Following a request from another forum member here;
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=172683A little bit of information regarding engine mountings;
There are two types of engine mounting used on the 2.0 FWD Mk6's, early and late types. The 'early' is a steel bracket, the 'late' type having an ally top 'arch'.
Our experience from doing these conversions shows the the top chassis rails are the same on FWD and RWD models, BUT, when the FWD engine mountings were changed, (early to late), this necessitated a change in the location of the holes in the top of the chassis rails.
Early FWD engine mountings use a reinforcing plate spot welded below the top chassis rail plate, (inside the chassis rail), retrospective fitment of this plate requires it to be inserted inside the rail and spot welded in place. This requires removal of the rail closing plate at the front to the rail where the bumper reinforcing panel is secured to allow the plate to be inserted inside the chassis rail. Some very early RWD models have this plate installed at the factory. The 'humps' where the fixings for the RWD engine cross member are secured can be left in place as the early FWD mounting features a 'cut-out' to clear these.
On later models produced after the FWD engine mounting was changed you will find there are just four holes in the chassis rail top plate. First you need to remove the two 'humps' that accept the mounting bolts for the RWD engine cross member, you will see the four holes in the top of the chassis rail. The later FWD engine mounting uses a reinforcing plate welded on top of the chassis rail, this can be cut from a donor FWD vehicle and welded on top of the chassis rail, you will need to 'open out' the four holes to provide sufficient clearance for the captive nuts.
The gearbox mountings were also changed on FWD models, 'early' to 'late'. The later type features a large ally 'arch' similar to the 'late' type engine mounting. We always use the 'early' type gearbox mounting, even on a later RWD vehicles, as we have found that the 'late' type FWD gearbox mounting interferes with the ABS unit on a RWD vehicle. This 'early' gearbox mounting shares the mounting points with the RWD engine cross member, although the fixings are different. All but very early 2.4 models are missing one captive nut on the underside of the chassis rail, a 10mm 'rivnut' is the solution.
TIM