2.8-litre 24v VR6 engined 1986 Volkswagen Golf GLI Mk2

There’s just something so right and timeless about a Rallye-fronted, Audi-handled, bigbumper Mk2 and Gaets Orr’s 24v V6 example is one of our favourites. Here’s why…

THE GAETS OF WRATH

Words: Ted Dorset

Photos: Tony Watson

Most of you will be familiar with the American east coast state of Maryland gracing these pages from our many show reports of H2O International, that were held in Ocean City. Well, not only is Maryland known for its beaches and crab cakes, but there is also a town called Easton, where a car lives, that we know you love to see. Enter Gaets Orr, a mild-mannered mechanical engineer by day, a hard core v-dubber by night, who has a love for MK2s. So much love that he, myself, Danny Santos, and a bunch of other die-hards came up with the idea for an all Mk2 car show, Mk2 Mayday….

But this isn’t a show report. This is about the sweet ride Gaets has built for himself, that’s here for you to see and it gives me goosebumps whenever I see it (IYKYK…lol). Gaets, grew up around European cars, as his father owns a European import shop.

«The blown 12v was pulled and in went a sultry 2.8-litre 24v VR6 from a 2002 GLI»

There were always many VW there so, it would only be natural that he was a fan from the very start. The beginning of this journey was a handed down 1986 GLI that his sister had. There was an unfortunate incident where someone backed into it and damaged a door. She was reluctant to repair it, so it was handed to Gaets as his very first car at the age of 16. With his father being a euro car guru, they fixed it back to working order together and Gaets was off and running with his daily! The GLI was driven for just over a year, before it was retired to make way for a newer Mk3 Jetta. This was quickly modified with the self-proclaimed “normal Mk3 boltons”, being coilovers, wheels, VR6 specific parts (front spoiler and taillights) to make it nice! When Gaets was a freshman in college, the yearn for a Mk2 GTI became a thing, and he was set on a Mk2 GTI. He’d done the whole Jetta thing, and a GTI was what he specifically wanted as a project. Back in 2007 when VW Vortex was at its finest (its still out there and coming back…lol) he fell for the likes of the one of the Vortex favourites, Randy Williams and the 'LumpyA2'. His supercharged VR6 GTI car was featured not once, but twice on these pages, and the love was real. Flashback to Craigslist days and Gaets found two in nearby Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He took his resident European car expert along for the ride to check them both out on the same day.

The first being an ’1987 GTI. This was a bit on the rougher side of its life and donning small bumpers, it wasn't what he was really looking to use as a base for this project. The second, a 1991 GTI. Bingo! This was in good condition and rung every bell on the list. He didn’t buy it on the spot, but rather left the seller with, “I need to think about it…” line. When he came to his senses on the drive home, he realized that this was, “the one”! Big bumper, black 8v GTI! Gaets wanted to find an 8v, so he wouldn’t feel quite as bad as throwing away a 16v motor! The car being black was perfect as it was the best dark base for a respray! The car was acquired while Gaets was back on campus and the journey began.

As this was bought definitively as a project, “A fun daily that I could take to car shows”. When it all began the very first thing he did with it was, “I did a burnout and then pulled the 8v!”. Best way! At this stage it was the OG 12v VR6 that filled the engine bay. As the car was originally black it made for a great start to the initial respray. When the car went for paint, what caught Geats’ eye wasn’t all the color swatches in the paint books inside, it was a 2004 GMC Yukon in the parking lot that got the juices flowing. The car is sprayed in GM Dark Spiral Great Metallic, that when the light hits it, you get deep gray with hues of blue, green, and purple, sparling in the flake. The eyes of a Rallye look out at you from the front end. Smoked and moody as he calls it. He’s not so much of an ‘Air-Ride’ guy and wanted the car static low. It sits on B&G coilovers, with expertly cut/clearanced fender/arch combos and a notched frame.

“It is always low! No air ride here,” he states! Gaets’ simplistic outlook with everything flows into the wheels, as well. He custom ordered the set of CCW LM5Ts to give the most lip of he could and “moody look of the 5 stars while they are sitting still”. The age old saying that the wheels can make or break a car is true, but these complement the car along with all the other mods, it just all flows together. The addition of a Z-Engineering supercharger made its way on to the motor and he showed the car until about 2010. He enjoyed it in this iteration, until there were a bit too many hiccups with the supercharger and other issues. The 12v had to go, plus he wanted a cleaner look under the hood, a more stock looking feel. The blown 12v was pulled and in went a sultry 2.8-litre 24v Vr6 from a 2002 GLI. At the time, the scene hadn’t stepped into many 24v swaps, as the 12v was the go-to motor due to the electrics. In it went. Did it stop there? Of course not, the yearn to go further was too great. Now it was the engine bay of Danny Santos’ Stratos Blue Jetta that bit him. He didn’t know Danny at the time, but through it all he is great friends with Danny now and they are both part of the MK2Mayday show team! He’d noticed the car at the Primer show in Rhode Island and knew his next steps. The no rain tray, factory stampings and smooth smooth smooth look! He added B4 Audi door handles and went all in again with a full respray in the same color. The Mk3 Dash complements the interior along with the false floor rear covering everything from the front seats back. No back seat drivers in this ride! Gaets takes pride in the fact that he is able to say that he’s been able to have his hands involved in just about every aspect of the build. The only portions he had to defer to someone else was the body work, harness work, and the tuning aspect. Everything else has his DNA on it! He does admit that if he had to do it all again, the only thing he’d change is keeping the mk2 dash, instead of the mk3 one you see here. He loves it completely as it is but…

(don’t we all wish we could go back at some point?… lol). When asked if he would do it all again, of course it was a yes. This car is absolutely beautiful. He loves what it has become, from start to finish. He has future plans, Gaets admitted to us that this is “the one” but not the last. He has a few more builds in his head. One being a build of his 1991 Jetta coupe to be a drivers show car. Then there’s a small bumpered Golf built in the fashion of the Carvisions build of the blue supercharged VR6 “Mk2 Golf Kompressor” video from many years ago, more affectionately known as the “Johnny Knox video, in there as well. In the end, Gaets is a person who likes to modify everything he has, he likes whatever that is to stand out, and likes to show it off. Well we at PVW think that this ride you’ve built here is more than worthy of just showing it off. Hats off to you G, hats off.

DUB DETAILS

• ENGINE: 2.8 24v VR6, VEMS standalone ECU, custom Lugtronic wiring harness, ARP 12 point polished stainless steel hardware, Techtonics tuning downpipe, custom exhaust, O2A gearbox powder coated BMW wheel silver, O2J shift tower and box, Diesel Geek short shifter kit
• CHASSIS: CCW LM5T 8x16" (ET3) front, 9.5x16" (ET9) rear with 205/40 Falken 512s and B&G adjustable coilovers
• EXTERIOR: Full respray in GM Dark Spiral Gray Metallic, Rallye Golf front end, B4 Audi door handles, G60 arches, custom 3D printed 24v door trim emblems, shaved banana lights, shaved hood louvers, shaved roof antenna, shaved rear wiper, shaved rear panel lines, shaved rear emblem, South African spec hatch glass (no defrost, third brake light, spoiler), Postal Golf taillights
• INTERIOR: Mk3 dash, European upper glove box, European center console, North American Recaro seats, 280mm Momo Team steering wheel, custom false floor/rear seat delete, 85 GTI C pillar trim without seatbelt holes, Postal Golf rear trim. Alpine head unit, Alpine speakers in dash, doors, and added behind the seats in the false floor
• SHOUT: My girlfriend Pam, my brother Leeds and my Mom for their endless support. My Dad for all his help on the project and letting me use his shop. The Mk2 Mayday crew, Danny Santos, Mike Milligan, Ted Dorset and all my friends who have helped along the way