Hi, we have a 86 GTI... bought it primarily for my son to drive and he'll be heading off to college in less than a week and he's not taking the car with. This will give me the luxury of having 3 cars, and 1 driver...
If you had one that was relatively stable with 97k on the motor and you could spend between $500 to $1000 on it over the next 2 or 3 months, what would you do for the most bang for the buck.
*) It's a 8V motor.
*) 5 speed (with new linkage)
*) New pads and rotors on all wheels, new master cylinder and brake lines.
*) New wheel bearings
*) No rust (little surface rust near hatch window).
*) It's got a tick coming from the #1 exhaust lifter (used to have lots of ticks, but we replaced the lifters once).
I'm thinking of having the head redone and the rod bearings replaced as a way to give it more life when he comes back... or is it better to look for a 16v motor and go with that???
What will fit?
Where would I find it? (been purusing mags like European Car but not seeing much for it).
Did find remanufactured heads for about $340....
Or, do I save my $'s for a while, and look for a Corrado?
Is that #1 tick a constant tick or is it just the "VW cold motor tick"? Personally, I think, if it aint broke, dont fix it.. Unless you are looking for more power.. If thats the case, then decide on ungrading the 8v, or looking to swap.. My 86 still has the original motor with a tt cam, custom exhaust, suspension and blah blah blah.. I put up a solid fight with most 16v's on the street and most of the time, I take them easily. If you have the money to do the swap and dont mind the work, then a 16V is a great swap and a pretty easy one at that.
As for finding one, check your local VW tribe
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They are a decent bunch of guys with a solid reputation. Also, the big Treffen show is coming in just 2 weeks and there is more then a good chance you will find a motor or even upgradable parts there! MiVE
I had a 1986 Golf GTI myself. I ran it very hard with no significant repairs, except for the following:
1) 120kmi - Hole rusted in muffler. Used this opportunity to replace downpipes with euro-pipes, new high-flow universal catalytic converter, and entire exhaust system with Techtonics stainless steel. This did make the car perform better with a smoother power curve. Bought a new clutch as this point, but did not install it. Replaced struts/shocks with 5-way externally adjustable Tokiko (for autocrossing). Added bigger front sway bar from Neuspeed (helps keep the inside rear wheel down). Replaced springs with Neuspeed sofsport (sport handling without sacraficing road comfort). Upgraded wheel size with VW 15" rims off of some other model (don't recall the vehicle)
2) 150kmi - Blew a head gasket. Could have just replaced it, but used this opporunity to R&R the head for slightly (and I do mean slight) performance improvement, didn't touch the bottom end.
3) 160kmi - A/C dies, never bothered to repair due to cost.
4) 168kmi - Traded car as aprt of a three way trade to get a 1976 2.0 Porsche 914. Gave still-unused new clutch to new owner.
5) 180kmi - New owner finally replaced clutch. I lost track of the car after that.
I absolutely wouldn't put money into your GTI unless you are addressing something that has actually broken.
If you want to make it perform better do the exhaust: Techtonics stainless w/resonator - $415 -
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Techtonics downpipe - $125 -
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High flow cat - $175 -
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Chain reenforced exhaust hangers - $7x? (don't recall how many) part#171 25314G on
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~$750 + shipping, tax, and installationYou can knock $215 off of that if you go with alluminized instead of SS
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and/or improve the suspension: Softsport springs - $260 -
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|G2&type=2<ype=ns_euro&p_id=481 Front anti-sway - $240 -
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|G2&type=2<ype=ns_euro&p_id=138 Rear sport shocks - $190 -
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|G2&type=2<ype=ns_euro&p_id=1209 Front sport shocks - $200 -
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|G2&type=2<ype=ns_euro&p_id=1208 Total: ~$890 + shipping, tax, and installation
To finish it you need better tires Yokohama AVS ES100 - $256 + tax, mounting, balancing -
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Another thing that can do miracles... If the shifting is getting sloppy (very common as the GTI ages), then you need to R&R the shifter bushings. $10 -
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go all out and do a short sift kit to make the shifting much better$110 -
Cap crnch wrote: :>I'm thinking of having the head redone and the rod bearings replaced as a :>way to give it more life when he comes back... or is it better to look for :>a 16v motor and go with that???
: Is that #1 tick a constant tick or is it just the "VW cold motor tick"? : Personally, I think, if it aint broke, dont fix it..
It's constant... we had lots of ticks, but replaced all the lifters once and we still have one :-( It's possible that we still have one bad one, but i'm not sure, went thru 2 sets to get the "quiet" version we have now. The tick is from the #1 exhaust.
: Unless you are looking for more power.. If thats the case, then decide on : ungrading the 8v, or looking to swap.. My 86 still has the original motor with : a tt cam, custom exhaust, suspension and blah blah blah.. I put up a solid : fight with most 16v's on the street and most of the time, I take them easily. I'm figuring just to keep it going... spun a rod bearing in my 944 once... once done, it's very expensive to undo, so I'm leaning toward a preventive strike on the GTI figuring that would give it several years to go...
$1000.... hmmm, I'd go with a ABA engine from a junk yard (low milage of course). Take the cyclinder head from off of the junk yard motor and eBay it to recoup some cost, then buy a good cam (Autotech), some new lifters and valve stem seals to go into the current cyclinder head and bolt it onto the ABA block. You'll then go from a 1.8L to a 2.0L displacement without any machine work.
TT Tuning gives some pointers on doing such a swap:
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Click on the "Engine Swap Info" from the menu on the left.
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