# Finished some updates to the VR6T



## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

I've been mostly unmotivated over the past few months due to stupid parts failing and causing me nothing but headaches, but I've worked through most of the issues and managed to finish building a few components that were needed to complete the setup.

Last fall, I finally finished some machine work on my fuel rail to accommodate some decent bracketry, so I installed the fuel rail and IE surge tank/044 combo.

The pictures are kind of blurry, but the first pic is with the stock fuel rail and 2 of the 4 oem tabs attached. It was only a temporary solution, and you can see that the injector doesn't sit squarely in the port.










After some machining on an extruded -6 rail, I managed to make some brackets that align with the center line of the injectors, keeping the injectors centered in the manifold.


















Next, I built an enclosure that sits just forward of the rear axle beam on the passenger side. The box mounts to 4 of the factory studs, so no drilling was required. The box has a removable lid and the entire assembly is wrapped in dynamat. Right now I'm running -6 pushlock to and from the factory intank pump, and -6 all the way to the rail and back from the regulator. With the lid on and the car idling, the pump is audible, but not unreasonable. With the car moving, you need to strain to hear the pump. 


























Earlier this winter, I decided to have a go at building a catch can. I'm relatively new to welding aluminum, so be gentle...

Here's the parts layout. The outer pipe is ~4.5" OD, and the inner baffle is a 3" pipe that I machined some slots in. The piece in the center with the ribs is an old cast Garret turbocharger compressor back plate that I turned to the correct diameters (ID and OD).










The idea is that the incoming vapors would impinge on the inner baffle, and hopefully this impingement/mild pressure rise would encourage condensation. The remaining vapor would have to travel ~180 deg around the baffle to reach the "slots", and then the mixture would travel up through the compressor backplate (which separates the inner baffle and outer cylinder) and out through the vents.

Here's a crude picture before welding (it's not well aligned in this shot).










Some assembly shots:


























































The latest project was installing my electronic boost controller, which is a turbosmart Eboost2. Since I'm running a twin scroll setup and I've got to plumb two wastegates, I wanted to run hardlines for the pressure tubing to/from the solenoid.


























Kind of reminds me of the old windows screen saver...










...and a finished shot of the engine bay. I haven't driven the car in awhile, so it's pretty dirty right now. I've got a rain tray cover and some windshield trim that is usually installed, so it does look a bit nicer when its all together.










Now my to do list is...

1) Fix fuel pressure issue. I've got a check valve on the 044 pump but the car still doesn't want to fire immediately after it's been sitting for a while. I think the check valve is either bad or the pressure is bleeding down too quickly through the FPR. Once this is resolved I'll remove that stupid oil pressure gauge that's sticking off my fuel rail :facepalm:

2) Design and build intercooler end tanks. I've got a core here that's the size (HxWxL) that I want, but I need some time to design and make the tanks. The plumbing on the car already goes through the front of the car, so it should be as simple as building/mounting the core and connecting the piping that's already there.

3) Build an exhaust. Right now a 2.5" TT system is on the car from when I bought the car in '03. I'll probably build a 3" aluminum system sometime this summer using vibrants new aluminum mufflers.

4) Coolant hardlines. The SAMCO hoses I have on there are junk and most of them have already been modified in some way to accommodate turbo parts.

5) Build a stainless intake for the turbo and clean up the bubble gum weld I put on the turbo outlet pipe 

6) Custom radiator. I had a godspeed radiator for the car but the core was poor quality so I sold it and then refunded the guys money when it leaked anyway :facepalm:

Comments and questions are welcome. Thanks for looking


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## DubmyRUCA (May 22, 2007)

Nice setup!


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## GRN6IX (Jan 2, 2003)

Very clean, love the hard lines :thumbup:


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## V-dubbulyuh (Nov 13, 2005)

Very well done, keep the updates coming.

Report back on the effectiveness of the catchcan.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

V-dubbulyuh said:


> Very well done, keep the updates coming.
> 
> Report back on the effectiveness of the catchcan.


Thanks guys 

It's not visible in the pics I posted, but I included a liquid level on the catch can via 1/8 NPT bungs, 90* fittings and some clear tubing. I intentionally tucked this beneath the coolant tank so it's easy to see, but only if you look for it. Once I start putting more miles on it I'll monitor the level and see how it works :thumbup:


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## hubbell (Oct 30, 2001)

good stuff!:thumbup::thumbup:


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## SUPERCHARGED-JETTA (Aug 7, 2001)

Nice work as always lee...


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## GinsterMan98 (May 19, 2008)

I can only say "WOW". Nice attention to detail. Your welds don't look bad at all. :beer:


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## Bluegrape2 (Mar 3, 2012)

very very impressive, lovin the hard lines, we think alike. I always wanted to do all metal coolant lines (blew 3 heater core hoses on old VRT). Looks like one rock solid VRT set-up. Have you had the car on the dyno since that intake mani was completed? I always wanted to do one like that on a all motor vr with HC pistons , flowed head , schricks and some gears.


:thumbup::beer:

Good to see some new engineering ideas on here.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Bluegrape2 said:


> Have you had the car on the dyno since that intake mani was completed?


Not this particular car, but I did send the intake manifold to a friend and he did a back to back comparison against another runner length compensated short runner manifold. I've got a back to back dyno and some more details in this thread...

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...ld-conceptual-design-build-and-results-thread...




Bluegrape2 said:


> Good to see some new engineering ideas on here.


Thanks! If you liked that, stay tuned for the intercooler build and intake manifold version 2.0.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

SUPERCHARGED-JETTA said:


> Nice work as always lee...


Thanks Sam... how is your project coming? Have you tried out your eboost2 yet?



Ginsterman98 said:


> I can only say "WOW". Nice attention to detail. Your welds don't look bad at all.


Thanks man. I'm used to looking at my brothers welds, and he does this stuff for a living. In comparison my stuff sucks, but hey, I'll get better slowly but surely :wave:


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## 24vGTiVR6 (Sep 14, 2010)

have you ever had trouble with that push lock line by the exhaust mani coming off? (due to heat)










I think I wanna switch to some aeroquip hose + push lock for my turbo oil drain because it has a wider inner diameter vs braided AN, but some people have told me that the push lock fittings slip under high heat.

looks good btw :thumbup:


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

I wouldn't expect it to be an issue, that stuff is a pain in the ass to remove. Worst case scenario, slip one of those spring loaded clamps over it before you install it 

On my car, I've actually got a 5/8" stainless steel hardline as the first half of my oil return, then once it's past the manifold it transfer to pushlock.


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

I love your work. I wish i had your skill.


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## Highbeam2 (Jan 25, 2012)

Great Stuff :beer:! Any pics of the turbo manifold? opcorn:


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Highbeam2 said:


> Great Stuff :beer:! Any pics of the turbo manifold? opcorn:


Certainly... my brother and I spec'd out the fitment and then he welded up the manifold, downpipe and dumptubes for me. This actually is the second vr6 manifold we've built for this particular car, and this time around we were able to incorporate everything we learned from the first manifold. As an example, we left room for a reasonable oil return (via wastegate placement), and we paid extra attention to bolt access so this manifold installs just as easy as an oem manifold. :thumbup:
































































Sorry about the picture quality. It's surprisingly hard to take a picture to show how well the welds turned out :thumbup:


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

It's visible in most of the above pics, but this was one mod that I really liked:




























Functionally, I think it's beneficial to compressor performance to avoid a hard 90 or abrupt transition out of the compressor outlet. To better match my 2.5" piping, we welded a v-band on to my compressor outlet, intentionally spacing it at the very end of the discharge. Then we built up the inside with filler rod and then ported it smooth so I actually extended the diffuser section on the compressor housing and it smoothly transitions to the pipe ID. Then, to make it to the passenger side frame rail we cut out from the cam cover and grafted in a notch (shown above). Looking at this on the inside, it also seems like it would act as an additional baffle to prevent oil being slung out the breather. The powdercoat job left some room for improvement, so I'll probably have it redone sometime soon...


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## dasbeast3.0 (Aug 15, 2007)

my all time favorite turbo build. :thumbup: looking great as always lee.


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## pubahs (Apr 2, 2002)

*FV-QR*

Always impressed with your work. I love the hardlines, eventually id like to get these done for my car, and the hardlines for coolant. I find with all these custom VRT setups, you can't find proper hoses that fit always correct, so it requires bespoke lines. 

Watching this for inspiration and ideas


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

pubahs said:


> Always impressed with your work. I love the hardlines, eventually id like to get these done for my car, and the hardlines for coolant. I find with all these custom VRT setups, you can't find proper hoses that fit always correct, so it requires bespoke lines.
> 
> Watching this for inspiration and ideas


 Couldn't have said it better myself. It takes true skill to apply an idea rather then settling for the easy route. 

Inspiration indeed. I'm already getting ideas on what route to take with my vac lines.


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## Highbeam2 (Jan 25, 2012)

Lee, is this a daily driver or drag car?


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Highbeam2 said:


> Lee, is this a daily driver or drag car?


 Its kind of intended to be a "nice weather" street car. I daily drove it for a month or so this summer, so it definitely could serve that purpose, but I've got a newer 3 series for that. I definitely want to do some drag racing, but that certainly won't be the primary intent either.


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

lol....Thats my cars status. Nice weather/weekend/GTG/cruise mobile. I'm lucky to drive it 2x a week. It made no sense to build a drag car as there's no drag strip near me. (Englishtown being the closest which is 150 miles away  ) 


Looking at your bay just sold me on changing my vac lines to QC fittings. Mainly the lines that go into the intake. I love your bay. So much inspiration. Sh*t...Gotta step my game up. opcorn:


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## turboit (Oct 4, 2001)

wheres the "Like" button when you need it!


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## Highbeam2 (Jan 25, 2012)

As far as the intake manifold, there's a lot of time involved in it apparently. Did you offset the velocity stacks inside to compensate for runner length? 
Any intercooler pics?


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Highbeam2 said:


> As far as the intake manifold, there's a lot of time involved in it apparently. Did you offset the velocity stacks inside to compensate for runner length?
> Any intercooler pics?


 I posted a link above to the intake manifold build thread... or you can search my name and find it.  

The velocity stacks are offset such that the runner length to the intake valve is ~equal (within my ability to easily measure it) between the front and rear banks of cylinders. This is accomplished partially outside of the plenum by staggering the cylinders on the plenum baseplate. The remainder of the offset is achieved by raising the even cylinder stacks off the plenum floor. 

The intercooler is not yet complete. I built a thermal model of an intercooler and I ran through a number of simulations in order to optimize a core size for the front of a Corrado with my power goals, so now I've got the core in hand and only have to design the intercooler end tanks. I'm working on a full navier-stokes CFD solver and grid generator that should be done in the next month or so, and I'm hopeful to use that to optimize the intercooler tank designs (and later, v2.0 of the intake manifold). I've got some ideas that I think will be very beneficial  

I realize it's way over thought and the end benefit is small, but lately I get more enjoyment out of designing parts than I do wrenching on and driving the pos. :facepalm:


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## Highbeam2 (Jan 25, 2012)

leebro61 said:


> I posted a link above to the intake manifold build thread... or you can search my name and find it.
> 
> The velocity stacks are offset such that the runner length to the intake valve is ~equal (within my ability to easily measure it) between the front and rear banks of cylinders. This is accomplished partially outside of the plenum by staggering the cylinders on the plenum baseplate. The remainder of the offset is achieved by raising the even cylinder stacks off the plenum floor.
> 
> ...


 Lol. Last line :laugh:


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## Norwegian-VR6 (Feb 6, 2002)

leebro61 said:


> Its kind of intended to be a "nice weather" street car. I daily drove it for a month or so this summer, so it definitely could serve that purpose, but I've got a newer 3 series for that. I definitely want to do some drag racing, but that certainly won't be the primary intent either.


 Really like your build. Serious VRT builds are always nice to see. Good luckthis summer


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Norwegian-VR6 said:


> Really like your build. Serious VRT builds are always nice to see. Good luckthis summer


Thanks! 

Started and finished my power steering reservoir. Pics are pretty self explanatory, nothing too wild here.

Before powdercoating:










After:



















It's got a little bit less wrinkle than the catch can did, but it's two separate batches of powder that was coated on two separate occasions, so maybe it's to be expected (and also, the coating was done in a buddies garage).

Next project, coolant hardlines. The upper and lower radiator hose are going to be 1.5" aluminum. Here's a -16 union and weld bungs that I'll be welding onto the hose and the aluminum radiator neck.


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## DieGTi (Jun 19, 2001)

Looks great. I used the hardlines and fittings on my fuel. I would be most concerned about the engine moving and the hard-mounted hard lines taking the strain over time.


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

DieGTi said:


> Looks great. I used the hardlines and fittings on my fuel. I would be most concerned about the engine moving and the hard-mounted hard lines taking the strain over time.


Wouldn't braided sections at the stress points help eliminate the chance of it breaking? I thought about running hard lines from pump to firewall, then braided line from the FW out.

Lee,
I need a res like that except for coolant. I'll be sending you a PM.


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## DieGTi (Jun 19, 2001)

Yep, soft or braided as long as the transition joint is secured to the chassis on the solid line side. That will insulate it from vibration.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

DieGTi said:


> Looks great. I used the hardlines and fittings on my fuel. I would be most concerned about the engine moving and the hard-mounted hard lines taking the strain over time.


Thanks! The solenoid isnt really hard mounted, its sitting on a stud that comes off the firewall, but its not bolted down. The solenoid also has a rubber bushing between the solenoid body and the stud, so it still has almost all of its degrees of freedom. Ill keep an eye on it over time though and revise if necessary :thumbup:


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## Jeebus (Jul 8, 2001)

Very nice work. :thumbup:

However coolant hard lines scare me... what happens with built up pressure such as lifting a head or overheating? I'd rather my coolant hose pop off in an extreme case than containing all that pressure in.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Jeebus said:


> Very nice work. :thumbup:
> 
> However coolant hard lines scare me... what happens with built up pressure such as lifting a head or overheating? I'd rather my coolant hose pop off in an extreme case than containing all that pressure in.


Seems to me like the reservoir/cap would always release first, no? Im still keeping the oem reservoir, just bought a new one actually


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## Highbeam2 (Jan 25, 2012)

Page 2, Gotcha :beer:

I was reviewing and didn't see anything on management... What's selection are you going with?


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Highbeam2 said:


> Page 2, Gotcha :beer:
> 
> I was reviewing and didn't see anything on management... What's selection are you going with?


I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that the car runs on SDS. When I started this project in ~2003, there were not nearly as many good standalone options available (especially in my price range/wiring skill level).

Here we are 9 years later, and I'll be looking to upgrade the management shortly after the rest of the mechanical components are finished. I'm thinking MS3...

On another note, I started on the coolant hardlines last night. I'll post up some pictures when I get them wrapped up.


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

Awesome work as usual :thumbup:


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## pubahs (Apr 2, 2002)

*FV-QR*

Building up some tools - curious what you are using for your stainless tubing bender and flares? 

Thanks!


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## BiH (Nov 27, 2000)

on the power steering res. what fittings did you use? the little tube on the outside to check the level, I need to do that as well.


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

pubahs said:


> Building up some tools - *curious what you are using for your stainless tubing bender and flares? *
> 
> Thanks!


 x2


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

Nice!!! im still working on my 12v manifold, i like the angle the your brother placed the collector, they are time consuming though... just cutting my collector took me a whole day ...without welding :thumbup::thumbup:


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

pubahs said:


> Building up some tools - curious what you are using for your stainless tubing bender and flares?
> 
> Thanks!


 Hey, the bending and flaring tools are both made by rigid. They belong to a friend and I've only borrowed them, but the next time I get my hands on them I'll take down a part number and let you know. Both the bender and the flaring tool work excellent, so I'd highly recommend them. For what it's worth, the hardlines I've flared thus far have all been aluminum. Stainless might be a different story, and I would expect it to be much harder on the tools to flare stainless


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

BiH said:


> on the power steering res. what fittings did you use? the little tube on the outside to check the level, I need to do that as well.


 For the level sights on the catch can and power steering reservoir I welded in 1/8 NPT bungs and then used 1/8 NPT 90* push to lock fittings that I got from vibrant (see link below). These fittings should work with whatever 1/4" diameter hose you throw at it. 

http://vibrantperformance.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=1022_1300_1146_1163


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

euro-sudaka said:


> Nice!!! im still working on my 12v manifold, i like the angle the your brother placed the collector, they are time consuming though... just cutting my collector took me a whole day ...without welding :thumbup::thumbup:


 Thanks! We originally set up the collector on an angle (as opposed to having the turbo flange parallel to the ground) when we were building open scroll 12v headers because it allowed you to not have to make such a sharp turn into the rear bank of cylinders (mainly because on the open headers we had three runners in the front and three in the back on the collector, as opposed to three on each side (left/right) for the twin scroll). After test fitting the open scroll manifold in the car, we liked the turbo placement so we just kept it that way :thumbup:


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## therealvrt (Jul 21, 2004)

leebro61 said:


> I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that the car runs on SDS. When I started this project in ~2003, there were not nearly as many good standalone options available (especially in my price range/wiring skill level).
> 
> Here we are 9 years later, and I'll be looking to upgrade the management shortly after the rest of the mechanical components are finished. I'm thinking MS3...
> 
> On another note, I started on the coolant hardlines last night. I'll post up some pictures when I get them wrapped up.


 Lol 
Had my sds for a long time too. Ditched it a couple of years ago for lugtronic. Even being the technophobe that i am i am glad i did. Get rid of that old pos sds. They are simple and they are garbage.


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## Highbeam2 (Jan 25, 2012)

leebro61 said:


> I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that the car runs on SDS. When I started this project in ~2003, there were not nearly as many good standalone options available (especially in my price range/wiring skill level).
> 
> Here we are 9 years later, and I'll be looking to upgrade the management shortly after the rest of the mechanical components are finished. I'm thinking MS3...
> 
> On another note, I started on the coolant hardlines last night. I'll post up some pictures when I get them wrapped up.


 Don't be embarrassed SDS in its day was ahead of the curve, especially in a sense of owners and builders not being dependent on tuners. (In my opinion) It also freed up options for swaps, 1.8T in MKI rabbits!! :laugh:


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

I finally got around to finishing the rest of the coolant hardlines. The upper and lower radiator hoses are 1.5" diameter aluminum. The heatercore and coolant reservoir lines are 0.75" diameter, and the feed from the reservoir to the thermostat housing is 1" diameter. 

Lines to/from the heater core. I actually welded in a restrictor at the inlet to the core to mimic the factory recall piece.










Here's the inlet to the t-stat housing, from the reservoir/heater core outlet. This was a bit tricky since it had to go down and under the line from the lower radiator hose and the bend radius on the 1" pipe I had was very large.










Here is a "T" fitting where the heater core drain merges with the drain from the reservoir.










A shot of the "?" shaped lower line. I got these ABA brand clamps from germanautoparts. They are actually very nice since the inner edge of the clamp is smooth. 










Here is a -16 bung welded onto a gruvenparts radneck. I've since bought a GAP flange, but probably won't end up using it. Eventually I'm going to custom make a radiator, so I'll just weld on a traditional outlet at that point.



















Here is an overview of everything. The vent line to the reservoir is temporary. I'll probably just get some 1/4" black flexible hose instead of the hardline.




















Here is a before shot, for comparison...


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## DieGTi (Jun 19, 2001)

Insert joke about hard being better than soft here.


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## GinsterMan98 (May 19, 2008)

*FV-QR*

Nice work man, really clean.


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## Norwegian-VR6 (Feb 6, 2002)

Nice ! Really like nice.


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## stroker216 (Jul 18, 2011)

Im erect.


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## AJmustDIE (Dec 22, 2010)

I wonder how much $$$ you have in fittings lol. :beer:


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

AJmustDIE said:


> I wonder how much $$$ you have in fittings lol. :beer:


That was the first thing i thought. 2nd was it must've been a bitch to plan it all. I wanna do hardlines for all my vac lines but i get a headache just from trying to figure out what i need and the tools needed to actually do it. 

I'm so in love with how you did the coolant lines. Another thing i've dreamed of doing one day. Great f*cking work all across the board.







:thumbup:


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Capt.Dreadz said:


> That was the first thing i thought.


I really don't think I have that much money invested in the fittings that actually made it on the car, but I'm not proud to say I've probably got a few hundred dollars worth in my toolbox from bad ideas and quick decisions that never panned out. :laugh:


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

leebro61 said:


> I've probably got a few hundred dollars worth in my toolbox from bad ideas and quick decisions that never panned out. :laugh:


YOU TOO~!...:laugh: I have plastic bins full of failed/bad ideas.


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## masterqaz (Oct 5, 2007)

leebro61 said:


> I really don't think I have that much money invested in the fittings that actually made it on the car, but I'm not proud to say I've probably got a few hundred dollars worth in my toolbox from bad ideas and quick decisions that never panned out. :laugh:


Measure once guess twice. I do that a lot too. Oh well extra fittings for something else


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## DieGTi (Jun 19, 2001)

Sounds about right... my fuel system is worth 3 jegs hats and a huge box of leftovers. Every time I look at my box of -10 I want to build another turbo car just to get rid of them.


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

DieGTi said:


> Sounds about right... my fuel system is worth 3 jegs hats and a huge box of leftovers. Every time I look at my box of -10 I want to build another turbo car just to get rid of them.


Its -4 for me


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Capt.Dreadz said:


> Its -4 for me


I'll take a pic and post up my fitting drawer. It's a good mix of -6 (fuel system/powersteering) and -10 (oil return lines, power steering, oil cooler, etc.) and -12 (first attempt at coolant hardlines). 

I tightened up all the hoses last night and put coolant back in the system, and after quickly finding out which clamps I forgot to tighten, she's all sealed back up with no leaks! I also started the car up, so it's nice to know it still runs


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## SUPERCHARGED-JETTA (Aug 7, 2001)

Lee i have been busy at work, just not on my corrado. I did however get this done.. I need a custom radiator and everywhere I have called is $$$$, Any ideas?


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

SUPERCHARGED-JETTA said:


> Lee i have been busy at work, just not on my corrado. I did however get this done.. I need a custom radiator and everywhere I have called is $$$$, Any ideas?


The new gears look awesome Sam!

When I redo my radiator, I will probably go on Summit and find some generic aluminum core that is the LxWxH and orientation (vertical/horizontal) that I want, then I'll order that and just chop off the end tanks and redo them. I would stay away from any of the direct fitment Corrado aluminum cores (Godspeed at least) since I've found them to be really low quality (and poor fitment). Do you have anyone local that can help you fab something up?


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## Highbeam2 (Jan 25, 2012)

Updates? New Pics?


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Highbeam2 said:


> Updates? New Pics?


 Not much exciting to report. I took the car out to a local VW show a few weeks ago and ran into some issues with the way I had my fans wired. So, instead of just patching something together I decided that now would be a good time to clean up some of my wiring, ditch the unnecessary/redundant grounds and move the battery to the trunk. 

I picked up a pretty cool secondary fuse panel that allowed me to ditch all of the cheesy inline fuse holders that I had soldered in whenever I needed to run fused power to a relay and it also let me consolidate all of my grounds... and it has a nice plastic cover that seals with an o-ring, so the fused area is all water tight  

I made a bracket out of aluminum and mounted it in the driver's side fender well. Here it is with the cover removed. The box hanging in the lower left is the relay box for my headlights. It eventually got tucked out of the way  The thicker power wires on the right hand side are the wires that typically connect to the positive terminal and provide power to the main fusebox. 










with the cover in place... 










and what the battery area looks like without a mess of wires... 










I found an existing hole under the fender liner to run my battery cable through to put the battery in the trunk. Then I tech flex'd, heat shrinked and grommeted the cable to make sure it doesn't rub through. 










And then I added a new chassis ground right on the frame rail to ground the new fuseblock and starter ground to 










Using an OEM BMW grounding lug. This bad boy has four teeth on it that bite in to the chassis when you tighten it down. To be extra cautious, I tightened it down until the teeth engaged, and then I tack welded the head of the lug from the back side to make sure the connection was good. 










Now I just need to pick up a sealed battery and build or buy (likely build  ) a box to mount the battery in my trunk.


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## Yareka (Mar 5, 2002)

That is one bad ass distribution block. So clean and great location:thumbup:


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## Highbeam2 (Jan 25, 2012)

Looking good... How does it run?


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## VRpoweredA2 (Oct 8, 2000)

Phenomenal :thumbup:


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## stroker216 (Jul 18, 2011)

Im not sure if your open to suggestions but ive seen the pcv hose to the catch can routed straight back into the rain tray and back out another hole, just so its not attached to the firewall like that.


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## stealthmk1 (Aug 17, 2001)

Looks great. 
Where did you get the distribution block from?


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

stroker216 said:


> Im not sure if your open to suggestions but ive seen the pcv hose to the catch can routed straight back into the rain tray and back out another hole, just so its not attached to the firewall like that.


 I'm always open to suggestions. I have a friend who HATES my catch can hose setup like that, so that's part of the reason I leave it like that :laugh: [just kidding]. For what it's worth, it's not actually attached to the firewall, but because of how stiff the hose is it doesn't really go anywhere once the fittings are connected.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

stealthmk1 said:


> Looks great.
> Where did you get the distribution block from?


 It's made by "Blue Sea", so it's actually intended for marine applications, so I'm guessing that's why they focus on waterproofing. It's about 5x6" in shape and everything seems to be of really high quality. I can find a part number if anyone is interested in this particular model.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Highbeam2 said:


> Looking good... How does it run?


 I just need to pick up a battery and I'll be running again. The last time I drove it it actually seemed to be running pretty well, aside from the fan issue :banghead: 

The plan is to get the intercooler on there very soon and start beating the snot out of it.


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## Highbeam2 (Jan 25, 2012)

leebro61 said:


> I just need to pick up a battery and I'll be running again. The last time I drove it it actually seemed to be running pretty well, aside from the fan issue :banghead:
> 
> The plan is to get the intercooler on there very soon and start beating the snot out of it.


 LOL Ok :beer: What plugs are you running? Gap?


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## stealthmk1 (Aug 17, 2001)

leebro61 said:


> It's made by "Blue Sea", so it's actually intended for marine applications, so I'm guessing that's why they focus on waterproofing. It's about 5x6" in shape and everything seems to be of really high quality. I can find a part number if anyone is interested in this particular model.


 Thanks :thumbup: 

I have an OEM Mk4 unit for powering my fans and fuel pump, but its behind my dash and I want something with more outputs and that is waterproof for under the hood.


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## benzivr6 (Feb 16, 2001)

Beautiful bro, Your one of the ONLY reasons a visit the text from time to time :thumbup:


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## VRpoweredA2 (Oct 8, 2000)

benzivr6 said:


> Beautiful bro, Your one of the ONLY reasons a visit the text from time to time :thumbup:


 Wow. OG crowd coming out lately. Haven't seen your name in a while. 

Leebro61,
Any shots of this monster? How's that twin scroll setup working out for you? 

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

VRpoweredA2 said:


> Wow. OG crowd coming out lately. Haven't seen your name in a while.
> 
> Leebro61,
> Any shots of this monster? How's that twin scroll setup working out for you?


 Part Number for anyone interested: Blue Sea 7748 SafetyHub 150 

The twin scroll setup seems to be working well... the response is great, although I haven't been in an open scroll vr6t in a while to compare it against. 

Pics of the car... the outside is still a bit rough, but the interior has been cleaned up a bit. Recaro A8s up front with Corrado Recaro brackets, rear seats and door panels  




























Here it is on the old JLines. These were 16x8 and 16x8.5. I've since sold these and am in the process of going back to non-staggered 17s. I'm over that phase :laugh:


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

benzivr6 said:


> Beautiful bro, Your one of the ONLY reasons a visit the text from time to time :thumbup:


 Thanks dude! Give me a shout if you ever make it down to SC :thumbup:


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

I love the period correct Alpine deck...I'd die if there was a pop up handle at the bottom


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## VRpoweredA2 (Oct 8, 2000)

Capt.Dreadz said:


> I love the period correct Alpine deck...I'd die if there was a pop up handle at the bottom


 Lol benzibox FTMFW

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

VRpoweredA2 said:


> Lol benzibox FTMFW
> 
> Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2


 Kids nowadays don't know nuttin' about that. I swear if i could find a decent period correct Benzi, i'd ditch my Clarion Screen. I already have a 90's Amps, 2 90's Kicker VR's (probably the 1st ones...) and an Alpine EQ (10 band) 

BTW, EasternBeaver has a better power block then that. Funny as they compare theirs to the one you have. More slots in a much smaller pkg. :thumbup: 

*sigh*, after looking at this thread, reminds me that i need to step my game up & start welding. :facepalm:


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## benzivr6 (Feb 16, 2001)

Yeah what's good my dude (VRpoweredA2) Yeah been busy doing other stuff for the past couple, but ust takin it easy

Yeah Lee imma be down in SC hopefully Thanksgiving time to visit my folks and to visit my car as well


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## dasbeast3.0 (Aug 15, 2007)

Get that thing back to NY there buddy. :thumbup:


Car looks awesome as usual Lee. Wish I had you're patience. lol


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## benzivr6 (Feb 16, 2001)

dasbeast3.0 said:


> Get that thing back to NY there buddy. :thumbup:
> 
> 
> Car looks awesome as usual Lee. Wish I had you're patience. lol


Only way I will bring it back is if you decide to keep yours forever, lol


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## dasbeast3.0 (Aug 15, 2007)

hahah honestly I don't have much choice, looks like its staying for the long haul.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Capt.Dreadz said:


> BTW, EasternBeaver has a better power block then that. Funny as they compare theirs to the one you have. More slots in a much smaller pkg. :thumbup:


Got a link? I just googled easternbeaver and found one of their power blocks on their website. It is definitely smaller, but the one I found (IMO) is not better. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong spot though :wave:


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

EasternBeaver.com? 

After looking at the one you have again, i see its made more for what you're using it for & even though EB's block is made for a motorcycle, we (Me & the folks i turned it on to....Highbeam has one) use it inside the car for all the acc. In my car it powers all my gauges, my Dakota Digital Fan Controller, AVCR, w/m controller, & radio. This way i don't have 10 power wires going all over the place. I mounted it on the tunnel under the center console. Only wires coming from the fuse box is Power, switched & ground. It concentrates all the wiring to the back of the console.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Capt.Dreadz said:


> EasternBeaver.com?
> 
> After looking at the one you have again, i see its made more for what you're using it for & even though EB's block is made for a motorcycle, we (Me & the folks i turned it on to....Highbeam has one) use it inside the car for all the acc. In my car it powers all my gauges, my Dakota Digital Fan Controller, AVCR, w/m controller, & radio. This way i don't have 10 power wires going all over the place. I mounted it on the tunnel under the center console. Only wires coming from the fuse box is Power, switched & ground. It concentrates all the wiring to the back of the console.


Yeah... I found the easternbeaver link but I couldn't find the one that was "better"  , so I assumed they had a few different options and I wasn't looking at the right fuse panel. It looks like the EB unit would be good for exactly what you guys are using it for, but I definitely think the one I have is the better option for what/where/how I'm using it. I will be adding another distribution box in the interior at some point so I can easily/cleanly get key switch/fused power to all of my interior accessories (gauges, wideband, ecu, boost controller, etc.) and I will definitely consider the EB unit for that job 

I got lazy and ordered a battery bracket to put my optima in the hatch. I was originally going to build something, but decided time would be better spent elsewhere. It will still take some doing mounting everything up nicely though...


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## kevhayward (Mar 13, 2007)

Long time no speak Mr Brozyna 

I'm glad to see your intake came together nicely :thumbup: I would have liked to try one but I went 3.2 24V in the end.

The turbo manifold is something else! A thing of beauty  Loving all the hardlines and overall attention to detail. If only all VRTs were built like this, then they wouldn't earn themselves a reputation for being unreliable


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

kevhayward said:


> Long time no speak Mr Brozyna
> 
> I'm glad to see your intake came together nicely :thumbup: I would have liked to try one but I went 3.2 24V in the end.
> 
> The turbo manifold is something else! A thing of beauty  Loving all the hardlines and overall attention to detail. If only all VRTs were built like this, then they wouldn't earn themselves a reputation for being unreliable


Thanks for the kind words Kev :thumbup:

Feel free to post up some pics of your new setup. I always enjoyed seeing it as a 12v and I'm sure it's even nicer with the 3.2 :wave:


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## sdezego (Apr 23, 2004)

Looking great Lee. Love that weatherproof Disto panel! 

S


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## kevhayward (Mar 13, 2007)

leebro61 said:


> Thanks for the kind words Kev :thumbup:
> 
> Feel free to post up some pics of your new setup. I always enjoyed seeing it as a 12v and I'm sure it's even nicer with the 3.2 :wave:


Hey Lee!

Mine's nothing exciting any more. The R32 motor is smooth and charismatic, but I'm really missing my old VRT engine's grunt!

I don't like oiled cotton filters and MAFs. They're not a happy partnership in my experience, so the stock Corrado airbox and paper filter were a must from the outset. It's probably choking the top end a little, but I'm happy to sacrifice a few horses for a more OEM look.










My mech doing his mapping magic to iron out the R32's vicious low rpm throttle response and delete all the Haldex / ABS / Steering angle / instruments / powertrain fault codes. Bone stock motor and map gave a respectable 260hp @ the fly. It will suffice for now. I'm sure a GT35R will find it's way on there before long 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjG4OB72alU&feature=context-cha


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

It looks quite at home in there! If you get bored eventually and do go turbo again and you're looking for a turbo manifold, let me know. I'm sure we can come up with something for the R motor and Corrado fitment :thumbup:


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## kevhayward (Mar 13, 2007)

Absolutely  I'd be wanting to run the stock intake this time. This engine kills any VRT up to 3000rpm, so I'm wanting to hang onto that crazy low end torque 

I think the R32 intake is happy with up to a bar of boost, but I'll only need 8-10psi with a FWD car. I'll still be looking at 400 or more crank power with that  So yes, a manifold that could sit under the intake nicely would be great :thumbup:

P.S. I ran the R motor with my DTA standalone initially. It would have been rude not to really! Obviously ME7 has unbeatable idle and lambda control but everywhere else, it drove a lot nicer with the DTA. Just something to consider if you ever take the 24V plunge


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

kevhayward said:


> Absolutely  I'd be wanting to run the stock intake this time. This engine kills any VRT up to 3000rpm, so I'm wanting to hang onto that crazy low end torque
> 
> I think the R32 intake is happy with up to a bar of boost, but I'll only need 8-10psi with a FWD car. I'll still be looking at 400 or more crank power with that  So yes, a manifold that could sit under the intake nicely would be great :thumbup:
> 
> P.S. I ran the R motor with my DTA standalone initially. It would have been rude not to really! Obviously ME7 has unbeatable idle and lambda control but everywhere else, it drove a lot nicer with the DTA. Just something to consider if you ever take the 24V plunge


The stock intake manifold would definitely make things more challenging without having the car for mockup  I would say that you could do a twin scroll setup to try to help response, but even so, a variable geometry intake manifold is going to be tough to beat for low end performance :laugh:

I finally wrapped up the battery relocation, just need to reinstall the last of the interior panels from the positive cable routing.

I lowered the tank a few inches so I could drill the rear floor and add nutserts to bolt the battery tray to. The battery tray is from Boese engineering rolleyes where apparently they machine their parts with a hammer and chisel. The tool marks on this part look pretty savage, like they had cut 100,000 other parts on the same bit. Anyway, I nutserted the floor, then I sanded the paint off and nutserted a small strip on the trunk floor for the battery ground. There is an inline fuse holder that bolts down right behind the center of the rear seats. The power wire then runs to my auxilliary fuse box, pictured in previous posts.

View from the rear of the car:









View with the passenger rear seat folder forward:









Engine bay sans battery:









Still a mess, but now without a pile of wires:


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

I hate you. :heart::heart:

Edit: Can you make me a coolant pipe setup like yours (i'm using an mk3 rad ). I'm gonna PM you now...


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## 8716vrocco (Feb 12, 2001)

The battery setup is pretty slick :thumbup: Nice work on everything, looks amazing.


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## TheZooKeeper (Jan 28, 2009)

Looks so good! Cant wait to see you IC end tanks


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Got some new wheels, built a new intake pipe for the turbo and went out for some datalogging today. On my first pull, I thought I was hitting boost cut. Turns out, it was the rev limiter lol

Second gear, still just on baby boost...



New wheels, BBS RS-GT 17x7.5 et35 all around


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## TheZooKeeper (Jan 28, 2009)

Damn that looks fun!


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

I finally broke down and bought an "off the shelf" intercooler. I still want to build a custom one some day, but this one will more than handle the power I am looking for and let me move forward with the rest of the build. It also has pretty reasonably designed and nicely cast end tanks, so that definitely made it an easier decision.

Garrett core, ~18" x 10.5" x 3" with 2.5" inlet/outlet (OD). Rated for 600hp.










The first step was cutting the rebar to accommodate the core. I then put some 2" holesaw cuts on the front of the rebar to allow some airflow to the middle of the core (the bumper has holes also). 










Then I welded on some v-band flanges (2.5" inlet, 2.75" outlet).










And some threaded mounting bosses onto the top.










Then I went back and welded the inside of the v-band flanges to give me some material to port out so that I can area match the piping to the core.










Here is an idea of how big of a step there was before I added the filler... not good!










Then, mounted on the car. The core basically squeezes exactly between the lower support and the upper radiator support. The center support bar had been removed long ago. Two bolts thread down from the top of the radiator support behind the grill and I use these to hold and level the core. The core is neither leveled nor centered in these pics, so keep that in mind 










I test fit it with the bumper and rebar and the bumper fits exactly like stock, so that's a good thing. The only thing left to do is modify the piping to connect to my hot side upper pipe and then add a coupler on the cold side to allow some flex (due the connection at the IC being solid mounted).

Next project is an ignition switch... I'm having a weird issue where after turning the car off the key switched power accessories will turn back on :banghead:


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## SUPERCHARGED-JETTA (Aug 7, 2001)

Good or should i say great work as usual lee. There is not alot of room for air to air intercoolers on rado's. Did you set up the eboost2 for boost by gear?


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Thanks Sam! I really haven't gotten around to playing with the eboost2 very much. I'm actually still having an issue controlling boost with it at this point. If you look in the manual there are about a dozen different ways of configuring the solenoid/signal lines based on the configuration you want to control. I tried the "two port, single solenoid, twin turbo connection" detailed at the top of page 12 of the user manual and even with the eboost2 gain value set to "0.0" I'm still hitting my boost cut at ~12.5 psig on ~8 psig wastegate springs. I know I'm not outflowing the gates because I was able to regulate boost when I had them set to just run off spring pressure. I'm thinking about grabbing a four port solenoid and trying one of the configurations that advertise enabling a wider range of boost control. I'll report back with what I find 

At least the intercooler will allow me to bump up the boost cut a bit more to see if/when the controller starts doing something :laugh:


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

You do awesome work as usual Lee. There's always some motivation for me in this thread.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Capt.Dreadz said:


> You do awesome work as usual Lee. There's always some motivation for me in this thread.


Thanks man, I really appreciate the kind words 

I finally finished grad school a few months back, so I promised myself that now that I have some free time I will actually make something happen with this car :thumbup:


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## DieGTi (Jun 19, 2001)

Looks great - time to enjoy it.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

DieGTi said:


> Looks great - time to enjoy it.


Thanks dude! How about I fly you down here so we can install a megasquirt and do some tuning? 

As far as the cold side piping, I ran into an issue where I could not find a 2.75" v-band flange clamp that wasn't quick release style (too bulky). Even the place I bought the 2.75" flanges from didn't sell a clamp :facepalm:

After a day of thinking about it, common sense kicked in (which is rare for me) and I realized that I could just weld a 2.5" v-band flange to my 2.75" cold side pipe and then use the flanges and clamps I already had. Actually, pro tip, the 2.5" v-band flanges fit perfectly flush ID vs. ID with the 2.75" pipe. The 2.5" pipe on the other hand was actually intended to slip inside the 2.5" clamp... if that makes sense. Anyway, crisis averted.

Step one was to precariously hold my intercooler tank in the horizontal bandsaw and try to chop the old 2.75" flange off without losing a limb. I wanted to leave as much tank as possible so the intercooler tanks wouldn't look lop sided, so I chopped the flange and left the weld, then ground the weld down so I could slip on the new v-band.










Once that was welded on I could start with the cold side piping. Here is an example of what a 2.5" flange welded to 2.75" pipe looks like...










... and then the finished pipe. You can see on the coupler end that I had to salvage an old bend I had used previously, so when I cut the old weld off the pipe was no longer tangent. I then cheated my bead roll piece slightly so I could make up the difference... seemed to work out well enough :laugh:










I also added a bung for the IAT sensor. Fittings like this used to give me fits but I'm finally getting the hang of welding them in there.










So, here is everything fitted thus far. 










It drives me nuts a little bit that the cold side pipe has to dip down and around to get around the bumper mounts and my secondary fusebox assembly... but I don't think it will be noticeable with the bumper installed.

Lastly, here is where the coupler will go. I'm intentionally making space for a coupler that will run parallel to the car so when the motor rocks back the coupler will be well position to handle it. I just need to cut this pipe and then weld a bead roll piece on and then it's done. :wave:


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Finished the cold side piping today and did some porting/smoothing at all the welded joints. Im going to try to powdercoat everything tomorrow and then the install will be complete


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

leebro61 said:


> Finished the cold side piping today and did some porting/smoothing at all the welded joints. Im going to try to powdercoat everything tomorrow and then the install will be complete



Pics from Sunday...

Lower intercooler pipes taped, ready for preheat:










... and coated. You can also see some of the cleanup work on the weld blow through.










Here is a picture of the gasket that comes with the v-band flanges. I like this because it's easier to locate than an o-ring when you are trying to hold the joint together.










Pipes installed, intercooler semi-leveled.










Bumper installed. Still need to play with the bumper bolts a bit. Wow this thing needs paint!










This is tough to see because the pipe is black, but there is pretty nice clearance between the piping and rebar. At first I was test fitting the bumper by just lifting it into place and pushing it as far back as possible, and this prompted me to grind down the lip on the bottom of the rebar, but this totally wasn't necessary. I think I would have had much less clearance if I had the piping come straight out of the core as opposed to trying to follow the curvature of the front end.


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

I wish they had a welding class here in my area.  I use to work for a welding company that did commercial stuff in my younger years. I regret not learning anything. And i made great money at that job...that i didn't take serious. In the 18 yrs owning a shop (before i retired), i've been looking for a welding class to learn.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Capt.Dreadz said:


> I wish they had a welding class here in my area.  I use to work for a welding company that did commercial stuff in my younger years. I regret not learning anything. And i made great money at that job...that i didn't take serious. In the 18 yrs owning a shop (before i retired), i've been looking for a welding class to learn.


Let me say this... I work an 8-5 desk job and I am no more "hands on" than any other guy who plays around with cars... so if I can do it you can certainly make it happen easier than you think!

I bought this tig used on craigslist 2 years ago and had my brother (who is a skilled welder) help me establish the correct machine settings. Within a few hours of practicing I was making decent looking aluminum butt welds on piping. I never really get to "practice" with the tig, but I have made a bunch of my own parts with it and did the aluminum work on a friend's setup, so just from that experience I would say my consistency has gotten much better. On a well fit joint with a tight gap and clean material, I feel like I can make a good looking weld all day long. The difficulty creeps in when you've got crappy gaps, contaminated metal, different thickness material, etc. I would say I am getting much better at those scenarios, but there is still much room for improvement.

A welding class would help, but I would almost argue that if you are really committed to learning you could just scour craigslist for a good deal on a machine, have a friend who is familiar with welding help you set it up and then just start practicing. I say this because most welding classes I have ever come across want to have you start with stick welding, then move to mig welding, and then finally do a small amount of tig. I wasn't interested in the stick or mig, so I went this route...


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## Norwegian-VR6 (Feb 6, 2002)

Love this build. Great job and a great car. :beer:


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## Yareka (Mar 5, 2002)

Looks great Lee 

I dont think I've ever seen a core that large fit so well behind a rado bumper with piping and all, you got skillz sir.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Yareka said:


> Looks great Lee
> 
> I dont think I've ever seen a core that large fit so well behind a rado bumper with piping and all, you got skillz sir.


Thanks! Being only 3" thick seems to have helped a good deal to tuck it back in there. 

I ordered a four port solenoid tonight for my EBC. I'm hoping that will give me much better boost control :thumbup:


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## 24vGTiVR6 (Sep 14, 2010)

Capt.Dreadz said:


> I wish they had a welding class here in my area.  I use to work for a welding company that did commercial stuff in my younger years. I regret not learning anything.





leebro61 said:


> A welding class would help, but I would almost argue that if you are really committed to learning you could just scour craigslist for a good deal on a machine, have a friend who is familiar with welding help you set it up and then just start practicing.


/agree

you can take all the classes you want.... or you can learn the same theory and welding "rules" from researching online for free. That's what I did.....

in the end I think everyone will agree - you learn to weld by doing, not reading about it. just jump in, you won't regret it. it's a great skill to have.

I grabbed a lincoln migpak 140 for home and I've welded stainless, mild steel & aluminum (with a spool gun) with it.... it's real easy to use / learn and if you can find it on sale it's a great deal. Eventually I just took it to the shop with me..... it's a great machine for starting out.

aluminum welds with a spool gun on a lincoln 140 mig (w/ 100% argon):










excellent work op - hopefully we get a rolling vid soon!


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Well said... and those welds look awesome for a MIG :thumbup::thumbup:

I think you first have to know what a "good" weld looks like (be it on aluminum, stainless, etc.). Once you know what you are striving for, you can quickly get a feel for how travel speed, torch angle, amperage, fitment etc. affects the weld... and then you can make adjustments from there to get where you want to be.


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

You would believe me but i made this.....









My old boss set the machine & this was my 1st test of what i've learned. He wasn't happy.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

^^^ All things considered that looks great! Those old crappy castings are never fun to weld to, and it's certainly difficult to position yourself for the runner welds. I'm telling you... jump on a sweet craigslist deal for a welder and you'll be surprising yourself in no time.


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## sdezego (Apr 23, 2004)

leebro61 said:


> ...On a well fit joint with a tight gap and clean material, I feel like I can make a good looking weld all day long....





leebro61 said:


> ...The difficulty creeps in when you've got crappy gaps, contaminated metal, different thickness material, etc ...


^* THIS*!

Sometimes I get lazy on the fit up and I pay for it in the end result with the look of the welds. I have gotten great at bridging gaps, filling voids, etc etc, but you will never have picture perfect welds that way.

Cleanliness and prep is definitely key.

Looks great Lee


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## Capt.Dreadz (Jun 4, 2003)

Thanks on the tips guys. Didn't mean to turn this thread into welding tips. This thread if any has motivated me to get off my ass & take some risk. :thumbup:


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

leebro61 said:


> ... I promised myself that now that I have some free time I will actually make something happen with this car :thumbup:


Sigh, so here we are two months later and I finally have the car running again after the intercooler install. When I put the car back together and cranked it back up it was running terribly. Turns out a relay went bad and only 3/6 injectors were getting power. Diagnosed and fixed that last night, so finally ready to drive it again :thumbup:


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

I remade the upper portion of my hot side pipe to move the pressure source location closer to the solenoid. Then we plumbed up some lines from the pressure source to the solenoid and from the solenoid to the bottom of the gates. Unfortunately the female fittings on the solenoid are too close together to run parallel -4 lines banghead so I had to order some -3 lines and fittings to do the vent and signal line to the tops of the gates. Hopefully it doesn't look stupid. Will know tomorrow 



















The good news is, with the boost controller set to '0' gain the car makes 8 psi on half bar springs, so boost is very controllable. The car also rips on 8 psi with the intercooler :laugh:


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## Malkierie504 (Oct 6, 2007)

bump for an update


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Malkierie504 said:


> bump for an update


Much has changed since the last picture(s) posted in this thread. I'll try to recap the highlights.

*Most of the following text is copy/pasted from multiple posts in my build thread, so if it's reading :screwy: or if the tense seems weird, that's probably why *

So, the last picture I posted here left the bay looking like this:










Immediately after this I knocked out some quick changes pre SoWo. I redid the valve cover, moving the vent to the front of the cover. I powdercoated the valve cover and the charge piping. Made a new coolant reservoir, made a new power steering reservoir, made a new catch can, installed R32 front brakes, etc. and polished the car up a bit before the show.

Here are some shots from the way down... made it there ~200+ miles round trip without issue :wave:















































After the show I came home and started tearing the SDS out of the car in favor of a new megasquirt system. Because of how I wired in the SDS, I wanted to pull out the dash and really clean up the wiring (and obviously do a nicer job on the MS install). "While I was in there..." I switched to a non-AC mk2 heaterbox (AC was already long gone) so I could run the euro spec parcel trays under my dash. I also put in an aluminum heatercore to hopefully prevent any future failures 

Next, I started on the megasquirt install. I am running GM coolant, air and pressure sensors. I am also running GM LS2/truck ignition coils (coil "near" plug :laugh

Anyway, the coils are actually quite large. For reference, 2 or 3 of these coils take up about as much or more physical space than an OEM VR6 coilpack. At first I tried to figure out how I could mount all 6 coils in a plane on the timing chain cover, but quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. This was as good as I could come up with...

I started by milling out two brackets, one to bolt the coils to and another to bolt to the timing chain cover. I did this on a friend's bridgeport, then used a cool new routing bit I picked up to put a radius on each edge..










Since I squared the edges on the mill, it was pretty easy to get the holes for mounting to the timing cover bang on. I then countersunk the bolt heads:










Next, I turned down some round stock on a friend's lathe then drilled and tapped the stock to make standoffs to elevate the coils off of the bracket.










Then, I did some maths to figure out the bolt spacing to mount the coilpack bodies on a 45 degree angle. This was a bit less than straight forward since the bolts on the coilpacks are not perpendicular to the bodies, so I had to figure out that angle and then compensate accordingly.










These bolt holes are used to secure the top side standoffs from the bottom side. The standoffs on the bottom are tack welded in to place since they aren't visible, but I threaded the standoffs on the top on since I wanted it to look nice. On a side note, the bolt pattern here is pretty VR6ish :laugh:

Here are the standoffs tacked into place on the bottom. The plate and standoffs are really thick aluminum, so I was hammering on the welder to create these tacks... so that's why they are less than pretty. I knew they wouldn't look great going into it, that's why I threaded the visible standoffs instead of welding  

I also welded gussets on to either side of the bracket for support. The coils are somewhat heavy, so it seemed like having all of the weight suspended and vibrating there would lead to trouble eventually.

Next, I dimpled some numbers onto the bracket so I could remember which coil went to which cylinder :wave:



















So, the coils on the underside go to the front bank, and the coils on the top go to the rear bank. 

Here it is mocked up on a spare timing cover:




























and on the car (ignore the oil line, it's only pushed out of the way so I could work on the cover, I'm going to replace it with a stainless hardline before it all goes back together)...



















I don't really love how square and bulky they look, but I really could not find a better place to put them. You can tell these guys are heavy duty by the built in heat sink, so I'm hoping they work better than the look 

Also, side note, an additional benefit of mounting the coils this way is that my spark plug wires will all be the ~same length. In the last picture, the front coil will go to cylinder 5, the middle cylinder 3, and the closest to the firewall will go to cylinder 1.

Then, I pulled a plug wire off of my GMC truck which uses the same ignition coils and the short little wire that GMC uses measured ~330 ohms. The stock vr6 metal plug ends that I was intending to use have built in 5k ohm resistors, so obviously that wasn't going to work (well, at least). I ended up buying a multipurpose MSD crimping tool to use on my Deutsch and GM weatherpack pins on my firewall connector and on my engine sensors. The tool came with teeth designed to strip and crimp MSD plug wires (go figure :laugh, so it seemed like a no brainer to go this route.

I bought 25' of MSD 8.5mm wire and coil ends for GM LS coils and generic MSD spark plug ends. I have the part numbers if anyone ever needs to do anything similar. Basically, and the process totally sucks, you have to jam the wire through the spark plug boot, then strip the insulation and crimp on the connector. Then just repeat on the coil end. Seems easy enough, except getting the wire through the boots is literally like pushing a rope, uphill, in the snow, both ways. :facepalm:




























Cylinder 1 ended up being the longest at 26" and ~88 ohms. Cylinder 3 was 24" and ~82 ohms. Cylinder 5 was 22" and ~75 ohms. Obviously resistance is a linear function of length, so I measured and checked that this was indeed true with the three wires I've made so far and this verifies that I've got good crimps on all wire ends :thumbup: The resistances are now the same order of magnitude as the coils are expecting, and all of the wires are roughly the same length, so that makes me feel good.

... and here is the status on the MS Pro install. The ecu fits nicely in the glovebox. The ampseal connectors are super nice. You can actually hear them push the air out as the connector seats. Unfortunately the connectors being on top of the ecu is somewhat of an annoyance when it comes to mounting the ecu. Here is what I came up with:










The two connectors are on the left are USB power sources (for charging cell phones, etc) and USB output from the ecu to a laptop for datalogging. The cover for the back of the glovebox where the wires pass through is the portion of the heatercore that I wasn't able to fit after swapping in an aluminum core... so I repurposed it as a cover. I cut a strategically sized hole in the back of the glovebox so the wiring harness and ecu connectors can be passed through if you remove parts in the right sequence. Took me a while to figure out exactly how to make that happen 










... and here is where it all ends up. Keep in mind a good amount of this wiring in the foreground is stock wiring to the blower motor, cig lighter and passenger side speakers. That will get tucked up and zip tied out of the way eventually. You can see some wiring make its way toward the drivers side and in here is the power input to the ecu, trigger for the fuel pump relay, o2 sensor input from my wideband, soleniod wires to my boost controller, etc. You can also make out the back of my bulkhead fitting for the engine side wiring. I probably need to trim the carpet a bit more, but this will all be concealed when my parcel trays go back in.

Here is the bulkhead connector on the firewall side:










I made the aluminum plate using my trusty 'ole sdezego drill press to mount the connector in place and key onto the connectors anti-rotation tab. Kind of a blurry shot, but you can see the flat spot in the receptacle body that keys into the plate. This makes it MUCH easier to connect/disconnect the plug without having someone try to hold the receptacle from the backside, which would just be ridiculous with the interior installed. :what:










And here it is with the engine side harness connected. I haven't shrunk the raychem yet because I want to get the engine fired up first and make sure I don't have to depin and move any of the connections.










Progress on the harness has been a bit slow. I'm waiting on some pins to crimp on for my ignition coils. I've already bought the wrong pins once, so hopefully I'll get it right on the next go round. Metripack terminals are just plain weird :facepalm:

My friend Oliver did come down from Charlotte a few weekends ago and he was helping me. He does this stuff for a living so he was showing me all sorts of tricks like twisting the wiring for strain relief and to reduce signal noise. :wave:










Here are some other miscellaneous projects:

One of the reasons I wanted to do parcel trays was to move my instrumentation from the glovebox where I could hardly see/reach it to someplace more useful. I modified the drivers side tray to accommodate my boost controller and my wideband.










These will be out of the way, but easily viewable from the drivers seat (I checked before I committed to the location  ).











...and here are the inputs to the controllers. Connector for the o2 sensor, boost source from my drivers side bulkhead fitting, and weatherpack connectors for the o2 sensor analog output and boost solenoid signal wires.










...and here is the key switched power supply for the power seat motors, fuel injectors and ignition coils, boost controller and wideband, and one open spot for whatever else is needed 

I've also started some clean up projects in the engine bay. I finally made a hardline for my oil feed since my new coilpack bracket would force me to redo the line anyway. I also made a hardline shield for my egt sensor wiring since I always hated how sloppy it looked just dangling there. I added an intermediate k-type connector in the engine bay since it always angered me how tangled up the stainless sleeved wire would get when you have to thread in the probe into a port.










Here you can see the feed line (bottom) and the egt shield and the yellow k-type coupler. The downstream end of the coupler is routed into the cabin where it connects with the wideband controller/datalogger.

Here is the rest of the oil feed line.










I had to eyeball this bend for a while so I could tightly hug the thermostat housing and avoid blocking the lower intake manifold bolt hole. 










I've got a new set of injectors on the way, so once those show up I should be ready to crank it up :thumbup:

I will try to snap some new engine bay pics tonight or tomorrow after I get the injectors installed since there are a few updates I haven't covered. I was able to power up the megasquirt, test fire the coils, sync all the sensors, etc. etc. Really happy with the interface so far :thumbup:


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## wabbitGTl (Jan 2, 2007)

I just want to chime in and compliment you on such a wonderfully neat and well though out project you have going. I've been following your work for quite a while and it certainly serves as an inspiration for my own car. I'm in the process of cleaning up wiring and deleting some of the non-essential junk that remains from emissions control and the like. Great work and keep it up, I absolutely love the progress!


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

wabbitGTl said:


> I just want to chime in and compliment you on such a wonderfully neat and well though out project you have going. I've been following your work for quite a while and it certainly serves as an inspiration for my own car. I'm in the process of cleaning up wiring and deleting some of the non-essential junk that remains from emissions control and the like. Great work and keep it up, I absolutely love the progress!


Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback . I scroll back through my threads and see the pictures and I just feel like some of the cooler ideas and some of the better executed efforts are hidden or not easily recognizable. I am really happy with how it looks in person and how well everything seems to function, but it just seems like something is lost in the photos. 

Anyway, I *should* have injectors in hand and installed tonight, so depending on time and my mood I may try to fire it up later today. I still need to remake the coolant reservoir before I drive the car anywhere, but it would be nice to hear it run again :thumbup:


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## vr-vagman (May 15, 2010)

Hi, I'm also aiming at MS Pro and have similar coil setup:







> I bought 25' of MSD 8.5mm wire and coil ends for GM LS coils and generic MSD spark plug ends. I have the part numbers if anyone ever needs to do anything similar


It would be very kind if you share these part numbers.
Thanks!

BTW: Congrats for the nice and clean work.


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## wabbitGTl (Jan 2, 2007)

Honestly I think the hidden items are some of the best. I really dig the fuse panel up front and all the small details that set your car apart. I really wish I could have seen it in person but I didn't make it to a single show this year.


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## Norwegian-VR6 (Feb 6, 2002)

Fantastic !


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## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

Oh man! So awesome... Where did you get that firewall connector for your wire harness??


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## need_a_VR6 (May 19, 1999)

It's looking good. I agree the top mount connectors drive me nuts as well, but it is what it is. Mine is on the floor right now, mounted on its side with brackets.. to make the connectors easier to deal with. I think next time I'll mount it upside down!


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

vr-vagman said:


> Hi, I'm also aiming at MS Pro and have similar coil setup:
> 
> It would be very kind if you share these part numbers.
> Thanks!
> ...


That setup looks great! I considered something like that at first, but with my current intercooler piping setup it wouldn't work out. Also, I made some plug wire guides before SoWo that I really liked, so I wanted the coils on the timing chain side of the motor so I could continue using the guides. You can ~kinda see the guides in SoWo engine bay pics... two brackets off the rear of the valve cover and then two more guides welded underneath the catch can hardline.

Anyway, here are the part numbers. Use plenty of dielectric grease in the boots and on the wire when pushing it through. Try to push at a constant rate/pressure, otherwise the wire will want to buckle.

Spark Plug Ends:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/msd-3301/overview/

Ignition Coil Ends:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/msd-3304/overview/

Wire (you can obviously buy this in different lengths/color depending on your needs):
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/msd-34013/overview/

Can't wait to see how it turns out for you


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

CerealKiler said:


> Oh man! So awesome... Where did you get that firewall connector for your wire harness??


PM me if you're interested and I'll give you the contact info for the guy that sourced it for me. I think it was ~$120ish for the connector (plug, receptacle and terminals) and then another ~$100 for the crimp tool I used. Fortunately the crimp tool can be used for several types of pins (MSD, deutsch, gm weatherpack, bosch, etc.).


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

need_a_VR6 said:


> It's looking good. I agree the top mount connectors drive me nuts as well, but it is what it is. Mine is on the floor right now, mounted on its side with brackets.. to make the connectors easier to deal with. I think next time I'll mount it upside down!


Thanks Paul! Got any suggestions before my first start attempts (and/or a 1000cc vr6 basemap)? :laugh:

Side note... when I first powered up the ecu I couldn't connect to it with my laptop. Tried a handful of things and eventually figured out that I didn't have connectivity across one of the USB pins on the gray connector. I popped the connector off and everything looked good, but when I disassembled the connector I found that the wire was broken at the crimp onto the pin. I had to pull the pin out and solder the wire back to the pin since I didn't have any spare pins. Based on how stiff that bundle of wires was I "think" this may have happened when the connector was assembled, before it got to me. It's sorted out now, but something I'll definitely keep an eye on if I ever have connection problems.


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## need_a_VR6 (May 19, 1999)

I dont have one for 1000cc just going through the basic settings is enough to start it. I usually disable seq/cop to get things running. So you dont want to kill yourself setting the trigger edges. 

Never seen that defect before. I will check the ones I have and let diy know.


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Swapped my ID1000s in tonight, remade my brake booster vac line, gave everything a once over and the damn thing fired up on the first crank! 

Running waste spark COP right now since I don't have the cam sensor hooked up (that's actually the ~loose wire just below oil feed line in pic #1). The car was idling super high so I turned off the idle control via the throttle body motor, then I had to keep my foot in it a bit to keep it running. I'll mess with it more this weekend, just wanted to cross my fingers and give it a quick go tonight :thumbup:

Some pics of the final configuration. I still need to rewire the VSS and rebuild the coolant reservoir and refit some of the interior parts before I take it around the block, but that's all quick stuff...

Wired up coils:










Simplified vac lines. The front line goes to the map sensor which is mounted under the core support... you can see the two stainless bolts that hold it down.










Overall bay shot... still waiting on completing the items I mentioned previously and giving everything a good cleaning:


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## 12V_VR (Aug 11, 2010)

So much inspiration  keep up the good work:beer:


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## jerryel1nico (Aug 4, 2012)

Nice intake mani


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## jerryel1nico (Aug 4, 2012)

Nice intake mani


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

^^^ Thanks, I have a bunch of extra pictures of it in my build thread if you're interested. 

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?2909785-Goal-Actually-finish-it-this-time!/page8


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## need_a_VR6 (May 19, 1999)

First crank?!?


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

need_a_VR6 said:


> First crank?!?


Keyed on twice to build up some pressure in the rail, then cranked it and it fired immediately. It caught me off guard when it actually started, I definitely wasn't expecting it to fire and run, I thought at best it might stumble and pop. 

I have some more work to do this weekend but I'm hoping to actually get it running and keep it running. I'm sure I'll have a long list of questions for you sometime Sunday afternoon :laugh:


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## CorradoFuhrer (Mar 21, 2002)

really cool build :beer: glad it fired right up!


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## groundupjetta (Feb 1, 2010)

Congrats on the first start-up, car looks great and the attention to details is off the chart :thumbup:


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## 24vGTiVR6 (Sep 14, 2010)

awesome lee - love the fab work + hard lines

it's great inspiration well done


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

24vGTiVR6 said:


> awesome lee - love the fab work + hard lines
> 
> it's great inspiration well done


Thanks guys! After the first crank up I went back and fixed my coolant reservoir and started putting more of the interior back in the car. I'm embarrassed to say that I was in a hurry to finish the coolant reservoir before SoWo last year and I ended up plumbing the overflow return line into the pressure vent on the radiator cap... :facepalm: ... so I had to obviously strip the reservoir, rotate the cap, and then weld in a new bung to return the coolant to.

The coolant reservoir is on the far right, power steering reservoir in the middle, catch can to the left. Of course I leaned on the aluminum hardline before I took the pic, so it looks a little wavy. I straightened it out and took new pics, but they all came out blurry, so this will have to do. Anyway, the vent now points toward the shock tower and bends down similar to the vent on the PS reservoir.



















I also removed the coilpack bracket and powdercoated it when I was recoating the coolant reservoir. I took care to tape off the back of the bracket where it connects to the timing cover because I am grounding the coils to the coil bracket, which grounds to the timing cover. I've shot myself in the foot before with coated grounds, so I took more care this time and no issues so far. :wave:










...and here is the final engine bay shot. It probably won't be changing again for quite a while, other than me finding some neater way to tie up that fuel return line (or, I'll replace it with a hardline). I hate how it just droops down under the rail.










Now, the part that really matters... tuning. I sent a log to Paul K (need_a_vr6), then went back and adjusted some settings based on feedback from him and Shawn (sdezego). I was quickly able to adust the timing and fueling and get the car idling nicely on it's own. Once the car got hot and my warm up enrichment quit, the car started to run rough, so it seems pretty obvious that it wants more fuel. It was getting late, so I called it a night, but I'm getting more and more excited to get out there and start cleaning up this tune


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## SUPERCHARGED-JETTA (Aug 7, 2001)

Nice job lee. Always looking good:thumbup:


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## Yareka (Mar 5, 2002)

Awesome update Lee! Looks like you are getting much closer to your goal of actually finishing this time 

Pm me your email and I'll send you my latest fuel and timing files, might be something you can cross reference as you get further with yours.

Hitting the dyno again this saturday, hoping for better traction this time so I can get some data for that crankcase evac setup I mentioned earlier


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