East Coast American Mk3

[Ridgies 0]

Well, I made a similar post in the "newbie" section yesterday, but then after looking over the site, decided I should post a sort of "project" thread here. The car is mostly done. There's just a few things I would like to do it now (that will be covered in a bit). First, a little background on the car.

The car is a 1997 Golf K2 Edition. Here in America, 4dr Golf's never got the VR6. Bummer. So I decided to take out the 2.0 and put in a VR6. After a bad first engine, the VR was finally transplanted. Had to work out a few kinks (one of the coolant hoses was leaking, had a bad aftermarket ECU chip, and some others), I finally got it going properly. Been driving the piss out of it lately. Now for a rundown on everything done to the car so far, then future plans, and finally some pictures. Also, if anyone wants any North American bits, I'll try to find them and ship them over. I'm also willing to trade things, too.

Exterior Modifications:

15x8 ET30 RML Snowflakes powdercoated black with 205/50/15 tires (soon to be 195/45/15s)

KSport Coilovers

Euro front bumper

Euro Front rebar

Euro rebar

Mk4-look projector headlights with actual Audi S4 projectors retrofitted.

Euro 20th Jahre rear bumper

Stubby antenna

Badgeless grill

Interior Modifications:

Polo 6N2 steering wheel

Mk4 shift knob and boot

In the process of switching all my interior lighting to red instead of green

Pioneer stereo with JL Audio speakers

Engine Modifications:

VR6 swapped in

AC, SAI, and EVAP stuff completely deleted

2.25" catback exhaust

EuroSport in-fender Cold Air Intake

Ford V6 coilpack mod to get rid of that junk, expensive OEM VR6 coilpack (ask me about this if you want to know more)

Black Forest Industries PEM chip

Future Modifications:

Full 3" exhaust from the downpipe back (this has been dyno proven to give more hp to the wheels vs. a 2.5" exhaust; have proof, just ask)

Lugtronic Standalone ECU (www.lugtronic.com)

Full Accuair E-Level air ride

16x7 Phone Dials with 195/40/16 tires

New seats (thinking about Mk5 Interlagos plaid front seats and deleting the rears and doing a false floor)

And one day down the road, supercharge the car and try to push over 300hp to the front wheels.

Pictures (the first one is just of the engine swap; the lights are different as well be seen in the pictures after):

[v6horse 1]

Hello mate ,

Got to say i like the look of your motor , didn't know they didnt put the vr lump in the 4dr over in the states .

Some nice mods in the future i see are coming , why the standalone may I ask ?

Also what is this Ford V6 coildpack mod you have done and was it easy to install and any benefits apart from reliability .

Looking forward to seeing how this car turns out :-)

Best Of luck mate .

[Ridgies 0]

Yeah. It sucks a bit because they didn't, but I've rectified that situation, and kept it looking stock for the most part as far as still being 4 lug and such.

I'm choosing standalone because it's easier to tune, the Lugtronic is plug and play (take out the ECU and plug in the Lugtronic standalone harness), and it future proof other mods (bigger exhaust, supercharger, etc).

The Ford V6 coilpack mod couldn't be easier (I'll post a picture of my almost finished product at the end of this post). You take a Ford V6 coilpack from pretty much any Ford V6 motor from 2002-2004 (I bought two; one from an '02 F150 and one from an '03 Taurus). As far as benefits, yes. Higher spark output which means you can gap your plugs more (most people without forced induction are running a 0.035 gap) which means better fuel economy. There's also better fuel mileage and better throttle response and acceleration. All you need is the coilpack and the pig tail so you can wire it up. The plug wires from your VR6 fit right onto the Ford coilpack, too.

Picture of my little mod (don't worry; I cleaned it all up and made it nice and pretty after this was taken):

[v6horse 1]

I found my stock ecu does well with just a good chip and remap . wont you lose most of the safeguards that you stock ecu has with a standalone one ? Im running custom chip with my supercharger and works perfect . when i was considering changing the ecu i was advised by the vr6specialists to keep the stock ecu as it can cope with anything providing you put the custom chip and find a good mapper .

[Ridgies 0]

Just out of curiosity, what safeguards do you mean exactly? As far as I'm aware, it's just a plug and play harness that allows you to retune everything yourself so it runs perfect. It will also allow me to completely get rid of the VR6 ICM stuff and just run the straight Ford coilpack. It eliminates the need to swap out chips if you go from NA to super or turbo or back and forth or anything. And it's really simple to go back to complete stock with it.

Anyhow, another picture.

Lighting sucks... But it's just showing the changed up lighting for the trip and clock. That's supposed to be pure black with red numbers... That's how it looks in the car...

[v6horse 1]

Like the clocks . As for the safeguards I was talking about the knock sensor etc . Does the standalone support them ? I was informed that most standalones do not .

[Ridgies 0]

I see no reason it shouldn't. Here's pictures and specs from Lugtronic ( www.lugtronic.com ) itself.

Overview:

Finally! Now there is a full Plug and Play ECU solution for VW/Audi owners!

With LugTronic, you can be up and running with a stand alone ECU in less than 30 minutes!

The LugTronic PnP ECU Plugs into your stock harness, and mounts into the stock location.

A basemap is pre-installed in the ECU to get you up and running quickly and easily.

Avoid the horror stories you may have heard, and forget about begging forums for support.

LugTronic is a system developed by an experienced and dedicated tuner in the VW / Audi community.

Basic Specs:

8 High Impedance Injector Drivers

8 High and Low Power Ignition Drivers

Onboard Wideband O2 Controller

Onboard MAP Sensor - 400 KPA (44 PSI Boost)

Onboard EGT Input for K-Type Thermocouple

16x14 maps for Fuel VE, Ignition Timing, and Lambda Target

Idle Air Control

Boost Control vs. Speed, Gear, RPM and TPS

Launch Control and Anti-lag

Full Throttle Shift Cut

6-8 Analog Inputs (Voltage, Fuel, Oil, Exhaust Pressure)

2 Wheel Speed Inputs

Extra Outputs available for: Tachometer, Fan, Fuel Pump, Shift Light, Water Injection, Nitrous, Warning Light, etc.

Inputs:

Crankshaft Speed/Position

Camshaft Speed/Position

Throttle Position

Air Temperature

Coolant Temperature

1-2 EGT Exhaust Temperature

Wideband O2 Sensor

6-8 Analog Inputs (Voltage, Fuel,Oil, Exhaust Pressure)

2 Wheel Speed Inputs

Outputs - Hardware:

8x Injector Outputs

8x Ignition Outputs

6x 350mA Misc. Outputs

4x Stepper Motor Outputs

Outputs - Software:

2x RPM/TPS/MAP Outputs

1x RPM Output

1x WOT/RPM Output

1x Tachometer Output

1x Idle Valve Output (2 or 3 wire ISV)

2x Boost Valve Output

1x Anti-lag Throttle Kicker Output

1x Fuel Pump Relay Output

1x Fan Relay Output

1x Water Pump Relay Output

1x Warning Light Output

1x Auto Trans Brake "Creep" Output

Construction:

High quality extruded aluminum, powder coated case

OEM automotive grade harness connector

Aluminum endplates with water resistant gaskets

Surface mount internal components

[michael5556 247]

Are you still running this? How you finding it?