A7 UFO - mk2 with mk4 PD power

[jv]

Only one engine in this one

[A7 UFO]

During the 7 years I owned the above mk1 I decided to buy a mk2 to run around town in.



It was a 98k mile 1991 J mk2 valver running a 175bhp/150lbs 9a/kr 2.0 16v. It came with leccy big bolster interior and an expensive Pioneer stereo set up (not my cup of tea) apart from that standard.

Fairly sharpishly I set to the handling with ARBs all round and FK adjustables along with the Cupra R 305mm 4pot Brembo front brake upgrade and renewed OE rear.

Externally, I sold the BBS and went to Design 90s before going back to 15"s with the Compomotive MOs. Obligatory M3 rear lenses and tinted side/clear front indicators, Punto rear wiper, G60 arches all round along with the 'Yes I'm a tart' personalised No. plate.

The only upgrade to the mechanicals was a cat back stainless system.



As I commuted 100 miles per day I decided the valver lump deserved to be upgraded to something more modern. I racked my brain for ages before deciding on going the PD TDi conversion route. I sourced a 1.9 PD TDi 150 with factory 6spd box off Ebay for a reasonable £850 and the conversion begun resulting with.....



Yes, the battery and washer bottle needs relocating to make a housing for the air intake. Since then a 200bhp/300lbs remap and Forge intercooler have been added. This was the worlds first PD 150 conversion and, currently, the only PD conversion to retain the factory 6spd box.

The car has been sat in a bodyshop for the past 5 months (downside of paying mates rates) where a full respray, smooth and de-clutter is taking place along with rallye front end. I'm leaving the G60 arches/sills as Mr VW intended.  This was a week ago-





This was last night-






The PD conversion has been a labour beyond my worst expectations.  There is very much a reason why it is such a rare thing.

I will be taking pics this evening of the car primed and painted.

[A7 UFO]

Painted (Blackmagic Pearl) but not polished.  Pics don't do justice (maybe the false light?) to the flake....will be mopped tomorrow to get the glass finish.

[A7 UFO]

Well, a stroke of luck.  A new tuner has opened up locally called Autobarn.  The guy who runs it, Roy, is an ex VW master technician and took my mk2 on.  The bodywork still wasn't finished - painted, flattened down, polished back up but not put back together (don't get me started) - but it was the electrics that he got stuck into.  He has cut at least half of the mk4 loom away which wasn't being used along with fitting the rallye front end, putting the battery in the boot, smoothing and painting the engine bay and polishing up a few parts.  But, most importantly, he solved the limp home boost issue within 2 minutes (other tuners took months and then gave up) - it was a mk2 brake sensor that should have been mk4 but was mk2...hence threw out the ecu.  The below pics were taken this evening and don't reflect the work he's put in - 99% of the wiring is hidden in the chassis legs.  Unfortunately, the pics are pre steam clean as far as the old engine parts and the scuttle panel goes.













Where the battery was will be a CAI housing with ducting from under the head lights and lots of parts are still to be polished up.

The good news is that he took it for a quick run after fixing the boost issue but before getting stuck into the wiring and he commented that it would have stuck on the bumper of his old 350bhp scoobie.  My sceptical side suggests he is saying what a customer wants to hear...but its nice to hear nonetheless.

The car has to be done by 1st Nov as its when second bubs is due...so watch this space.

[A7 UFO]

Apologies for the mobile phone photo...but you get the idea.

All thats left is bonnet alignment, wipers, plates, drivers window...and a damned good wash and polish!

[A7 UFO]

Sold the Compomotive MOs within an hour of advertising them (should have asked for more!!) and have bought the following to replace -

Keskin KT1
7.5x16 et35 front with 195/45
9x16    et15 rears with 215/40

Currently on this Seat -





Should be getting them in a few weeks as they are making their way down from Newcastle.  Car is in for MOT next Wednesday so the project is almost complete (except for retrim, mk4 dash, new ICE and tuning).

[A7 UFO]

Whilst the wheels look even better than I imagined the downside is that I would need a 1 inch spacer to clear the front calipers ...so looks like I'm going to punt the Brembos and go back down to G60 280mm set up.  I'll probably still need a 5mm spacer on the front to fill out the arches as the rears are so phhhhhaaaaat they make the fronts look a bit weedy.

Oh, the only reason it looks a bit high and needing dropping is that it was still jacked up on the passenger side and yes I know it needs a wash.

[A7 UFO]

Latest pic.



Still needs a clean and still needs driver's side door trim.

[A7 UFO]

Realised I hadn't kept this thread updated...

A couple of better pictures of it on the keskins...



Sold the keskins ages ago and added some freshly refurbed stainless rimmed RMs




I recently sold the BBS and now have 16x9 Prolines all round which I'm going to have powdercoated repsol orange
The only shot I have of them are pre refurb on the previous owners (annavr6) mk2 vr

and the engine bay has gone from looking like this

to this

The pipework was still very much at mock up stage in that photo, and the expansion bottle will be going (top fill rad) and all the wiring to the right and left of the block will be hidden....but you get the idea.  The block and box are also going to be painted repsol orange to match the wheels.  We were aiming to get it finished for spring fest this weekend but the stand it was supposed to be on has been cancelled so we'll save it for later on.

[A7 UFO]

Lots done today.  Engine out, gearbox off, ancillaries off and all the engine metal work starting to get stripped back completely to be airbrushed/detailed.  Whilst I'm cleaning all the metal work, Roy will be working on the bay - the paintwork is still gleaming (it just needs a good wash) so he's focusing on what can be hidden away.  Bay is going to be the tidiest TDi bay you'll likely see this side of the fatherland!




and the alternator plate which I spent about an hour on


Should be lots more photos taken as I work on it evenings next week