Hans Brick - 1990 MK2 Golf VR6

[5harp3y]

After a 18 month hiatus from having a 2nd car due to a house purchase I've finally secured sign off from the OH to put something interesting in the garage

My last car was this https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=15...

Although casually looking i wasn't aiming to get anything so soon but when a mutual acquaintance sent me an ebay link my fate was sealed

Bought the car off a great guy who had to sell due to the financial pressure of Covid, deposit on Saturday and brought it home yesterday 60 miles around the M25 and it didn't miss a beat

So Hans Brick



He's a 1990 Mk2 Golf Gti which started life as a 1.8 8v digifant car

4 owners ago he was converted with the full running gear and engine from a MK3 Golf VR6

He's got some very nice and rare 16 inch BBS Mahle wheels, ultraviolet (blue) interior and a Momo quick release

He's got buckets of history with him and oddly at one point lived in the same town as i do before travelling to redhill via ilford

He isn't mint but he's in great shape for a 30 year old car and make the most glorious noise



Obligatory first fill up with the OH's R56 lurking behind




Home, steady drive with some hooning and he nailed it, no dramas at all



The 2.8 VR6, engine bay needs tidying up and i want it to look much more OEM than it does along with being much much cleaner

Gave him a quick wash and did my first little job



Spring for the fuel cap door was so crudded up it was in place and as such the flap was rattling

Easy fix



Also ripped off these horrible wing mirror defelctors



Future plans are to go around the whole car and slowly bring it back to glory. very much an OEM+ ambition.

It's obviously a solid car but just needs a bit of attention lavished on it. Last owner did a great job looking after it but i'll be taking it to the next level and going around and getting everything buttoned up

[croissant]

That's a wonderful toy! Can't really beat that for a dependable and usable classic. I like that a lot.

[pistolpedro]

looks ace! great colour you don't often see big bumper 3 doors in silver (Diamond?) smooth lower bumper looks good

I'm currently collecting bits for converting my MK2, I've taken the difficult route of sourcing as many Corrado parts as possible to give it a factory look and make the conversion as straightforward as possible. I've managed to source the air box (same as yours) and also the front cross member, rad support, subframe and fan shroud, I was really surprised at how rare these parts are, I guess with the rising values of Corrado's there's a lot fewer being broken.

Enjoyed following your last thread so looking forward to this one

[5harp3y]

pistolpedro said:

looks ace! great colour you don't often see big bumper 3 doors in silver (Diamond?) smooth lower bumper looks good

I'm currently collecting bits for converting my MK2, I've taken the difficult route of sourcing as many Corrado parts as possible to give it a factory look and make the conversion as straightforward as possible. I've managed to source the air box (same as yours) and also the front cross member, rad support, subframe and fan shroud, I was really surprised at how rare these parts are, I guess with the rising values of Corrado's there's a lot fewer being broken.

Enjoyed following your last thread so looking forward to this one

I'm not sure what silver it is, the sticker in the boot has been covered with dynamat but i really wanted either silver or grey so really happy with this one

i didnt even notice the bumper until i got it home!

mine has the corrado pedal box etc in it but parts in general are a nightmare to find

[pistolpedro]

Think it would be either Diamond or Silver Grey looks a bit light for the latter but hard to tell from pics either way it really suits it.

Bumper looks like a nice job

Sounds like a good conversion, I’m leaning towards an aftermarket hydro clutch conversion as it should allow me to keep the bulkhead as is, I’m hoping the Corrado subframe should help me avoid having to dent the chassis leg but will have to wait until it’s in to see if that’s the case

noticed the 5 stud wheels does it have a 5 stud conversion or adaptors?

Edited by pistolpedro on Tuesday 8th September 13:48

[5harp3y]

pistolpedro said:

Think it would be either Diamond or Silver Grey looks a bit light for the latter but hard to tell from pics either way it really suits it.

Bumper looks like a nice job

Sounds like a good conversion, I’m leaning towards an aftermarket hydro clutch conversion as it should allow me to keep the bulkhead as is, I’m hoping the Corrado subframe should help me avoid having to dent the chassis leg but will have to wait until it’s in to see if that’s the case

noticed the 5 stud wheels does it have a 5 stud conversion or adaptors?

Edited by pistolpedro on Tuesday 8th September 13:48

it's defo Diamond then as i know someone with a Silver Grey and this is lighter

it's got a full mk3 wide track set up in it + adaptors as the wheels are 5x120

[helix402]

Looks good. I think the bonnet needs a little tweak, maybe it’s been lifted to fit the VR6 in.

[chrismc1977]

A shorter final drive should work wonders. I’m sure they are a 3.3fd stock which is ridiculously long & makes the motor seem a bit lazy for a large capacity V6

[ZX10R NIN]

Nice car OP.

[5harp3y]

helix402 said:

Looks good. I think the bonnet needs a little tweak, maybe it’s been lifted to fit the VR6 in.

It does need adjusting. It has gas struts and I think the pass side is pushing the bonnet up. It's also missing the rubber cone for alignment from the drivers side

[5harp3y]

ZX10R NIN said:

Nice car OP.

Thanks

[5harp3y]

chrismc1977 said:

A shorter final drive should work wonders. I’m sure they are a 3.3fd stock which is ridiculously long & makes the motor seem a bit lazy for a large capacity V6

It needs something. It feels so lazy but top of 4th is 100+ leptons in Mexico

[pistolpedro]

3:39 stock, popular modification is the 3:68 can go for 3:94 also, with 3:68 looking at an additional 300rpm at 80mph not sure on your tyre size but with oe size would be around 3800rpm at 80.
Its possible to go six speed with an O2M but reading up on it seems quite involved, Gemini also offer a six speed conversion, worth it just for the VW Motorsport end cap
If you've got the box in bits good opportunity to add a Quaife or Peloquin diff and a lightened flywheel when its going back in.

[chrismc1977]

pistolpedro said:

3:39 stock, popular modification is the 3:68 can go for 3:94 also, with 3:68 looking at an additional 300rpm at 80mph not sure on your tyre size but with oe size would be around 3800rpm at 80.
Its possible to go six speed with an O2M but reading up on it seems quite involved, Gemini also offer a six speed conversion, worth it just for the VW Motorsport end cap
If you've got the box in bits good opportunity to add a Quaife or Peloquin diff and a lightened flywheel when its going back in.

In a mk2 it has to be a 3.68 at minimum.

In a Mk3 VR6 Stock 3.39 is good for 159mph @ 6500rpm in 5th. Ridiculous!!

3.68 gives ~147mph

3.94 gives ~137mph.

My old mk2 Golf was ~195hp 2L 16v on ITB’s & that would pull a true ~135mph Vmax. A VR6 motor might go a tad quicker top end - but aerodynamics hold a mk2 back.

Drag increases to the square of speed so you need a fair bit more grunt to up the VMax significantly!

As such the 3.68fd gives a bit of headroom but makes the engine far more usable day to day

[gary71]

Love a Mk2 VR6, I built mine in ‘96 from my ‘88 16v and a 2.9 Corrado engine/box.

I now realise that was 25 years ago and suddenly feel even older than I am!

Great to see they are still being built and used. Such a fantastic combination, no they don’t handle as well, but it brings such character you can forgive everything!

[gary71]

pistolpedro said:

I’m leaning towards an aftermarket hydro clutch conversion as it should allow me to keep the bulkhead as is, I’m hoping the Corrado subframe should help me avoid having to dent the chassis leg

I used the Corrado master cylinder and kept the original Mk2 pedal and mounted it to the bulkhead with a rose joint on the side of the pedal. The travel was a bit short but worked just fine with minimum disturbance to everything else.

[six port]

I saw this the last two times it came for sale and wanted to buy it just have too many cars currently and can't bring myself to sell the R32 for an older less comfy version even though it is way cooler. Air con possible on the mk3 conversion into mk2? That could convince me!
Beautiful car though great spec and colour.

[pistolpedro]

gary71 said:

I used the Corrado master cylinder and kept the original Mk2 pedal and mounted it to the bulkhead with a rose joint on the side of the pedal. The travel was a bit short but worked just fine with minimum disturbance to everything else.

thanks Gary,

1996 thats really cool, you must have been one of the first in the UK, the conversion has been around so long there's a huge amount of knowledge and support but back then it must have been a much more difficult proposition

[gary71]

Yes, it was pretty early. TSR had just done their Jetta and I bought the engine/box/loom/subframe off them but did the install myself. I hate wiring so they also modified the engine loom to plug and play and recalibrated the original rev counter as part of the deal.

[okenemem]

oem is the only way