Basic Mk1 tuning advice needed

[freelance]

Hi

Excuse the ignorance but I'm new to these cars and need to know some stuff that's probably as basic as breathing to you guys. I'm handy enough with the spanners, but have been playing with other toys before now.

I want to tune a GTI without going too mad – I want it OK for regular road use.
What are the best ways to uprate the brakes and improve the suspension without spending a fortune?
Can you bolt on better brakes from other VWs?
Is it better to tune the stock 1.8 or swap in an engine from a later Golf – if so, what are the easier conversions?
Do you need to change the gearbox too?
What's the biggest wheel/tyre combo I can get under the stock arches without fouling and with, say, a 30mm suspension drop?
Anyhting else I should know?

Grateful for anyhting you can contribute.

[gibby]

I'll add some bits and others can add theirs. For a bog standard GTI you can do the usual first bits like a panel filter and an exhaust, then it's down to how much money you want to spend as you can bore it, cam it, 2ltr bottom end it for more torque. I put a decent budget suspension kit on my cab from Euro Car Parts called Sportline I think, it had Ventura springs (they supply springs to Eibach  ) and bilstein shocks and it was about £120ish with approx 40mm drop. You can use a mk2 16v brake setup I believe so that you can do a disc conversion on the back and you need the master cylinder. If you wanted to go for a new engine then a full mk2 16v engine and gearbox conversion would be a nice thing to do. Have a look in the project sections and MK1MADJ is currently in the process of doing a 16v conversion into his mk1. You could put a G60 in or if you're feeling really flush, a 1.8T.

There's loads you could do with the right time, skills and cash. Have a nosey around the site, but a good start would deffo be the projects section. 

One of the lads on here put a TVR engine into a mk1 golf so you can do most things.