk1 Golf Owners Club

Build Thread for the car  

Been to the scrapyard this morning to get a diagnostic port and a length of loom so that i can connect VAGcom to it.  Then later this morning i've been having a play with the car and took some photos of the business end of things, the VR6!

Nearside mount



Offside mount




Trying to just get into the thing and have a look at it all and found that the boot lock mechanism seems off slightly?!?  In the picture below you can see that the button when pushed in doesn’t hit the latch that opens the catch.  If it was spun around 180’ it would work but there is mounting point that gets screwed into through the catch and tailgate metal.  Anyone got a photo of theirs, or an idea what is wrong with this one.  That will help with having to crawl through the car to open the boot!

Boot lock




Also managed to get the passenger front seat out and have a look at the reclining mechanism as it won’t fold.  The latch near the handbrake handle is very stiff and needs to be hammered to move so put some penetrating fluid on it and will have a look later on.

Had to start with these bits so that i can get to everything in the back, before getting stuck into the wiring, which is ok i think, the VR6 clocks sort of work!!  Indicators, hazards and headlights work and show up on the VR6 clocks, but it doesn’t show the battery sign and occasionally shows the mileage.  It also sounds the oil buzzer when the ignition isn't primed when you try an indicator, but i’m looking to move the fusebox to the standard passenger side so will have to get lengthening and checking the wires as I go before trying to fire up the engine, i don't want to blow the ECU.  I can also wire in the diagnostics cable i got this morning.

I wanted a project, so a bit to be getting on with anyway!

I was tempted by this when I was shopping, but it was to much work for little ol' me..

Good luck, look forward to seeing it come along. 

Looks good mate. Good luck with the project. Look forward to updates.    

smudger1980 said

Looks good mate. Good luck with the project. Look forward to updates.   

No real updates yet.  Managed to sort the boot lock out last night.  The barrel was seized and so i took it all apart, gave it a clean and checked the little springs etc inside.  Got it all back together and span the lever around so that it now not only opens the boot but locks it too I'm trying to sort the wiring out at the moment too as i couldn't get my VAGcom to register the ECU when i did a scan.  The car has been converted to use the CE2 fusebox.  I've started unplugging all the interior looms and other non-engine related ones so that i can check the ECU wires and engine sensors etc.

The VR6 clocks are in the car at the moment, which are acting weird, hopefully when i get the wiring sorted these will work properly as well.  The mileage and clock appear occasionally but if they do they disappear as soon as you turn the ignition one click.  The indicator, hazard and headlight lights on the dash work fine, but the battery one doesn't work.  I'm hopefully going to swap the clocks for another set just to eliminate them which will hopefully narrow the problem down, but i reckon it's a bad earth possibly or something related to the ECU not being found by VAGCOM.

I was going to put some photos of the wiring up, but didn't want to bore people One of the inside as it stands, no dashboard and wires everywhere 

I so nearly went to look at this when the previous owner put it up for sale,but knew if I viewed would want to buy it!!!

Went out in the garage and removed the radiator so i could have a look for the front earthing point on the engine and also the alternator as i've been having a problem with the electrics.  I'm not getting any signal from the ECU when hooking it up to VAGCOM.

I took the radiator out and had a look at the connections on the alternator which wasn't good!



The main connection to the starter motor won't undo anymore as the alternator case is cracked and the blue exciter wire connection point just fell out!!

I looked to see how hard it would be to replace as i've heard it's a front off job on a MK3 VR6, but struggled at the first hurdle.  The tensioner has a threaded hole that you put a bolt in the release the tension on the belt.  I'm not going to be able to do that as i only have 1/2 a hole   I think the only way i'm going to do it is to cut the belt off and then replace the tensioner and alternator.



I then found the main earthing point on the block which i think might need cleaning up a bit.  The main thick wire which connects to the second contact in the picture looks red to me this morning, but i'm going to check when i clean it all up as my eyes might have been too cold to carry on by that point 

Ouch!!      

smudger1980 said

Ouch!!    

I reckon that'll be what i would be saying if i tried to undo the 3 bolts holding that tensioner on without getting the belt off first!!  Managed to buy another alternator so got to get that fitted which means cutting the belt which looks ok unfortunately 

Looks like your engine was sat in a puddle? How were the hub/discs you happy?

collo16v said

Looks like your engine was sat in a puddle? 

I know!  Not sure whether to just get a second hand engine off Ebay, rather than chuck more money at one with no history etc.  The block is pretty rusty on the outside, so i'm unsure what it will be like internally!  

collo16v said

How were the hub/discs you happy?

Yeah thanks, started cleaning them up a bit, but not had a great deal of time as the baby is taking up 99% of time Once the weather warms up a bit i can roll the car out of the garage and get the front hubs changed for the ones i got off Collo16v and return it to 4 stud, at least on the front.  I have some 100mm driveshafts so i can offer them up and see how much they will need customising.  Got a local engineers firm that said they can shorten one for me.

Had a few more bits turn up this week so i've braved the cold in the garage and tried to replace the alternator.  I had to cut the belt off in the end because of the tensioner not being adjustable anymore due to the hole being half a hole!

I took the tensioner and alternator off



then with a bit of effort managed to undo the bolts holding the alternator bracket onto the engine block and was left with this



I've ordered a 6pk1105 belt to replace the one i had to cut off.  This won't fit at the moment, but hopefully will once i get the power steering pump off.  I'm a little worried about the state of the engine block.  Just touching the block has made chunks of rust fall off, but i think with a good wire brushing i can clean it up and then give it a lick of paint, that can wait until the car is running and then i'll take the engine out and give it a good service.






I've been having trouble getting VAGcom to connect to the ECU.  I thought it may be the ECU and as luck would have it an exact replacement came up cheaply so i got it.  At least i now have a spare if it is dead.  The electrics were a bit dodgy as the lights, mileage and clock on the dash wouldn't work then appear then disappear again at will.  I suspected a dodgy earth (notice the block!!)




The earth point on the front of the engine block looked pretty bad



I quickly hooked up my new 2nd hand alternator to the starter motor, and bodged a quick earth for the loom to the negative terminal on the battery and just tried hooking the battery up to see what the dash did and it has solved my dash problems.  I now get the oil and coolant warning lamps as they are both unplugged, but more importantly the clock and mileage stay put, and don't disappear if i try the indicator or similar I tried VAGcom with the ECU again but this still didn't connect, so i'll just have to wait.  I'm going to try and connect up the rear loom and fuel pump looms to the fusebox at the weekend.  I'll check the fuel lines etc and get the alternator back on and all wired up for a first try at starting it up.