Octavia VRS Engine & Box Into Mk3 VR6 Shell - Easy?

[Seademon 0]

How difficult would it be to put a 1.8T engine and box into a Mk3 VR6? Mate of mine had his VRS written off the other day & I wanna buy it off him after the insurance etc has gone through and make a proper ring car for myself from it - I can get my hands on a cheap VR6 easily enough. If I had a couple of people that had some knowledge of cars and the right tools could it be done at home?

[purple highline monster 0]

if you have all the loom and all the bits it is still involves a lot of work but it is possible, dont know if anyones done it in a mk3 before? it cant be much different to a mk4 bay though but the mounts may be different? the hardest part is the ecu and dash clocks etc and the exhaust side on most conversions, lots of mk2 owners have the 20v t engine so get on club gti and ask a few on there mate, i drive the skoda vrs every day at work as you know and it has plenty of scope to be tuned beyond what they do standard, and its easy to get high 3 figure speeds :-* even with 2 fat coppers and a load of kit in it, it all costs money though, just depends what you want, ask mike at Jabbasport, he is a bit of a master when it comes to tuning that engine, he done a 18t gti when i was up there and it was pushing 270 bhp with just a different turbo chip and air filter, sounds like a good plan but why not do a mk2 instead? its a much easier car on the eye and imo handles better on a track, you can use vr or G60 brake set up too or even the skoda ones.

[Seademon 0]

Cheers Nick - I prefer the Mk3 shape to the Mk2 and thought that with a busted VR I'd get semi decent brakes and stuff as standard, Plan would be to strip it all out with a cage etc to save me doing it to my VR6. The bloke I would get the base car off has a mate that works at jabba sport so that thought had already crossed my mind :0) If a VR6 lump will go almost straight into a Mk2 then a 1.8T should drop nicely into a Mk3 no? Would be a wicked project to undertake I think.

[IbiVR 0]

It does go in easy enough, but tbh its a more expensive option than the vr, and isnt as good an engine imo, so would be better and defo cheaper just sticking with the vr...

Having said that i know a couple of people with 20vt mk3's and they go v well, and its nice to have some variety in your life..

Also i may be wrong, but i think the vrs uses an 02J box, which mounts pretty much the same as the 02A VR boxes. theres a couple of differences, but its not the struggle you get if you try and put an 02m in there.

Tom.

[cadguy77 0]

Mark, talk to Tim @ the phirm, he'll point you in the right direction. I'm not sure if he's done one into a mk3 but he's done untold polo's lol

[Focker-out 0]

Mates old boy has a mk3 20vt was one of the first in the country to use full vag looms etc.

The engine physically fits in no problem, like has been mentioned before its the wiring thats the problem, and iirc the octavia runs a 6 speed box, im not 100 percent sure if this will pose a problem, but i dont think it will seeing as its FWD.

You will need a down pipe and fabricate a custom intercooler, if i were you i would speak to mr Leach at QPE as he is the man in the know for 20v swaps and i believe he now does downpipes etc off the shelf for certain 20vt swaps

[Seademon 0]

Cool! I forgot about the custom downpipe but at least I now know a man that can :0) Once I've had go ahead from my mate about the engine I'll get things moving - shouldnt be too difficult to do I know a few people that can help me out with it - should be quite nippy if it gets done!

[Seademon 0]

Just been told how much I can have the car for - getting a bargain so Im gonna do it, never done anything like this before so its gonna be good fun!

[Paul1982 0]

Well good luck - Are you going to strip it out and track it or use it for and everyday car?

[cadguy77 0]

track track track

[Seademon 0]

Just track & ring use - wont have any luxuries apart from a seat to sit in :0)

[purple highline monster 0]

perspex windows........gotta have perspex windows man! and a full monty roll cage....it will look the badgers nadgers

[Seademon 0]

Yep - once the base cars all running I'll be on the prowl for all these sort of bits or should I put a full cage in 1st? hummm - all I can see is £ signs ha ha Anyone need any Octavia parts?!

[Paul1982 0]

Strip it and put a full weld in cage - Eibach Coilovers and roll bars. The engine is the same as the Golf/TT so MTM/AMD do good chips boosting the standard car power level over 265bhp.

I have a mate who remaps them for £160 lol and the Golf 180 turns into 245bhp - Change intercooler etc and its 300bhp

You have a very very good tunable engine there which costs pennies to get bhp figures higher

[Paul1982 0]

[antera309 3]

I made a few enquiries about the conversion.... 1.8T into a VR6 is actually harder than fitting an R32 lump. You need to swap in a mk3 16v subframe, gearbox, 'shafts & engine mounts in order for the engine to go in. Then there's the intercooler, which is a completely bespoke job that I've never seen done the same way twice,

The good news is that, once the engine is fitted and the intercooler plumbed in, QPEng can sell you a plug & play ECU & wiring loom which makes the electrical side of things very straightforward. The chip fitted to their ECU disables the immobiliser and gives you an extra 50BHP over the standard engine, which is nice!

QPEng can also supply a ready made exhaust downpipe for a 1.8T in a mk3.

http://www.qpeng.com/

Assuming you did all the work yourself, I reckon you'd be looking at ~£1800 on top of the cost of the engine.

If I wanted to build a 1.8T mk3, I would go searching for a complete mk3 16v with a knackered engine as the base car TBH.

[Paul1982 0]

I Kinda Agree with you Antera - a 16v is alot cheaper and you might be able to find a nice set up shell with a fooked engine for pennys :-) - The good thing about the 1.8T conversion is that the weight will mean it will handle alot better than the VR and as a track car this is very important.

Keep up up2 date with what your up2 2f2g

[Seademon 0]

Cheers - Was speaking to someone at the weekend & they said I'd be best off with a Gti aswell so thats what I'll do, thanks for the links for the Ecu and pipes Im sure they'll come in handy!

Anyone need any Octavia parts?!

[Paul1982 0]

MTM Conversion:

http://www.qstuning.com/products.jsp?page=products&manufac=3&model=20&variant=59

They are pricey but you can get the bits cheaper - but they are the best German tuners out there for that engine.

This is a lad i've used a few times website and he's sh*thot aswel:

http://www.e-maps.co.uk/products/Skoda/Octavia/

I used him a few times and got him down to £160 to come to my home and remap my motor (thought it was a bargain so used him on every car i've had lol)

[craggsy 91]

I'm really excited about this......as I think the 1.8T is really suited to the Mk3 as it'll shift as its lighter than the Mk4

[Seademon 0]

Cheers for the contacts Paul - I dont wanna be spending big money on it really but I think a stripped out Mk3 with about 280bhp will be pretty quick to start off with but then we all get used to the power and start wanting more dont we :0)

[Seademon 0]

Quick little update - stripped some parts from the car and Im thinking of using the Qpeng plug & play loom as it sounds much easier to install the engine using this but its £850+vat! I've emailed them to see what parts I will need to keep from the VRS to put into a Mk3 but I need to shift all the Octavia parts before I get a car to put the engine into but its all looking good so far! Ive got a complete front end of the VRS in my kitchen at the moment wiating to be picked up and rad/air-con rad & wing in my bedroom!

[Paul1982 0]

Lol - i hope its jsut you living there and my Mom would f*ck me up before i could explain lol

[descb600f 0]

God that makes me feel old I cant remember when I last had to worry what my mum would say if I was doing this at mine.

lol

[Paul1982 0]

Lol - Think is i'm 25 and should be out of her house by now - i blame her as her food is just 2 good 2 go hehe