Anyone restored a VR6 on this forum? Need help

[RedColourConcept]

Hello everyone, I'm the owner of a mk3 Golf VR6 colour concept. It's my first car. It needs a bit of engine and suspension work. Exterior is pretty immaculate. Since I threw all my money into buying it, my dad is the only one who can spend money on it but he's in Europe visiting my grand parents for 6 weeks. To get to the point, does anyone have any tips of what I can do to get this thing working better, but still P plate legal. I'm not a stereotypical p plater and am not planning on fitting 20'' chromies on it (haha). I have a fair few tools at home. At the moment, all i've done is detailed it, blacked out bumpers and jacked it up and replaced a tube in the tire. All help will be greatly appreciated!

[HaydEn]

Good thorough service.

Coilovers or some sort of oem suspension.

[RedColourConcept]

Thankyou for the info. The car ran out of rego 3 weeks ago. Was thinking about keeping the suspension stock so we dont get much attention from the police.

Good thorough service.

Coilovers or some sort of oem suspension.

[mk3pete]

what sort of engine work are we talking?
id do a full service plugs and wires etc
depending on the ks timing chains are important!!
id get a set of coilovers you can set the height and will increase the handling of the car dramatically
strut top mounts are common to wear also

[MattyT]

Congrats on getting a colour concept as your first car!

Coilovers not set loo low or a sport spring/shock combo shouldn't attract the attention of the police.

[RedColourConcept]

I think Ill get some coilovers once I replace cv joints and some parts of the engine. To be honest I regret buying this red colour concept. There was this green one close by which was in so much better condition. Kicking myself

Congrats on getting a colour concept as your first car!

Coilovers not set loo low or a sport spring/shock combo shouldn't attract the attention of the police.

[Jarred]

Unless you get specific on the issues with you car. It will be hard to quage what 'work' actually needs to be done to your car.

Saying "get coilovers" is a pretty generic response these days

If you have some known issues, list them down, or maybe a snap shot of the service history, kms, etc. then we might be able to be a bit more helpful.

[RedColourConcept]

Thanks for the help. After I bought it I had a mobile mechanic come inspect it. I'll go try find the report he gave me.
But to put it in simple terms, new suspension, new engine and new air con.

[Jarred]

New engine is a biggie, so I'll leave that till you can provide more details as to why etc. is it actually running and driving currently?

new air con, well you can get a new/reco'd compressor locally, or source one from overseas, which out to be much cheaper. Its relatively common for compressors to need replacing. Just check that it's not just in need of new gas, as that's a whole lot cheaper than a new compressor.


Suspension, well. Shocks are they more obvious ones. but also replace strut tops (front and back) and perhaps look into suspension bushes as well, as they could we be due for replacement soon (especially if they're the orginal ones still). ECS tuning do a couple of 'suspension refresh kits' that could be up your alleyway.
as for the shocks. well a coilover is an option, but if you don't want to have it lowered, (or only want to lower it a touch) look into getting new standard shocks, or perhaps a cup kit.
All VR's are sky high as standard and take very well to being lowered a good 30mm minimum.

hopefully this is of some help.

[RedColourConcept]

Thankyou. Your information is really helpful.
The car runs and drives but the engine doesn't sound healthy.The previous owner removed the entire air conditioning system because it was leaking :S . I was quoted 2k from pedders suspension to fix the suspension. We are not sure about lowering the suspension yet. We have HEAPS of speed bumps in our area.

[Jarred]

If you go to ANY generic place to get your car service or repaired, you will no doubt get ripped off and stuffed around.

Take it to somewhere that knows volkswagens or atleast european cars! Make sure they use genuine or OEM parts etc.

I would fly up to sydney, and fix your suspension, on your own driveway, for 2k! including parts!

If you're lazy, you'll get ripped off. If you're smart and can source parts yourself, learn to do bit yourself etc, you'll be able to 'save' a fair bit of the folding stuff.

And 'engine doesn't sound healthy' isn't too descriptive Could be anything from a suspect spark plug to a collapsed bearing to timing chains. A VW mechanic worth thier salt should be able to identify the problem quick smart.

[RedColourConcept]

I was thinking of taking it to Camden GTI. I've heard many good things about them, It's pretty far away from where I live but I heard it's worth it. I just took a bad quality video of the vr6 running. The engine doesn't sound too bad but that's only because it has been driven today. On days where it hasn't been started, it sounds like the entire things about to fall apart.

Here is a link to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyhfNznG0CU&feature=youtu.be

Mobile mechanic says its unsafe to drive lol

[Water Boy]

Im no expert but sounds to me like its not running on all 6 cyclinders.

[Water Boy]

And 2k for suspesnion would get you the best off the shelf coilovers you can buy. Pedders are good for commodores not VW's

Please take your car to a VW specialist. There are heaps in Sydney, aks questions, get to know them and you wont be ripped off!

[RedColourConcept]

Yeah I was also thinking that due to the fact it wasn't as fast as other VR6s I drove. I plan on taking it to Camden GTi which I've heard are very good.