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GOLFMKV

Building a Golf R Sportwagen

20vTa4

New member
Location
NJ
I apologize but I cut and paste this from my vortex thread.https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?9276671-Since-we-can-t-buy-a-Golf-R-Sportwagen-I-m-making-my-own I started this back in December and it's pretty much done now except for some paint work. I hope to have the title back this week, so hopefully it'll be on the road by the weekend. I'll update here as I go along.



I picked up a '16 GSW S and at the same time a totaled '16 Golf R a few weeks ago. The R is a fully loaded DSG car with only 10k miles. It came with a CTS turbo intake, diverter valve, 3" catless downpipe and I'm assuming some sort of tune (I'll have to investigate later) It took a hard hit in the right rear but other than two bent control arms and a punctured tire, it's mechanically perfect. My goal over the next few weeks will be to disassemble both cars and swap all the wiring, drivetrain and interior into the GSW. Last time I did something like this, I took a bunch of pics but was too lazy to start a thread afterwards. This time I'm going to try to update as I go along for those that might be interested.

The victim:


The donor:







Did some interior disassembly yesterday and today:








Also removed the fender liners and front bumper:


Parts are beginning to pile up, one of the biggest challenges of this swap is having enough room for all the crap:






Finally made a little more progress the last two days.

I pulled the wagon in the garage to start taking it apart. Got the hood and front end off for now.



Back to the R

Drained the coolant and pulled the radiator/intercooler assembly.



Then both auxiliary radiators




Subframe/suspension out



Disconnect the rest of the wiring, downpipe, down pipe, etc. and the engine/trans is out.






I hope to finish stripping the R over the next week and start on the wagon next weekend.





Made a bunch of progress in a few hours today, the R is almost completely stripped except for the dash and interior wiring.













This should be the only bracket I need to weld into the wagon


Thanks to the MQB platform, the center bearing carrier just bolts in to existing tunnel brace location on the fwd.






I did some more work over the past week and this weekend.

The 4motion rear subframe bolted right into the wagon just as I expected.



The only bracket to weld in is this little guy,it's a mounting point for the fuel tank. This is a pic of it mocked up with screws, it was welded yesterday.


Also had to add these 2 nutserts for the fuel tank straps.



Hole cut out for fuel tank, oddly there's no extra pump in the tank like previous generations, it's just for access to the haldex connector.



The R is now completely stripped and out of the garage and the wagon is back on the lift.


Engine out and bay power-washed


Most of the interior out



Installed some Eibach springs while the suspension is out and easily accessible.


Received some overnight parts from China.


The wagon is 90% apart. I should have it all stripped by the end of the week and then assembly can begin.


Just a quick update today, wagon interior is completely stripped.




A few small updates today, I installed the engine bay harness, abs module, firewall insulation and brake booster.

The R has an 2 extra holes in the firewall for a harness, not sure what's it for. I think it might be dsg related.


Luckily the wagon has 2 dimples where the holes need to be. I drilled an 1-1/2' hole for the harness and a 1/4" hole for the wire clip.


View of the harness from the inside.


R engine bay harness, trans mount, and brake booster installed


Abs module and motor mount installed


Firewall foam padding installed


I've done more swaps than I can count, but this is the first time I'm putting an automatic transmission in a manual car, very strange to me.:p





Today's progress...

Pedals and airbag module installed, ready for the dash rebar and wiring.



And it's in.





Updates from this weekend, the mechanicals are pretty much 100%, now just need to concentrate on finishing the wiring and interior.

Engine and trans in


Radiator/intercooler assembly in


It's officially 4Motion now



Almost a whole car again





Stripped the driver side front door to install R wiring, kessy handle and Fender speaker.


I had ordered some puddle lights, they came with a harness to pin into the door module harness. Unfortunately, the wiring for the illuminated sill plate already occupies the appropriate slots. I had to tap into the wires instead.



All taped up with factory style cloth tape


One down, 3 more to go




I wrapped up the wiring this weekend. Someone had asked about the wiring in the rear reaching. Fortunately the hatchback wiring is only a few inches shorter, so minimal extending/splices.

The R has the license plate lights in the bumper. On the wagon they're in the hatch, so the wire had to be pinned into the hatch by harness.



The taillight harness had to be extended.


The mounting hole for the DCC sensor is already there, just needed to add a nutsert.



Driver side all done.


Passenger side, had to extend the taillight harness and extend the trunk light harness up to the roof.


Installed the buzzer for the parktronic


Hatch and antenna wires all done, luckily they all reached.


All wiring done except for 3 more doors.


And it runs.



Just a small update this weekend.

Dash installed



Console in


Seats in






Had a pretty cool thing happen yesterday. I emailed the original owner of the R to ask what tune it has and if they possibly have the second key. He replied five minutes later and let me know that it has an APR stage 2 tune and tcu tune. He's also going to mail me the extra key. Yesterday also brought a visit from the UPS man....





Had the day off today so I put on 14 layers and went out to the garage to throw it on.





I cut the fwd valance for now until I decide what bumper/valance combo I'm going with



Since the exhaust was on, I bled the brakes and put the wheels back one and drove it out of the garage for the first time.




I'll take it for a drive around the block over the weekend an post better pictures.



Small update today.

Got the wagon specific blind spot detection brackets installed.




Also installed the new hood.






Today I installed the trunk panels and rear seat.



Working seat releases




A friend scored me an 18" spare from a local junkyard


Trunk all done, only thing left is the headliner and pillars, just waiting to get them back from being wrapped in black alcantara.






No major updates this week. The car is basically 99% assembled, the only thing missing is the headliner which will hopefully be done this week. I drilled the rear bumper out for the park sensors and glued them in. I'm going to keep this bumper and valance for now until I figure out which R variant setup to use. I have a few weeks before I get my title back, in the mean time, I hope to get the paint work done. If all goes well, it should be on the road by the end of the month.





Somebody had asked about the heat shields, they're all in place now.




I decided that the AWE exhaust is a little too loud for my taste so it's up for sale.

https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?9291441-FS-AWE-Touring-Edition-Exhaust-for-VW-Golf-Alltrack-Sportwagen-4Motion

I drove out to this morning to pick up a stock 4motion exhaust.

Strapped the Alltrack exhaust to my wife's Alltrack (inception)



The car goes on the dyno tomorrow to see how much of a loss the stock exhaust provides.:screwy:



I was eyeing up this exhaust, and I figured at first you bought the 'track' edition. Concerning that even the 'touring' was a bit much for your taste. Can you elaborate on cabin noise/drone, etc. This is an expensive kit so I want to be sure I am making a sound investment.

No real drone and cabin noise isn't bad, idle sounds great. I have a non- cat, non resonator 3.5" cts downpipe and I suspect this is the reason it's so loud under load. If I were a little younger, I'd keep the exhaust, but I don't want to attract attention. Plenty of others have this exhaust and love it, if you're serious about getting one, I'll give you a really good deal.

Anxious to see your results.

Curious about weight differences between stock and AWE, too.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

I didn't get weight differences but I do have dyno charts for the full stock exhaust vs. open downpipe. It's a 20hp difference, I suspect the AWE would fall somewhere in between. I'm happy with the results and will stick with the stock exhaust for now.

Mods are:
Golf R 2L w/IS38 (obviously)
CTS 3.5" dowpipe
CTS intake
CTS turbo inlet pipe
Stock 4motion exhaust
APR stage 2 tune
APR tcu tune
APR turbo muffler delete
Ebay majesty intercooler





Had a welder buddy come over yesterday and weld on some 4" tips to the factory mufflers. Today I picked up and installed my 4motion valance. I'm pretty happy with the result.





 
Last edited:

Jedimk7

Drag Race Newbie
This... is... crazy! [emoji41][emoji106]

Sent from my Gavin Belson black box signature edition
 

N2fastcars

Ready to race!
Location
VB
Very impressive attention to detail!

Like everyone else said “WOW”
 

Cliff p.

Drag Racing Champion
Location
El Paso, TX
Car(s)
'17 Golf R DSG
Holy shit!



For those of you like me that couldn't wait to see images (and you're on a computer), hold CTRL and use your mouse wheel to scroll up/down to zoom in/out.
 
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