My OBD2 Mk3 VR6

[Trickygti 3]

Well I'll make a start on my project thread.

Picked the car up in March from a local guy who'd owned it after a guy I know spent all the money doing the rebuild and supercharger on it.

The charger had been removed as it was easier to sell the car without it I assume but there's still been a lot of money spent on the engine side of things.

It's a 95 3 door in Mystic blue with 136k on the clock. The engine is from a later 97 model car which was stripped down to a bare block and rebuilt with new bearings, seals and everything else as the guy was fitting a charger and wanted it to be a strong engine from the outset. It was also fitted with a spacer plate to reduce the compression (this is still fitted)

The current list of mods is, Autotech 262 cams, 6 branch manifold, full miltek exhaust system with decat pipe, lightened and balanced flywheel, solid alloy front engine mount, samco coolant pipes with alloy crack pipe, PCV valve has been deleted along with the charcoal filter too.

I've only had one other VR6 a 2.9 Corrado to compare it to and it does seem quicker but its still has a couple of running issues, one being a faulty cam sensor which will be getting replaced soon and the other is not knowing what chip/map its now running on so that will be addressed as soon as I'm happy that all the faults are sorted.

Anyway here's how I bought it.

First mod was some german plates

Came with a US spec splitter but I hate these and ordered a deep VR one

Cloth Recaro's but these were soon to go too

280mm rear brake upgrade

Standard 288mm fronts but drilled and groved, I've got some 312mm in the pipeline

The cloth recaro's soon made way for these CC leather recaros, I quite like the contrast of the yellow against the darker paintwork, got the idea from the rear calipers haha

The engine bay was next to get tidied up, the top cover and inlet manifold had been painted white and it never looked clean so I removed them and gave them a quick coat of silver paint and painted the lettering yellow

Whipped the inlet manifold off at the weekend

I changed the cam cover gasket as there was a slight oil weep from one of the corners whilst it was off,

Here's the manifold in white

And all back together looking much better for now

The big daft cone filter is next on the hitlist to be removed in place of a modified airbox.

I also removed the crystal front indicators and fogs in place of some OEM anniversary indicators and yellow lamin-x'd fogs

And finally these turned up last week, they're Raceline RL7's in 17x8 ET10, should be an interesting fit but I'm sure they will suit the car no end. Just need to get some tyres ordered and then hopefully have them on for All Types show in a few weeks.

So there you are, the story so far thanks for looking!

[VR6Pete 1,455]

Awesome! Love those wheels and interior :)

[Trickygti 3]

Cheers Pete, really looking forward to getting them fitted. I'm gonna have to use wobble bolts which I'm a bit dubious about but a friend of mine is running a VR like mine on compomotive TH2's with the same bolts and thrashed it round Oulton park a couple of weeks ago with no issues so fingers crossed haha

[michael5556 247]

Nice it's all in the details.

[Woodyman84 3]

Really liking the yellow on that actually, different but it works, very nice.

[VR6Pete 1,455]

It has a "motorsport" feel to it, I do like

[Trickygti 3]

Cheers guys, yeah going for a bit of a motorsport theme, trying to find a set of Schroth harnesses in grey with yellow writing to keep me in the leather seats when things get a bit spirited haha!

Got the wheel bolts ordered last night so just tyres to sort now.

[mk3luke 5]

like the look of those wheels! cant wait to see them fitted.

what are wobble bolts then?

also, if the engine has still got the spacer plate fitted but no super charger, do you know what compression ratio your running? if its lower than standard you will be low on power,

maybe the cams etc bring it back up a bit?!?

either get rid of the plate for more n/a power or get a charger and make lots more!!

looks nice though!

[Trickygti 3]

Well parts have been arriving pretty much every day lately.

Ordered a new cam sensor and spark plugs from TPS, the cam sensor made the car run so much smoother which I'm pleased about. And the plugs got changed just as a matter of precaution really.

Also got some hella twin headlamps. Unfortunately the N/S plastic cover came broken but I've just glued it back together for now until I find another one. But the lamps are mint so thats a bonus.

Got a couple of tyres ordered for the new wheels so I could get them trial fitted at work. Turns out they look and fit spot on, just need to lower the suspension down a little once I've got them all fitted.

Really pleased with how they look, and I've found a company that can make the spigot rings I require so all being well next week the wheels will be on.

Got the interior finished off with the addition of some new speakers and tweeters in the front and a small infinity sub in the boot.

[VR6Pete 1,455]

Good progress mate! I do like those wheels too, colour really compliments the car

[Trickygti 3]

And finally they're fitted ;D To say I'm happy is an understatement!

Yes I know it still needs lowering but I'm just making sure everything is ok with the wobble bolts etc then I'll wind it down a bit. I wont be going daft low as I'm not into all this stance malarkey and I like my sump and splitter too much Plus being a VR I like to give it a good kicking fairly often so don't want to lose any drive-ability

[michael5556 247]

Looks good! Get it lower! Lol

[Lukey. 381]

I run 17s and live in a very humpy and steep inclined area and can go everywhere about 75mm wound down, get it low lol

[VR6Pete 1,455]

looks great!

[Trickygti 3]

And finally they're fitted ;D To say I'm happy is an understatement!

Yes I know it still needs lowering but I'm just making sure everything is ok with the wobble bolts etc then I'll wind it down a bit. I wont be going daft low as I'm not into all this stance malarkey and I like my sump and splitter too much Plus being a VR I like to give it a good kicking fairly often so don't want to lose any drive-ability

[Trickygti 3]

Well I've been doing a few bits to the VR and collecting some parts again for jobs that need doing.

Ever since I've had the car its always run lumpy at idle and been a bit hesitant to start. I've been monitoring any fault codes but one that I haven't been able to sort is a cam sensor fault being short to earth. I changed the sensor to begin with which although helped the running slightly it didn't cure the fault. So I had a nagging feeling that the timing was out which would probably cause the fault code to crop up as the ECU isn't seeing the correct voltage from the sensor as the trigger wheel passes it. So today I set about stripping the cam cover off and timing everything up, low and behold the cams are at least a tooth out!

But the problem now is that the bolts that hold the top timing chain cover on are starting to round off as they've been over tightened and probably cover in sealant as it appears to be everywhere when the last guy built the engine. So tomorrow I'll get some more tools from work and crack on with getting the cover off and set the cam timing up providing the intermediate shaft is lined up correctly with the crank.

Last week I took the old girl to All Types in North Wales for the weekend. Managed to get through two front splitters over the weekend! But on the whole had a good time and the VR looked pretty good in the Sunday sunshine

Hopefully I'll have it back up and running tomorrow and see if the cam sensor fault erases and stays that way

[VR6Pete 1,455]

Nice! Wheels give it a great stealth look too. Are you coming the rolling road day on June 16th?

[chazvr 1]

like the wheels and the colour combo. Two splitters?..do you just stock pile them on your back seat :-)

[Trickygti 3]

Luckily there was a stall selling the cheap ebay special splitters but I manged to break one of those as well

I want to get it on the RR but it depends if its up and running, I've posted a thread in the engine/maintenance section regarding my chain woes I've come across tonight looks like the box is gonna have to come off this week.

[michael5556 247]

shame. Would of liked too see this.

[Trickygti 3]

Thanks pal, I really want to get it on the rollers just to see what its actually putting out as it goes very well all the way through the rev range. Just need to get to the bottom of this cam sensor fault then I'll get it down to Stealth for a map and RR session.

[VR6Pete 1,455]

If your timing is out slightly, it will throw a fault, but I can tell you from experience they can go faulty, seemingly very sensitive to removal and if the timing is out slightly. Did you say the chains have been done already? I'm thinking possibly some chain stretch has happened there if not the and they have been done, then the mechanic may have dropped a boo boo.

[Trickygti 3]

Yeah I tried a new sensor first but the fault came back on pretty much straight away.

The engine had a full rebuild but as can be seen in my other thread the guy who built it fitted the wrong chain tensioner and I think got the cams a tooth out so now I've ordered a cam locking tool and its going to get done properly.

I'm missing driving it though

[Lukey. 381]

Where did you manage to get a cam lock plate from? I couldn't find one outside of US.

[VR6Pete 1,455]

Make your own. You only really need some 5mm sheet metal. I know some people who have used Allen keys / spinners before now.