Newbie Mk1 owner (about time) what engine...?

[whiteee]

Hi all,

just got my first mk1 (white 3 dr driver shell... stripped bare...)

Was wondering wot engine options i hav - will do most work myself (hav a few mechanics as mates... and i aint too good with a welder) have no time schedule and no budget... but by no budget i mean i dont hav alot of money...

What sensible options do i hav (i kno with loads of hard work time n money i could fit a 18.t 20v or a vr6 unit) but i was thinking more of fitting a gti engine from a different mk golf. Would it be too difficult to fit a mk2 golf gti 16v engine in - i was thinking of buying a complete car as a donor (mot failure or right off) or would i be better off just finding a mk1 set up? and with either could i fit VAG 2litre bottom end from another model?

Would this need a lot of custom parts or would i b able to squeeze all the bits in the engine bay. I kno the question is vague and mayb a bit to indepth for chat on a forum - i just wanted to kno if my ideas were sensible do it yourself ones or mayb a bit to difficult a task?

any help would be great - especially anyone thats put a 16v in a mk1 and what parts they have used (links to a website where someone has done this...?)

Hope that made sense...

[mk1]

Hi whiteee, and welcome to the forum .

You can fit just about any engine in the mk1 golf, a 16v is a popular choice as you will get a lot of power for your ??s. If you go this route you will need a custom exhaust manifold from one of the tuning specialists (4 branch) as the mk2 one will not work, but the rest of the swap is fairly straight forward. Look on? http://forums.vwvortex.com
use the search and there is a lot of info on there, hope this helps.
Steve.

[whiteee]

i know there may be a lot parts i will need - but im kind of doing this in reverse to most people.

normally people would start with a mk1 engine bay full of mk1 engine and ancillaries then convert it to mk2 16v, i on the otherhand have a bare engine bay. If i was to buy a mk2 16v gti donor car, i would have all the mk2 parts i need. What mk1 parts would i need - brake servo? radiator? etc... and apart from the aforementioned manifold what custom parts would i need?