'90 Mk2 VR6 Golf Smooth Bay Never Ending Project

[Gryzlee]

Sick Build! Love a nice shaved bay

[JoeMallett]

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

Sick Build! Love a nice shaved bay

Cheers guys, hopefully I will make some progress worth looking at soon. Have some big plans coming soon hopefully:

Hidden brake lines
braided clutch hose
Better coolant hose set up
Parts blasting and powder coating/polishing
More smoothing and so on.

Found a few bubbles in the paint, that look like bad prep and it's doing my head in. Theres a few other bits I'm not happy with either, so will probably end up doing the whole bay again.
Don't know whether to take it further and just remove the scuttle or not. If I do I will have to rethink the looms as well, because a lot of the loom runs through there.
Need to sort out my laptop so I can get some photos up (my camera software is out of date and won't let me upload any photos).

[JoeMallett]

Getting parts through bit by bit. Sorted out the head gasket getting other gaskets that will need replacing through on Thursday hopefully. Then what I'll probably do is get it back together in the car, then take it out as one ready to reroute the brake lines and maybe get a few parts powder coated etc.

I don't suppose anyone knows of a UK place that would be able to make me a braided hydro clutch line?

[georgeMK1]

Know that engine bay shave feel dude.

You make it look so easy haha, great progress the bay came up pretty good. Its a shame that you got the vr6 in only to find the heads needs to come off. Keep going!

[Matt IoW]

you no Tom Bowen? Thats his old mk3 in the pic? This thread is really interesting. I'll keep watching!
Btw you heard of Adam King? He breaks loads of cars and sell's bits on. But recently he appeard in court..

[JoeMallett]

Know that engine bay shave feel dude.

You make it look so easy haha, great progress the bay came up pretty good. Its a shame that you got the vr6 in only to find the heads needs to come off. Keep going!

Photos certainly don't tell the whole story... Sleepless nights stressing about issues and what to do next -.-

you no Tom Bowen? Thats his old mk3 in the pic? This thread is really interesting. I'll keep watching!
Btw you heard of Adam King? He breaks loads of cars and sell's bits on. But recently he appeard in court..

Haha yeah Tom is one of my best friends! In fact, I'm being his best man Yeah I've had run ins with Adam King before, luckily no money trouble though, just never sorting out parts. IU know people who've lost a lot of money because of him though... not cool.

[JoeMallett]

So I have all the parts



Cleaned everything up.



Put the gasket on.

Put the head on.

Put the bolts in.

Bolts are the wrong size...

I've already had to send back a head gasket because it was mangled. Does my head in.

[JoeMallett]

So I'm hopefully going to pick up some head bolts that fit in a minute. Then I'll be able to make a little bit of progress.

[JoeMallett]

Awesome, my photos have stopped working...

Anyway, I'll sort that out later, for now...

It's onnnn, had far too many troubles with parts. Auto factors really need to sort themselves out.

Still trying to decide what to do with this ally rocker cover. I was planning on polishing it, which I have started myself, but it's doing my head in, also I'm not 100% on whether its going to look right on top of the silver cylinder head, might spray it the same colour as the car? But I don't know whether that would look weird too...

Any suggestions?

[JoeMallett]

Just need to sort out fitting the coolant hoses, then I can check whether the problem is solved. Then it's back apart for some improvements for the new year. Definitely decided to touch up the bay, but can't decide whether to remove to scuttle or not. I quite like the look of it with it there, but removing it will make the bay look so much more spaced out! Is it work I'm willing to put in?

[JoeMallett]

Hopefully all of the photos have now been sorted out.
Been busy at work spraying a camper. And at home spraying a Series 2 Land Rover. Will get back on it with the Golf in a couple of weeks.
If I haven't sorted out the problem. I'm looking for other engines. Maybe 16v turbo, 20v turbo, 2.0 TSI. We'll see.

[JoeMallett]

Been busy with other things. Need to get on with my car!

Servicing the Lady's Audi A3 Quattro...



A Land Rover I am Respraying



He wanted to keep the 'War wounds' Which has actually made it more difficult for me, because I don't have a single flat surface to work with and flatting the primer is basically impossible!

[JoeMallett]

So after a lot of stress from trying to sort out new coolant leaks and buying a new coolant flange, I finally got round to starting the Golf. Turned out I didn't solve the problem by changing the head gasket. Everything is pointing towards a cracked cylinder head and piston rings. I can't afford to get it tested just to see whether it is or not. Looks like the engine is going to have to come back out and start looking for a new solution. Not sure whether to go for a VR6 again or not. I have been thinking about a 1.8t 20v for a while now. No show season for me this year I don't think...

[JoeMallett]

So the engine is back out. Searching for a new engine now, still not 100% what. I think a 1.8t is just going to be more than I can afford. A nice 2.0 16v ABF is a big possibility, nearly as much power as the VR, ALOT lighter, parts are a lot cheaper. I can also make it look very tidy, with a nice set of carbs or something.

[JoeMallett]

So I've had a VERY expensive month. Paying for a holiday (Barcelona Grand Prix )
This happened...

IMG_0017 by Joe Mallett, on Flickr

The whole car(my daily), as you can see, was literally falling apart... So I went on a hunt and ended up with this beast...

IMG_0016 by Joe Mallett, on Flickr]

So happy with it, quiet, quick(ish), comfortable, BIG, and a Skoda

Then this happened...



Been looking for an engine for a long time and haven't really been having any luck. Then this popped up 40 minutes from me. I was already heading there when I found it and managed to get my foot in that day. It's a 16v ABF. I actually ended up paying less for this than I was expecting to pay for just an engine. It's fairly high mileage (160k) but runs beautiful. Drove back home fine, pulls how I'd expect a 16v to pull. I'll probably do a compression test on it later on, just out of interest.
It almost seems a shame to pull it apart though. Theres nothing wrong with it apart from standard mk3 rust on a couple windows and a drooping headliner. Such a steal!

Just need to get the E30 out of the way and this will be coming apart. Hopefully I can push on and get a lot done next week.