Good build thread! and i am friends with sanj on facebook i always see him update this and i always wondered who it belonged to ha.

so why is it that you didnt want to go for the full tt loom? i was planning on doing this at one point but gave up and that was my plan. looking forward to updates! :)

Good build thread! and i am friends with sanj on facebook i always see him update this and i always wondered who it belonged to ha.

so why is it that you didnt want to go for the full tt loom? i was planning on doing this at one point but gave up and that was my plan. looking forward to updates! :)

we didnt fit the full TT loom as it would only be worthwhile if the dash, heaterbox etc went in as well

but i think i mentioned it in the build, The TT dash is too wide and would need cutting and then re-wrapped and even then it would cause an issue with the doorcards

There are 3 looms in the car: 6n2 Polo Gti interior loom, Audi TT engine harness (for injectors, coilpack etc) and an Audi TT engine loom (for headlights etc)

The engine harness and engine loom are the two connectrors which go to the ECU

so essentially what I'm runing is an untouched polo GTI interior loom and Audi TT engine harness

The actual engine loom has been heavily modified to acoomodate certain things from the polo and then the required wires were individully connected to the polo gti loom

This is cool, regarding the way you were going to mount the bam engine using the 9n3 mounts, I'm guessing they just fit directly onto the bam engine with no mods needed? I'm looking at putting a bam in my 9n 1.2 so just collecting research at the moment. Need to find out the way a 9n3 is mounted in weather they are on standard mounts like on my polo as that would make it so much easier... :)

Mate am i need of some help what have you done to mount the clutch pedal box as am struggling to fit mine into my 6n plz help me out pics and info would be a treat

what pedal box are you using? we used a 6n2 TDI one so fitment wasnt an issue

you will need to cut your bulkhead slightly so you can fit a hydraulic clutch line.. see the 2nd and 3rd from last pics in my last post ^

Sweet one mate i get you now,also i take it you have fit the dbw to the 6n2 pedal box to work with the engine..do you know it you can make any dbw system work with any other vw engine that runs a dbw throttle

This is cool, regarding the way you were going to mount the bam engine using the 9n3 mounts, I'm guessing they just fit directly onto the bam engine with no mods needed? I'm looking at putting a bam in my 9n 1.2 so just collecting research at the moment. Need to find out the way a 9n3 is mounted in weather they are on standard mounts like on my polo as that would make it so much easier... :)

you can interchange any of the 1.8T mounts so fitment will be fine

I think the gearbox mounts may differ between 5 and 6 speed models... not 100% sure on that tho

Mate am i need of some help what have you done to mount the clutch pedal box as am struggling to fit mine into my 6n plz help me out pics and info would be a treat

what pedal box are you using? we used a 6n2 TDI one so fitment wasnt an issue

you will need to cut your bulkhead slightly so you can fit a hydraulic clutch line.. see the 2nd and 3rd from last pics in my last post ^

Sweet one mate i get you now,also i take it you have fit the dbw to the 6n2 pedal box to work with the engine..do you know it you can make any dbw system work with any other vw engine that runs a dbw throttle

I'm pretty sure you can make any of them work, you just need to be able to mount the sensor to the pedalbox correctly

we had both at our disposal so we could see how they both mounted on each car originally and make the required modifications

Cheers man appreciate it!!

Engine bay was a mess due to being my daily, so it got a quick spray... not bad for a rattle can job

Next the shifter was mounted

Subframe had a fair bit of work done to it, such as being seam welded and having a dogbone mounting area welded on. So it only seemed right to have it powdercoated to prevent it from rusting. Anti-roll bar was done as well

Next was polybushing the front end

All fitted!

We had the inlet manifold, VF Mounts, custom gearbox lower mount and dump valve powdercoated in crackle black at the same time

How the Engine mounts looked, looking much better than in their standard silver finish I think

The engine rebuild was next on the cards which consisted of fitting of the uprated rods, new piston rings, putting a new oil pump and chain (common failure) and fitting a shallow sump

K04 setup removed

Stripping back the engine

This is when we found out why the engine was sold to us on the cheap. One of the cylinders had overheated and caused some damage

Pistons and Rods removed

The engine was taken to Knight Engine Services in Northampton. They advised that they could fix the problem with honing as it wasn’t too severe. They also checked the head which also had some minor damage to 2 or 3 of the valves. Proper happy with the work and gave me a very good price.

Cylinders after honing

Head with new valves

Whilst the engine was with Knight Services with we moved on to the brakes. The car had 6n2 GTi front brakes with rear discs from the GTi conversion done a few years before. We had a few upgrade options Audi S2 Twinpots (apparently very heavy and don’t perform all too well) G60 brakes (not convinced it was enough with the increase in power) Ibiza Cupra R brembos (rare to find and hold some premium) Phil J’s Big brake setup (these hadn’t been fitted by anyone at the time so was a gamble to purchase)

I managed to find some Ibiza Cupra R Brembos at a great price so snapped them up

Purchased some Ibiza Cupra R Discs which are 4x100 as standard and 305mm which needs 16” wheels which was fine as my wheels were 16”

Test fitted with the D90’s

They were very close to the wheel weights but clearance was fine

Fitted the discs to the car and had a problem, the offset of the discs meant the discs were touching the ball joints.

Was about to sell the setup but none of the other braking options seemed adequate to me especially with the big turbo going on. So I decided to make these Brembos fit no matter what. I got in touch with Hi-Spec who remade part of the setup for me.

New Calliper Adapters which were spaced 10mm further out and made from aluminium so much lighter

New 2 Piece Disc which were made using the standard 305mm discs as a template but spaced out by 10mm

The full kit that was provided

Checked the ball joint and had the spacing we needed

All Fitted!

But had a major problem with regards to the wheels not fitting. With the correct spacers the wheels stick out of the arches a little bit. See how the calliper lines up with the arch (which has already been pulled and rolled)

After the brakes were sorted, we moved back onto the rebuild. A couple of random pics of the rebuild in progress

Next we fitted some heat shielding

The APR stage 3+ kit was fitted to the engine and placed into the bay and we found another problem. We had our doubts about a LHD manifold hitting the brake master cylinder and that is exactly what happened. I was thinking about having the master cylinder relocated but after discussing it with Sanj we decided against it.

I called APR and found they had recently opened a UK office in Milton Keynes and provided me with a picture of a manifold they sell in Australia which is built for RHD cars.

An order was placed and we waited for it to be delivered.

As explained earlier in the build, when we decided on how to mount the engine, the priority was to have the driveshafts sitting straight with the hubs as opposed to at an angle, this meant the engine was quite far forward in the bay. A problem this had made for us was that the oil filter was hitting the back of the radiator so we fitted a relocation kit. We were going to fit an oil cooling radiator but due to a lack of space we didn’t. But is an option for the future if we think it’s required.

Whilst waiting for the delivery, I came across a Spec stage 4+ clutch. I was originally going to run a G60 flywheel and VR6 Clutch setup that I got with the engine originally. I knew that setup wouldn’t last long at my power levels so I thought id get that purchased and fitted in the spare time we had waiting for the manifold.

After two weeks I got a call from APR saying the manifold arrived. So drove up to Milton Keynes and picked it up. Very pleased with the manifold, definitely not some cheap rubbish, of which there is plenty out there.

However due to only having the oil and water lines from the USA kit, we kit another problem. The new manifold was touching a turbo oil line. Not a massive problem and was fixed by Pirtek who made us a bend

So we tried fitting the new manifold to the engine, fitting was perfect

God i love this thread! photo'ss keep up the amazing work mate (Y)

Next part of the build was bracing the turbo. This is because the weight of the turbo will cause a lot of strain on the manifold and over time cause it to crack.

First we used a piece of sheet metal and attached it to the engine

Then we made the bracket to attach to the turbo

All welded together

Then finally the engine was put into the bay.... hopefully to stay this time

Turbo and manifold clears fine, helped by the fact the engine was spaced forward

Clearance on the wastegate wasn’t great. Can easily be moved slightly if needed but should be fine

Gearbox clearance wasn’t too bad considering there was no notch

Braided fuel lines connected

The rest of the oil filter relocation kit was then fitted, this should make oil changes a lot easier

Next was trimming the slam panel

Fitted the fans, but needed spacing out due to the engine sitting so far forward

Radiator fitted

Slam panel back on

At this point (October 2012), money was running out on my end and Sanj had enough of seeing this car and its endless problems. So we made a deadline day where I would collect the car regardless of its progress.

On this day I had someone come down and de-immobilise the ECU so we could attempt to start the car.

ECU opened

Immobiliser removed

Old chip on the right, new chip on the left, ready to be programmed

New chip being fitted

All done

Whilst that was being done we started feeding the wiring through

The car was missing various sensors at this point, it had no exhaust or intercooler and the ECU was not programmed to run with the bigger turbo, bigger injectors etc so we knew it was a long shot for it to start.

It came close to firing but no luck. I had a video of this but I think I deleted it.

The next day I arranged for collection of the car to come back to me so the front end went back on

The wiring was a bit of a mess.. It looks a lot worse in this pic than it actually was

Car seeing daylight for the first time in a year and a half, with a thick layer of dust over it.

Onto the trailer to come back home

...and the story continues...

...and the story continues...

The end of this conversion has been in sight for too long

Its always one more thing to do

Never ending!!!

Anyone interested in doing a 20V conversion.. save urself alot of money an aggro and dont

Car went back into its garage where progress was slow due to my laziness

First thing for me to do was to tidy up the wiring

Work in progress

The only place I could get the intercooler pipework to go

However when the front end went on and the air filter was held in its place, I looked down that gap and.....we had a slight problem, lack of space

There was some movement in the power steering line so it could be moved to one side and there seemed to be just enough space.

Picture of how I saw the finished bay looking

I had planned to wrap the Manifold and downpipe in titanium wrap to keep the engine bay temps down. Really should have wrapped the manifold when it was off the car. This was such a tedious task!!

Also anyone else planning on doing this... wear gloves, trust me

Before

After

I had a standard eBay intercooler sat in my garage for the car which may have been up for a K04 turbo but not for the bigger turbo so that got sold. Whilst looking for a new one I came across a Forge intercooler designed for an Audi TT RS. Those cars easily go upwards of 400BHP so perfect for me. I don’t like long and thin intercoolers as they are normally hidden behind parts of the front end which causes restrictions on air flow.

This intercooler is quite thick and the perfect size to fit behind the middle vent on my bumper for optimum cold air flow. However the fact that my radiator had been spaced out did worry me a little and would likely mean that I would have to cut into the bumper to allow clearance of the intercooler.

My work done

The car was then ready for its exhaust and intercooler pipework. I booked it in with Simply Supreme in High Wycombe.

Car was ready for collection

On the Trailer

When the car arrived at Simply Supreme, I had a chat with the guys at the options I had.

I decided to go with a 3” turbo back exhaust with no cat and two silencers

The standard OEM intercooler pipework is around 2.25-2.5”, The standard Throttle body is 2.5”

Due to the stronger internals and the APR manifold used, the car could easily be upgraded to go over 400bhp with just a turbo change. So I thought I might as well have thicker pipework made just incise. The TT-RS intercooler I was using had 2.75” outlets so that was the size I went for, it also means that a larger throttle body could be used in future and utilised properly.

The quality of the work is insane, they argon purge all their welds and a similar job from other companies can cost you three time what they charge.

I highly recommend them

Exhaust (Downpipe was covered in titanium wrap)

The EGT and Both Lambda probes were attached to the exhaust

Undershot of the exhaust

Twin exhaust tips

Intercooler Pipework

Intercooler mounted

The Turbo Intake Pipe adapter was hitting the gear linkage but they managed to bend it around the linkage

And then the actual turbo intake that APR provided me with didn’t work, so they made me a new one.

Quality of the welds

With everything ready we moved onto connecting all the sensors up. This is when we found that we only had one lambda probe and the less important post cat one at that. This wasn’t a massive problem for the start up, it would possibly cause the engine to run a little rich. So with that, we fired up the car, I’ll let the video do the talking

They checked over the wiring and thought the fuel pump may have been wired wrong, but after looking further into it the wiring seemed to be fine. They were by no means experts in this field so they recommended I pay James at OBD works a visit.

So a trailer was booked and on went the car

With the car at OBD Works they told me that the reason the car didn’t start was due to a wiring issue. He believes we used an APX wiring loom but wasn’t sure, this was confusing as the wiring used was from the same car the ECU was from which is confirmed as a BAM due to its part number

But whilst they had the car, they sorted the gear linkage, bled the clutch and fitted an adapter for the oil drain for the turbo as it was touching the exhaust. So a few niggly bits were sorted

Here are some pics showing the oil drain adapter and the clearance it has with the exhaust

I was at a bit of a loss, so I started some research and came across a company called ACR in Dalton. Had a chat and they seemed really clued up and said they could sort my current loom out and if required make me a new loom for a very reasonable price. Started looking at transportation costs and it was £200-250 each way!! I was not willing to pay that right now, so I thought I’d look for a more local specialist and have them as my last resort

So the car came home... still unfinished

Edited 16 August, 201313 yr by no1naz

I have confirmed the engine bay loom (big connector on the ECU) that was sold to us was an APX but the engine harness (small connector on the ECU) is from a BAM which may be the reason why the car doesn’t start

So I had to remove the wiring from the car... A lot of effort

Started by dismantling the car

And removed the wiring

Now I’m on the lookout for someone to check over the wiring for me

The differences between BAM and APX is minor and I think it will be easier to modify my current loom than starting again

But I will see what an expert says

Edited 16 August, 201313 yr by no1naz

If you have it all stripped out I would personally get the right loom for what you need as modifying a loom isn't easy. You would have far less promblems in the future aswell.

Even if i get a BAM loom it needs modifying to connect to a polo GTi interior loom... plus things like the polo headlights and ambient sensors for the clocks etc need pinning in

As they have already been done to the APX loom i have i think the amount of modifying to make it work on the BAM is a lot less... i may be wrong

Ill see what a specialist says

Even if i get a BAM loom it needs modifying to connect to a polo GTi interior loom... plus things like the polo headlights and ambient sensors for the clocks etc need pinning in

As they have already been done to the APX loom i have i think the amount of modifying to make it work on the BAM is a lot less... i may be wrong

Ill see what a specialist says

Just a quick one mate ,,did you know that the loom on the car does not need pulling out to make it work!

Basicly what you need doing is leave the polo loom in place, pull out the power feeds for what you need and add them to the 1.8t loom,, you just need to take the polo plugs in the bay that run the sensors and other lil things and add the 1.8t loom to it as its pritty much self contained,,,

All this is if you are deimobbilised.

The wiring was done by someone else and doesnt really make all that much sense

my engine bay loom and engine harness are kind of connected so i pulled it off so its easier for soemone to look at

my interior loom is still on the car and i haven't removed it

The more i think about it.. the less i think it is the loom

i have booked the car in with VW enterprise for next week to have everything looked over

So after speaking to VW Enterprise, they said that they would prefer the wiring to be attached to the car.... not good news after the amount of effort that went on removing it

But needs must

So set about getting the car put back together

Everything reassembled

Yesterday was the day the car was booked in... So pulled the car out ready for the pickup truck... looking clean for a car that hasn’t been washed for around 2 years.

I went with the driver so I could have a chat with Darren (the owner)

Proper sound guy... I said all I wanted is for the car to be started

He said to leave it with him for a few days and he would DEFINITELY get the car started.. So I left him to it.

So today I get a call, car is ready :-D ... going to pick it up tomorrow

A problem he did find was that the remote oil filter we fitted is leaking

There was also a leak from somewhere near the engine pulleys (maybe the sump or crank seal, both of which were replaced when engine was rebuilt).

But main thing is the car is running, the rest can be looked at later

Edited 16 August, 201313 yr by no1naz

So went to pick up the car today and Darren proper worked his magic on the car

Anyone looking at doing a 1.8T conversion, I recommend bringing it to these guys to sort out the wiring and any teething issues u may have... couldn’t have asked for a better service.

Little video of the car being moved

Car only leaks oil when the engine is on

Oil relocation leak is quite bad but I think it may be one of the feed hoses which may need tightening

Other leak looks like the crank oil seal

But after the car was loaded, the tow truck decided to drop all of its hydraulic fluid so car couldn’t come off and is stuck

So have to wait another day to bring it home

Edited 16 August, 201313 yr by no1naz

so what was the issue with it not starting?????