Would it be possible?

[Tweek_1984]

Would it be possible to drop a Golf MK 2 GTI 16V  engine into a Mk1 shell?

[jv]

yeah, that's a very common swap

jv

[old_boy]

Yes it would, i've done it!
Use MK1 engine mounts and relocate fuel lines over the other side of the engine (I cant recommend bending them, as they are mostly rusty and prone to split now)
Put the mk2 metering unit onto a mk1 air box and use a mk1 idle stabilisation circuit for ease of fitment.
The ecu is required from the 16v, but wiring it up is very straight forward, you will need other bit and pieces but this is the guts of it, if you need further help, send me a message and i'll talk you through it!

[G6dub]

Yes as other said, I did it to my old Cabro

[Tweek_1984]

I'm not too serious about anything at the moment.  I'm just soaking myself up with info.  

Y'see, I'm wanting to basically build my own car.  I have fallen in love with the MK1 but with it being so old I suppose things would just generally be hard to get hold of.  

This project would start from scratch whereby I'd buy either a crappy mk1 or mk2 which has a reasonably good body.  Strip it to the shell and then buy an engine, take it apart, rebuild and refurbish it and then drop it in the shell.  

It's just, I have no idea how easy of feasible this would be.  I must stress that I have basically no experience with the rebuilding of cars.  
Maintenence wise, I have changed the brake pads and clutch cable on my renault 19.  That's it.  
My dad wants me to steer away from Golf's and go for something like a ford escort because the engines are much simpler.  

I'm just confused and asking around what can and can't be done at the moment.

Anyways, cheers.

[sharkbyte]

reckon if you`ve changed the clutch cable on a renault 19 youre capable of anything!