This is the story how the Golf MKV R36 came about.
Here's the link Golf R36
When the Golf 7 GTI came out, a few years back, I was in two minds in getting it.
After doing some thinking I thought I would go down a different route and do something away from the mainstream.
The prices of new cars are getting a bit ridiculous here in South Africa and also I wanted something more exclusive, which the Golf 7 GTI won't really give me that.
So at that time I decided to get a Golf MKV R32, which was more exclusive, since there's not many of them around here in South Africa. I think it was just under 400 sold here. Also we didn't get the Golf MKIV R32.
Eventually got a very decent one. Was happy with it.
I was toying around on turbo charging it and was leaning towards a twin turbo setup to try to reduce the lag.
But that "being very exclusive thing" kept popping into my mind and realized that there are some turbo'd R32 here in South Africa.
Then the idea popped into my head, why not a 3.6 VR6 aka the R36.
Found that the VR6 3.6 motors are pretty rare in this country. Have been looking for one for over a year without any luck.
I even got pricing to get one from oversea but is was pricey anything from R60000.00 (AUS$6000) and upwards. That's excluding shipping, customs and other costs.
I also realized that when getting the engine, from scrap yard/oversea/etc..., what condition would the engine be in. Then there's that wiring harness, the ECU and any other items that you need to get together.
Also, me being picky, I wanted the engine that has the BWS engine code, not the BHK, BHL, BLV, CNNA, etc... The BWS is the engine code that was used for the R36 Passat that came out in Europe and in Australia, so it's more authentic.
That's when I got the idea to just go and buy the car that has that engine in, at least I'll know the condition of the engine and have all the important items.
Well here in this country (South Africa), with my research, I could only find one vehicle that will have the BWS engine code and that would be the Passat CC (2009-2012) 4Motion or the VW CC (2012-2017) 4Motion.
The other vehicles like the Porsche Cayenne 3.6, Touareg 3.6 and most properly the Audi Q7 will have the 3.6 VR6 but on some of them they'll have the lower horsepower (280Hp) rating but a higher torque (380Nm) rating than the BWS engine horsepower of 300Hp and 350Nm.
The plan was to get the car, strip out the engine, gearbox, engine wiring harness, the ECU and replace it with the R32 engine and then sell it.
Well to get one 4Motion CC was a waiting game, since they are not that popular here. I didn't want a later model one since the price will be high and a lot of money would be wasted.
It was more than one and a half years later I got one for a steal and the only second one that popped up during my time in searching. The price was so low that I thought there was something major wrong with it.
The funny thing is that a VW Master Car dealership was selling it in a town called Pietermaritzburg, about four hours of drive away.
When I first inquired about it they told me it was sold, but then they phoned back two days later indicating that the car was available if I was still interested, which I was.
It was the VW CC 2012 VR6 3.6 4motion Reflex Silver with 120000Kms on the clock. The price was perfect, the year was perfect and it being a facelift from the Passat CC, will help the my selling price after the engine swap.
Here's it whilst on holiday.
The VW CC was essentially a facelift from the Passat CC, just some cosmetic changes.
Did the paperwork here JHB, explaining to the Pietermaritzburg VW dealer that if I'm not happy with the car, when I get to finally see it, I'm not going to sign anything, and drove down to Pietermaritzburg.
Well got there on a early Friday morning and had to wait for the car since they said they are busy putting new tyres on it, Michelin Sports 3 mind you.
Saw the car and was over the moon. Really nothing wrong with it, Kessy key setup, seat massager, seat fans, auto parallel park, auto reverse park, the real tyre pressure monitor with pressure readings, etc...
It went well and the interior was well looked after, with the exception of a couple of cigarette burns on the drivers side carpet and it was a one owner.
Still to this day I'm wondering why the price was so low.
That was almost three years ago, 2016.
With my Red MKV GTI I had plans to do the 4motion conversion with the DQ500 gearbox.
Then a few months later a tragic event happened in my family and the plans for both projects was put on hold and quickly sold the GTI.
In that same year I went down to the South Coast for a break, I used the CC. That's when I fell in love with it, the missus also likes it.
Then I start to have ideas to keep the car but still do the 3.6 engine swap.
The one idea was to get a diesel motor for the CC and the missus can drive the car around and use it when we go on holidays.
Then using the idea of getting the CC for the 3.6 motor I decided to go to auctions to look for an accident damage CC that has the diesel motor.
I would need the diesel engine, the engine wiring harness, the ECU, the gearbox, the fuel(diesel) tank, back suspension and few other bits and bobs.
Over the few months there were too many serious accident damage diesel CC donors for my liking to do a decent swap, until I saw one that was in a heavy side smash.
The engine compartment was untouched, looks like the back suspension may have missed the heavy damage and the fuel(diesel) tank was okay. A perfect candidate for the swap.
But I lost the auction bid. The winning bid had to pay in the total amount of R166000 (AUS$16600) (Auction buyers commission and document costs included). At that time there were two diesel CC with the same year, selling on AutoTrader. One for R180000 (AUS$18000) although it had a high mileage and the other one for R188000 (AUS$18800). So why not just pay slightly higher for a non accident damage vehicle, which was running perfectly.
With my research to get the prices to replace the damaged parts, all from VW, that was around R160000 (AUS$16000) and that excludes any panel beating and spray work.
So really not sure how some people mind works.
After this I started to rethink my idea of the diesel engine replacement. I was thinking that once the diesel engine swap was done to the CC, for my missus, I would need to get a turbo project car, like what I've done to the Red MKV GTI. The idea was to get a Golf MK6 R and almost go nuts on it. But that exclusive thing came into my mind again.
Why not get a 2L TSI turbo for the CC, the CC also came out with the 2L TSI motor, same one as the Golf MK6 GTI.
Good idea and I can keep the 4Motion on the CC.
So the hunt for an accident damage 2L CC at the auctions started.
Soon I found one. It's a strange accident. Looks like the vehicle flipped from the front nose and onto its roof. No airbags were deployed.
But most importantly no damage to the engine, gearbox (DSG) and the drive shafts.
Joined the auction to do the bidding. Only two of us bidded on the car and I won the bid.
Here's the photos of the auction 2L CC. This is the Passat CC 2012 model pre facelift.
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