VR6 Highline - Tuning/Styling (where to go and what to get done)

[Mr.G 0]

Hi all i'm new here so please bare with me!

Having owned a VR6 before which was just air filter and zaust i was wondering what i should do to my new highline which i've yet to pick up. Hopefully tomorrow :D

I've owned various cars over the years including loads of MKII golfs (g60 was my favorite), Impreza RB5, M3 Evolution, a few AUDI S3 Quattro's and a Beetle. My Favorite was the M3 but the VR6 is such a lovely car i had to get another one!

The VR's are cheap"ish" too these days compared with most other cars and the noise...ohh love it.

Anyway i have been looking around the forum these last few days and have found that most either charge their VR's or Turbo them. What happened to NA??

Is that the best way to go forced induction? How much would i be looking to spend on a decent charger or turbo setup?

Another few questions, BBS RS wheels in 16" and 17" formats. Where is the best place to get them from and what fitment 5 X ?? ET ?? do i need to buy? Are there any modifications i would need to do before fitting some? 16" or 17" which looks nicest??

I've had 9J X 16 ET 15 on 2 of my MKII golfs, i don't want to go that wide on the highline but 8J would be nice i think. Any help from people who have done these things already would be really really appreciated.

Mr.G

[c4mbl 1]

Welcome mate.

For your charger setup it would cost about 3k all in probably, including having your ECU re-mapped.

The alloys would need to be 5x100, ET 35. No mods would need to be done to fit them but you might find you want to lower it a bit afterwards. I have 17's on mine, 8 inch wide,and would like to lower it at some point. Everyone has their own opinion on which looks nicest, 16" or 17", i personally like 17", especially in the BBS wheel. The 16" gives better handling apparently, depends what your after.

The BBS will cost a fair bit mate, you could consider look alikes and save some cash for your charger or suspension etc.

[mike 6]

hi mate welcome, i know midland vw near me does a charger fitred and mapped for 2500 altho its jsut a stage one vortec, you might want more power. not many people do turbo setups, speak to IBvr off hear he knows loads. On rims 17s for me also, you could get soem bbs RC's like mine there 3 times cheaper second hand than RS rims, not as good tho

i have a quick question on m3's...i was watchin a guy doing soem drifting in one, and it sounded pants really farty and his mate said they all sound like that, im guessing thats bullcrap? im guessin he had a naff exhaust?

mike

[Mr.G 0]

Thanks for the replies lads! Very helpful indeedy!

I'm a sucker for BBS RS think they are call 301's? Not sure, i MUST have a set lol!

I might just go for 16" any idea where i could get pics of both 16" and 17" on a MKIII to see which looks best????

Mmmm the M3....well I was a lot younger when i bought it, some 5 years ago maybe more, i was 22 i think. It was 2years old when i got it and was mint, in Estoril blue - fully loaded, it sounded like nothing else i'd heard, not raspy or farty but really like a loud roar kinda like a VR in some ways, bags and bags of power. All my other mates and people i used to bother with didn't drive cars that were that special, not that i was proving that my dick was bigger than theirs by buyin an M3 just that i loved the car for what it was, and engineering marvel (at the time).

321 Hp through the rear wheels felt nice believe me. It was my nicest car, but then it was expensive to run properly. Super all the way, no 95 RON. The servicing at BMW was through the roof, tyres were silly expensive, but then i had the best of everything for the car. No expense spared. Miss it in a way as the speed of the thing up the gears was phenominal. My Impreza was fast as i had it tuned but it just didnt seem to be anything like the M3. Maybe the NA engine and noise made it that much nicer i don't know!

Used to attract so much attention from people, had people shouting daddies car lol at me until i lit the back wheels up and sprayed rubber everywhere hah, women used to screamat me on a saturday night as i cruised the town looking to park it up. One time i actually had a woman (real stunner) get in the car as i was stuck in traffic on a saturday night....scared the shit outta me!!!

Those were the days........sorry i'm rambling on here lmao....

[Paul1982 0]

Welcome welcome

Lol - I used to have a Cosmos Black M3 Evo convertible and yes it went like hell - but even with a full esxhaust and filter extra it sounded well just loud. When doing 100mph+ and in the rev's it sounded like a plane taking off lol thats the only time i loved the note of the engine.

My mate had an S3, beautiful put together bit of kit but it felt slow even though it was a 342bhp mtm version - they was so smooth and 160mph that it didnt seem like you was doing 120 in the VR - So its nice but not rough enough for me.

The RB5 well thats a quick car - that would have pissed on the M3's chips until 100mph as i had the unfortune of finding out lol

So what VR are you picking up and what sort of dolla r u looking to spend on her?

A stage 2 charger kit with 280bhp+ is probably the best bhp/£ out there for the VR - which will cost

£2500-£3K

If your gonig to do this then i'd get a 6 branch manifold (raceland on ebay less then than £200) and a full 2 an 3 quarter inch system.

Brake upgrade and engine mount upgrade with a nice clutch.

All in all you'll be looking at spending around £5k to get her mint - but the car will then be a seriously fast minter that sounded better than anything i've hurt (less than £100k that is) and will be as fast as your RB5.

After this has been done then 300+bhp is easy.

For a N/A VR to produce 210-220bhp your looking at £3k lol - so bhp/£ its just not worth it.

When you pick her up lets see some pics of her before and after ;-)

[mike 6]

on the other hand you could have just baught teh supercharged highline thats for sale fro 5.5k on rhe for sale section damn i want that car

Love the M3 story mate , id love a car like that, i get a few kids droolin over my car now and again but nothing like that!

[Mr.G 0]

just text'd you Paul!

[Mr.G 0]

Hmmm i already bought one now...pick it up this week i hope. I'm the type to do everything myself rather than buy others work. Kinda like the fact of making things look and perform better ya know!

Mr.G

[matth76 1]

I like the sound of the M3... was it the E36 or E46 version? What was the RB5 like to drive? That's basically top of the range impreza you can get...or is it the 22b? Very expensive, even now they're 20k for a 22b! I was thinking about getting an impreza as my next car ..only thing that puts me off an impreza is the fact it's only a 2ltr (despite all the power from the turbo I think I would always long for a bigger engine... now I've driven a 2.8). The M3 is a 3.2 or 3.3 ltr engine isn't it, with a flat six cylinder arrangement similar to the Porsche 911?

Funny how the VR got such bad reviews when it first came out (mainly due to the soggy suspension) and now lots of people really love it (especially if you fix the suspension it's a perfect car). I've never driven the car's you've owned (v. nice selection by the way)..how do you think the VR compares and what is it about it that has made you choose it again mate, over other more expensive cars?

[mike 6]

I like the sound of the M3... was it the E36 or E46 version? What was the RB5 like to drive? That's basically top of the range impreza you can get...or is it the 22b? Very expensive' date=' even now they're 20k for a 22b! I was thinking about getting an impreza as my next car ..only thing that puts me off an impreza is the fact it's only a 2ltr (despite all the power from the turbo I think I would always long for a bigger engine... now I've driven a 2.8). The M3 is a 3.2 or 3.3 ltr engine isn't it, with a flat six cylinder arrangement similar to the Porsche 911?

Funny how the VR got such bad reviews when it first came out (mainly due to the soggy suspension) and now lots of people really love it (especially if you fix the suspension it's a perfect car). I've never driven the car's you've owned (v. nice selection by the way)..how do you think the VR compares and what is it about it that has made you choose it again mate, over other more expensive cars?

[/quote']

i agree its amzing he has come back to a vr6...fair play

btw mate teh 22b ita 2.2 hence the name so not all 2 litres they got a 2.5L in early USA ones, and are newer wrxs are coming out with 2.5's

[bulldog 2]

I like the sound of the M3... was it the E36 or E46 version? What was the RB5 like to drive? That's basically top of the range impreza you can get...or is it the 22b? Very expensive' date=' even now they're 20k for a 22b! I was thinking about getting an impreza as my next car ..only thing that puts me off an impreza is the fact it's only a 2ltr (despite all the power from the turbo I think I would always long for a bigger engine... now I've driven a 2.8). The M3 is a 3.2 or 3.3 ltr engine isn't it, with a flat six cylinder arrangement similar to the Porsche 911?

Funny how the VR got such bad reviews when it first came out (mainly due to the soggy suspension) and now lots of people really love it (especially if you fix the suspension it's a perfect car). I've never driven the car's you've owned (v. nice selection by the way)..how do you think the VR compares and what is it about it that has made you choose it again mate, over other more expensive cars?

[/quote']

The M3 is a 6 inline and a 3 litre or 3.2 litre, on the move they are alot faster than the imprezas but not any fun to drive, imprezas are ace and fun to drive but cheaply built rattley and very thirsty, they are also chavs cars nowadays, dont let the 2 litre motor put you off as it's a great lump. The RB5 is nothing special, it's like having a highline VR6 over a stock VR6.

Mark.

[Mr.G 0]

Where do i start.....

Ok, the first performance car i bought was the M3. Which was the Evolution version...a 3.2 Straight Six engine with an AC Schnitzer gearbox installed. Cost me £26k when i bought it. Truely stunning car.

The RB5 was after my S3 Quattro's. Nice car was around £18k that too was stunning. But in a different way. Raw power and a totally different drive to the M3 and any VW you'll find.

The two cars couldn't be further apart. Lack of build quality on the subaru was its downfall although most other parts of the car were nice, the colour wheels and styling. Its engine is not the best design as it is a flat four setup and suffered bad heatsoak on piston no 4. As a result i had 3 brand new engines. Courtesy of Subaru Uk. The car was in the garage for a total of six months during my 2 year ownership of it. Also had 2 gearboxes and an ECU change, again courtesy of Sbaru Uk. Cost them total circa £13k to fix it. For this reason i'd only ever buy an import as they have a one piece block which is much stronger than the uk model found in most Subaru's you'll see in classic shape. The newer ones are ok from what i understand but i'm well out of the RICE scene and will remain with a VW/BMW from now on.

The reason i chose a VR again is that for the money you can't get much better for comfort/build/looks/sound/power. My last motor was a Golf II G60. The M3 is my all time favorite car having owned one i'd definately say i'll get another one someday.

But for now and the foreseable future the VR will be the motor on my drive, sitting pert on FK coil overs as some nice BBS RS to liven it up a bit.

Getting older changes priorities and a nice house with nice things comes first, but that doesn't mean i'm settling for second best as i am very happy to be getting into a VR again!

[Mr.G 0]

The RB5 is something special in my opinion, the colour was unique to the car, it has stiffer suspension, bigger speedline wheels, different (suede/alcantara) seats, air con, proper spot lamps not driving lamps or fogs, and was limited to 444 ever made, mine was 83.

It's nothing like comparing a standard VR to a highline. The cars were sent to prodrive factories to be upgraded, all too comemorate RB rally win.

My RB5 was far from standard, it was mint and as i wrote before had practically new everything. Sweet as a nut it was. I actually bought Peter Solbergs titanium alcon brake setup for the car, with 335mm discs and alloy bells. Had some mild tuning done to the engine and was very very hapy with it.

[bulldog 2]

Getting older changes priorities and a nice house with nice things comes first, but that doesn't mean i'm settling for second best as i am very happy to be getting into a VR again!

Well said I know where your coming from.

[Mr.G 0]

Hehe....i cant wait actually lol!

[bulldog 2]

Hehe....i cant wait actually lol!

I sold my last house 2 years ago, bought an old house and have for the last 18 months been building an extension bigger than the original house on it, when it's done it'll be 3 times bigger than when I bought it, it's cost me over £30k from my pocket in the last year and will probally cost that again to finish. Saved money buy doing 80% of it myself so far.

[Mr.G 0]

Nice...wish i was in that situation...should have spent my money on property not fast cars, it' my biggest regret in life. Houses make money, cars loose it. Lol...not fair!

[Mr.G 0]

http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/cargrouptests/205669/subaru_impreza.html

Found the above about the RB5....really good read!

[Paul1982 0]

Well the P1's are the top end of the Subaru range - then the 22b then the Sti version 5, then the RB5

Yes thats right people the P1 is a better car than the 22b. The P1 beats the 22b on every spec BUT the shell.The 22b are rare and cost a sh*t load more but the P1 will piss all over it.

The WRC didn't use the 2.2 block as they are not aloud to go over the 2000cc mark for entry. The 2.2 block was a setup block ready for tuning for the Group A rally cars where there power is 500-600bhp.

[rodney 17]

Mr. G

if you become a premium member there is access to a lot more comprehensive information on all these subjects. (only £10 and you'll make that back on your first purchase)

Discounts and group buys will drop the costs by a good 10%

16s for handling and 17s for looks. depending on how wide/low you go depends on if you roll the arches.

I can recommend the forced route