This Saturday's project was the beginning of the conversion of MK6 Golf parts onto my MK5 Rabbit. Long story short, my Rabbit came with 150hp/170lbft and a 5500 RPM redline. The late MK5s and MK6 Golfs came with 170hp/177lbft and a 6300 Redline. I will be getting the Rabbit tuned for a 6500 Redline, and in prep for that, I am switching over to all the MK6 parts I can.
First step was the exhaust manifold. The MK5 is an open chamber type manifold. There are hardly any runners at all, and its mostly just an empty chamber full of turbulence. The MK6 manifold is slightly less open, with actual runners. It does open up at the end, but is more "header-like" and almost a true 5-1 manifold. I could have bought an actual header, but they stopped making the good ones years ago, and if you find them online, they are usually $1000 dollars. I would never dream of spending that on a full cat back, much less a header. You can get ebay knock offs, but they are prone to cracking, and I would have to cut up my stock exhaust to make it fit.
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| MK5 on the left, MK6 on the right. Port holes are the same diameter, MK5 is just dirty. |
Swap was pretty straight forward. After removing a few pieces and sensors, everything came up and over the engine with no fuss. About half the studs came out with the manifold nuts, but after a trip to the touch, and using jam nuts, they came right off. The studs were then cleaned and soaked in PBlaster, and all new brass nuts, as well as new OE MLS gaskets were used.
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| Do not pass go, go directly to torch.
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Everything was buttoned up, and then the Rabbit was fired up.
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| Word for the wise, PBlaster smokes like a son of a gun. |
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| ProTip: Unbolt the exhaust hanger and the down pipe slides right on. |
I don't have a heat shield yet (one is on the way), so I made do with some reflective heat material, and overlapped it on my fire wall. I'll leave it for added protection once the heat shield gets here.
REVIEW
Over all impressions are good! Sound has noticeably changed. Idle sounds more "uneven" (like how I think a 5 cylinder should sound), and under wide open throttle, it is louder. There is almost a trumpet-like blast. Seriously, I picture a chunky kid blasting the hardest note through a trumpet or trombone when I hear it.
Power is obviously unchanged for now, but again, this is just a supporting mod for the tune.
So if you hear something on the Westside that sounds like hells angels blasting trumpets, it's probably me in my pokey VW Rabbit.
More later!