1.6L 8v Engine (forged pistons?)

[robbo7444]

Hi guys, wondering if anyone has ever installed forged pistons such as these Wossners

VW Golf 1 GTI 1.6 Ltr. 8V - $549.00 : Wossner Forged Pistons, Wossner Forged Pistons

into their aussie spec engine. They claim it increases comp from 9.5 to 11.6 on the gti 8v1.6L. and come about $600 after postage.
is it worth giving them a try? I may try a performance cam for 8v as well.

I have tried searching forums and web for stories but cant find much related to this specific, and I dont want to go 1.8L or fuel injection.

I currently have single weber 45 and have a set of headers which will go on once head is back on. Its a ratty golf and just want it to scream a little more than it already did.
Thanks for any info.

[Bug_racer]

Building a performance engine , especially a high comp with probably a decent cam(s) usually means you have to do a lot of measuring etc . Like , if you were to put these pistons in , do you know if the valve will hit the piston ? With the increased compression ratio do you know if 98 octane will be enough , Will the standard length rods work ? etc etc .
Your best to buy a 2.0l and use that as a starting base instead of working with an older 1.6 .

[gldgti]

Hi guys, wondering if anyone has ever installed forged pistons such as these Wossners

VW Golf 1 GTI 1.6 Ltr. 8V - $549.00 : Wossner Forged Pistons, Wossner Forged Pistons

into their aussie spec engine. They claim it increases comp from 9.5 to 11.6 on the gti 8v1.6L. and come about $600 after postage.
is it worth giving them a try? I may try a performance cam for 8v as well.

I have tried searching forums and web for stories but cant find much related to this specific, and I dont want to go 1.8L or fuel injection.

I currently have single weber 45 and have a set of headers which will go on once head is back on. Its a ratty golf and just want it to scream a little more than it already did.
Thanks for any info.

I don't think you'd get your moneys worth out of a set of pistons like that, unless you are buildinga race engine and you want to compete in the under 1600cc class.

For a car to drive on the road, I would put on the headers and the DCOE 45 you have, and then maybe put a warm camshaft in it, and electronic ignition. You should be able to get 100-120hp and it will scream pretty loud. Infact, if you bother to do the cam you could put in some HD valve springs too and you might be able to rev it a little further. (My old 1.6 with exhaust and 40mm dellorto used to rev out to about 7500 before the valves started bouncing... far and away the best thing I ever did was pull that engine out and put in a 1.8 with the same carb and a g-grind cam, and electronic ignition).

[dr770]

These pistons are for 1.6 liter EG coded Heron head engine. Be very sure about your engine and head.This head those pistons are designed to work is completely different from entire 8v heads that VW used.

[dr770]

Building a performance engine , especially a high comp with probably a decent cam(s) usually means you have to do a lot of measuring etc . Like , if you were to put these pistons in , do you know if the valve will hit the piston ? With the increased compression ratio do you know if 98 octane will be enough , Will the standard length rods work ? etc etc .
Your best to buy a 2.0l and use that as a starting base instead of working with an older 1.6 .

these pistons work with 136 mm rods, ,becouse the dish depth differ , valfe hitting the piston is not problem. but detonation will be a problem becouse of the combustion chamber design is very old.

[robbo7444]

Ok thanks for the info guys, I had no idea of these engine differences up until now.
So I have done some maths and figured in order for a "heron motor" to go from 9.5 to 11.6 cr the piston ccs have reduced by 8.
Compression height on aftermarket piston hasnt changed to retain compatibility. Compression height is identical to my current "fp motor" piston @40.7mm.
Will just work out some specs tomorrow of std piston ccs, and compare to chamber volume of my std head(51.2cc) vs heron(44.2) vs heron withforged piston(36.2)
Could the detonation be reduced with a quality fuel? At moment i am estimating compression ratio at 10.5 but still doing some measurements tomorrow

[dr770]

you can also adjust the compression ratio by changing the gasket thickness . there was a site which you can buy desired thickness MLS type gaskets. 10.5 comp not a big issue for 98 octane but cam timing is important. if i were in your shoes i would choose a cam about 270 deg duration. look for web camshafts, good quality,and cheap.

[dr770]

Altough compression heights can be identical , heron pistons are deep dished and heron heads chamber volume is teorically 0!!. All the combustion happens in deep dish piston and the space between your piston and flat head. so the volume as you have mentioned 44,2 and 36,2 is not the volume of the heron head.Using these wossner pistons will result a very low static compression ratio in my opinion. Why dont you just shave your head a little and have more comp with your standard pistons? what is your rod legth?

[robbo7444]

Yeah its not looking that great now, the total combustion chamber ccs are almost all in the piston crown on heron type (36cc) vs my total of (51.2cc) combined. Just measured up my piston crown ccs and got a rough 12cc. There is no way these pistons will offer a higher ratio. Than what i already have.
Would have to go to flat tops or something

[jaffa]

Just put a 1.8 in it, super simple and will give you plenty of performance boost.

[robbo7444]

Just got feedback from the Wossner piston guy, these heron upgrade pistons offer -10.6cc of capacity, which is almost identical to the std "jp code"pistons. This would offer me no benefit.
The reason I am looking for new pistons is that in my past experience working on v8's etc, dropping in forged lighter and higher compression pistons is a "super simple" way of getting more power and response. It really is simple and it always gets overlooked. It seems like pistons is the last thing people change in their motor after building it up and realising it is the same as before.
Anyway now I'll be looking at shaving the head down with cam and adjustable cam gear to compensate.
I'll keep an eye out for 1.8L and keep updated. Oh yeah Wossner guy also said can make custom pistons for $250 each when I asked about flattops.