Daily driver: 1:8 or Heron?

[Dave]

Hi Dubbers!
Question: I have a Mk1 golf with a stock 1.6 motor. I have recently aquired a 1.6 Heron with K Jet and a 1.8 8v with Weber Carbi.
I'm wanting to know which motor would be better for my Daily Driver to give great performance & driving pleasure?
No technical babble... just an honest opinion!
Cheers
Dave

[GRN_VAGN]

1.8L hands down if you get the weber set up well

I got a 1.8L with stock carby, and extractors and its miles in front of the old 1.6L

[Jarred]

IF you can get the heron set up and running properly on Kjet, I'd go for that. But it's hard to find people that can tune it properly.

Same goes for the carb really. If you can get it running & tuned nice, the 1.8 will give it a nice bit of power and make it an entertaining drive, but the 1.6 would probably rev harder!

Why not 1.8 with Kjet?

[GRN_VAGN]

dont see difference in revs between the 1.8 and 1.6 to be honest.

Still pull 6k easy with the 1.8, the old 1.6 would do 6500 but would loose power at 6k.

[Dave]

Can that be done? Can the Kjet be used with the 1.8?

[GeorgeMK1]

Can that be done? Can the Kjet be used with the 1.8?

Correct me if im wrong, but all you need is the right manifold?

Dont think its that hard, and would also be pretty nice!

[Bora Sport]

There is no substitute for cubic inches or in this case cc's. Having said that is the 1.8 a GTI engine or a lesser tune.

[Dave]

There is no substitute for cubic inches or in this case cc's. Having said that is the 1.8 a GTI engine or a lesser tune.

Standard 1.8l 8v. Has a weber carbi on it.

[Bora Sport]

Your question was which engine was best for a daily driver.

The 1.8 has more torque and therefore as a daily driver will feel better as it will pull better from lower revs meaning less gear changes. I put a 1.8 into one of my Mark 1's many years ago. It was an early solid lifter motor. I put a 'G' grind GTI camshaft in it with a Passat TS manifold, Weber 32-36 DGAV carby and extractors. It was perfectly drivable and had heaps of performance.

To my mind it was the perfect bang for buck upgrade because I didn't have to bother with fitting fuel injection, new fuel tank etc. It was a straight drop in conversion.

I also had a 1.8 GTI (Kjet) in a Mark 1 at the same time which had a cam and extractors and there was little to choose between them in terms of performance.

[Preen59]

Heron engines are also much rarer and more expensive to source parts. Plus, if you ever want to get that little bit more out of it, you may as well start with a "normal" type 8v. Everything is cheaper for them and they will make more power more easily.

[Preen59]

Correct me if im wrong, but all you need is the right manifold?

Dont think its that hard, and would also be pretty nice!

All the 8v counterflow engines have the same pattern for inlet and exhaust. Everything is interchangable. The only issue is that if you have a carburettor engine it won't have injector holes above the inlet ports.


Oh, and you're in Tassie so if you need any help contact Andrew Robinson from Robinson Automotive (gtimk5 on the forum). Awesome old school VW mechanic with many years (like 30 or something?) of experience. Cut his teeth on Mk1's i'm pretty sure.. Really nice guy. I'm sure he'll be able to sort you out with parts and tuning if you need it. If you want his phone number i'll PM you it.

[gtimk5]

Haha, the job is already here Chris.
The heron is sitting here, came out of my daughters old GLi Cabrio, went very well I thought...
Dave, as I said, if the white Mk1 isnt to be like a GTI then we will stick the 1.8 in and you can keep the Heron for your better project.
Cheers!

[Dave]

Haha, the job is already here Chris.
The heron is sitting here, came out of my daughters old GLi Cabrio, went very well I thought...
Dave, as I said, if the white Mk1 isnt to be like a GTI then we will stick the 1.8 in and you can keep the Heron for your better project.
Cheers!

I will be very disappointed if the K-Jet 1.6l Heron in my Mk1 Pride & Joy doesn't go half as hard as the 1.8l 8v with weber carbi in my project Mk1!

Any thoughts before I go ahead with this?

I need to be reassured!

Cheers
Dave

[Preen59]

I will be very disappointed if the K-Jet 1.6l Heron in my Mk1 Pride & Joy doesn't go half as hard as the 1.8l 8v with weber carbi in my project Mk1!

Any thoughts before I go ahead with this?

I need to be reassured!

Cheers
Dave

You'll be happy with the results. And Andrew knows what he is doing, trust me. When it comes to early Golfs especially, I'd respect his opinion way before anyone elses on this forum, to be honest.

[Dave]

You'll be happy with the results. And Andrew knows what he is doing, trust me. When it comes to early Golfs especially, I'd respect his opinion way before anyone elses on this forum, to be honest.

How much did he pay you to say that? Ha Ha!!
Thanks for your honest opinion!
Cheers
Dave