KR Questions

[th3_f15t]

Hey all, I've got a rather troublesome 16V GTI sitting in my garage, annoying me by not playing ball.

First of all, it has a lumpy idle, and I've read most of the stuff on here about sorting it and it's now a lot better. Ok, I did drop it into my local garage and let them tweak the fuel/air mix ect. to stop it stalling when revved up but it still idles badly and not sure if it still runs poorly when driven.

My plan, really, is to save up a fair amount of cash and get the engine re-built as well as the gearbox. My main question is this though;

Is it better (and cheaper?) to fit a 2.0 litre ABF/9A engine or keep it purist and re-build the KR engine?

And before we start, don't drag the whole "my 8V is this... they're better... blah blah..." arguement into this, as I know 8V are better. I had one and sold it and now regret it.

[danny_p]

if the 8 v is better why do an abf conversion  chould allways do an AGG conversion

[emery1990]

Id put a 9a or abf into in, i never drove a 1.8 but mine is a 2.0 and after driving a turbo car for a year i thought ( as loads of people say the 1.8 isnt very driveable around town) i would struggle with not enough low down revs. But theres plenty enough low down torque to get driving around.

[sprout99]

Hey all, I've got a rather troublesome 16V GTI sitting in my garage, annoying me by not playing ball.

First of all, it has a lumpy idle, and I've read most of the stuff on here about sorting it and it's now a lot better. Ok, I did drop it into my local garage and let them tweak the fuel/air mix ect. to stop it stalling when revved up but it still idles badly and not sure if it still runs poorly when driven.

My plan, really, is to save up a fair amount of cash and get the engine re-built as well as the gearbox. My main question is this though;

Is it better (and cheaper?) to fit a 2.0 litre ABF/9A engine or keep it purist and re-build the KR engine?

And before we start, don't drag the whole "my 8V is this... they're better... blah blah..." arguement into this, as I know 8V are better. I had one and sold it and now regret it.

if the temp sender in side of block is nackered this has an effect on idle as does any air leaks on breather hoses.
mine was very neglected in that dept. When i'd fixed them all the idle was sitting at 1500 revs....obviously it had been used
to compensate bad running.

also check the pipes in back of airbox and that the ISV works. If that's nackered car won't run.

another point....check the earths at back corner of head. I managed to break one and car would not run
would start but thats it.

p.s...i've had 8V and 16V mk2's........8v is easier to drive but the noise the 16V K jet makes is awesome.

[danny_p]

id abf it on full electronic injection

[VeeDubGTI16v]

Id put a 9a or abf into in, i never drove a 1.8 but mine is a 2.0 and after driving a turbo car for a year i thought ( as loads of people say the 1.8 isnt very driveable around town) i would struggle with not enough low down revs. But theres plenty enough low down torque to get driving around.

thats because those (8v owners) who say a 1.8 16v isn't drivable at low revs are talking sh!t 

[th3_f15t]

Already replaced the ISV with a brand new unit (£160) and checked the air pipes for leaks and cracks, nothing so far. I'll get onto looking at the earth wires and temperature sender.

Also, it was struggling to start warm... Any ideas on what that's linked to?

[Reasty]

I'd match the abf bottom end onto the kr head and also use the kr cams,this along produces around 170-180 bhp,also don't loose heart with your 16v they can be troublesome but rest assured once it's running spot on again it will all of been worth the tears,I speak from experiance.

[VeeDubGTI16v]

abf cams are actually marginally better than kr cams. I think its abf cams have more lift and kr have more duration

[th3_f15t]

If I was going to cross breed some engines, I would opt for a full blown racing spec KR cylinder head (port polished ect.), uprated cams and a re-built bottom end. Would an ABF bottom end work with a KR cylinder head?

Also, what about a gearbox. I got a 5 (currently 4) speed box on the car, would that handle 160+ BHP and more tourque?