Cars: A3 Golf, A3 Jetta, Corrado VR6s 1992-up OBD I & OBD II

Time Required: 4 - 6 Hours (depending on your mechanical skills)

Tools Needed: Full set of various metric sockets, drivers, extensions, and universal joint adapters, anti-seize compound, full set of metric allen wrenches, masking tape, marker, 

New Parts Needed: Intake and throttle body gaskets, Techtonics heavy duty valve springs, new set of BERU spark plugs and plug wires if needed, new oil filter and fresh oil

If you remove it, use masking tape and the marker to number the location where it came off!

I had driven a friends car equipped with Schrick cams and intake and swore one day I would have the same on my car.  After many long over time hours and a healthy tax return, I was able to hook myself up with cams and intake.  To do the job correctly, safely and ensure longevity you should seriously consider replacing the stock valve springs with either VW diesel valve springs or Techtonics heavy duty valve springs to avoid spring bind from the new higher lobes of the Schrick 268 cams.  The 268 cams and Intake are designed to give the greatest performance when installed as a complete package.  The cams will give you greater mid range and top end power but the intake gives the torque from idle to redline.  With both the cams and intake, you can expect a HP gain of 30 and torque gain of 30+ Ft. lbs. at 3000 RPMs, 1000 RPMs lower than stock.  This mod although pricey, will yield the best bang for the buck if your looking to NOT have to upgrade your tranny to handle the extra HP but want a great performance gain.  Because of the dynamics of the intake and cams this mod will make a good stepping stone for the future mod of a super charger or turbo as long as you remember to remove the vacuum activated flapper valve in the intake.  Some unfortunate people have already learned the flapper can't withstand the pressure of the super charger or turbo and the valve got sucked into the engine and killed it.

Procedure: (CAMS) Unless your extremely familiar with the VR6 engine and have your garage stocked with many unique VW tools, I would highly recommend finding a qualified VW high performance shop or dealer who will do the cams and valve springs install.  Because the VR6 engine is considered and interference engine, the cams must be indexed and the timing set perfectly or engine damage can and or will occur when you start the engine after cam install.  Depending on the age and mileage of your VR6, you may have to replace the hydraulic valve lifters at the time of the cams install too.  I had only 25k miles on mine and have used Mobile 1 since 5k, so I was ok with the stock lifters.  With the install of the cams you will have to change the ECU chip which manages the fuel and air mixtures in the engine to take full advantage of the cams and give proper timing maps so the VR6 will run properly without causing engine faults codes to be triggered.  I had my cams installed by my local dealer along with the heavy duty valve springs, new spark pugs, oil and filter.  A day later my dealer returned my car with a big dirty grin on his face and told me how much faster it was already... just wait till I put the intake on. :-)

Procedure: (INTAKE) The installation of the Schrick variable intake manifold is very similar to that of the standard VR6 intake manifold.  Some additional work will need to be done, compared to the standard intake manifold, due to the 3-part-design of the variable resonance system. (Basically some assembly required... Duh!)

From the above photo you can see the three piece intake manifold (Throttle body adapter/distributor, main body/plenum, and runners), Vacuum tank, vacuum solenoid valve, electronic control unit and vacuum hose.

1. Turn off ignition and disconnect battery.  Better find that VW radio code before you do this or you'll never get the tunes playin' again.
2. Remove the stock intake manifold by disassembling everything from the air box back.  I left the throttle body coolant lines attached so I didn't have a mess and placed the throttle body up on the plastic tray below the wipers.  At this point it would be a very good idea to change your spark plugs with BERU plugs which will last longer.  Because of the design of the Schrick intake manifold, its extremely difficult to change or remove the spark plugs on the front cylinder bank of the engine without removing the intake manifold.
3. Fit all spark plug connectors and tie the plug wires on the front cylinders to the injector rail with zip ties.
4. Mount the throttle body adapter/distributor to the manifold using the supplied gasket.  Torque the 3 M8 bolts to 15-20 Nm.  Use anti-seize compound and DO NOT over tighten.
5. Bolt the throttle body to the intake and torque the bolts to 10-12 Nm.
6. Mount the throttle body cable bracket to the intake.  Detach the noise damper of the idle control valve (where present) and connect to the idle control valve directly to the air throttle body adapter/distributor. (OBD I Only)
7. Loosely mount the assembled intake manifold with a new gasket to the engine.  It will take the help of a friend or persistence to hold the manifold, gasket, and start the mounting bolts.
8. Loosely mount the right hand side of the manifold support on the exhaust side.  Reused off the stock manifold.  Detach the left hand manifold support from the engine and old manifold, it is no longer required.
9. Torque the manifold and support bolts to 15-20 Nm.
10. Fasten the plug wires of the rear cylinder bank to the plastic brackets on the underside of the intake manifold.
11. Reconnect the vacuum lines, hoses and air box components to their original locations.
12. Attach the accelerator cable and adjust the slop out using the adjustment ribs and retainer clip located on the end of the accelerator cable.
13. Find a good place to mount the vacuum tank under the hood.  I mounted mine on the driver's side just in front of the strut tower using the stock fender bolt to secure it.  I mounted the vacuum solenoid to the strut tie bar with a zip tie.  I mounted the electronic control unit for the intake on top of the car's ECU under the plastic rain tray.  Because the parts are plastic you should mount them in a heat-protected area.
14. Connect a vacuum hose from the upper (large) vacuum tank port to the unused vacuum port on the ABS booster feed. (Green cap) Find the main vacuum line from the intake to the brake booster there is a small tap with a green cap, that's the port you want to use.  Connect a vacuum line from the bottom (smaller) port on the vacuum tank to the bottom port on the vacuum solenoid.  Connect a vacuum line from the upper port on the vacuum solenoid to the valve on the Schrick intake.  Carefully route all vacuum lines out of the way of moving parts and heat.
15. Connect the Electronic control unit as follows:
    A) Connect plug to solenoid valve (fits one direction only)
    B) Red cable to switched 12 Volt (On coil equipped VR6, use switched 12 Volt at coil) (On A3 VR6 use unused windshield washer connector under driver's side rain tray CAUTION! Black wire is positive, brown is Negative, double check with digital volt meter.)
    C) Black cable to earth (chassis)
    D) Blue cable to rev-counter input signal (On A3 connect directly to tach wire in ECU harness. Green/Black, Pin 22 for A3/P/SLC) Carefully strip insulation from indicated wire, wrap lead, solider and re-insulate with electrical tape.  The rev-counter input signal can be allocated to different terminals/leads for different vehicle types.  You will have to determine which is correct terminal/lead for your vehicle if not an A3.
16. The switching point of this control device is programmed for an engine speed of 4000 RPM, at which point the rising engine speed causes the plenum valve flap to open.  The hysteresis is programmed for 50 RPMs so, that with falling engine speed the plenum flap valve closes at 3950 RPMs.  To set another switching point, the control unit has to be opened.  The switching point can be set by adjusting the switches (protected by a water proof film) according to the following chart.  After completion the switches must be sealed against water.
17. The battery may be connected after all electrical connections are properly made, other wise faults will be stored in the car's ECU which must be cleared by the dealer.
18. NOTE! Installation of the Schrick variable intake manifold will change the performance characteristics of the engine and may therefore void engine warranty.

Installation notes: During the install I ran into a few problems mostly not having the proper tools on hand to do what I needed.  I highly recommend getting a complete set of universal socket adapters,  various socket driver extensions lengths and a set of socket drive Allen keys.  You'll need the socket drive Allen keys to remove many of the intake bolts.  One the of greatest problems I had was reattaching the oil dipstick tube back on to the engine block.  With the size of the new intake runners being more round and sticking out more than the stock one, I had to use gum and stick the bolt for the oil dipstick into a socket with universal adapter and lots of patients to get it to thread in and secured.  Also I had difficulty in securing the intake runner bolts, also because of the roundness and length of the runners.  Take your time and be patient.

Impressions: You will gain a huge improvement in power and torque across the entire RPM band.  You will especially like the kick in the but at 3 grand when the intake dynamics are felt and then again at 4 grand when the valve opens letting the intake cross flow and breath.  You will notice a little lumpier idle but the new chip will be set to idle at 800 RPMs to help smooth that out.  1st gear vanishes way too soon and 2nd & 3rd gears pull like a monster truck, you'll be lucky to NOT spin the wheels in 2nd or 3rd.

PICTURES!

From the above photo you can see the dual plenums on the Schrick intake and the different lengths of the runners feeding each cylinder.  The runner lengths are different lengths to compensate for the inboard and outboard cylinders so they all have the same intake lengths.

 

The bottom side shows even more reason why the Schrick makes so much power.  Look at the restrictions in the stock intake on the left with the throttle body tapering down to the single plenum and the box structure to vary the runner lengths for the cylinder distance differences.  The Schrick has much more area, smoother, more straight plenums and no restrictions at the throttle body.

Here is the before picture, before I took anything apart.

Another view.

 

Here you can see the throttle body is disconnected and laying on the rain drip tray and all the plug wires are off but marked with masking tape so I know where they are supposed to go back to.

After the new intake is bolted in place.  Notice the vacuum tank in the far right hand corner just behind the white towel.  The small gray box with wires is the intake ECU, the white wire and plug go to the vacuum solenoid.  Notice the car's ECU plug is disconnected, opened and wires exposed to find the tach for the blue wire for the intake's ECU.

Notice the black plug hanging loose beside the wiper motor, this is where you will tap into the power and ground for the intake ECU.

And here is what it will look like when your done. :-)

Michael Bigus
1997 GTI VR6