Engine conversion - 1.8T or VR?

[Abdul 0]

Hi guys, i bought an ice grey violet valver a couple months ago and am thoroughly enjoying it! Only drawback is a serious lack of power lol. I mean its not bad above 4k but before that theres NOTHING... So ive decided rather than chuck shedloads of money into the 9a and end up with not much more power i want an engine conversion, either a 2.8 OBD2 VR or 1.8T with a k03s so 220-230 bhp once played with or a K04'd motor if budget allows...

 

My question to you guys is what would you go for and why?? I owned an '01 Audi A3 1.8T (180 brake) for about 2 months before i got the corrado. I mean that thing flew imo but was pretty soul less and sounded boring as feck tbh, it was more economical than my valver though. I can only imagine that a 1.8T with 220+ brake in the lighter corrado would be pretty damn quick!

 

Im swaying towards the 1.8T due to it being lighter, more powerful etc. Its also more convenient because i get to keep my current suspension set up and dont have to use the widetrack set up etc. If i go 1.8T ill be using the stock VAG loom.

 

Ok, VR, umm stupendous noise, potentialy cheaper conversion depending on the engine and what it needs doing (chains, rebuild, cams etc). F/I'd Vr isn't an option btw. I dont like the way chargers sound and turbo'd VR's surpass my needs by far lol.

 

Any opinions or advice would be appreciated!! Wouldnt mind any other engine conversion suggestions you might have?? R32's dont count, too expensive for moi.

 

Thanks,

Abdul

[mikehiow 0]

If you want more power, I'd sell your car, buy a VR6 and go from there.

 

IMO, It's just not worth the hassle.

[KipVR 1]

1.8t or sell it and buy a VR. :)

[blue95 0]

What hassle?

 

couple of options:

 

1. 1.8t conversion is very economical these days and can be pretty much DIY as a lot of the bits are off the shelf.

2. Loads of people breaking a VR6, buy the engine, loom, subframe etc and do the swap.

 

Engine choice depends on what you like. silky smooth power of a V6 or the whistle of the 20VT engine.

[mrbeige 0]

As said above, if you want a VR, then sell yours and buy a Corrado with a VR already in it. With that in mind, I think you'd be much better going for the 1.8T conversion. It'll bolt straight onto you current gearbox and if you don't mind the wiring the only real issue will be the downpipe (readily available from the likes of QPeng) and boost piping. bigpants baby has two low mileage 1.8T engines for sale at around 380 quid, so there is your solution :) Look here :) (and no, I'm not on commission...yet :lol: )

[vwdeviant 0]

FI the 9a

 

Job done conversation over, Mods please lock :lol:

[mic_VR 3]

I must admit that if it was my car I'd be all over the 1.8T conversion. Those 1.8T engines are bullet proof and the QPeng conversion stuff almost makes it a weekend job (ok a long weekend) plus as mrbeige has already pointed out it'll bolt straight onto the current gearbox etc.

 

F/I'd Vr isn't an option btw.........and turbo'd VR's surpass my needs by far lol.

 

You can never have too much power! :lol:

[The_Dude 0]

I must admit that if it was my car I'd be all over the 1.8T conversion. Those 1.8T engines are bullet proof and the QPeng conversion stuff almost makes it a weekend job (ok a long weekend) plus as mrbeige has already pointed out it'll bolt straight onto the current gearbox etc.

 

F/I'd Vr isn't an option btw.........and turbo'd VR's surpass my needs by far lol.

 

You can never have too much power! :lol:[/quote:3amed3xj]

 

Ditto everything Mic says. 1.8 will be far easier than VR conversion. So you should do that or buy a VR.

 

Yeah, no such thing as too much power! I love the acceleration I get at motorway speeds, its a Doozy.

[20vturbo 0]

go for the 20vt

my motto is never build something you can buy

[tedman 0]

as said before i'd go 1.8t [my plan was to do this to a valver before the vr came up] if you go vr you might as well go 24v :D

[saysomestuff 0]

Wholly in agreement on the 18T - you can buy a VR corrado for under 2 grand.

 

I'm turboing my 16v but it would have been cheaper to go for 1.8T conversion I reckon.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

my motto is never build something you can buy

 

Like that motto 8)

 

I would also go 1.8T and I would be looking for a broken MK7 Polo GTI as the donor because it has the newest (and best) ME7 ECU and map, aswell as the K03S turbo. A stage 1 map to 200hp from 'more-bhp' on the UK Polos forum only costs £150 if you're a member, which is a steal!

 

I would not recommend converting to a 12V VR6 at all unless it's a bloody good, very low mileage OBD2 AAA engine. Better of bypassing the 12 and going for the 24 valver. Certainly don't waste your time with a 2.9 12V, most of them are f'cked.

[KipVR 1]

most of them are f'cked

 

:lol: :lol: oh so true!!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I think even VW would admit the 2.9 wasn't one of their best efforts, especially crammed into a Corrado :lol:

 

You only have to lift the head off a 100K 24V, 2.8 or 3.2 to see exactly why it's far superior to the 12V. Ignoring the valve count, what grabs your attention is the uniform burn colour across all 12 exhaust valves..... compared to the 12V's unevenly burned, oily exhaust valves!

 

A combustion chamber in the head (rather than piston bowl) with a central spark plug is partly the reason for that, and the other 3 reasons are proper port matching, proper injector location and proper mapping :D

[The_Dude 0]

You're all putting bad ideas in my head...anyone got a engineless Corrado lying about? :lol:

[mrbeige 0]

You're all putting bad ideas in my head...anyone got a engineless Corrado lying about? :lol:

...or a carless 24v.... :lol:

[Rob_B 0]

1.8t everytime!

[Abdul 0]

Id never sell my rado, it is waaaaaay to mint and ice grey violet seems to be pretty rare...ish. Thats the thing with the VR conversion, its kinda pointless, but i do love the vr soundtrack and driveability. I mean if i already had a vr then id go 24v but 1.8T seems like the best option for me.

 

Pianowire, do u reckon its worth going for a BAM lump over the polo gti engine?? Only thing with the bam is serious traction issues. Im hoping one day when i have a bit more spare cash to get and lsd so maybe then ill stick a K04 on lol.

 

What gearbox does everyone recommend? My stock valver box, VR or G60???

 

Im going to be leaving the car with my good friends from Torque exhausts in north london to do the conversion for me so the wiring and boost/intercooler pipe issues are not a problem. What intercooler/rad/fan set up is best while not raping my wallet??

 

Thanks for the input guys. I appreciate it. :D

[tedman 0]

Good choice, like you say if youv'e got a 4 cylinder car the 1.8t makes the most sence where if you have a vr the 24v is the best choice :wink: dont forget to get some pics up mate

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Id never sell my rado, it is waaaaaay to mint and ice grey violet seems to be pretty rare...ish.

 

Good man! I have an Ice grey myself (VR6) and there's no way I'd change it for anything else. Best Corrado colour by far, imo :D

The Valvers didn't see as much abuse as the VR6s, so I imagine your paint is pretty excellent!

 

Pianowire, do u reckon its worth going for a BAM lump over the polo gti engine?? Only thing with the bam is serious traction issues. Im hoping one day when i have a bit more spare cash to get and lsd so maybe then ill stick a K04 on lol.

 

I'd only get the BAM if you specifically want the KO4 turbo, otherwise the Polo engine is the newest batch of 1.8Ts and therefore got the better ECU and mapping. It can do around 230hp in Stage2, ~ 250ish in Stage 3 with a 3" exhaust and pushing the turbo to the max, around 1.5 - 1.6 bar.

You can bolt on a K04-1 hybrid turbo with TT injectors and MAF and be off with ~ 300ish hp. Beyond that, things start to break.

 

What gearbox does everyone recommend? My stock valver box, VR or G60???

 

VR6 Gearbox mate. Has taller gears which are suited to turbo torque quite nicely, plus they've been shown to handle 400hp reliably so long as you don't cause wheel hop (unexpected grip during a spin). If you want a fruitier mid range, drop the G60's final drive in.

 

What intercooler/rad/fan set up is best while not raping my wallet??

 

That's the tricky bit with Corrados, fitting an Intercooler that's stealthy and neat. Chargecooling is an option, but it's more baggage in terms of parts and complexity.

[dragon green 5]

BIG_K how much are your friends at Torque exhausts rushing you for the conversion ?

[20vturbo 0]

id stick in a 02j box. thats what im using in my corrado (its the box that came with the engine).

 

02j evs

 

EVS= Same ratios as MK3 16v CDA 02A.

3.30 1.94 1.31 1.03 and 0.84 FD 3.68

1st Gear = 41.58 mph

2nd Gear = 70.74 mph

3rd Gear = 104.76 mph

4th Gear = 133.24 mph

5th Gear = 163.37 mph

 

it has nice gearing

[Abdul 0]

Cheers for the advice Pianowire. I love ice grey violet... lovely in the sunlight, moody at night! And yes the paint is mint lol. What's chargecooling?? :?

 

Tedman, viewtopic.php?f=11&t=78422&p=909969#p909969

 

Dragon green, the price is kind of a mates rate thing so no point in posting it up tbh. lol... its the cheapest 1.8T conversion ive come across so far though unless you do it yourself.

 

20vturbo, isnt the 02j more hassle to fit though?? I want a reasonably easy conversion in order to help keep costs down.

 

Tbh, chances are ill with a new polo engine or something as new as possible with a vr box. If i ever go K04 then peloquin/quaife diff time and ill think about playing longer gearing etc lol. Im not a top speed guy, i get scared. :lol: As long as it can do 150ish (theoretically of course, i dont actually drive past 70 :norty: ) ill be happy, what i really want is stupidly rapid accelaration!

 

Cheers,

Abdul

 

Oh and names would be nice too guys, it makes it a lot easier to get to know you guys that way lol.

[Rob_B 0]

you cant fit a VR box to the 1.8 bottom end, wrong bell housing. you will have to swap the gears over.

are you going to be using the VW ECU then rather thsn going standalone?

 

Rob

[The_Dude 0]

Abdul, chargecooling is exactly what it says it is - making the air cooler after it has passed through the super/turbo charger. When most people say charge cooling they refer to air to liquid cooling (the opposite of what happens in your radiator - water is used to cool the charge as cold air is more dense, therefore bigger bang) but it can include intercoolers (air to air cooling) too.

 

I've been having a look at chargecoolers recently, a good sort of design seem to be along the PWR lines, where the charge goes in one end and comes out the other, as opposed to the box type where the inlet and outlet are usually next to eachother.

 

hth,

Jim.