Looking for power upgrade advice on stock '91 RV 1.8 GTI

[pommydubber]

I reckon I`d use your original 8v gearbox with the Cupra engine and a new clutch and the car would be a screamer.

I have a complete 16v ABF engine with all wiring loom and manifolds ready to bolt into your car. Pm me for details and pricing if you want.

SWEET! Look forward to chatting to you about it.
What does Pm me about it mean? Not familiar with that abbreviation.

[Peter Jones]

SWEET! Look forward to chatting to you about it.
What does Pm me about it mean? Not familiar with that abbreviation.

Click on Matt's user name in a post above and you'll see an option to send him a private message (PM).

Pete

[whiteVR6]

Dont forget collets for the valve springs , bearings if your gonna pull the motor down , oil pump , machine work , flywheel , front pulley seal , rear main seal , coolant flanges , coolant hoses etc etc . Remember its a 20 year old car .


If it was me , Id stick with the 1.8l 8v , bore it out with high comp pistons . bigger valves with titanium collets / retainers . Nice set of IE rods . Lightweight flywheel and stage 1 clutch , rebuild the box with one of the new type wavetrac lsd's , change all the coolant hoses , water pump , timing bellt, coolant flanges and radiator . Get a nice set of lightweight rims , fix the brakes up etc etc . At the end of the day the 16V isnt going to be much quicker unless you spend some decent money on it !

[pommydubber]

Dont forget collets for the valve springs , bearings if your gonna pull the motor down , oil pump , machine work , flywheel , front pulley seal , rear main seal , coolant flanges , coolant hoses etc etc . Remember its a 20 year old car .


If it was me , Id stick with the 1.8l 8v , bore it out with high comp pistons . bigger valves with titanium collets / retainers . Nice set of IE rods . Lightweight flywheel and stage 1 clutch , rebuild the box with one of the new type wavetrac lsd's , change all the coolant hoses , water pump , timing bellt, coolant flanges and radiator . Get a nice set of lightweight rims , fix the brakes up etc etc . At the end of the day the 16V isnt going to be much quicker unless you spend some decent money on it !

Well that was my original plan but no one here seems to think the 8v is worth the bother. They all point to the 16v units. My 8v is supposed to produce 100hp standard. With the mods i was going to do like bored out to 2.0L with high comp pistons, wild cam, decent rods, larger valves, port & polish, what sort of hp will i be looking at?

[jayjay]

well that's exactly what i hope to be running. i'm hoping for 170bhp (this is relatively conservative) depending how well i can tune it. the problem is that it will quite a highly strung motor in comparison to a 16v pushing that much power. the 16v will inevitably flow better so peak hp will be a lot more than you can work out of an 8v.

that said. there's a certain charm to the 8valves. And bolting in a 16v, while making it a lot faster than it is with an RV, it will be peaky and wont have the push-in-the-back kinda torque you're thinking. (if it's stock)

[Golf Loon]

I dont reckon the aussie 1.8s had 100 hp. I think they had 90.

All things are achieveable, but not on a budget.

For budget performance you will be better off getting a bigger capacity later engine and bolting it in.

By the time you take your 8v apart and rebuild it you will have spent thousands.

Worth bearing in mind that a 16v will need different ecu and fuelling etc which will add to the cost.

Cheapest mods you could do to make your car faster would be change the head for an 8v Kjet head from the UK or South Africa, they have a bigger cam as stock, whilst you are there put a Mk3 downpipe and manifold on it for better flow.

When all that is done get a UK digifant ecu which chucks more fuel in and you will be at or over the 110hp of the UK GTIs and have a more torquey and revvy motor.