Big Sky Euro

Hello, This is my first post here on big sky euro, I live in Helena, MT and this 2000 vw gti is the first vw I have owned. Quick rundown of the car: I bought it from my co worker a year back and drove for about 8 months, best driving and handling car Ive ever owned. It had been hit by a deer and my co worker had replaced the hood, fender, front clip assembly, lightweight flywheel, new clutch, plugs, wires. I had replaced the coil after some classic hairline cracks in it caused some misfiring. After a couple thousand miles, the car started to make a chain slapping noise upon the first startup of each day. After a second opinion from another member on this site, I knew I needed to replace the timing chains. So after a lot of research and reviewing the diy on vwvortex, I have dove into it, I am about a week into the project and it is looking good.

Here is what I ordered for the GTI:

ECS Timing chain kit
ECS silver billet crackpipe and thermostat housing kit
ECS tuning silicon hose kit
Green temp sensor
VSS sensor
Rever backup light switch
Upper and lower coolant hard lines
Spark plugs
Serpentine belt
Vacuum hose, Oil filter, fuel filter, fluids ext.

The car was due for general maintenance all around, so i pulled the trigger and got as much as I could afford.
Here is the car before going under the knife...


Removed the transmission, and pulled the front clip. Not bad for an one day...

Intake manifold out, and upper and lower timing chain covers out.


Upon closer inspection, the upper guide rail had cracked in half and was causing the slapping noise. Also the upper tensioner bolt was jammed and look sort of black, or burnt. Cogs looked okay, so I went ahead and started replacing the chains. It took a little time, but wasn't too bad.


Timing chain install finished and covers all sealed up. Definitely took the time to clean all the mating surfaces so i would ensure no leaks.


I then moved on to the crackpipe install. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of picture of the install. My phone had died. There were no leaks from the crackpipe itself, but the lowest part of the thermostat housing was leaking. The hardest part imo of this install is the removal of the smog pump. OMG it was such a pain. The whole install was pretty easy due to the front end being off and the trans out. It Gave you a lot of room to view down the side of the motor (driver side) and inspect the coolant openings and seals.
I reinstalled the crackpipe with a little rtv sealant on the o rings to ensure no leaks.

Crack pipe out


With the chains and pipe installed, it was time to put the transmission back in place. Reinstalled the flywheel and clutch ( both had barely 3000 miles on them, so i cleaned and reinstalled)


The trans is now installed and wired up, just waiting of my coolant hoses, oil pan, and a cv output flange bolt for the transmission, It was stripped when i had to remove it, luckily it came out with a little work. So far Im pretty satisfied with my work. I have been working on cars since high school, but never on anything european. Definitely was intimidated at first, but this repair has given me the confidence to repair anything on this car. Hopefully if should be back driving next week after a 11 month hiatus. Crossing my fingers hoping I didn't mess up. If I pull this off, It will be the greatest achievement of my life! lol

Awesome work and car! I love me a vr6. Timing chains are pretty intimidating at first but it's such a rewarding feeling when your done. Congrats!

Good to see you on the site. Great work! I'm glad you just dove into it. Mechanically, that is the most difficult job (other than maybe rebuilding the engine) so your confidence is justified I'll have to meet up with you some time and check out the car.

Thanks for the replys, had some time today and had never made a build thread for a car before, so i went for it. The chains weren't too difficult to do, as long as you stay organized and bag and label everything. Im down to just some minor things.
The car was throwing a code a while back before I parked it, Cylinder 5 misfire, I inspected the plugs when removing them all, and a few seem fouled, they looked very black. When I removed the intake manifold, there was a good amount of oil build up in the manifold, and some oil in the lower manifold runners. Luckily my work has an industrial parts washer out of a car dealership, so i have cleaned basically all the parts I removed. With new plugs and the tune up, I hope this will take care of the problem.
Here is how she sits as of now. Removed the serpentine belt and tension tonight, I am going to re grease the idler pulley tomorrow at work

I also want to thank Benno3231 for the second opinion on checking for the "can of marbles" noise. That assured me I had to take care of them. Was curious also if anyone knows someone who would paint the replacement panels on my car (for a decent price). Im not looking for anything spectacular, the body isn't perfect, just want it all one color.

You are welcome! My 91 GTI is getting painted right now by Speed Farm in Bozeman. They do great work. check them out on facebook

Received my silicon hose kit today from ECS. All the hoses looked very nice and fit like oem.

Also pulled my belt tensioner and greased the pulley bearing at work today.



Reinstalled the upper intake manifold, throttle body, and intake tonight. Plugged in all the electrical connections and replaced some vacuum hoses. Basically ready, just waiting on a few small things. Should be done by next week.

Nice!! Taking care of all the weak links . Awesome upgrades and nice work on the timing chains, they are a PITA.

Mark 4 had a 24 valve vr6… interesting

idubse7en wrote:Mark 4 had a 24 valve vr6… interesting

This is a 12V, but yeah 2004.5+ MKIV GTI/Jetta has 24V. That's IIRC