Cams for a 01 VR6

[stinkysGTI]

I have a 2001 GTI VR6 and wanted to get some cams for it. I've never bought cams before though, so I'm a little clueless.

Anyone have any suggestions on what manufacturer or degree difference I should go for?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)

[Mr_Diesel]

Depends on what you are looking for, really. What is your ultimate plan with the car? Turbo, supercharger, all motor or what? The more aggressive your cam the more "drivability" you loose. If you go too aggressive, you may find yourself stalling it a lot, on the brink of failing emissions, rough idle poor fuel mileage, etc. If you want a tuned car and think the pros outweigh the cons then I'd say go as aggressive as possible.

[01 vr6 jetta]

i to have 01 vr6 and wanted to get some cams. what are some manufactures that produce cams for our cars?

[Mr_Diesel]

Hey! Welcome to Dubnet. If you don't know exactly what cam you want, I would have to recommend the 262. It's a good all-around cam. You pretty much retain all factory drivability, but some people report 10-20hp gains across the board. Autotech sells a fantastic, high quality, prooven cam for about 300 bones....

http://www.autotech.com/prod_engine_camshafts.htm#vr6

I think neuspeed and schrick makes cams too, but I don't know anything about those cams.

[01 vr6 jetta]

thanks for the help i ma still learning about my car. new to the whole europ tuner seen but i do kno some things about these type of cars. i want to ge the 262 cams, the sprotuned valve springs, and the titanium retainers.

[Mr_Diesel]

If you built your valve train like that you could probably get an extra 500rpm's rev out of the engine safely... That would be pretty neat.

[zukgod1]

[quote=Mr_Diesel;17510] You pretty much retain all factory drivability, but some people report 10-20hp gains across the board. quote]


Wouldnt it be nice to be able to get 10-20 hp on our little 2.0's?

[stinkysGTI]

I came across an article in EuroTuner about the 2.0... "two.slow" is what they called it. It was all about tuning on a budget and what parts would get you the most for your buck. It was a good article, and you could probably still find it online.

I've heard this place is reliable, but seems expensive:
http://www.kentcams.com

I was talking to a fellow VR6 owner and he said I could go as high as 268 and still have a good idle and what not. I guess that's what he put in his and still has em.

You guys think the reliability:power ratio would be worth goin the 268, or stay with 262??

[stinkysGTI]

Wow, I can't believe I've never been to autotech.com Good prices and options

If I were to get springs and retainers, would it matter if say I only got the springs and no retainers? or would I be better off getting both? [i'll be in there with it apart anyway :) ]

[stinkysGTI]

I'm going to be receiving the springs and retainers today. The cams will be here later in the week. I'm so excited :)

I was reading on another site [i think it was vortex] that after replacing the cams, the lifters should be changed out also, but others said they've been running with stock lifters for a long time. So that article wasn't very helpful.

Anyone know if this is really necessary? Or maybe it's only for when you go for a more extreme degree difference??

[stinkysGTI]

I was wondering if anyone had changed out their cams and could give me an estimate of how long it would take. I'm trying to figure out how much time to set aside before starting. It's my only car, so if I don't get it done in time, I'm screwed.

Any tips or things I should watch out for would also be greatly appreciated. Just to note, I have an air compressor which will hopefully make the install a bit quicker.

Thanks guys :)

[zukgod1]

I hope you have a torque wrench as well?
How about a Bentley?

[stinkysGTI]

check check :)

Yep, I have both. I asked some random guy at the place I ordered the cams from [i don't take salesmen's words to openly though :) ] and he said about 5-6 hours. Is that about right?

[zukgod1]

I think your about right on the time frame.
I would think if it was a single cam it would be half that.

Good luck, take pics will ya?

[Mr_Diesel]

I can honestly say I have never timed a VR6. They have chains, so... I never really saw a point in messing with them ;). It should be a snap... Unbolt your intake manifold, take off valve cover. Remove cam "caps". Install reverse of disassembly.

This might be kind of redneckish, but perhaps you can have someone hold the chains tight while you remove the stock cam. Make note of the exact placement of the cam and what tooth of the cog goes where on the chain, then just kind of slip the chain over the cog and bolt the cam in after the chain is on? Just make sure the cam is positioned correctly so you don't bung up the journals. That way you don't have to time the engine and the cam is in the correct place already. That would probably cut atleast an hour off the installation time.

[stinkysGTI]

Good idea Diesel, thanks :)
I try and do as many things with that kind of thinking as possible.

Yeah, I'm gonna be taking pictures for sure since I recently bought a camera. You guys will get to see my ghetto intake setup :lol: It's not that bad, just a little electrical tape :)

Just a random thing that happened today. I went and got 4 new tires; Toyo Proxes4's. The second I walk away, the guy takes off in my car down the street for a "test run". Even though I wasn't too keen on that, it sure sounded nice :D Then he gets done with the tires, and goes again. Then after the injector cleaning, goes again... It was a little annoying, but he didn't drive it too hard.

I got a really good deal though [i use to work there]. Tires at cost, free inspection, free brake fluid flush, $40 injection cleaning and a $40 alignment.

They definitely liked my car and when I told them how long I've had it, they were amazed at how new everything looks. Also, since it looks fully stock besides the tailpipe, the guy was surprised at how fast it is.

It was nice to hear them say everything looked great. I take good care of my car, but I do need to get hoses sometime soon.

[01 vr6 jetta]

ive had a ton of people tell me that ,ine os fast to and i has an intake and exausht and thats about it. i love the vr6's they are kinda like sleeper cars cuz everybody says a jetta is a gurls car but the vr6 is certainly not that!

[stinkysGTI]

yeah, the newer Jettas get a bad rap cause of the body style. It doesn't help either that about 80% of the ones I see are driven by blonde SDSU airheads :lol:

Actually a few years ago, the Golf [body style] was on a Gay Driver's List. I had to tell my friends that mine IS NOT just a golf :)

[Mr_Diesel]

Ohhh man the Mark III and Mark IV's definitely looked like Woman/Flaming cars if left stock. I have found that a decent set of wheels can turn that around though.

[01 vr6 jetta]

thats gonna be on of my next mods to my car is a decent set of wheels.

[Mr_Diesel]

I'm normally not a big fan of steel rims, but... if you have steel rims with hub caps, rip those hub caps off. The raw appearance takes some of the Womanish look out of the car.

[stinkysGTI]

I agree, or even if they're the "cheaper" VW rims, paint em. I did that with my 84 CRX. It had original '84 rims and I masked the outer ring and center cap, then painted them all flat black. I was really pleased the way it turned out; chrome H in the center and aluminum outer ring surrounded by flat black ;)

[01 vr6 jetta]

i was thinking about painting the centers flat black and masking off the lip but im nervous to cuz if i mess up im done. what kind of paint should i use to do this the most effectirvly cuz i want to?

[zukgod1]

The make a paint specifically for wheels, I bought some silver stuff a month or so ago and painted some hub caps on a car I was selling.
Went on nice and stuck really good.
For masking wheels I would get the Blue tape, maybe in 2 widths. get a 1/4" width and then maybe 3/4".
You could use the 1/4" to do the fine work then the larger areas with the 3/4".
It is really ply-able and doesn't leave that nasty sticky crap behind when your done.

[01 vr6 jetta]

cool ill get the tape today and look for the paint, but would u happen to kno what exactly the paint is called?

[zukgod1]

See if this works.
http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductList.aspx?CategoryCode=3590

It's Dulicolor BTW.

http://www.partsamerica.com/product_images/img/dpl/hwp104.jpg

[stinkysGTI]

Going back to the original post :), I got my cams yesterday... finally. This weekend's gonna be fun. I also got the Bentley manual and I have a shotty hand-me-down laptop that I tested it on and it works fine. Doesn't work on my desktop though; not like I was gonna drag that out to the garage anyway :)

I like how it has the torque settings in the corresponding content instead of all being in some kind of torque index like some other manuals.

...it's like waiting for christmas :D

[01 vr6 jetta]

yeah im just scared to paint my wheels myself cuz if i mess them up im screwed!

[stinkysGTI]

nah, you'll be fine. when you tape it, make the strips of tape a little oversized for the area and use an exacto knife to cut where you really want the line. well, as long as they're not rims you want to keep looking nice, just in case you cut too hard. I wasn't too worried about my old ones since I knew I was gonna keep em painted anyway, so that's what I did.

Trying to "bend", or mold the tape to the curves is a little tough. That was my reason for doing it that way so I could have a nice, clean circle.

Also, if you're really worried about how it'll turn out, get some B-12 Chemtool. That **** is awesome. I use to chrome my shops' trash cans with it :lol: Just spray some of that on, and not only will it clean it, but wait about a minute [probably less] and the paint will bubble and easily wipe off totally clean with a paper towel ;)

[01 vr6 jetta]

well there not hubcaps they are rims and i wanted to paint them soild black, aso i wouldnt need to tape off anything doing that.

[zukgod1]

well there not hubcaps they are rims and i wanted to paint them soild black, aso i wouldnt need to tape off anything doing that.


Then just get them REALLY clean and wipe then down with thinner to remove any oils that may be hanging on then paint away.

[01 vr6 jetta]

so just clean them and what is this thinner stuff u are tlaking about wiping them down with? but afteri do htese two things i should just be able to spray that dupli-color wheel paint on it and it will be good to go? Sorry about all the cionfusion and questions but i kno almost nothing about painting and bodywork.

[zukgod1]

so just clean them and what is this thinner stuff u are tlaking about wiping them down with? but afteri do htese two things i should just be able to spray that dupli-color wheel paint on it and it will be good to go? Sorry about all the cionfusion and questions but i kno almost nothing about painting and bodywork.


Thinner= Paint thinner.

Sounds like maybe you should find an Auto Body paint supply place close to you and just tell them what your going to do and ask for help.
If they arnt ****s they will probably get you the sctotch brite pads for scuffing thr surface so the new paint will stick, the thinner to clean the surface and you can get the paint @ Checker if they have those in your area.
Probably a good lint free cloth as well for the cleaning process.

Are you painting them with the tires still mounted?

[01 vr6 jetta]

yea i painting with the tires on the rims and the rims on the car.