Description

VW VR6 2.8 litre AAA/AFP engine

Welcome to a very exciting opportunity to buy a new-old-stock crate engine. These are VR6 2.8 litre 12 valve engines producing 129KW/174BHP from the factory as standard. The stickers on the block state ‘177’ which is the power in PS which equates to 174BHP or 129KW. The VR6 platform can be lightly modified to produce 200BHP+ and most have the potential for far in excess of that. Performance parts are generally quite easy to come by too.

Many of the parts of these engines are marked AAA and the part numbers we can identify on the block come up as AAA. There are multiple AAA stickers but we believe these engines are the later AFP variant. The AFP block has many slight differences including higher compression and it uses a different manifold and cam timings to an AAA engine. An AFP sticker should be located on the manifold and as there is no manifold present the sticker is not present. The ‘177’ sticker could also be a sign that this is an AFP type engine. A VR6 drag racer and expert in these engines that purchased one let us know that it did match up to his AFP manifold.

They are as-new and completely unused crate engines and have never been run, nor in a vehicle before!

Ideal for your high-performance race or drag vehicle or just as a spicy upgrade for your standard VW. The engine will fit many models of VW group car and mounting kits can be found online. We are not VW or VAG experts by any stretch of the imagination so please check with someone who knows about these engines before getting too excited about fitting it to your new project. We know more about VW LT vans than any other VW.

The engines have no ancillaries, injection bits or manifolds included. Please check the photographs closely for included parts. These exact engines were intended to replace an original damaged engine re-using the original unit’s undamaged components. These engines are not ‘ready to drop in and drive’ and will certainly require oil, service items, engine cover, ancillaries and much more.

Cabmasters purchased a handful of these engines as surplus at the end of the manufacturers warranty period. They have been stored in our warehouse for many years now. The engines were held by the manufacturer as spares in case of a replacement being required under warranty but were never used. One of the engines we have is marked July 2002. As these engines were always destined to be warranty engines they were likely produced close to the very end of production, perhaps even slightly after the listed official production run of this version of the engine. Our research in to the specifics of these engines was made very confusing due to some quite contradictory dates.

VAG part numbers:
Block: 021100031FX
Cylinder head: 021103265BX

Note: This engine is NOT London ULEZ compliant (unless installed in a historic vehicle).

For your reference while researching this engine I found this old thread from someone who converted a AAA engine to AFP block. There appears to be some good information here that I’ve been unable to find anywhere else.

As they stand, in the VW-made metal crates (as pictured) the dimensions are as follows:
L 900mm  x W 850mm x H 900mm +/- 10mm and they weigh approx 150KG in total. We have shipped these engines successfully and are willing to prepare them for shipping. You should contact a suitable local-to-you agent to work on your behalf.

Please contact us for more details about these engines and other items of new-old stock. For our listing of other engines including other VW engines, click here.