head gasket gooone! what to do next?

[MiKe1_golf]

So i'm 90% sure i've done a head gasket in my stock 1.6. had 250,000km on the clock but the clock has been stopped for as long as i've owned it so who knows how far it's beenn. I haven't exactly given it an easy life.

So what next? if i'm pulling the head off should i be looking at a full rebuild? privided it's the gasket that's gone and not the block or head. is it worth it? maybe a cam and some head work?

or should i bin the 1.6 and move on to something else. would love a 16v but not sure it's in my budget at the moment.

what would you do? If you know how much your idea would cost include that too as i'm still pretty noobish with what mk1 conversions are out there.

[Peter Jones]

Plonk a MK3 / Cordoba 1800 in it. Around $500 and the best bang for buck going. Easy bolt in conversion.

Chat to Matt at Camden GTI for all the bit or check out the for sale section.

[Jarred]

bolting a 1.8 from a mk 3 in is an easy way to update to a fresher, more powerful engine; without having to spend much money. Then spending a bit of money on pwerformance stuff will get some nice results (as opposed to throwing a cam in an old ass 1.6)

If you're keen to just get the car running again, whip off the head, take it (and the gasket) down to your local engineering/head work shop and get them to look at it. You might be lucky, it could just be the gasket. Get the head washed and faced (should be around 70-100bucks) slap a new HG on and whack the head back on. You'll probably want to replace the valve stem seals too. None of this is particularily complex, how ever it does require a bit of know how, and a bit of patience.

You could do all that, however for only a touch more ($$$ and effort) , you could pop a 1.8 8V in, and never look back. As Pete mentioned, talk to Matt, he should be able to sort you out.

hth.

[MiKe1_golf]

$500 sounds alright. is it still a carby engine? or does that conversion require engine managment?

[dom123]

$500 sounds alright. is it still a carby engine? or does that conversion require engine managment?

hey mate i went the 1.8 route but also gotta mk1 gti short ratio box put in ($600). Could stick with the 4 speed no worries but i just thought i might as well seeing as i was swapping to the 1.8.

its a carby engine so you can actually keep the mechanical fuel pump but i swapped to the electric fuel pump which is quite easy also.

whack on a 32/36 webber downdraft like ive got and hold on! good fun revs like a demon!

[GRN_VAGN]

its a carby engine so you can actually keep the mechanical fuel pump but i swapped to the electric fuel pump which is quite easy also.

What pump do you run?

[sports racer]

Is the MK3 1.8 good for 90hp?

[Peter Jones]

Is the MK3 1.8 good for 90hp?

Yep, in stock form. 90 PS (66 kW; 89 hp) @5500 rpm 145 N·m (107 lb·ft) @2500 rpm

[MiKe1_golf]

how do you run an electric fuel pump with out an ecu? just hooked to ignition and always on?

[ian]

Camden GTi have a heap of engines that would fit your car, and they can install it , give the Golf loon a call .

[Jarred]

how do you run an electric fuel pump with out an ecu? just hooked to ignition and always on?

there's a couple different ways. but basically yes.

You could have a relay that powered the pump on IGN, or just have a relay with a swtich, so you can manually switch the FP on at any time. (race car styles)

[MiKe1_golf]

interesting. so do you run an in tank pump or in line? i guess there is no access panel into the standard tank though?

[Water Boy]

16v or 8v cross flow FTW!

[MiKe1_golf]

What's a 16v worth? I'd want to stay carby though so would be an expensive exersise. But would the ultimate setup!

[sports racer]

interesting. so do you run an in tank pump or in line? i guess there is no access panel into the standard tank though?

You'd have to run an external pump. Don't get a high pressure one, it's just going to put stress on the carbie. You need high volume, low pressure pump but a 1.6 or 1.8 probably doesn't need a high volume either.

Try to mount it as low as possible, close to the tank so the tank feeds into it and it's not trying to suck petrol out of the tank. If you fit a hidden switch to turn it on you have a pretty good theft deterrent. Your car will still start even if the pump isn't turned on (if you're running carbies) but as soon as the float bowl runs dry the car will stall. So if someone steals the car it will stop running a few hundred metres away and no joyrider is going to open the bonnet in the middle of traffic to work out what's wrong.

Make sure it's wired into the ignition so it turns off when the engine is turned off. Wire in the hidden switch so it needs the switch and ignition turned on to work.

Cheers

Paul