If the forward-hinged bonnet doesn’t pique your interest, the presence of a BMW M Power engine certainly will. This tuned Mk1 Golf van is one build which keeps striking with surprising body blows, over and over…

Feature first appeared in Performance VW. Words: Dan Bevis   Photos: Matt Woods

In this line of work, we’ve got pretty used to seeing engine-swapped cars. The Mk1 Golf in particular is a tuner favourite for heart transplants – VR6s, 1.8Ts, 16v KRs, ABFs… you name it, it gets shoved in there. But even the most world-weary serial show-goer is given pause when the forward-hinged bonnet lifts on SMD’s tuned Mk1 Golf van. Yes, stop rubbing your eyes, that is a BMW straight-six. An S50 from an E36 M3, no less. And the fact that the van’s running a sodding great motor longitudinally suggests there’s mischief at play throughout the chassis too. You’re right to make these assumptions. But perhaps you’d be surprised to learn just how deep the rabbit-hole goes. You see, this is only pretending to be a Golf; in the same way that an Escort RS Cosworth is only pretending to be an Escort (because, of course, it’s all Sapphire underneath), this retro commercial has been artfully placed upon the guts of an M3. It’s not just the engine – it’s the gearbox, diff, brakes, suspension, the works. So if you’ve seen this thing tearing it up at the Brighton Speed Trials or elsewhere, and had to shut your eyes and shake your head to clear away the troubled voices, fear not: this isn’t a glitch in the Matrix. What it is, in fact, is just about the most astounding retirement present any hard-working van could hope to receive.

Vans, it almost goes without saying, generally have a pretty crappy time of it. Sure, a small percentage get bought by loving owners who pamper and cherish them, but the vast majority are viewed simply as workhorses, blunt instruments, tools to do a job. Cargo gets thrown in with abandon, dents and scratches are a daily occurrence, and when it comes to the end of its useful life, the van gets thrown away. But not this one. No, this Mk1 Golf van has served its time in the realm of commercial usefulness, and is now enjoying its day in the sun, gloriously reborn by the artisans at Southern Motor Developments.

SMD has extensive form with carrying out wild projects like this, and head honcho Brent Crooks is keen to point out that this build has been one of evolution. “It all started out as a very different project,” he explains. “The customer, a carpenter, had bought a very tatty van for work purposes. The standard 1.9 diesel engine wasn’t quite doing it for him, and he had approached us about installing a 1.8T BAM engine. He had already bought a Mk4 Golf GTI donor car to carry out the conversion…” However, the inevitable spectre of mission creep reared its head at this point, as the potential of the engine swap came under analysis. The conversion all started according to plan, with the Mk4 being stripped down for all the required parts and fabrication beginning on the Mk1 to ready it for the BAM heart. With the engine mocked into position, the owner cast a quizzical eye over it and asked Brent what he felt the end result would be like. “Awesome,” was the response, “although a lot of people have done 1.8T conversions, and if it was me I’d want to do something a bit more unusual…”

This sentiment evidently struck a chord, and as the lads glanced around the workshop searching for inspiration, their eyes settled upon the tired and sad-looking E36 M3 sitting in the corner of the yard. It was a real lightbulb moment.

“After some discussion, and a lot of measuring, we decided that it was possible to fit the entire floorpan and all the running gear from the BMW into the Golf,” Brent grins, like the mad scientist he is. “At this point the project basically started again. The Golf’s body was removed from its floorpan, which was reasonably straightforward, but getting the BMW’s floorpan unstitched was a little trickier – although it came out well in the end. The M3’s wheelbase was 280mm longer than the Golf’s, so we had to lose that somewhere; as the Golf was a van, there weren’t going to be any rear seats so we removed a 280mm section of the floor where the rear passengers’ feet would usually be and, after some strengthening was added to the Golf body, the two were married together.”

Oh, simple as that eh? Of course the entire process is way more complex than Brent’s modestly making it sound, as there’s a huge amount of measuring and remeasuring and precise calculation work involved in making a success of a madcap scheme like this. Impressively though, the biggest hurdle the guys encountered was that the rear trailing arm mounts were wider than the Golf’s body. But they managed to get around this without too much drama by widening the lower section of the rear quarters to accept the new floorpan. The SMD method is all about solutions.

“Most of the other fabrication in getting the body mounted to the floorpan was fairly straightforward,” Brent continues. “Additional strengthening was added, as well as a custom half-rollcage. Custom seat mounts were made, and a reverse bonnet opening was achieved using the BMW boot hinges – which worked surprisingly well! The battery box was also fabricated into the floor where the spare wheel in the BMW would have been, and a set of wide Berg Cup wings and rear arches were fitted.” This last flourish serves two purposes: firstly, the extra girth is necessary to accommodate the markedly wider track of the M3. And secondly – well, it just looks great, doesn’t it? And as the build progressed and more and more pieces began to slot into place, it was all starting to appear rather rosy. Until, that is, the owner dropped a bombshell: “He just had too many other commitments, so the project totally lost momentum,” Brent recalls. “We were a bit gutted, as we were worried that the van wouldn’t get finished. But luckily his brother, Piers, decided to take the project on, so the work started again!”

Disaster avoided and with fresh impetus, the SMD team redoubled their efforts. All of the fabrication work had been carried out by this point and it was basically a restoration project, so the whole shell was stripped back down, soda-blasted and painted. All of the original BMW and VW bolts and fixings were re-zinced, the suspension items were stripped down, sand-blasted, repainted and re-bushed, and new brake pipes and fuel lines were made up. When it came to the engine and transmission, everything was fully refreshed to ensure it was all in tip-top condition – new seals, gaskets, boots and everything else one could wish for, along with a lick of paint.

“Once the car was back to the point that it was rolling again with the engine and transmission in place, we fabricated a custom 2.5” exhaust system and made a start on the wiring,” says Brent. “We used the original BMW loom, but cut out any unnecessary wiring. We even managed to retain the BMW ABS system, which was a bonus! The BMW clocks and lighting switches were modified to fit the Golf’s dashboard, so that basically just left us with wiring in the lights. We made a flat floor for the back of the van to keep it looking tidy, and the floor, doorcards and roof where all lined in black. Some additional panels had to be made on the lower section of the dashboard, as well as a steering column cowling, and the interior was finished off with some Corbeau bucket seats and 4-point harnesses.”

Now, you might think that the short wheelbase of the Golf would make it a bit, er, frisky once it’s been amped up to run 320bhp through the rear wheels, but Brent assures us that it’s surprisingly stable: “It’s as wild as you want it to be,” he shrugs. “If you drive it with a little sympathy, it will just hook up and go like a scalded cat, but if you’re a little more aggressive then it will quite happily turn into a drift monster…”

The concept here really is remarkable, and it takes an outfit with the unparalleled expertise of SMD to turn such a notion from the kind of idea that you might sketch out on the back of a beermat into something that actually works in the real world. And not just functions adequately, but works phenomenally well. The idea of shoehorning an M3 inside a tuned Mk1 Golf van is utterly, completely deranged… and yet somehow, thanks to the engineering ingenuity involved here, it makes absolute sense. If you treat the van with respect, it’s friendly enough to use every day. And if you abuse it – well, it’s a short-wheelbase M3, so bonfired rears will be your just reward. And all through the process, the focus on engineering cleverness has been mirrored with an insistence on an impeccable finish. It’s the ultimate fusion of show and go.

“I love seeing people’s reactions to this car,” Brent beams. “I was always worried that we would upset a lot of VW fans as well as BMW fans, however that doesn’t seem to be the case. We often take it to car shows and meetings, and I think the fact that the bonnet opens up the wrong way instantly gets people curious. They tend to come and have a look in the engine bay, then have to step back and take a second look just to confirm that it is a Mk1 Golf!” And that, really, is the ultimate accolade for a project like this. It’s clearly one thing, and yet also quite another; a clever fusion of styles, approaches and eras, taking two entirely disparate entities and making them work as one. It’s not just another engine-swapped Mk1 Golf. It’s a whole new world of retro VW modifying.

Tech Spec: Tuned Mk1 Golf Van

Engine:

BMW E36 M3 S50B32 3.2-litre straight-six, ITG air filter, custom exhaust system, custom radiator setup, E36 M3 gearbox and differential, c.320bhp

Chassis:

17” Rota Grid wheels, 205/40 Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres, E36 M3 brakes – uprated with EBC discs and YellowStuff pads, E36 M3 suspension

Exterior:

Berg Cup wide wings and rear arches, GTI chin spoiler, crosshair headlights, custom front indicators, smoked taillights, custom VW/M badges

Interior:

Custom 4-point rollcage, flush rear floor, Corbeau bucket seats, 4-point Luke harnesses, custom dashboard, OMP steering wheel

Phil Sohn has owned a lot of RX-7s, but this one’s particularly special. Having had  this modified FD RX-7 since 2003, it’s evolved through many distinct versions – now this modified FD RX-7 has a fresh look for 2021, it’s the craziest one yet…

Feature first appeared in Fast Car. Words: Daniel Bevis. Photos: James David, John Watson & Philip Sohn.

Very few cool stories begin with Malibu. As was adroitly pointed out by Gary in ‘Men Behaving Badly’ back in the nineties, there’s a strict social code that forbids ordering Malibu in pubs; sure, its easy-going coconut flavour makes mixing a piña colada a bit simpler, but it’s really just watered-down rum for people who don’t actually like rum.

That’s the UK perspective, anyway. Over in the USA, the term represents something different. If you live in California, Malibu is a beach city in western Los Angeles where dreams are made by beautiful people, the sun always shines and you’re forever tripping over palm trees and wedges of discarded banknotes. More than a few cool stories have started with that Malibu. Elsewhere in the USA, though? The name refers to one of the less inspiring models to be produced by the General Motors corporation: by the time it had reached its fourth-generation in 1978, the Chevrolet Malibu had grown into a square-jawed box, most notable for its use on police fleets (and, bizarrely, in a special production run brokered by Saddam Hussein to work as taxis in Iraq). Is this the stuff dreams are made of? Possibly not. But there is one distinctly cool story that began with exactly this starting point, and the endgame is spread out before you on these pages. You see, Phil Sohn, world-renowned Wankel authority and dyed-in-the-wool RX-7 aficionado, started his automotive adventures in a ’78 Malibu. And it certainly doesn’t seem to have done his motoring passions any harm.

“I’ve been modifying cars since the late-eighties, starting out with stereo stuff,” he explains. “In the mid-’90s I bought my first RX-7, a 1991 FC convertible, and at the end of the ’90s I got my first FD.”

It’s fair to say that Phil has become something of an expert over the last couple of decades or so, having spent an incredible amount of time tearing down RX-7s and rebuilding them to be harder, better, faster, stronger; what he doesn’t know about these offbeat rotary tearaways isn’t worth knowing. The car you see here was the fifth FD RX-7 he’d acquired and modified (at the time – the tally today is more like fifteen), and it’s been through a remarkable number of evolutions in the time he’s had it.

“I bought this car from a friend back in 2003, who’d just got a new RX-8 and needed to sell the RX-7 because he couldn’t use it with the family,” Phil continues. “It was in amazing condition with all new ’99+ body parts on it. Back then, only a handful of RX-7 owners had these OEM ’99+ updates.” Having been a serial FD perv since 1999, there’s a certain neatness to the idea of acquiring cars with the rare and sought-after ’99-spec bits, and it was clear from the start that this one was to be a keeper.

“This modified FD RX-7 has seen multiple changes over the years, and multiple features with all the different evolutions,” he says. “I’ve done most of the work myself, and it’s always been the same chassis underpinning it – although you mightn’t believe it when you see how much it’s changed each time.”

Corralling a strong arsenal of sponsors and associates has helped the project to grow and flourish, with Phil building up close relationships with a variety of aftermarket kingpins over his lengthy and diverse endeavours. Key figures within the process this time around included BorgWarner, Radium Engineering, Built 2 Apex, ID, FFE, Haltech, Davies Craig, SakeBomb Garage, Samco UK, Defi, Exedy, Liqui Moly, Tein, Bride, Powerflex, Toyo… it’s a rich and tasty list, and the results of all these high-quality ingredients are self-evident in today’s spec.

“The engine was built by me and Brian Treffeisen, a long-time friend and tuner,” says Phil. “Brian will be tuning the car, and we’re expecting to see around 450whp.” This is attributable in part to the fact that the revered 13B-REW has been converted to run a single turbo – a BorgWarner EFR8374, a ceramic ball-bearing unit designed specifically to support power in the 400-800bhp range while also offering rapid spooling at motorsport level – but of course it’s rather more involved than just that. Phil’s worked closely with Radium Engineering to develop the perfect fuelling system, which features their proprietary drop-in multi-pump surge tank, two Walbro E85 pumps and a lift pump, remote fuel filter kit, and Full Function Engineering primary and secondary fuel rails with ID 1300 and 1700 injectors. SakeBomb Garage perfected the water/meth injection setup as well as providing the coils, dual oil coolers and various other tricks. The FMIC is an A’PEXi GT item, the hoses are all Samco from right here in the UK, and all of the myriad modifications are bossed into order by a Haltech Elite 1500 ECU with dual EGT sensors and mil-spec wiring harness. When it comes to 13B motors, this is all just about as clever as it gets – a supremely high-end build designed for devastating performance with impeccable reliability. After so many years reimagining these cars, Phil knows exactly what he’s playing at here. And don’t make any smarmy jokes about rotor seals, he’ll throw a spanner at you.

In order to deploy all of this cartoonish thrust, the chassis has been down to the gym and very diligently doing its daily Joe Wicks workouts; we’re talking Tein Flex Z coilovers with the supremely clever EDFC Active Pro damping force adjustment, backed up by Powerflex Black Series bushes throughout, SakeBomb billet solid anti-roll bar mounts and adjustable ARBs at either end. The brakes are pretty bloody devastating too, with the front end wearing SakeBomb’s own take on the Wilwood BBK, and a ’99-spec rear upgrade from Racing Brake.

Form is just as important as function with this project, that’s always been at the core of Phil’s modding sensibilities – although you’d probably already gathered that from the quality of the car’s presentation. The interior is flawlessly detailed, with the uber-fancy Bride seats surrounded by neat hex carbon that makes it look like the cockpit of a fighter jet. And outside? Phil’s exacting standards have seen some seriously clever custom features come to fruition.

“The front bumper is my own creation,” he explains. “It’s a combination of the RE-Amemiya N1-05 design and the FEED Type 2R, which are my favourite aftermarket options for the FD; I’ve taken the best elements of both and blended them together, along with some custom carbon accents. I produced a mould while I was making it and made five more bumpers.” Always useful to have spares, although perhaps these jewel-like creations could provide unicorn-grade additions to hardcore FD builds across the US or beyond. The rest of the RX-7’s exterior bristles with cool upgrades, from the TCP Magic G-FACE GT front wings and FEED rear flares to the APR wing-top vents, Scoot bonnet and RE-Amemiya carbon rear splitter. The cherry on the cake is the colour, which has actually been plasti-dipped – this is something that was massive on the scene a couple of years ago but seems to have largely receded back into the shadows; here Phil’s demonstrating that it’s still a very versatile idea, and his chosen colour – amusingly named ‘Motor Oil’ – is absolutely spot-on for this super-aggressive Mazda.

“I’ve done pretty much everything with this car,” says Phil, with a wistful smile. “Long-distance trips, touge runs, shows, track days, you name it. This FD is particularly special in that I took my wife on our second date in it, and raced a 911 on the road – with her permission! It’s also my longest-owned FD RX-7 and I’ve changed everything on it… and when I say everything, I mean that literally; right down to each individual wire, every single element has been changed since 2003.”

As tales of automotive obsession go, it’s a compelling one. This isn’t just a project car, it’s a companion. It’s been with him through thick and thin, he knows every millimetre of it, and with each evolution it keeps getting faster and more exciting. Who says cool stories can’t begin with Malibu?

Tech Spec: Modified FD RX-7

Styling:

DYC Pro-Line plasti-dip – colour: ‘Motor Oil’, custom front bumper fusing RE-Amemiya N1-05 and FEED Type 2R parts with custom carbon accents, FEED signal lights, TCP Magic G-FACE GT wings, side skirts and carbon front wing diffuser, APR Performance wing-top vents, custom carbon ducktail spoiler, Scoot bonnet, FEED rear wing flares, custom Built 2 Apex front splitter and mounting brace, RE-Amemiya carbon rear splitter

Tuning:

13B-REW 1,308cc two-rotor Wankel – built by Phil Sohn and Brian Treffeisen, single-turbo conversion – BorgWarner EFR8374 with Turbosmart actuator and BOV, PTP Turbo blanket, Radium Engineering drop-in multi-pump surge tank, 2x Walbro E85 pumps and 1x lift pump, Radium remote fuel filter kit, custom alternator relocation kit – modified using Built 2 Apex kit, Full Function Engineering primary and secondary fuel rails with ID 1300 and 1700 injectors, Davies Craig EWP150 electric water pump with controller, Haltech Elite 1500 ECU with dual EGT sensors, SakeBomb Garage IGN1 coil kit – direct fire using Elite 1500, SakeBomb water/meth injection tank with AEM pump and controller, IR Performance oil filler neck, high output alternator, SakeBomb dual oil coolers, Defi oil temp, oil pressure and fuel pressure sensors, Samco couplers and radiator hoses, Samco billet coolant temp sensor adapter, LMS-EFI mil-spec engine wiring harness, Fujita Engineering intake elbow, A’PEXi GT front-mount intercooler, N Flow radiator, wire-tucked engine bay and custom hardlines, RZ transmission, Liqui Moly oil, transmission, and diff fluids, C’s Garage short-shift, twin Exedy cerametallic lightened flywheel and clutch, GReddy high-capacity diff cover

Chassis:

9.5x18in (front) and 10.5x18in (rear) Advan GT wheels, 255/35 (f) and 295/30 (r) Toyo R888-R tyres, Tein Flex Z coilovers with Tein EDFC Active Pro, Powerflex Black Series bushes, SakeBomb billet solid anti-roll bar mounts, Tri-Point adjustable front anti-roll bar, Racing Beat adjustable rear anti-roll bar, Alpha Garage titanium front strut brace, R-Magic fender brace, M2 Performance launch kit, Raceshop rollcage with rear strut bar and harness hook-up, SakeBomb Garage Wilwood front big brake kit, Racing Brake ’99+ rear caliper kit

Interior:

Bride Vios III Type R Japan Series super aramid seats, Schroth Profi harnesses, gauge cluster and HVAC controller delete with EVO-R hex carbon replacement, PowerTune digital dash to run Haltech via CANbus, EVO-R shifter surround and transmission tunnel hex carbon replacement, SakeBomb Garage passenger footrest, Alpha Garage mats, home-made carbon rear hatch cover, FEED rear spare wheel storage unit, SakeBomb fire extinguisher mount, Defi Advance controller