VR6 3.2 swap into MK6 Golf R (Admin please delete if not allowed)

[R20VR6T]

Hi all,

Firstly please forgive me I am complete car noob. As mentioned in my introductory post growing up my family has had a lot of classic iconic volkswagens and as a kid i have loved them in every way even if people think they break easily or are a girls car. I am from the uk and have been living in melbourne for 12yrs and have grown up here and absolutely love this country.
I currently am a student who is getting into cars at the age of 22 and I own a polo 6R 2015 trendline which is my daily.
I just picked up a vr6 3.2 engine from a mk5 golf and my plan is to swap this into a mk6 golf r which I plan to buy soon. I know this swap can be done and the amount of aftermarket support for this engine is untold, but given we are in Aussie can I be optimistic in believing I can achieve here. I also am aware the mk6 and mk5 share the same platform so that is a good sign. Having seen HGP and HPA motorsports successfully put the vr6 into a mk6 and mk7 I am confident. My worries lie with the wiring and getting the car to fire and work with mk6s ECU. This project does not appear to be that difficult and although I have the a little support of soke young mechanics, I am searching for reassurance on what the next step is, because dont know anything about anything. My plan is to go fully forged and eventually it will become garaged car, so skys the limit in terms of money I am prepared to spend during the life of this car. Please when you reply I would appreciate if you could dumb it down for me because I have no idea where to begin.
Thank you for your time.

Neal

[Mk R]

Hey and welcome Neal,

Sounds like a pretty awesome project. If you're serious about this as a long term project, the first thing I would do is get in touch with all the people that have done this before and make a detailed costing spreadsheet and project plan. Costs will be different in different countries so get the man hours estimate too for things like engine building and wiring loom install. Line that up with your expected disposable income and see what looks possible. When you've run the costing go ahead and add 50%.

There's a lot that can be done with that engine including stroking out to 3.6L and turbo/supercharging. None of it is in any way cheap. In fact I'd guess that you'd probably end up spending about AUD 40,000+. Ask yourself if you're the sort of guy that would do this instead of going out boozing and taking holidays with your mates. For years. That's the sort of sacrifice you could be making unless you happen to have the money already. Projects like this will never pay you back if you have to or want to sell in the future.

Before you go any further you may want to go out and test drive a few cars. Specifically the Mk5 R32 and then a say a tuned Mk6/7 Golf R if you haven't already. Try and make a rational decision as to whether you're ready to lock yourself in to that as a project knowing what you'll come out with on the other side.

I own a Mk6 Golf myself it but I do love the Mk V R32 more than the Mk6 R. For the money and time you're looking at just to get that engine into a Mk6 Chassis, you could most likely have a stroked / turbo MkV R32, used Audi S3 8V or in a few years a used Audi RS3 instead.

Good luck either way and if you do commit to the project, please start a build thread on the forum.

Cheers,

Mark

[IanPGonzaga]

Hey Neal. Loving your idea! First of all anything can be done with the right skills, knowledge and drive.

Look at this. LINK -> I've swapped a 2.8 VR6 into a MK1 S3 8L. "same" platform but it was never available in VR6 flavour. I'm running all on OEM hardware and software (well... maybe have a tune on there haha) so my best advice is.

- do your research on compatible parts (use a parts database such as search for auto parts, spare parts aggregator, buy spare parts and aftermarket parts for a car) and where it is you can link up to the platform of car you wanna use
- you'll probably want to gather the engine (with all sensors attached), the engine loom and the ECU
- then you'll need to either match the immo or defeat it
- otherwise find an aftermarket ECU (that won't care about what's what and hope that everything works right with your platform of choice's instrument cluster)

[aprr32]

I hope you realise that the engine that is going into the Golf R cannot be older than the car, it must be the same age or newer to meet emission standards if it is ever to be properly registered. Apart from the noise the Golf R engine is able to get lots ,more power for fewer dollars than the VR6 ever will and it will also be so much heavier in the front. Better to spend the money on a Golf 5 R32 if it's a VR you want. Just saying.

[R20VR6T]

Hey and welcome Neal,

Sounds like a pretty awesome project. If you're serious about this as a long term project, the first thing I would do is get in touch with all the people that have done this before and make a detailed costing spreadsheet and project plan. Costs will be different in different countries so get the man hours estimate too for things like engine building and wiring loom install. Line that up with your expected disposable income and see what looks possible. When you've run the costing go ahead and add 50%.

There's a lot that can be done with that engine including stroking out to 3.6L and turbo/supercharging. None of it is in any way cheap. In fact I'd guess that you'd probably end up spending about AUD 40,000+. Ask yourself if you're the sort of guy that would do this instead of going out boozing and taking holidays with your mates. For years. That's the sort of sacrifice you could be making unless you happen to have the money already. Projects like this will never pay you back if you have to or want to sell in the future.

Before you go any further you may want to go out and test drive a few cars. Specifically the Mk5 R32 and then a say a tuned Mk6/7 Golf R if you haven't already. Try and make a rational decision as to whether you're ready to lock yourself in to that as a project knowing what you'll come out with on the other side.

I own a Mk6 Golf myself it but I do love the Mk V R32 more than the Mk6 R. For the money and time you're looking at just to get that engine into a Mk6 Chassis, you could most likely have a stroked / turbo MkV R32, used Audi S3 8V or in a few years a used Audi RS3 instead.

Good luck either way and if you do commit to the project, please start a build thread on the forum.

Cheers,

Mark

Thankyou for the lengthy response Mark, i appreciate it. Everyone thing you mentioned is without a doubt 100 percent true. It is by no means the most practical project, nor is it worth the money. However, I am more than willing to turn this dream into reality. You are correct at this rate I might as well buy an rs3 or s3 8P, i must concede that a golf is my true love and given I love hatches and small sedans I do like Audis. I don't like automatics when its comes to driving so i wouldnt touch the 8V S3 or an RS3 even though they are very good piece of engineering, instead i would be interested in an rs4 b7.

I plan to keep thus car for a lifetime, i wouldnt want to sell and if i went with anither option it would just be a stop gap for me and i would sell S3 or RS3 before the cost of part became to great.
I have played so many different scenarios in my mind for both a daily car and a project, i understand its far from practical in terms of the increase in weight, making the car more nose heavy and having spoken to my old man he alerted me to the emissions concern when i told him I've bought a vr6 motor. I paid $2k for a vr6 3.2 from a wrecked mk5 with 80,000km which included a timing chain and tensioner.

Absolutely am I willing to sacrifice that Mark, my dads dream didnt materialise so that drives me on. Its a shame he's not someone who takes an interest in anything i do otherwise i could gain some knowledge off him and he could teach me even if he is a spare parts interpreter.
I am not a fan of the mk6 golf R simply because of the EA113 engine which has some similarities with my mums Tiguan and my polo 6R. They are very tunable like the mk7 however i have heard they are temperamental. In my eyes VAGs best engines have been the vr6, 1.8 20v, 1.9 TDI, 2.5 TFSI and now the new EA888 on the MQB platform (el fartbox).
Rebuilding a mk6 in the future maybe easy but there isnt much support for this in the future to keep it running.

You have definitely given me a lot to consider Mark and the cost spreadsheet is a fantastic idea and a perfect way of seeing the viability of this idea. The vr6 is very popular around the world, we all know it and its an obsession for me.

I will take everyones advice here and use all the suggestions avaliable to me to make the best choice.

Regards,
Neal

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Mk R]

You're most welcome, Neal. Hope you get a whole lot of good times and experience if you decide to go ahead with it. Also, when you do get stuck into the project, make sure you take photos of everything and share it. Having a meticulous build thread is priceless (even if you use the help of a mechanic) and given the tendency of cars to crash, catch fire, get stolen and sold, your build memories may be all you have one day.

TAFE offers a bunch of mechanics certificates and courses if you have the time and are interested. Even if you have no interest in being a mechanic as an occupation, it'd be worth considering. I wish I'd done one.