Im a physician but I adore mk2 cars I have Golf MK2 89 stock 1.3 engine ofcourse I was planning for engine swap and search for engine that satisfy my needs L ( I know a lot of mods needed) . There are many choices for golf owners but I found the most popular engines are : 2.0 8v (2E-ADY) , 2.0 16v ABF , 1.8T and ofcourse the monster VR6 2.8L.. -Regarding the 2E/ADY its very popular in middle east as its spare part are available. They produce reasonable horse power for the city drive (112 HP) and their mantaince is very easy to do it yourself and its very cheap engines add to that the swapping process itself is very easy . However they still an old engines . In my opinion it does not deserve to waste your money swapping 8v old engine just to get 112 horse power and choose an engine which if you plan to tune it will not give you a lot of horse power . I will not consider it in my research -VR6 the popular monster 6 cylinder engine which is highly tunable and you can get from it a great power .. but the main problems of this engine are the engine is too heavy for the MK2 and really it alter the center of gravity and the equilibrium of the mk2 which is highly noticeable in turning the car in high speed .. this problem can be solve with some modification in suspension and in the engine mounting .. I read about a group who do a good modification but still an expensive modification. Add to that the engine is not suitable for city drive as it consume fuel and its spare parts are not cheap so I did not consider this engine too in my reasrch although its compression ratio is low which make it highly tunable and can held twin turbo easily my comparison will be between the ABF (2.0L 16v) and the 20v 1.8T as both engine are powerful , tunable and not that heavy engines which will not alter car equilibrium much ABF -Its an easy swap you just move everything from mk3 donor car to the mk2 without any hassles . engine , suspension , steering and brakes of donor car will just fit your mk2 -The engine is cheap comparing to 1.8T -spare parts are one of its major problems . the engine is an old (1993-1997). Its not easy to find all its spare parts in some country .Also consider that if you find the spare parts it will not be cheap -The compression ration of the engine is high (10.8:1). So you will spend a lot of money if you decide to move to fuel induction . You will need engine spacer to lower down the compression ratio also you will need to change piston before installing a resonable turbocharger to get a reasonable PSI so you will spend a lot of money to tune this engine however after tuning you will gain a lot of horse power which will exceed the power you gain from 1.8T with the same money . -No stock fuel induction but still the engine is very powerful 148 horse power without turbocharger and its one of the best engine that VW (only -20 horse power less than VR6 which is 800cc more) . remapping the engine control only can give you a good power gain . so you will have a good stock power 148 horse power without the hassles and the headech of turbochargers mantaince and observation while you are driving . also less fuel octane is needed than 1.8T as there are no Fuel Induction installed. conclusion of this point 148 horse power stock regular fuel and no turbo maintance hassle and headech -The engine consume more fuel even in low RPM the 1.8T is better in this point 1.8T -The swap is not that easy . its not a straight forward process its need more times and effort as you may need a lot of mods to fit in your mk2 . for example the mk4 brakes and suspension will not fit mk2 , you will not use the donar cars brakes and suspensions you have to find your own suspension and brakes -The engine is a little bit expensive -The spare parts are available as its a new engine (2000+) its not cheap but available -The engine designed for factory fuel induction (Turbo) . The compression ratio is a little bit low so you will not spend a lot for a reasonable psi . just need to modify the turbocharger (KO4) , air cooler and may be to use custom engine and you will gain a reasonable horse power without spending a lot of money -The engine is use stock fuel induction to give you 150 horse power that means more mantaince needed a good observation while driving as you have to observe more gauges while driving ( Intake pressue (Turbo gain) , oil temp and pressure , water temp ) beside observing RPM and engine temp.. as will as the engine need higher fuel octane than the ABF conclusion of this point 150 horse power with more octane and more maintance hassle and headech -The engine is designed to city drive too so if you drive with low RPM the engine will give you a good mileage even with 20v Im still confused in choosing between them so I still searching to make my mind to choose the suitable engine for my mk2 that will need less modification as possible and give me reasonable horse power and my car will still suitable for daily city use if you find a wrong info in this topic or you know more about this comparison please reply to help me choosing
I PREFER the 16v and others PREFER the 1.8T. Do you want a peaky turbo lump or do you want linear power across the rev range.
24v vr6..... Not as heavy as some may think Reliable power And you can make them handle just fine. Also you end up with quite a unique beast (3ltr 6 cyls) in a tiny fwd car, something that is hard to achieve in other marques "Hot rod hatch back"
It really depends on what YOU want from your car: Charachterful Sound: VR6 Maximum straight line Power: 20vt Charachterful NA power: 16v Charachterful driving car: tune the 1.3. For instance: Mr Porsche created a fine car by lightly tuning the Beetle engine and adjusting/optimising the car to make the Porche 356...
