Ep. 3 - Diesel engine out, VR6 in! Swapping the engine w/ S&P Automotive mounts | Cali MK1 Part 3

Big milestone! In this episode I remove all the ancillary stuff in the engine bay; radiator, exhaust, etc. in preparation for removing the old 1.6L diesel engine. Once the engine is out, some quick tidying up around the engine bay, pulling the axles, before sliding the VR6 into its new home. Many hours and distractions later (most of them self induced), the 12V 2.8L VR6 is bolted into the engine bay of the MK1 Rabbit using S&P Automotive VR6 swap mounts.
Shout outs:
S&P Automotive - s-pautomotive.com

[@landroverSV]

Nice choice in engine. The awesome music 🎶 of the VR6. Had a 1997 passat VR6 2001 GTI VR6 2004 R32 3.2 VR6 SUPERCHARGERED. And I miss the R32 😢 the most!

[@wobjobs]

Right on! This is my first VR6 powered VW and I'm excited for the wookie noises!

[@ajkret4862]

Love the lift time lapse.

[@wobjobs]

Agreed!!

[@bealzibub4002]

Top work 👍🏻I’m on the hunt for the engine for mine now!

[@wobjobs]

Thank you! Good luck!!

[@dsmmonster]

Very nice work. What did it make you choose the vr6 from the 1.8t swap? I have a caddy and and rabbit I’m doing a alh swap in my caddy but in my rabbit I had a hard time choosing between the vr6 and 1.8t.

[@wobjobs]

Wookie noisesss…! Plus I’ve owned a bunch of turbo VWs but never a VR6. I see more 1.8Ts than VR6 so I wanted to do something more unique. The additional weight is negligible IMO.

[@dsmmonster]

@@wobjobs that’s true the vr6 sounds great.. my favorites are the newer 3.2 from the cc or Touareg.. I was about to buy one from my local pick your parts but they look a lot more complicated to swap.. I have experience doing swaps but this are going to be my firs vw swaps..

[@wobjobs]

@@dsmmonster yeah the newer 3.2/3.6s are a lot more in depth because the ECU needs communication from other body mudules like the fuel pump. It’s not as easy as just physically swapping the engine and then plumbing fuel/cooling/etc. This is also another reason why I went with an older 12V VR6. They don’t make as much power, but the swap is much simpler and I feel is more fitting for a MK1.

[@MrPetersen021]

I would like to know how much a swap like that cost in total

[@wobjobs]

So far I’m about $8k in, including the purchase of the car. But I’m changing out a lot of other parts too. If the car was already roadworthy, the swap can be done for around $2500 if you’re resourceful with the OEM parts catalogue.

[@MrPetersen021]

Oh coz like im all the way from south africa and here that motors run for mad prices. I have a mk1 jetta i wanna swap with a vr6 but prices in south africa for that motors is just total madness