what engine mods would my mk2 16v respond well to, its my first 16v golf and i'm realy impressed with the performance. the cars done 118k and it starts instantly when you turn the key with no smoke and no tapping. what would be the first mods to make it go even better. i definately want to keep the same engine so now expensive bottom end rebuilds, just tried and tested mods really, how about cams is it worth swapping them.
Everyone's favourite 16v mod is to change the block to a 2.0 9a / ABF. This doesn't necc. mean you have to rebuild it, if you can find a decent low mileage short block. Ignoring block swaps, you could get the head ported, put on a decent 4 branch manifold and perhaps a decent panel filter. As far as cams go, the KR is fairly "Cammy" already; going for more extreme cams may make more peak power, but this will be at the cost of mid range torque and "driveability". Another popular mod is the warm up reg. mod; this involves adjusting the WUR to increase the control pressure and richen the mixture, as 16v's can sometimes run lean at the top end of the rev. range. Think some people have had problems with cold start overfuelling with this mod, though. Hope this helps
On an 1800 , more or less anything you do to increase the power at the top end will result in worse low mid range response, you can get the head flowed which will cost anywhere between 300-600 depending where you go, you might see 10bhp from that. Cams will cost another 300-600 and raise the peak power but give you worse driveability than standard cams in most cases. First thing I would suggest is getting the car set up at Stealth, Vince can usually get 150ish bhp from a standard KR from setting up the fuelling and timing on the rollers along with the infamous WUR mod which increases fuelling under load. Costs between 45 and 90 depending how long it takes to do. Have a read of some of the links in my sticky 16v thread in the engine section, should be a lot of useful info in there for you. Before doing anything to head and cams I would fit a s/h 2 litre bottom end, the extra 20-30lb /ft torque it will produce will make a far nicer car to drive than by making it even more peaky than it already is with longer duration / higher lift cams. Hehe, that'll teach me to type too slow Edited by: GVK
thanks, thats exactly what i dont need, a car thats really revvy but not very nice to drive, i'll bear that in mind. so it sounds like the best mod to suit me would be the 2.0 bottom end, not sure on that really sounds expensive. i like the sound of 150bhp from stealth, what part of the country is he in. i had a mk1 gti put on the rollers at TSR a few years ago, it was amazing how much better it drove after that. so what about a panel filter k+N?? are they worth it on these and what about drilling the airbox, is that still done or should i give the cold air feed? as you can see i'm talking cheap mods just to get the best of the engine ive got, its such a nice car to drive after the lowered cab with the power steering, and it really does fly.
GVK could you pm me there address. I never realised they where so close. Might have to book my car in
I have a 1.8 16v KR and it puts out roughly 178bhp and is cost about 500 to do. It has just a K+N panel filter (on there when I got it about 40), mild TSR reground cams (second hand including very low milage tappets 100) Jetex competion system (second hand 90 I think) TSR Stainless manifold (225ish) and a rolling road set up includine a go at the WUR mod (which it didn't need cause the fueling was spot on ) Up to 4000rpm it is exaclty the same as it was before all the mods, then the cams get going properly and and the power shoots up. It is no less drivable than before but has a really revy top end. I probably will get the head flowed just cause I have a spare one sitting in the shed, but that will be all for this engine. If/when it blows up I will then get a 2L
K&N is always a good idea because its better than a general paper filter. Instead of drilling the airbox, prise out the trumpet from the front of the airbox- this will pull more air in and give a nice induction roar! can always be replaced where as drilling can't something cheap to start with as you say Edited by: sife1
Flowed head can be good for up to 15bhp on its own (GTi engineering tests on an engine dyno with no other mods -A pack spec head) Couple that to twin KR exhaust cams & posibly a ported standard manifold coupled to decent RR set up & WUR mod would be my mods to an 1800.
twin KR exhaust cams? ive heard about this before, can someone shed some light on what it actually means cheers.
