Why bother right? The 8v engine from VW receives a lot of hate these days. With the VR6 being the faster option for almost two decades now, not to mention the 20v head and brand-new 16v FSi and TSi motors, there seems to be little reason to stick with an 8v motor. That's because I honestly don't think people have the dedication to build a quick 8v car. When done right, they can be fun, fairly quick, and surprise quite a few "faster" cars. It breaks my heart a little every time someone uncermeonously dumps the JH motor from their Mk1 GTI without first considering what a fully worked 2.0 8v can do.With a nice choppy cam, some head work and some fine tuning of timing, fuel and idle can net some serious gains, and 130whp+ in a 2000lb car is nothing to sneeze at. My ABA based CIS fueled 8v topped out at 124whp, and that was with a too-small exhaust and without playing around with cam timing, or fitting a bigger cam. (276 Schrick, I would have liked to try a 288) I surprised many a worked VR6 in my day with my old Mk1, and not just off the line. Boxsters, etc...generally I could walk them or at least stick with them until aerodynamics became a factor, and that wasn't until well into 5th gear,
Anyways, the whole point of this for me is to have a little bit of fun and to provide us die-hard 8v underdog types a means to show a little pride. Not just 8v motors either, but CIS as well. People give it a bum rap, but it's a solid and really quite simple and reliable bit of kit. If it was good enough for Porsche to use on 911 Turbo models up until 1993, it's good enough to power any VW motor on which it was originally equipped. You can bet Scirocco Madness will be getting this treatment for sure. So...anyone love / hate the font?_WRS
not sure about the font, too scripty maybe? how bout something more square like the old badging?
ReplyDeleteyou mean like the original GTI badge font used on the Mk1 and Mk2 cars?
ReplyDeleteI kinda liked the script in that cheesy sort of way. It was an intentional choice, but I'll knock a couple more together and see what works.
I feel inspired to keep the 8v. I just wish they were a better looking engine. Maybe with some trumpets.
ReplyDeleteDayum, so then I'll have to source some all new junks! That's cool though, whatever it takes to save an 8v yo.
ReplyDeleteI'm still running a 1.8 8v in my MK1 Gti. Always thought of plonking in a 16v..... I guess not !!!
ReplyDeleteHaha, well the EVO III probably has a way of making the Mk1 feel slow. =) You could always go to a 2.0 bottom end, do some head work and go for an aggressive cam. It makes a HUGE difference in the Mk1 cars. With so little weight they can really move.
ReplyDeleteI had a 3A with Autotech cams...etc for a while but swapped back to my 1.8 after i got the Evo.
ReplyDeleteOnly mods now are on the looks - zender full kit and 14" BBS RAs. 80's retro....