Vento VR6

[stephen8512]

Hey guys. Long time lurker, soon-to-be frequent poster in the MK3 section

Just wanted to introduce myself. Name is Steve and I'm the new owner of the blue MK3 Vento that Bima and Ray went to QLD to pick up from Joe. Ray is a high school mate and we go way way back. I still remember when he first took delivery of the first white MK3, affectionately known as "the ****box". Ray was actually the one who got me into dubs in the first place. Through Ray, I got to meet Bima when he still had the white MK3 VR6 and have known him for a while now too.

I have a white MK6 Golf R and prior to this, I also had a MK5 Jetta Turbo (which was written off before I could finish it)

Link to MK6 Golf R build thread

Photo of my MK6 Golf R with Bima and Ray






Bima bought this from Joe and flew up to QLD with Ray to drive this thing back down. From what I heard there were a few dramas on the way back but wasn't major and not only that, the engine never skipped a beat. To cut a long story short, Bima decided that it wasn't for him in the end and he was thinking about selling it, and that if I wanted it we could work something out. At this stage I was also looking for a project car, namely another MK5 Jetta to get back into to basically finish off what I started. I had already went and looked at a few MK5 Jetta Turbo's already but they were all so crap. So, after much deliberation, I decided to take Bima up on his offer.

Blue slip and rego and everything had already been taken care of and a few bits and pieces like spark plugs, radiator flush, fuel filter, etc have already been serviced by Bima. Few more things needed to be looked after but I'm pretty excited to have this thing in my hands now!


Vento now in my possession (1/8/2015)








First wash/vacuum by me, cleaning out all the crap inside, emptying bottles, cigarette ash, etc and getting it as clean as possible. Came out pretty well for a 20 year old car! (2/8/2015)










There are still lots of things which will require my attention in the near future so I will be searching VWW/Vortex as well as asking Ray and Bima for their guidance. It's my first venture into MK3 territory and pretty excited to see what's in store!

Looking forward to bringing this out to meets etc and meeting some of you guys It's a great car and I want to give it the refresh it deserves!

Cheers.

Steve

[HaydEn]

Interesting. Good luck

[browntown42]

Very Interesting and Unique!

[AKA VR6]

Haha been watching Bima post about it on Facebook. Cant wait to see what you do with it.

[anthony--t]

Yeww good work Stephen!

[anthony]

Ventos bring back such good memories.
I bought a brand new one in America at the end of 1993,and another brand new in South Africa at the end of 1995.

They were badged as Jetta 3s,and were great cars.

Ive also owned a MK2 Jetta,and a MK5 Jetta in Oz.

[Domatron]

I used to drive a Mk 3 Jetta in South Africa. Was the exact same colour. Loved that car...


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[stephen8512]

Big day today.

Started off by heading over to the local exhaust shop and getting the resonator removed and welded on with a straight pipe instead. However, when the resonator was removed, the catalytic converter had it and it was blocked and bits which were in there weren't meant to be in there. So, replaced the cat and welded that on along with the straight pipe. Sounded fantastic! Definitely needed this to hear more of that glorious VR6 note.

At the exhaust shop, hoisted up, cutting out the resonator



Inside the Cat, looking very crap indeed



Afterwards, popped by Autobarn and Repco to pick up some stuff for future maintenance purposes :



So when I initially took delivery of the car, the car was misfiring intermittently at idle. The spark plugs had been changed already so it couldn't be that. It was either the ignition leads or the coilpack. I received a spare coilpack from Bima when he picked up the car and I was able to get some near new (2 week old) BREMI ignition leads from Gumtree.

In order to properly connect the spark plug wires, I needed to know which post on the coilpack was for which cylinder spark plug.
The spark plug wire posts on the VR6 coilpack were like this:



So following this, I decided to pull the leads out. As I was about to remove them, I noticed that the leads were plugged in the wrong way, i.e lead 1-3-5 were plugged into coilpack plug 2-4-6 and vice versa! Whether this made a huge difference or not I'm not sure, but I didn't like how they were fitted incorrectly.



When I pulled the leads out from the coilpack, I noticed that a little bit of Lead #6 had got stuck in the coilpack. Upon inspection, it seems like it broke whilst it was plugged in. This was what was causing the misfire. Notice how in the top left of the coilpack there is a little bit of the old lead stuck in there.




Since I had a spare coilpack which came with the car from Bima, I decided I may as well replace the coilpack since I'm replacing the leads anyway. Took the cover off, unscrewed the coilpack and put the spare one in. Fitted up all the leads and plugged them in the correct way and started it up. It sounded very throaty and I initially didn't think much of it and thought that maybe it was because of the resonator delete. However, after driving around the block it was clear that power was down. I drove back into my garage, popped the engine bonnet and this is what I saw :



The coilpacks are quite prone to failure it seems upon reading up on them and its handy to have a spare in the car. So the coilpack was busted. I returned to the original coilpack which had the stuck bit inside and using some pliers I pulled it out with no residue left inside the plugs. Popped the bonnet back up, removed the busted coilpack, replaced it with the one which was originally fitted, plugged up the leads properly and started her up. Sounding much better!

Also, seems like the previous owner tried to paint the engine manifold black but either the paint/engine enamel used was crap or the prep wasn't done properly, or both. Got some degreaser out and did what I could to remove the crap. Still need to do the rest of it but ran out of time. Will be completely removing the previous paintwork and then re-painting it myself later on but will be doing it properly.

Before with old leads:



After with a clean up and new leads:



In the bin you go...



Decided to change the headlamps and parkers too while I was at it.




Jetta and Golf.

[stefcio007]

Nice work. Did the same thing with the leads today.
The plastic bits surrounding the engine, apart from the inscribed VR6-2.8 engine cover, were black stock on mine. Maybe it was different on the Jetta.

[stephen8512]

Nice work. Did the same thing with the leads today.
The plastic bits surrounding the engine, apart from the inscribed VR6-2.8 engine cover, were black stock on mine. Maybe it was different on the Jetta.

Ah right. Yeah I was talking about the manifold. I think when the previous owner sprayed the manifold black, he mustve painted over the black plastic bits too, but either way it was done pretty poorly and doesnt do the engine bay any justice. Keen on scrubbing it all off, primering and using proper engine enamel/paint to coat it in a nice black

[stefcio007]

I sanded my manifold down lightly, nice and shiny! (personal preference)

[Mk3 AAA]

Interesting, give me a yell (PM) if you want to know anything about the car.

Manifold was just rattle canned, but to be fair that was back in 2008 I never expected it to last even two years I was just bored that day.

I don't smoke, and occasionally drink directly from the tap, so you can ask Bima about that :-P

Car was certainly built to a budget (although I bought the donor 4cyl for about what I sold it to Bima for) as I was a student through the build and some things I would have liked to have done had to be put aside for the sake of actually finishing it (took from 2009-2013 as it was), but overall it wasn't a ghetto build, the core part of the swap was done by a more than reputable technician and mates and I always took our time when working on it. I maintain that if chains and clutch are done and the car is given a little love, it will be strong and reliable.

I'm glad to see it's still on here and owned by an enthusiast.

If Ray's car got you into Mk3s you'll be interested to know that the Vento has its coilovers.

[stephen8512]

Interesting, give me a yell (PM) if you want to know anything about the car.

Manifold was just rattle canned, but to be fair that was back in 2008 I never expected it to last even two years I was just bored that day.

I don't smoke, and occasionally drink directly from the tap, so you can ask Bima about that :-P

Car was certainly built to a budget (although I bought the donor 4cyl for about what I sold it to Bima for) as I was a student through the build and some things I would have liked to have done had to be put aside for the sake of actually finishing it (took from 2009-2013 as it was), but overall it wasn't a ghetto build, the core part of the swap was done by a more than reputable technician and mates and I always took our time when working on it. I maintain that if chains and clutch are done and the car is given a little love, it will be strong and reliable.

I'm glad to see it's still on here and owned by an enthusiast.

If Ray's car got you into Mk3s you'll be interested to know that the Vento has its coilovers.

Ah awesome! Thanks for that mate. Yeah will definitely give you a PM.

Yeah Manifold looked like a DIY rattlecan job but now that you mention it was back 7 years ago, I guess it was time for a refresh anyway.

Yeah before I took delivery of the car, it was loaned to a mate of Bimas for about 2 weeks or so as he had no car during that time, so he took the Vento in the meantime. Therefore all the bottles, cigarette ash etc was most likely from him.

Bima and Ray have given me the run down of the mech (Jmac) that worked on the car. Bima and I go way back and myself and Ray even further, being mates back in high school so I trust their judgement.

Apologies if it sounded like I was having a go mate The car is in good hands and it will be getting the refresh it deserves, with the help of ray and Bima and from the MK3 watercooled guys, and will (try) and finish what you started! Chains and clutch will be done hopefully sooner rather than later and have been told to do both at the same time since it requires the engine out.

And yes! The hottuning coilovers are on the car at the moment but not for long. Just ordered a set of new FK coilovers.

Big things planned as well as a respray!

[Mk3 AAA]

Good I like the sound of all that, should make it quite nice. Great base to work off regardless.

Jeez sounds like a dodgy mate, around here we'd wash and top up the tank of a free loaner car. Surely can't have been a car guy.

[KKK VR6]

Wow
Interesting set of events.

Way ta go on getting sh*t done an doing the car justice, that bay looks way better now

When installing the coilpack, it's very important u disconnect the battery, positive then negative, that way any excess voltage in the system will return to the battery.
Coilpacks are quite prone to damage, so it's best to leave it in its box/bag until you've taken the old one off. It's best to tighten to the specified torque, so use a torque wrench. Doing this will ensure that over tightening of screws isn't the cause of a broken coilpack.
Be very careful not to let dust/dirt go into the plug holes, & in the ignition lead boots.