Vento VR6

[Filx]

So I got this hooptie Vento VR6 to bomb around in over summer. Starting to get a bit hard to find these as Vento's are obviously not as popular as Golfs in NZ but I always liked them. Plus you get luxury features compared to a Golf, such as that small section of carpet on the lower door cards (phwooar, lush!)



The car has a few issues, but overall not too bad for a '90s VW that has been in NZ for a long time. Body work not too bad, a couple of broken window regulators, auto trans slipping a bit but engine runs super nicely aside from the leaky rocker cover and only 165kms on the clock. vert1 came over and gave me a hand with a couple of things. Topped up the trans which was low on fluid and it drives a lot better now but I'll be changing that anyway.

The interior was filthy, covered in long white dog hair and hadn't been cleaned for what was probably many years. I gave it a quick once over and it's certainly better.



So I am on the hunt for some manual conversion parts if anyone has a VR6 02A gearbox, clutch line, a manual mk3 pedal box and shifter box let me know.

No major plans for this aside from manual conversion and tidy up, some new bushes here and there and some suspension and wheels.

[superfueler]

Awesome. 

VR6 club it is then. 

[slowburn]

sweet, looks like a good base

[Filx]

Went out to verts shop this morning. My first long(ish) drive. The auto trans is definitely better than I thought (01Ms were never really the best even back in the day) and the engine is really good, no rattly chain or unusual noises, smooth idle and pulls really well. And despite the heater hoses being joined together to bypass the heater core the AC actually works which is a bonus. Suspension is totally shot though, like driving a bouncy castle!

We did small tweak here and there with the port-a-power in the boot to get the boot and bumper lined up a bit better as it has had a very minor nudge in the back at some stage. Then gave her a blast to get rid of years of dirt. Fixed a few other things and I have some bits left to do like window regulators.

[Filx]

I'm still cruising around in this thing. Picked up some GTI Recaro seats and manual swap parts, they aren't in flash condition but will do for the moment. Got a bunch of boring replacement parts like bushes, strut top mounts, rocker cover gasket, etc, etc.

The suspension is completely shot, rides like a floaty boat and there's only so long you can look at the arch gap without dying a little inside. I looked around at a few different options and in the end settled on an H&R Cup kit as I really can't be bothered with the whole draconian cert process for coilovers. Hope it works out OK, only downside of shocks and springs is you never really know until it's fitted. Find out in a few weeks I guess.

And in a slightly amusing, full circle kinda story I got hold of RobH who I sold some parts to when he bought the Vento coupe off me years ago. I never fitted them and it turns out he never did as well - so i bought them back! 

A new repro VR6 front lip, Euro Vento license plate tub and these OEM air deflector things that attach to the front of the suspension A Arm (no idea what they actually do, brake cooling maybe?)



I'm still looking for an 02A trans but will service the auto in the meantime, it's kind of OK so I can live with it. Also casually looking for some sort of "semi period correct" wheels. Ideally 16"s, but there's not a lot around in that sizing these days.

[Filx]

I fitted the Euro license plate tub over the weekend. I laughed at how few people would bother or care on an old hooptie like this, but I quite like it. 

[Filx]

I forgot to mention, the VR6 lip did not work. Which reminded me of course that the Vento bumper is different to Golf. I trawled back through some ancient VWVortex posts and managed to find the Vento VR6 lip p/n

1H5 805 903 A B41 for the left side
1H5 805 904 A B41 for the right side

These days they can be acquired from Volkswagen-Classic-Parts.de

[Worms]

Nice.

I really like the Vento - we had a 2.0 one in our rental fleet years ago and it was such a change from the dull jappas of the era!

The boot is absolutely cavernous!

[NasTnaS]

very very nice!

[le mans]

Good stuff Phil. Is that website an official VW one like Audi Tradition? What’s the shipping like?

[Filx]

Good stuff Phil. Is that website an official VW one like Audi Tradition? What’s the shipping like?

I don't really know, kind of looks that way though. I haven't ordered anything from them but may do at some stage.

[80 Vert]

vw classic is VW itself and any of their parts are available through the NZ Volkswagen dealer network.