INTRODUCED

Hey folks, so this Mk1 Golf Cab has been dragged to my workshop for surgery!!!. The owner Zack, contacted me after he had been let down by the previous garage who had his car for a long period of time with nothing done. He gave me a brief description of what was done, and a long list of what needed doing and what he would like…..a thin line between both!!! I must add.

So with car delivered, I set about making a very long list of what was needed and devise a plan of how to best achieve this. The car was delivered with the required engine already installed. Now in hindsight, what i thought was the hard part done turned out to be the easiest part of this whole conversion.

You see, this Mk1 Golf has a VR6 engine slotted in. And not the commonly known way of welding in cups from a Mk3 subframe or the like. This car uses what’s known as a EuroWise kit. Basically it allows you to mount up VR6 engine and box without any cutting or welding!!! Great we say, and it is but this throws up a whole host of other problems.

 

The Engine Is Already In!!!

So as stated, the engine was already installed in the car, this setup uses a company called Eurowise in the USA for its mounts and driveshafts. Now the way this kit works is by moving the engine over towards the centre of the bay and bolts up to the factory mounting points. Horaay we all shout, then the elephant in the room asks about driveshafts!!!…..With the engine sitting nicely on its new mounts, over towards the left hand side of the bay, the original Mk1 cab shafts no longer fit. Fear not, the Eurowise kit comes with a new pair of shafts that fit perfect. Only time will tell how these will hold up, but they look well made and come with OEM spec inner and outer joints.

 

Braking Point!

This is a Mk1 Golf cab shell, which means that it had the dreaded cross-bar brake linkage. Guess what?…… the brake servo and master cylinder no longer fit because engine is now in the way with these “lovely” Eurowise mounts. Solution; junk the whole lot and install a bias pedal box complete with hydraulic clutch!!! This was made easier by the dash not being fitted. Needless to say, all new pipes had to be made and rerouted within the cabin area.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It’s a 1.8 carb mate!

Did i not mention that this car left the factory with one of those beloved Pierburg carbs mounted to the 1.8 engine? So no electric high pressure fuel pump then! This being a later cab, it has larger non gravity fed fuel tank. This requires a in tank lift pump, fuel swirl pot and main high pressure pump to be fitted. All parts used are same as OEM K-jet system minus fuel accumulator. That lot plus new fuel lines and additional wiring needed to power both pumps.

 

All the right Gear!!!

The owner decided to go against the grain and convert his VR6 gearbox to rod change instead of the OEM cable shift. Now after a lot of pissing around with extending rods, because “Eurowise Mounts” and lots of adjustments, I can now proudly say that this is an awesome setup. Very direct, short throws and a reassuring clunk as it slots into gear!

I’m Exhausted now!!!

Eurowise mounts and Rod Conversion gear linkage means that no downpipe exists for this car! So one VR6 downpipe, chop-saw and a few welds later and all is well in the exhaust department. Mated to a Jetex system it sounds sweet!

I’m Wired now!

Wiring and plumbing to do and we done! Now in any other model of golf ie: Mk2 or Mk3 I would simply swap over the VR6 wiring harness and ecu, connect water hoses and literally shut the bonnet. But this is a MK1, the engine bay is a lot smaller and the fusebox is on the other side. So rather than cutting up the loom, which requires lots of sensors that we have no use for, I threw the OEM ECU in nearest bin and employed my tried and tested Emerald K6 ECU, built a short tidy loom and wired into Mk1 fusebox, to be mounted, at a later date in the now absent glovebox, job done!

As for the water system, it’s an upside down Passat TDi rad, twin fans which are wired to Emerald ECU via a relay and all is well. Why that rad upside down? Its huge, but both outlets are on the wrong side, spin it around and voila!…..but the fan switch can’t do its job now as it would now sit in top of rad, so the Emerald ECU is called upon to take control of fans! The Emerald ECU has many tricks to aid installation including syncing of rpm meter of Mk1 cluster to correct engine rpm!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Finish Line!!!

And here it is, the finished article. On to the next. I’m out, enjoy!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

OOOOOH, no VR6 is complete without that VR rumble!