The CC Story

[Glen]

Good work Slowboat, keep it up!

[Passat R36]

cant't wait to read more
great work !!!

[Slowboat]

Thanks for the compliments.

Time to put the front nose back on.

Since the donor CC had the intercooler damaged in the accident, I decided to get this instead of buying a new stock intercooler.
Since I'm going the big turbo route later on I might as well build some foundation for it.


It was well packaged.



Busy installing it. Covered the new intercooler with cardboard to protect the the fine fins.


Since I damaged the radiator for the coolant while I was removing the engine from the donor CC I had to get a new one.
All radiators (aircon, intercooler and coolant radiator) installed.


The Wagner Tuning intercooler fitting in there snuggly.


Once I installed the nose on I notice that on the driver's side (this is a right hand drive vehicle or the passenger side for the left hand drive vehicle)
section of the radiator fan was slightly touching the aircon compressor pipe.
Also I couldn't fit the intercooler inlet pipe from the turbo, it was a bit long.

See how close the small radiator fan is towards the engine in the red circle.
It needed to move back by about three to four centimeters

This literally got me going for two days.
I checked that I've got the correct aircon compressor pipes, had to replace them since the VR6 and the 2L models had different routing.
I checked that the whole radiator bundle is sitting in the nose cradle properly.
Also checked that the nose cradle is the correct one, well you can only get one, it's the same between the VR6, 4 cylinder petrol and diesels.
Checked that the intercooler was the correct one, which it was.

When I eventually found out what was the problem, after two days, I just kicked myself.
While I was in my garage I saw the spare side engine mount, then it suddenly dawned on me, was I still using the 3.6L mounting?
I checked and I was using the 3.6L mounting instead of the 2L.
See the differences, the 3.6L on the left and the 2L on the right.

It was that length difference I needed.
Why is it the simple things that can really stuff us around a bit.

Once the 2L side engine mount was installed everything just lined up.


Finally the nose is on.


The next step is to sort out the driveshafts and install them.

[Ozsko]

When do you start the Golf conversion?

[Slowboat]

When do you start the Golf conversion?

I started the Golf R36 project beginning of November 2018 and completed at right the last day of December 2018.


With the driveshafts from the scrapyard, both of the outer CVs the threads, were the axle bolts onto, had some damages to it.
Both of the inner CVs had their rubber boots ripped off and has dirt (sand) in them.

Was worried that the outer CVs damaged threads might be beyond repair, but was lucky enough that only two to four turns of the threads was damaged.

Was also worried that the inner CVs bearing, each CV has three bearings, had dirt (sand) in it and might not able to clean them out properly.
But I did manage to clean the bearings out properly and regreased them.
The inner CVs doesn't have the 6 bolts, like most other inner CVs, that needs to be bolted onto the gearbox flanges.
The DQ500 has spline shaft that you just push the driveshaft onto.

Here's the three bearing that slides into a housing.


The housing that has the bearing in it. This housing slides onto a little shaft on the gearbox.

The center part of the three bearings is connected to the driveshaft.

The housing with the blue cover which is the side that will connect to the gearbox.


Here's the outer CV with the insides stripped out, cleaned up nicely and ready to be put back together again.


The outer CV put back together, just need to install onto the driveshaft, put some grease in and install the rubber boot.


The fully assembled driveshaft with the CVs cleaned out, new OEM grease and OEM rubber boots.

Both of the right and left hand drive shafts is ready to be installed, but that's later on since I need to do other things first.

According to the DQ500 that came from the Audi Q3, that had the small fire, it had done just over 25 000Kms.
This means the back diff is still newish.
Since the CC had done 150 000Kms I decided to swap the diffs around so the less mileage one will be in the CC.

Before installing the newer diff in the CC I decided to replace the Haldex oil and the Diff oil.
According to VW there's no need to replace the filter on the 4th generation Haldex unit.
Don't listen to that nonsense, replace the filter at every oil change intervals.
There are many stories popping up on the internet on high mileage 4th generation Haldex units that hadn't ever changed the filter had some sludge problems.

I had to use a large screw to "force pull" the stubborn filter out.


The filter out.


The oil was a very dark brown in color.
Got me wondering if the 60 000Km haldex oil change was a bit long for this Audi Q3 since it only had done just over 25 000Kms.


Some particles that came out from the Haldex.


The diff oil that came out was still pretty clean.
Had that light golden color.

Jacked up the rear to do the diff swap.


The dirty old diff.


Cleaned both of the inner driveshaft area.



Cleaned the diff as much as possible and ready to be taken out.

[Slowboat]

Before I can take out the diff there are two bolts that I need to access from inside the CC.
This will be from the boot area.
I need to drill two large holes in the body to access those two bolts, to loosen them for the diff.
You'll see two dimples on the body, just above the spare wheel.



The two holes drilled.


The bolt that needs to be loosened for the diff to come out.


Once out I decided that the underside of the CC needs a major clean up.



After spending a considerable time in cleaning this is the results.




The two diffs.
The left one is the lower mileage one and the right one is from the CC.

The left one was installed in the CC.

Once the diff was installed, I need to close off the two holes that I drilled through the body.
VW has the plugs for it which I bought and installed them.


The undercarriage covers has seen better days so I decided to strip them out.
You can see how dirty it is under there.


So I went on a cleaning spree.
I stripped out all under linings covers, including all the wheel arches.
It wasn't easy cleaning everything, laying on the creeper, scrubbing, water running down your arms, etc...
Also it taken some considerable time as well, but the results was really satisfying.

Just need the last rinse, but looks far better than before.



The propshaft, the heat shields installed and the new undercarriage covers installed.
From underneath it looks like a new car.

[Slowboat]

The next step is to install the downpipe.
The back part of the exhaust system will stay stock.
The diameter of the back stock exhaust is slightly bigger than the 2L turbo stock exhaust, so I'm happy about that.

Now the problem is that the front wheel drive exhaust, that came from the donor CC car will not fit.
The propshaft is in the way.

At that time I suspected that there would be no off the shelf aftermarket downpipe, the likes of MK6 R exhaust and so on.
I had a sneaky suspicion that the engine sits slightly more forward than the golfs.
With that in mind I decided to buy an aftermarket downpipe for the Golf MK6 R.

The new Golf MK6 R downpipe.


I did try fit it and it did not. As I suspected the engine sits further to the front than the Golfs.
Time to whip my Tig Welder out and make it fit.

The little section that I need to add on, just after the turbo outlet.


Just making sure that the added pipe section is correct before welding the other pipe on that goes towards the stock exhaust, underneath the car.


The pipe that needs to go into the back stock exhaust.
Need to make a S joint here.


The S joint made.


I decided to install a V-Band connection, so it is easier to remove/install the downpipe.


The straight section is literally millimeters away from the prop shaft bracket.


The end result of what used to be a downpipe for the Golf MK6 R.


Installed it and sounds okay, a bit quiet but okay.
I'll build one in the future sometime to replace the stock back piece.

[Slowboat]

Now I need to deal with the suspension.

When I first got the car I was surprised how well the CC handles around the corners.
It does have some body roll which I didn't like at all and also almost bigger than your fist wheel gaps.

I wanted to get the Eibach ProKit springs but the person I was dealing with didn't seem to be too interested.
It's the "did you receive my email, no please resend" stories.

I then tried another supplier that I have dealt years back, but unfortunately they don't do the Eibach products.
So I settled on the H&R springs, front/back sway bars and the Koni sport shocks.

The reason why I want the Eibach springs because they seems to be the only ones the will have the same front/back height on the CC.
The other springs will have that rake look.
Anyway there are ways the sort that out.

The H&R front/back sway bars.
My cat Sniffels approves.


The H&R front/back springs


The Koni front/back sport shocks (both adjustable)


The front left wheel arch area.
Cleaned it nicely and ready to receive the suspension components.


The Koni shock and H&R spring installed.


Also installed the ECS end links.
Notice the new plastic liner.
I've replace all front wheel arch liners, skid pan and covers.


Cleaned the back wheel arch as well.
The back left side with Koni shock, H&R springs and ECS end links installed.


The end result.
Notice the rake look. The front is lower than the back.


The front height.


The back height.

[ope126]

This is such a great thread!!! Hats of to you mate!

[Slowboat]

This is such a great thread!!! Hats of to you mate!

Thanks for the compliment.


The ride quality of the suspension is slightly better than my MKV Golf R32 (R36) on stock springs, shocks and front sway bar. It has the H&R back sway bay.
The handling is pretty amazing and handles far better than my Golf R36.

I had to adjust the front shocks damping rate once and the back shocks damping rate twice.

Originally, I had the back Koni shocks damping rate turned up to about three quarters way of the available one and a half turns. It was harsh.
Turned it back to about half way of the available one and a half turns. That was still a bit harsh.
According to Koni the minimum setting is the stock damping rate.
So on the second try, I decided just to do a 90 degree turn from minimum and was happy with it.
The problem with the back shock adjustments is that you need to strip out the shock to do the adjustments.
The front shocks has the adjusters on top of them, which is simple to adjust without taking them off.

The next step is to get a slightly better brake setup than the stock setup.
I decided to try out the PowerBrake setup.
Got the Powerbrake disks for the front and back.
Used the Endless pads for the front and the Mintex Red pads for the rear.

The rear Powerbrake disks and pads.



The side to side comparison of the rear PowerBrake and stock disks.



The rear needs some cleaning.


Nicely cleaned up and ready to received the new disk.


The installed rear disk and pads.


The side to side comparison of the front PowerBrake and stock disks.



The front PowerBrake disk installed.


There's a definitely a big difference when braking heavily from high speeds.
The PowerBrake is so consistent and doesn't fade compared to the stock setup.
Really happy with it.
Here's their website PowerBrake

Since the VR6 CC also had the battery at the back in the the boot, because of the space taken by the big air filter.
I decided to use the VR6 air. But there was another reason that forced me to use the VR6 air filter.

With the DQ500 oil cooler placement the original battery cradle of the 2L, were the 2L air also bolts on, doesn't fit.
The DQ500 oil cooler stands too high.
The VR6 air filter cradle fits in nicely.

Since the pipes from the VR6 air filter box to the 2L turbo intake pipe does fit I had make a makeshift pipe from the air box.
Made this adaptor to replace the VR6 MAF sensor housing that was bolted to the air box.


The end result. Not a very neat setup but it works well.


Before installing the engine I wondered how bad the carbon build up was like in the intake valves.
So I bought a couple of cheap USB borescopes.
This is the result, the bottom part of the intake valve. You can see that the flap is in the way on the top left.


The top part of the intake valve. You can see the that the flap is in the way on the bottom left.


As you can see the carbon build up is not to bad, so I'm not too concerned about it.
Not bad for the motor that had just over 116000Kms on it.

Well that's that for this project for now.

The next step is to get the software for the gearbox to sort out the low RPM gear change, since this is a diesel gearbox.
Currently, in manual mode, the gear changes at round the 5000rpm and in drive mode it changes around the 4500rpm mark.
Also I need to get the 4wd software for the ECU so I can get the auto hold, hill assist, launch control, EBD, etc... functions back again.
Also to get rid of the low catalytic converter efficiency errors, since I don't have the catalytic converter installed.
This will most properly happen within a month or two.

Overall I'm very happy how the project turned out. The car runs great and have done other 4000Kms so far without any problems.
There's no oil usage on the motor and for those of you who interested in the fuel consumption comparison between the 2L turbo and the 3.6L.

Well the interesting thing is, from the usual daily drive route, the fuel consumption is about the same.
I was expecting the 2L turbo to substantially better on the fuel consumption than the 3.6L.
I'm not sure if the missing catalytic converters may have something to do with the fuel consumption, but if not it's is a bit disappointing.
I think were it will show on the fuel consumption, is when I do a long distance run.

Also the driving experience with the 3.6L is far better than the 2L turbo on the 4Motion.
The throttle response from the 3.6L is far better. Also when pulling away from stand still the 3.6L out shines the 2L turbo.
The 2L turbo has a slight delay, while cruising and then stopping on the throttle. This is the same when pulling away from stand still.
Most properly that's why VW didn't bother with a 2L 4cyl turbo 4Motion CC and just left with the 3.6L and the 2L 4cyl Diesel for the 4Motion.
Here in South Africa we didn't get the 4Motion Diesel CC.

I'll update this post as soon as I've done changes on the CC.

Now at least I'll have some time to start posting on the Golf R36 project.