MK3: ADZ to AMK to BWS(R36!)

[HaydEn]

I have had this post saved aside for a long time now and so there is going to be some missing photos and holes, but the majority is there.

So another MK3 means another thread. At least this one got finished...

I picked up this MK3 as a running, stock, not a thing to touch daily a little over two years ago now, drove it for a few months, did a trip to Queensland and took it to GAD. Went to put air ride in it, and the kit that I bought, hardly any of the bits worked so, tore it back out until I bought a new compressor, lines, fittings and controller. Not long after I took the air ride out and put the stock suspension in, the control arm bolt snapped inside the subframe whilst driving. Made for a scary steer!


Tried to fix it with easy outs but had no success, so instead of cutting open the subframe and getting he nut out, I decided that it was more logical to replace the subframe, and obviously that required the engine to come out, so I thought I would put something else in. Insert the AMK 1.8t from an Audi S3 and an O2S 6 speed from a MK5 Jetta. Meant to be a bolt in swap with minor mods here and there…



Started sourcing some parts, got a swap loom from LankyVW, a Track slag K04 MK3 down pipe, Forge charge pipe, DV relocation kit, turbosmart Kompact BOV, 80mm TIP and other bits and bobs.

First of all was painting and changing the subframe that I got of Dylan8. Next to the engine mounts. Starting with the rear engine mount, a known modification, I notched a standard mk3 rear engine mount bracket to clear the K04 oil drain hose.



Installed an ECS Stage 1 clutch kit and lightweight flywheel, New Throw out bearing and Pinion Brace, I threw the gearbox on and moved to fitting the front engine mount, that didn’t fit. Bit of cutting and a new nut and it was now sorted, not the most ideal in terms of lateral strength but thus far so good.


Moved to mounting up the trans mount bracket and this is where it all went down hill. The mount was no where near close to fitting. Cut up, plated, welded and new holes drilled it was finally mounted to the O2S.





Next was to fit the accessory belt. This was another mission in itself, as I was removing the A/C. The power steering pump from a MK3 bolts up to the accessory bracket yes (Internet was right for once here) but the offset of the snub was completely wrong to work with the crank & alternator pullies. Bit of research& measuring found that T4 transporter power steering pump has a different offset, suitable to what I needed. BUT, it didn’t come with a pulley and the MK3 pulley offset wouldn’t work. Luckily Gavin had a ECS lightweight kit he no longer needed and scored the crank, alt and power steering pullies cheap. Installed them, and measured up a belt to suit. At the same time I had already sent my ECU to Gav to be immo deleted and a S3 Tune loaded on as the ecu was from a normal 1.8T A3.

After heat wrapping, fitted up the Track slag downpipe upper half to be able to swing the engine and trans into the bay.


However this made it a PITA to fit the second half of the downpipe as the bends are tight and can’t get most tools in there to tighten the nuts and bolts. Fitted up a braided clutch line and master cylinder (all MK3’s have the provision for a master cylinder from factory, VW used a block plate that un bolts if it was a cable clutch car to begin with, same goes with the pedal, they have the provision for both cable and hydro fitment. Next was the shifterbox and cables, using the 6 speed box from a MK5 meant that I had to notch the tunnel for the lever system to move freely and mount the box to the tunnel as well. Easily done with a grinder, drill and a few bolts. The cables however being much longer than normal MK3 cables meant that I had to zig zag them in the tunnel to avoid sagging them onto the exhaust. I also put a fire/heat resistant sleeve over them to protect them.



Moved onto getting the driveshafts in, Passenger side short shaft goes in without an issue. Go to put in the drivers side shaft, about 50mm to short! Quick internet search, “Uses stock mount and driveshafts when swapped into a MK3” I knew to not listen to this after the modifications required to make the stock trans mount bracket work. Knowing that VR6 driveshafts were longer than 4 Cyl shafts, I searched for how much longer exactly. After finding out that the VR6 shaft was approximately 13mm longer, I knew this wasn’t enough and feared I would need custom driveshafts made, There goes all the OEMness of the build I wanted to keep. Remembering that Passat VR6 shafts were longer again, I searched once again for how much longer they are, found the drivers side is a whole 35mm longer than the standard 4 Cyl shaft! Now the trouble of finding a Passat VR6 shaft, luckily there was one pretty local to me! (bet this will never happen again though)
Swapped on the 4 Cyl outer CV as I was intended to just keep the standard brakes and not worry about upgrading them.

Shortly after this my Friends Bora and come up for sale cheap, the person who had bought it, hydrolocked the motor! It had plenty of tasty bits for my MK4 R32 and of course, 312/256mm brakes that I had read were able to be used on a MK3 using some OEM parts….
Because I had new control arm bushings for the shorter 4 Cyl control arms and I couldn’t afford to increase the track width due to the drive shaft debacle. This created a plethora of issues in trying to fit the front 312mm brakes. Caliper mounts have a different offset on the 4 Cyl to the 6 Cyl MK3’s. So I had to modify the carriers. To save redrilling discs, I swapped the car to 5x100, so new hubs and VR6 outer CV’s swapped on. Got the brakes to fit square and as they should be.
Moving to the rear, I didn’t want to get the adapter brackets that exist to fit 256mm vented rears because of being a stance queen on air ride. So I found the pretty uncommon 6N polo gti stub axles that used a MK4 style rear hub but have a MK3 beam pcd. After tonnes of modications to these to get them to work, including elongating the carrier mount holes and machining the disc down to 248mm~ they still couldn’t fit! GGRRRR. Got frustrated and just put on all new VR6 226mm discs and hubs.

With the air ride installed with a new compressor, new fittings, all new lines and a new control switch/box (AVS-9) the suspension and brakes were sorted! (not)

Moving onto finishing up the engine, I got an intercooler off TrickySimon (dog) that was good for 300kw on his 2nd Fastest in Australia turbo Bora, making it perfect for my relatively standard 1.8T. Mounted behind the MK3 bumper with only a few small cuts to the bumper required.

It was time to get the turbo connected to the throttle body, using some 180deg bends and silicon joiners I cut the bends to suit, marked them and took them to my mates shop so he could weld them up for me, Myles is a legend! Brought them home, fit a treat. Move to fitting the intake, I had just got a S3 80MM TIP, thinking it was in the same orientation as the motor is in 8L chassis. Well, sure enough it fouled on everything, the accessory(DV, evap recirc etc)joining hoses were in all weird and wrong places as well.

So I chopped it up, and just used the first initial bend out of the turbo and facing the bonnet, from here I cut up some more pipe and pieced together the intake pipe, sourced a 3” alloy MAF housing as the housing that come with the motor was for a standard 1.8T??, back to Myles, welded up, painted and fitted. Including a BOV return port and a N75 bleed off port. At this time I also scored a valve cover with the IE catch can kit. This was a great replacement for my plastic T-pieced, heater hose PCV system.



Next was mounting the DBW pedal, I had purchased a “bolt in” conversion pedal from an overseas company that had assured me it would work with RHD, as with everything, this was not true. Made up a suitable bracket out of cardboard to utilise a stud from the brake booster, taken to Myles once again, cut, folded and welded to the modified DBW conversion bracket. At this time we also folded up and welded the alloy battery box/holder.


[HaydEn]

Car was now ready to start, ready for exhaust and to get a tune on it! Pulled it out of the driveway and down the street nice and easy, get to the bottom of the hill. NO BRAKES. Foot straight to floor.. Tried a few more times, with heavier use of the pedal and the rears would lock up and the car would eventually stop. Bled the entire system, 6 or 7 times.. Still no improvement. Thinking it’s a dodgy master cylinder, too small for the 312mm calipers. I sourced a T4 transporter 23.8mm master. Blocked off the two extra ports with grub screws, installed and bled the system, grub screws leak, FFS. Got some new brake fittings, welded them shut to create a block off. But because the T4 master is much larger, I had to take it out again to fit the new block offs. Bled the brakes again, go for a drive. NO BETTER!! Get the car in the air, assisted by the old man on the pedal, I was still able to spin the front wheels… Look behind and the caliper is just flexing on the pins. Take them off, grease them, no change. FFS new brake it is. I bought a kit from MMP in Canada. 4 piston wilwoods, with 16v/cupra discs. This ought to stop it. Well conveniently Canada Post went on strike in the following days. With delays scheduled to go for months.
At this time I had gone overseas for a wedding and a bit of travelling for a month. Come home still no brake kit, shipping info hadn’t been updated. Time to steal the new brakes off my other MK3. Redrilled the 256mm discs to 5x100, put them on and voila. A working brake system. 2 days later, Wilwood kit shows up.. Such timing, pull the 256mm setup off, using a redilled G60/Seat Ibiza 280mm rotor fitted up the kit with no hassle. Bled the brakes again (spent about $300 in brake fluid!) and she’s good to go.



Now the car was sort of drivable. I drove it to, once again, Myles’ to make the exhaust. 100cel Magnaflow 3” cat, single 3” muffler all stainless. For so little in the system it is nice and quiet and doesn’t drone at all. Perfect for the daily duties I intend for the car.


I was only able to have to axle nut done up finger tight. Any tighter than this and the wheel would be seized. This was caused by the ABS ring gear bottoming out on the upright. Not keen on wearing through it, I pulled it off to check (this was about the 3rd time I had swapped the hub and bearing because it was all new, but still had tonnes of play etc) As seen in the pics(if I find them) there is a massive difference, basically the backside offset was different so the ring gear would foul the upright. Got a new hub and sorted that issue.


I continued fitting some of the trick parts I had collected over time, Pink Floyd dash blanks and shifter, 20th anni Jahre seatbelts and handbrake, painted the interior trims black and had the headliner trimmed black to suit, fitted the black cabby sun visors I have had forever and LankyVW came through with the goods for me once again with the correct black visor lock/stays.
After losing my 42DD gauge holder, I had my cousin 3D print another one for me and installed a boost gauge, now it was time to get a tune on the car. With the N75 disconnected, I started driving the car, making sure everything was working and nothing was going to fall off! Gave it some beans every now and then, and even with the N75 disconnected the turbo would happily make 20psi! :O Bypassed the N75 and it would still do it. Hooked a compressor up to the wastegate and the actuator wouldn’t move. Bugger.. Pulled the heatshield and charge pipe off, tried moving the wastegate actuator with a bit of prying force to no avail. Closer look and the linkage had been bent!

This meant that the linkage would bottom out on the exhaust housing, not allowing the wastegate flap to open more than a couple mm, thus causing the high boost. Bent it back straight and tested it. Car is now making a boring 8psi as it should.

Bit of back and forth over time and the tune got sorted out, was having fuelling issues so moved to 550cc injectors and a phenolic spacer while it was apart and that fixed everything up.

With the 6 speed any more than 15psi there was no traction in 1-4 gears, so that’s where boost stayed.

Fast forward over a year of daily driving and fun, the want to get a VR back in a MK3 took over.



Insert the mighty 3.6!





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[HaydEn]

So began the swap process again.

Over the years I’d dabbled in the idea of 3.6 swapping a MK3. So had a fair idea of what to expect, more importantly that it can be done.

I knew I was going to use standard VR6 engine mounts. I had a left over clutch kit, the full exhaust from the 1.8t, radiator and the suspension/brake side of the car was sorted.

I didn’t have a gearbox at the time, insert SQS 6 speed dog box, USRT solid centre diff and diesel geek shifter.


Now obviously this isn’t the best setup to drive on the street and fortunately whilst visiting the local VW shop, there was an externally tired V5 Bora in for a pink slip and to fix a misfire.

A throw away comment of “I could use the gearbox out of that” ended up with me owning the car the next day. A few aggressive drives to ensure the gearbox was in good working order sealed the deal and it meant I had now owned 2 silver Bora’s

Pulled the box out of it and sold whatever I could to cover the cost of purchase.




With the engine out and the weather being pretty poor, I messed around cleaning the engine, painted the block, changed the valve cover gasket & spark plugs as well as played around with coolant hoses.

I didn’t get any accessories with the motor, so need to get an alternator, power steering pump and bracket to work with the engine (thanks again Bora)


And so after the 1.8t’s last rip, it was go time. A short break in the rain one afternoon was the motivation raising moment I needed to go from

This


To


This


Over the next few afternoons in between rain I did all the little things. Tighten driveshaft bolts, fit coolant hoses, fit the shifter tower etc.

Then came the start of the dramas.. again.

The ‘swap’ loom I had purchased ended up being the most useless thing in the world and required a tonne of modification. Had I known, what I was expecting to get and what I received were going to be so different I would have made my own loom. Anyway, after a full week of diagnosing. The 3.6 fired right up and idled away like it was still in a Passat.

Filled it up with water, bled the system and she was off on her maiden voyage down the street, with no major issues other than a tach signal issue, which ended up being as a result of the incorrectly setup tach adapter.

Ordered some bits to assemble an easy intake pipe.


Which looks like this. 6” filter on a velocity stack, 3.5” -> 3.25”


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[dubster99]

Great write up Hayden!
Always fascinates me how these conversions are done! How did you go with the wiring? Did you have to make a loom for engine then match the wires to the mk3 loom?

[dylan8]

**** yeah! glad you saw the light on the 1.8t. was wondering when this thread was going to happen.
Did I supply a subframe?? completely forgot about that

[HaydEn]

Great write up Hayden!
Always fascinates me how these conversions are done! How did you go with the wiring? Did you have to make a loom for engine then match the wires to the mk3 loom?

I had initially purchased a swap loom. So was able to reverse engineer that to a point. There isn’t tonnes of wiring involved (12 wires, which is mostly to have the instrument cluster operational) the hard part is getting the ecu work done. I struggled to find somewhere, which is why I went with swap loom company to begin with. Had I have my time again, I would have gone a different route.

**** yeah! glad you saw the light on the 1.8t. was wondering when this thread was going to happen.
Did I supply a subframe?? completely forgot about that

I forget too. But I had wrote the bulk of this at the time, so subframe must have haha.

Actually in a roundabout way. I remember taking a subframe down in the MK2. Did I end up with my own one?


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[dubster99]

Yea I'm no good with wiring or wiring diagrams! I literally seen a mk2 3dr on FB converted a modern diesel running gear with a 6spd transmission after reading this too!

[kamold]

Love this awesome work!!!!!
Can't imagine what it must be like to drive with half the weight all of a sudden missing from an R36
Must give you a crazy man grin every time you drive it!

[LMAA]

Good stuff, thanks for posting and keeping vww alive!!!!

[dylan8]

...

I forget too. But I had wrote the bulk of this at the time, so subframe must have haha.

Actually in a roundabout way. I remember taking a subframe down in the MK2. Did I end up with my own one?


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Hmmm maybe? might have come with my spare motor and went with the gearbox