'90 Mk2 VR6 Golf Smooth Bay Never Ending Project

[247Automotive]

Great work, love me a vw mk2

[WiiGoCrazy]

Awesome work man!

I enjoyed spending my lunch break reading it

Look forward to more

[JoeMallett]

awesome project. something id love to do to my mk2 jetta. but alas i cannot weld haha. great effort and look forward to seeing more

I hadn't done any MIG welding before I did this, I'd done a tiny amount of stick welding around the farm but that it completely different. Just have a go!

Awesome work man!

I enjoyed spending my lunch break reading it

Look forward to more

Thank you very much! Best get going on it...


Booked my car in for MOT on Friday the 30th hoping that I can get it to Edition38, Pooing myself a little bit...

[stinkinrich]

Great project man, looking forward to seeing the outcome and hopefully see it at Edition

[JoeMallett]

Great project man, looking forward to seeing the outcome and hopefully see it at Edition

I hope you do, running into troubles at the moment. Today is stressing me out.

[2.oTAWD]

Looks good! Can't wait to see more!

[JoeMallett]

Got quite a bit done, shifter is in at both ends, worked out how to route the rad hoses with the inline filler, throttle cable is in, rad is mounted, managed to get the battery cables from an E36 from a scrappy.
Managed to get the lighting loom down one the the chassis legs too.


I should be getting a lot of deliveries next week. I'd forgotten it's bank holiday weekend, so worrying about being able to get everything in time. No chance I'll be able to mount my wheels for Edition if I even get it in for MOT!

I'll post some pictures soon!

[enes_ca]

looks great , keep up the good work

[JoeMallett]

Had a big set back today, went to plug in the looms to the back of the fusebox. I was using the a2resources diagrams to match up the plugs. The clear/white engine management plugs don't match up, so I'm stuck. I think where they've been modded to fit into a mk2 before they've just been messed about with too much. Running out of time rapidly...

[JoeMallett]

It started!! I don't have any video unfortunately. Had to connect a live feed to part of the fusebox because the loom seems to be missing a cable. So the fuel pump was running the whole time the ignition was on. So now have to find a way to solve that. Possibly by running it to a power cable on switched on the ignition, unless I can find out how to do it properly. There seems to be another problem related to this with the low oil pressure switch, which works, and has continuity to the fusebox, but doesn't flash on the clocks. I think this is supposed to go out to allow the fuel pump and other parts in the same section on the fusebox to power up. Theres also a dodgy connection somewhere because with the ignition on I can jiggle to fusebox and relays with switch and the fuel pump primes, haven't been able to find what is doing this yet though.
So I still have A LOT to do before its running properly and get the rad connected at and sort it all out. But a MASSIVE step and so much relief. So happy that I've got this far!

[JoeMallett]

Got the radiator on and filled it with coolant. The car starts and runs perfectly but, there is a huge amount of white smoke coming from the exhaust and a strong smell of petrol. I'm hoping that it might be an injector problem or it just needs running to clean it out etc. But pretty worried that it is going to be a head gasket. I might try and get a video up later.
If it does turn out to be a head gasket, I'm not too sure what to do, if I do decide to repair it, I would like to do it properly and that could get expensive. Or should I just buy a different engine, maybe another VR or something different. But then that could also have problems.

[JoeMallett]

Getting more and more likely that it's head gasket.
This looks like emulsified oil/water to me...





Do I just quickly sort out the head gasket, or take it out, reroute to brake lines, get a nice aluminium fluid reservoir, tidy up the driveshafts. Maybe look and port/polishing the head etc... new cams. I don't know.

The overall plan is to hopefully supercharge it. I don't whether I might aswell try and start that now or not?

[JoeMallett]

So I got the head off, looks like it definitely was the head gasket...




As you can see, cylinder 4 is a lot cleaner than the rest of the cylinders. There were also some relatively noticeable water marks on the gasket heading for the cylinder so it makes sense.


I cleaned everything up and there's no corrosion on the block or head luckily. Tested whether the head was warped and it isn't which is a nice surprise. Lets just hope it isn't internally cracked or something!
I think it was on its way out and where it was lying around that this has happened.



Also found a nice surprise with the timing chain tensioner... The spare 2.9 I have has got the same one with no wear on it though so that should not be a problem. Took the sump off and found bit of it in there, need to double check it's not floating about anywhere else.



I'm not sure whether I should port it whilst it's off or just get it together for now and buy another head to gas flow etc, ready to turbo/supercharge it at some point?

[JoeMallett]

Ordered parts. Received parts. Head gasket's bent. On the other hand, found ways to make the bay look a lot tidier in the mean time.

[kittenpuncher]

cant wait for the finished project, great work so far.