**Front Wheel Drive to Rear Wheel Drive: A Frankenstein Volkswagen**

The following is a content of a file that details the transformation of a Volkswagen Golf into a rear wheel drive vehicle.

**Introduction**

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**The Journey Begins**

Mike's Frankenstein Volkswagen Golf started as a shell of its former self, with precious little space left in the engine bay. The radiator would have to go on the back like a real drift car. He chose a Jeep XJ radiator for its low and wide and thick shape, which fits perfectly.

**The Sawzall is Put to Work**

Dr. Day put some miles on the sawszall in here, cutting out pretty much the rest of the floor due to rust. A new floor was made, and then a borderline overkill cage to tie the whole chassis together since so much of it had been cut away.

**Radiator Revamp**

The radiator he chose is for a Jeep XJ. He chose it because of its low and wide and thick shape. It fits real nice. And while he was replacing the rusty rocker panels, he just decided to plumb some steel tube inside of them to flow the coolant from the engine to the radiator and back again.

**Metalwork Magic**

Mike likes metalwork, he likes making cages, bead rolling, dimple dying, welding and coming up with creative solutions. Case in point, the radiator, there was precious little space left in the engine bay, so naturally the radiator would have to go on the back like a real drift car.

**The Engine Bay**

The engine bay is where the magic happens. The radiator he chose is for a Jeep XJ. He chose it because of its low and wide and thick shape. It fits real nice. And while he was replacing the rusty rocker panels, he just decided to plumb some steel tube inside of them to flow the coolant from the engine to the radiator and back again.

**Drifting into Madness**

There's a fan mounted inside each of the quarter panels, pulling fresh air in through all this nasty ducting across the radiator and out the back, out all the holes in the hatch. Boom! Radiator done. Simple as that.

**The Interior**

All right, well it's clearly a drift car from in here. We've got a pair of momo seats mounted on Mike's own brackets on Mike's own floor, a momo steering wheel on a Frankenstein MK3 Golf and BMW E30 steering column. Next to that we've got an IRP hydro and on Mike's trans tunnel, a Turner Motor Sport rally shifter right next to it.

**Gauges Galore**

He's got a gauge panel here with some pro sport gauges to keep an eye on the important things. A little switch panel down here with the couple of switches, one for fan and one for party lights. There's a picture of a margarita on that switch. That's probably my favorite.

**Driving it Home**

I wanna go drive. So what does it really take to V8 rear wheel drive swap your golf? Well, it takes a big old brain, few sawzall blades, many feet of welding wire, lots of raw metal and someone who is clinically insane.

**Was it Worth it?**

Mike says yes. He says it's way better than he expected. He says it's one of the most intuitive cars he's ever driven. And that sliding it around right out of the gate was as comfortable as sticking his hand into an old baseball bat.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(engine roaring)- V8, rear wheel drive.Frankenstein Volkswagen.What?(electric music playing)what do you do if you got afront wheel drive hatchback,and that is all you wanna do?You jam a big honkin' v8 under the hood,you strap a six speed to itand you convert that littlehatch to rear wheel drive.Where do you even start?How twisted do you have to be?It's time to go front wheeldrive to rear wheel drive,bumper to bumper on one of my best buddiesV8 Volkswagen drift car.(music playing)this VW is owned by Miketheday.You see before my days here at Dona,I used to work with Mikein Ohio at ECS tuning.He and my boys back homedecided to make some videosabout building some drift cars,and in typical Mike fashion,he went a little over board.Y'all know VW Golf, it's ubiquitous.It's V hat hatch, it's largely responsiblefor making front wheel drive cool and fun.This one is a MK3, which is statisticallythe least popular Golfand according to Pumphrey,is generally purchased by real nerds.This one is a '98 and it started lifewith a 2.8 liter 12 valveVR6 making 174 horsepowermade it do a five speed transmission.Which is honestly a really solid setup.I used to ride the one (mumbles)this thing way back then,but that was a long ass time ago.Long before it was Mike's.And the car has been tohell and back since then.In fact it was destined forthe crasher if wasn't for Mikegiving it a second lifeas a wild ass drift car.(music playing)So how did Mike get this car?Well, when Dr Frankensteinneeded to make his monster,he needed a dead body.Mike found this dead body rottingunder a tree in Akron, Ohio.It was growing many types of moldand Cancer had taken a hold of the shell,but Mike has got acertain type of blindness.The type that makes all the reasonsyou shouldn't do something invisible.So just a few months ago,he picked up the shellfor $200 and went to work.Time to source a power plan.That magic Mike lookedinto his own backyard.You see some years back,Mike had swapped this very drive traininto his E34 five series.It's a BMW M62 4.4 liter aluminum black V8with a six speed transmission,putting about 275 horsepowerto the rear wheels.Of course, as it always seems to go.Mike was ready for morepower in his five series,so he yanked this drive train out of itand gave it to its new little brother.The Golf.Hand-me-down drive trainsbaby. You're a great dad, Mike.So we've got a drive train,but what the hell does it taketo shoehorn it into this little Golf?One part reckless abandoned,two parts thinking ahead.One part sawzall.Okay, maybe two parts sawzall.(sawzall motor running)Mike's philosophy is simple.If it's in the way, cut it out.The steering suspension, everything.It all had to go.The firewall had to go aswell as a lot of the floor.Mike cut the frame railsoff so he could weldhis own horns on and thenbuild his own subframewith his own engine mount locations.In a Nissan steering rack froman S13 240SX laying around.So he tossed that in there too.He also fabbed up some sweet headersand the exhaust all the way back.Looking for all the sweet,sweet steering angleand camber he could get.He whipped up some long ass control arms,modify the MK3 knucklesand modified some turnermotor sport camber platesas well as the stock shock towersto get it all to work in the MK3and then he used a set ofBilstein PSS9 coiloversthat are actually for a MK3 Golf.(music playing)Lets go see what he did for that rear end.(music playing)So back here in the rear is a diff from,you guessed it, a Ford Explorer.You guys ever read the story,If you give a mouse a cookie?Well in this instance, Mikeis the boy with the cookiesand the car is the mouse andthe rear end is the cookie.(music playing)Of course this particularcookie would be betterwith some milk,so Mike had to cut some Cnotches into the rear railsto allow for suspensiontravel of a rear endthat was never meant to be there.Then of course that alsomeant trimming the fenders,front and rear to fitthese 18 by nine inch axlesand that meant he neededto install his flaresand he finally got back to the axle,casually whipped up alittle four link set upand then took a nap.A well deserved nap.(music playing)Now lets take a look under the bumperand under the bumper we've got this.Mike whipped up a little bashbar for tapping walls withas well as this jack pointfor quick tire changesas well as a trailer hitchjust in case he decidesto make a trailer to cart aroundhis drifty needs of course.Why wouldn't he?Can you imagine seeingthis thing with a trailerfull of drifts?Let's pop the hatch and seewhat's going on in there.Dr. Day put some mileson the sawszall in here.He cut out pretty much therest of the floor due to rust.So then he made a new floorand then he made thisborderline overkill cageto tie the whole chassis togethersince so much of it had been cut away.So now he's safe and thechassis is super rigidjust like me.(music playing)If you haven't picked up on it yet.Mike likes metalwork,he likes making cages,bead rolling, dimple dying, weldingand coming up with creative solutions.Case in point, the radiator,there was precious littlespace left in the engine bay,so naturally the radiatorwould have to go on the backlike a real drift car.The radiator he chose is for a Jeep XJ.He chose it because of itslow and wide and thick shape.It fits real nice.And while he was replacingthe rusty rocker panels,he just decided to plumb somesteel tube inside of themto flow the coolant fromthe engine to the radiatorand back again.No big deal.(music playing)There was a fan mounted insideeach of the quarter panels,pulling fresh air in throughall this nasty ductingacross the radiator and out the back,out all the holes in the hatch.Boom!Radiator done.Simple as that.Now let's get in the carand see what the hellis going on in the old.I feel right at home.(music playing)All right, well it's clearlya drift car from in here.We've got a pair of momoseats mounted on Mike'sown brackets on Mike's own floor,a momo steering wheel ona Frankenstein MK3 Golfand BMW E30 steering column.Next to that we've got an IRP hydroand on Mike's trans tunnel,a turner motor sport rallyshifter right next to it.(music playing)And honestly, everywhere I lookI keep seeing more Mike made panels.It is the sun roof delete the door panels.Look at this custom freaking mano wiper.I feel like I haven'tstressed this nearly enough,but Mike did all of this fromshell to what you see todayin like two and a half months.That's insane.(music playing)So anyway, he's got a gauge panel herewith some pro sport gauges to keep an eyeon the important things.A little switch panel down herewith the couple of switches,one for fan and one for party lights.There's a picture of amargarita on that switch.That's probably my favorite.I'm going to flip that switch.That's enough talking.Let's flip some other switchesand turn this thing on.(engine roaring)(laughs)(engine roaring)I wanna to go drive.(music playing)So what does it really taketo V8 rear wheel drive Swap your golf.Well, it takes a big old brain,few sawzall blades, manyfeet of welding wire,lots of raw metal and someonewho is clinically insane.It also apparently takesparts from a Volkswagen,several BMW's, a Nissan, a Ford, a Jeep,and a bunch of parts from your own nugget.It definitely takes giving up everythingthat the VW golf oncewas apart from being fun,but with all the work that'sbeen poured into this thing,my biggest question is, was it worth it?Is it actually any good?Mike says yes.He says it's way better than he expected.He says it's one ofthe most intuitive carshe's ever driven.And that sliding it aroundright out of the gatewas as comfortable as sticking his handinto an old baseball bat.(engine roaring)That's not actually what he said,but you get the point.He says he likes itand he says, it's good.Let's go do some donuts.(engine roaring)Thanks for watching guys.I had a lot of fun making this videoand if you didn't watch them,we couldn't make them.Subscribe to donut mediaand make sure you hit thelittle notification bellso you get a notificationanytime we drop a new video.Follow Mike on Instagram at @miketheday.Follow me as @zachjobe.Follow donut @donutmediaand follow my boys@nolanjaysykes and @jamespumphrey.