VW golf swap?

To save myself the juvenile arguments of VW Vortex, ill post it here. A friend of mine bought a 96 golf with a slushbox for cheap. The slushbox is about to crap out and he is itching to do a swap. His swap idea is a vr6 with a 6 speed. I think this would be too nose heavy and a 6 speed would be simply too expensive. Would tinkering with the 2.0 slow and adding a 5 speed be the best option or is a vr6/6 speed combo not as crazy as it sounds?

It's a pretty common swap, so I'd assume that it's not too nose heavy. You'ld need VR6 springs and shocks, too.

They put the vr6 in stock so why would a swap be nose heavy, you'll just need to upgrade to the vr6 suspension.

Best to have a parts car to swap from since you'l need interior (console,shifter parts)as well as underhood parts.

Try to find a Jetta that's been totalled in the back, they're around.

it IS nose heavy. the stock vr6 is more nose heavy than the stock 4 cyl, talk to paulvr6 on here. he knows whats up.

Personally a 1.8T will be easier to find and equally rewarding.

I say go for it. I helped out with a VR6 / 95 Cabrio swap, and the end result was awesome!

The VR6s aren't that nose heavy, the 2.0L is slow and the 1.8T swap is fairly expensive.

If the wife would let me, I would put my money right where my mouth is and swap a VR6 into her 02 Cabrio in a hearbeat.

that does sound awesome. in a different thread, someone mentioned that they are nose heavy but i think the benefits of power and sound would mke up for it

92dxman wrote: Would tinkering with the 2.0 slow and adding a 5 speed be the best option

I can see that you are already biased against the ABA, so my words will probably fall on deaf ears.

The 2 liter is an EXCELLENT engine. It is very drivable. It has a lot of midrange pull and is still useful at the top and bottom end. The automatic is, admittedly, horrible. European companies have no idea how to do automatics and the VW's unit is no exception. Pitch it.

The VR6 is a fine engine if you like highway racing or if you like to polish it up for when you park the car on grass with the hood half-open and stretched 195 tires on 9" rims tucked feeler-gauge width from the fender lips. The 2.0 is more of a driver's engine.

Knurled wrote:

92dxman wrote: Would tinkering with the 2.0 slow and adding a 5 speed be the best option

I can see that you are already biased against the ABA, so my words will probably fall on deaf ears. The 2 liter is an EXCELLENT engine. It is very drivable. It has a lot of midrange pull and is still useful at the top and bottom end. The automatic is, admittedly, horrible. European companies have no idea how to do automatics and the VW's unit is no exception. Pitch it. The VR6 is a fine engine if you like highway racing or if you like to polish it up for when you park the car on grass with the hood half-open and stretched 195 tires on 9" rims tucked feeler-gauge width from the fender lips. The 2.0 is more of a driver's engine.

That part about the 2.0 being a drivers engine...We are talking about the slow-revving, 8 valve version right? I'd agree if you're mixed up with the 9a 16v motor. But the VR is a great sounding, great performing motor. Way better than the ABA.

It will be cheaper to buy a vr6 Golf. Keep the cheap car cheap, a 5 speed swap is worthwhile, a vr6 swap is not.

I have owned 4 ABA powered MK3's. I flat don't like them at all. Cammed them, chipped them, bolted on headers, exhausts and intakes. Every time I tired of them and sold them off the new owners were extremely happy because they were really fast for two liter cars.

The VR6 long block is under 60lbs heavier than the ABA. More weight difference is in the 02A trannys. From what I understand the 6 speeds (what the OP was asking about) are very much heavier than the 5spd 02A's. You could easily throw well over 120lbs of extra weight in front without thinking about it.

The noise the VR6 makes will easily cancel out any weight drawbacks though.

OBD1 ABA + turbo = lots of fun.

I hate working on VR6s. The parts cost more and they are harder to work on due to lack of space.

The ABA is simple, cheap and VW made millions of them.

Oh and they are a hella lot of fun in the dirt.

Seems like it's pretty cheap to turbo those ABA motors and make a decent amount of power.

Keep ABA and slushbox. Add turbo. Enjoy. Replace transmission. Repeat.

That's what I would do. As much as I love VR6's it's not worth swapping anything on a 'cheap' car without a good reason. The auto trans will hold almost 300whp for a bit.