My only input on this is that your best bet on budget and frustrations is to do the following.
Figure out which year of VR4 is going to best suit your needs: things like ECU, and wiring harness compatability....
Find a good cheap donor car keeping in mind the following. If your motor is healthy and is a DOHC, dont worry if the engine in it is running, unless you just HAVE to have the TT 8:1 motor. IMHO the NA 10:1 works just fine.
All the little brackets, mounts, clips, wiring and stuff will be right there for you to pull from your donor. Not to mention being able to physically see where some of the stuff goes.
After your all done you can sell off the parts you dont need, and greatly reduce the end cost of the conversion. That is not to say you wont need to purchase things like fuel control, help in the traction department "LSD", and other little stuff.
A healthy NA 10:1 DOHC can be boosted, and reliable as long as you do things right and get a good tune on it. That being said, if my motor ever goes, I will be dropping the compression down to 8 or 8.5 :1
Good luck on your project.
Hey MaTT.... I though I was being smart with my money...... who knew all TT Conversion drivers were cheap!
