My mk2 8V gti currently has a standard engine in it with 161K on the clock, my dad has a mk3 2L 8V engine at home and I was wondering if it was worth rebuilding this with all new parts including the catcam that came with it. My dad estimates it'd cost me around 500-600 to do although this was only a very rough cost. I'm hoping some of you can talk from experience and say whether or not this is worth doing. And also what sort of power would it produce? Thanks
If you compare with your current 8v that would average say about 110-120lbft from 2.5-4krpm and ~112bhp@5000rpm, the cammed engine on the same PB ECU will probably achieve 130lbft@3.5-4.2Krpm and 125 to 130bhp@5500rpm. The above assumes a good state of hardware all set with factory procedure. You will have to replace the ECU with a suitable SEM to exercise more precise control on the new engine for more performance.
As Toyotec says. It's a fairly easy job. We have done 2 now and power is improved but they tend to run out of breath with the standard airflow meter, exhaust and ECU. Low down power delivery seems more fun but top end tails off around 4.5k. 500ish to do it with new gaskets, head skim etc. Add a 272 cam for a little more fun but be aware you will need to spend more top get the most from it.
Built one about 2 years ago it was a k-jet engine though, managed to do it on about 350-400 although a lot of the items were grabbed from ebay at next to nothing, and there was no rush in putting it together which gave me more time to look for bargains. Car made 168bhp and 152 ft/lb torque with a few additions, ported head, newman cam and pulley, drove like a completly different car well worth doing for the money.
