Mk2 Golf 3.2 VR6 Kamei Edition + GTI 8v Mini Resto

[th3_f15t]

I've always wanted to have a ported and gas flowed cylinder head but never wanted to pay for it. After reading up and getting some advice, decided to have a crack myself. If it goes wrong I can source a new head and use the bottom end that currently sits in the workshop. Regardless, I'll be using a second head on the other bottom end with the 272 degree cam and making a track focused engine, for a laugh. So, some pictures:




So the general theory, for those that don't know, is to remove factory imperfections and open up more space for air to flow into the combustion chamber, and then allowed it to flow more freely and efficiently out of the chamber via the exhaust. This is a 2 part thing, firstly it's all about shaving tiny but important amounts of metal out of the ports allowing better flow, but the second step will be to "port match" the manifolds, ensuring that they're opened up to match the profile of the head.

Long story short, better flow means better efficiency/power. My aim now is to hit similar power to a 16v GTI but with all the torque delivered much earlier in the rev range. I'll use a stock 8v camshaft for now but may switch to a 268 degree if I find one cheap. The 272 degree is more track focused, which would work well with a flowed head but I'm not planning on sitting at high revs in this car so a bit pointless making it top-end friendly. So onto some shots of work in progress:





That's about 3-4 hours work and it's still barely done on the ports I've covered so far! You can see in the last photo though the sort of difference between stock and gas flowed looks like, the aim now is to smooth it right out (maybe even polish it for extra shine) and get the valves re-seated before new valve guides and a skim then back into the car.

All this may seem massive overkill for a "quick restoration" but it's all in the name of learning. I've read a bit about the VR6 engines responding very well to a port and gas flowing session, so you may start to see why I'm going through all this trouble now...

More to come when I get more bits for the Dremel!

[lemski]

Porting... Ive got a rediculass amount of time in my spare kr head and its no where near done. Even my exhaust manifold has been opened up so it does restrict the gasses with the little bit that may have been in the way. Its a obsession after a while to get the head perfect.

You can also do tb with abit of gain...

[th3_f15t]

Throttle body, inlet and exhaust manifolds and the head itself are all on the list of things to be ported. I'm not going too mental at this stage, planning on getting a second head and giving that more of my time. This is just to see if I have the right ideas and what sort of gains you can get but flowing the head.

[th3_f15t]

Finished off the head, just need to lap the valves in and get new guides and a skim sorted then it's ready to be built up. The finished results:





Only when it's running, tuned up and running on a dyno will I know whether there's an improvement, or if I've just done an overkill clean! Going to see how it performs and see where I could of improved and work on another head that'll go onto my bottom end I'm rebuilding.

[th3_f15t]

This is now a not-so-mini restoration of the GTI, been doing loads of little odd jobs here and there. I've cleaned up the engine bay a bit, got rid of the crappy looking covers on the coolant pipes, replaced the slam panel and painted it red (for a laugh) as a temporary thing, repaired the knock sensor as all the outer insulation had fallen away, repaired the front bumper as the plastic part wasn't on the iron, ordered a load of stuff and painted some bits. I've not taken many pictures, as I've always left my phone indoors but here's some for the hell of it.




The front end of the car looks a sorry state at the moment as most of it isn't on the car! Tomorrow I'm taking delivery of some more parts, then it'll be a rapid re-build of the front end bar the grill as I need spot light adjustment clips but hoping to get it all back together and ready for just the head to go on, plumed in and connected up then hopefully she'll fire up and time for a test drive.

[th3_f15t]

Ordered some more parts to finish things off so I can get her MOT'd and driving. Got a new oil cooler to play it safe, injector seals, rubber bung for the breather, pedal rubbers and some gasket sealant.



Also painting my rocker cover to match the slam panel and front strut brace, although the cover is going to be a wrinkle red finish and not a gloss finish;



And so I rolled the car out into the daylight and revealed this sorry state:



Front bumper put back together and the slam panel;



Forgot to mention I've fiberglassed the hole in the rear bumper, will fill and re-paint it at a later time to fully repair it as well as address the scuffs and scraps on the textured black part if I can. Also need to adjust the position of the back box once the exhaust system is reconnected to the downpipe as it fouls the bumper at the moment;



Also managed to bag myself a second cylinder head, camshaft, throttle body and the internals from another GTI 8V which will mostly be used with the other block I'm building back in the workshop unless this head turns out to be junk;



Cleaned up the throttle body from this car so it's all fresh;




A work in progress shot;



Fitted the new oil cooler, cleaned everything up around the area and plumbed it all back together including the radiator;




And fitted the slam panel;



Planning to drive out to Bridgewater tomorrow morning, drop the heads off for some work and once they're back I'll build up the one for this GTI, drop the stock camshaft I've just bought into it and get it running at the very least. Once I get a timing light and hopefully access to an emissions analyser, I'll be able to fully tune it up ready for MOT and maybe getting on a dyno to see what numbers the engine is pushing out.

[th3_f15t]

Finished off the grill bar the VW badge today, painted the lower trim satin black to match and will get a new GTI badge if she stays long enough, but for now it looks pretty good:



Also decided the throttle body would look rubbish next to the clean, painted inlet manifold so decided to paint it as well:



Went to fit the bonnet catch the other day but the bolt snapped in the thread, so it's going to be stripped off completely and replaced with a new part, got my eye on a replacement already. Also dropped the heads off at the engine shop, if the one from this engine is knackered (cracked between valves in cylinder 1 and may fail pressure tests) then it'll be straight onto head number 2. Either way, they'll get acid dipped and cleaned, new valve guides and re-cut seats as well as grinding the valves in for perfect fit. That being said, if the initial head is bad I'll ask for the second one back with no valve guides so I can gas flow it properly before getting the rest of the work carried out. Hopefully it'll be driving within the next 2 weeks now, time to research how to set the timing and tune the 8v to perfection.

[th3_f15t]

Cleaned up the injector wiring loom:



Also fitted the painted throttle body:



Got a message last night saying that the original head is all good, it's getting sorted now and should be ready early next week, so fingers crossed I can fire her up before Thursday next week. Not got next weekend on Hayley as I'm off to Essex, so maybe some Hariet updates will come soon. Thinking of stripping the rest of the 1.6 engine and gearbox out and starting the process of cleaning the bay up for the VR6 engine.

[th3_f15t]

Sorry for neglecting this post for some weeks, I’ve not been as busy on the cars as I’d like but I have some progress to update on. To start with, got the head back and into the garage:




The head had a full pressure test, valve seats re-cut, valves lapped in and new guides pressed in. I’ve also replaced valve stem oil seals, cleaned all the internals and gas flowed the head itself, so this should hopefully be a pretty decent engine when back together!




Then decided to clean up the head and prep it for painting:



Got some satin black engine paint, didn’t get any pictures of the process of paining, but bare with me, as a few other things happened at the same time. Decided to fit the air feed scoop:



And repaired the wiring for the side lights, previous own had re-run it to sit in the indicators which I don’t want at all:



Soldered and sealed up both sides so should be good now. You’ll also notice in that photo, on the right hand side, the little bit that connects into the wiring for the lights with corroded connections, pulled it apart and repaired it as best I can but may source another one. No pictures, sorry.

Next job to report on is porting out the exhaust manifold. The head-facing side is fine, but the downpipe-facing part was, well, look…



That’s the gasket openings marked on there, the downpipe is that size already but the manifold is a massive restriction it seems. A during shot to show a side-by-side difference in ports:



And the result:



Now faced with a dilemma, do I use stock cams and hope for loads of low down grunt, or do I stick to the 272 camshaft and hope it’s more driveable than a stock head but much better mid-to-top range? Thoughts appreciated.

After this came replacing all the injector seals and caps on all four injectors and cleaning up the fuel rail some more:




And all this work over the past few posts combines into this:



Got to fit it back to the engine, connect the exhaust, wiring, cooling and set the timing then it’ll be time to see if it fires up and runs. Nervous to say the least. Last bit, got some other bits to throw on, Pipercross panel filter being the highlight:



Update on progress on the brakes to follow, the fronts are getting totally rebuilt, I’ll explain why in the post…

[th3_f15t]

Decided today that enough is enough... The engine needed putting back together. Got the head back on the car, bolted and torqued down, put the 272 camshaft back in, lined up my timing marks from when I removed it, re-connected everything and then realised that because I left the downpipe off thinking I could fit it from under the car after the head was on, I realised too late that there's not enough room to put the downpipe on! Luckily I think I can get away with taking the driver's side driveshaft off which should give me the room to fit the downpipe properly.

Progress shots:




Still have a few more parts to get hold of to finish it all up but it's pretty much ready to turn the key and see if it even fires up. I'm dead worried I'll of messed the timing up or not tightened the cambelt tensioner properly so may re-check all that before I fire it up for real. Really don't want to trash this engine at this stage.

The reason I went with the 272 cams is that this isn't a daily driver, so a poorer low end and idle doesn't really bother me, plus I'm hoping with the flowed head and manifolds that it'll be OK for low end anyway. It's in the mid to top range where I'd like to see it come alive as I want to enjoy driving this car properly once it's done, as it has a really nice chassis set up at the minute but I may end up re-working that at a later stage.

Hopefully soon I can show a video of the car running and driving under it's own power!