davidwort

definitely do it on a 16v, 1.8's can gain anything from 10-20bhp from a well flowed head, standard 1.8 cams are fine for a good power hike at the top end too, I know, I've done it. :-) 2.0 16v's probably need a re-map to get the best fuelling for head work. It does cost though, anything up to a grand for a complete re-build and quality flowing. David.

ah what!, you obviously haven't read the marketing blurb properly, these things are a revelation :wink: I guess it might be possible that on some cars an air leak in the manifold could fool a simple ecu system into altering the fuelling, but what you've got to ask yourself is 'if it's that good why don't race cars or manufacturers fit them as standard' - after all, they spend milions on R&D to improve power and efficiency on engine design. I have to agree, I wouldn't waste my money on one, IMO 50 quid spent on a rolling road session would be much better for optimising your engine. David.

is it stainless steel Bally? think that can be a bugger to weld and needs special stainless welding equipment? David.

I'm probly not far from you mate, Wootton fields. 1.8's don't have the knock sensors, lambda probe and ecu to work with a cat, they simply have an all in one downpipe and first silencer like the golf 2 16v, much better as the system breathes better than the 2.0's with the cat. David.

with no other work to the engine I doubt whether it will make much difference, it could well reduce the low end torque as it will lower the intake velocity. David.

I think you'll be looking at at least 600 quid for a fully rebuilt and gas flowed head for a 16v, takes a lot of time and skill to do properly. Get a respected head machinist to do the job as a well flowed head can realize over 15bhp on a 16v. Definitely the best investment for a 16v, standard manifold and downpipe are perfectly adequate, but it's worth getting the inlet and exhaust manifolds ported and polished while the head is off. Don't forget to budget for new hydraulic tappets too. engine will pull very smoothly and strongly to red line with a good cylinder head, 2.0 bottom end won't give much more pwer than a 1.8, maybe 6 or 7bhp but does improve torque. I can e-mail you the power and torque plots if interested (my 1.8 with 2.0 bottom end and gas flowed head) David.

early cars have a different lens and trim surround to make the lens surface flush with the wing and strip across the front of the car, main reflector unit is the same. You can swap the parts over. Often see older cars with the newer grills fitted, you'll see the lights aren't flush with the grill in this case as older 7 slat grill was also set back. If your reflectors go, it's cheaper to buy old sepc lights for a newer spec car and swap the lenses and trim over. David.

I bought a Jetex Response panel filter, basically the same as K&N (from Motech I think) for about 30 quid, the item you wan't is for a late golf 2 16v (1990-92) or any similar filter for the same age car. If you mail order, you can always give them the dimensions of your paper filter to double check. David.

shouldn't think so, the Corrado setup is more passat than golf, passive rear wheel steer on the back and the vr6 C uses the front plus axle of the mk3 golf.

I got 2 mk3 ones from German Swedish and French a year or so back for 85 quid (for the pair!), they had no mk 2/early C ones, so sold me the mk3 ones for the same price, as others have said, direct fit, no problems ever since (better handbrake release mechanism) I'd say replace them both and that'll be it. relatively easy job to do DIY, just a couple of bolts and bleeding the calipers through afterwards, a mole grip or brake hose clamp to stop the fuid draining out as you swap the calipers over. David.

Similar to alex's car I've got a 1.8 16v with a bored/stroked KR lump to 1984CC, basically the 2.0 crank and pistons. On it's own the 2.0 won't actually give you a lot more power, in fact a race engine tuner (Dave Baker- http://www.pumaracing.co.uk) told me it may well only give about another 6-7bhp over the 1.8. It will give you a corresponding torque increase with the capacity rise though, say 10%. which makes the car much more drivable, although doesn't change the engines basic characteristics - everything seems above 4000 rpm! A head gas-flow alone on a 1.8 can give 15bhp more, done really well up to 20+. Combine the two and you can get a healthy power and torque increase. One thing to note though, the 1.8 cams will sacrifice some low end torque on a 2.0 block, I've got back to back power and torque rolling road plots with a standard 2.0 to prove it, but having said that after 4000rpm the graph climbs very quickly above the standard car's. On a corrado, losing low end is not great, because of the weight of the car, it works much better on a mk2 golf16v, or even better an 800kg mk1! As Alex said, on the KR bosch k-jet injection system you can just tweak up the fuel pressure with a screw on the back of the warm up regulator, doesn't seem to loose much fuel economy and gives a bit of a richer mixture for a tuned engine, a full k-star fuelling and ignition mapping system may get you a few bhp more, but I'd say spend the money on head work instead. K-star is just a very expensive way of squeezing a couple of hp more from a tuned engine really, in fact my 2.0 runs on regular unleaded just fine, even with 1 degree more ignition advance than it should run at, it's possible that headwork lowers the compression just enough to prevent pinking anyway. Anyway, after all that waffle, if you can get a cheap 9A in good nick, go for it, but to mod it more, it must be in good condition, headwork and wild cams could be jsut too much for an old weak unit. David.

Quality headwork can obtain 15-20 bhp on the 16v, but this will be at the top end and can affect low end torque slightly, it does improve the 1.8 but for improved flexibility a capacity increase is the best option. Skimming is not really possible as the compression is high already (98 RON fuel required) and the head can't really accomodate much metal being removed anyway. In short it's worth it if you need a head re-build anyway, but is costly in terms of bhp/dosh. 16v's are not cheap to improve performance on.