Caddy conversion

[tobz.]

My mate has just picked up a caddy as his winter project and is planning a 16v conversion on it. He has had dubs before (mk1 golfs) but has never tackled a conversion. He asked me what he would need from a donor car to carry out the conversion. I told him he would need the complete wiring loom and fuel system. I'm guessing he would need the whole braking system aswell. If anybody knows a complete (ish) list of what he would need to rob from another car please let me know.
Also what is the best engine to try and get hold of???
Mk2 16v, Mk3 16v, one of the passat engines???
I'm not too experienced in this area so thought I'd try and get him some info.

Toby

[marcus123]

Alrite mate,

The best engine tuneability wise would be the 9A which is a 2.0 16V which can be found in the passat or the corrado. with a few mods you can be looking at 155-160 bhp easily

[tobz.]

Am I right in thinking the 9A is the tall block???
If so does it fit into the mk1 shell without too much major modding?

[marcus123]

ermmmmmm 

[Helios_Blue_Valver]

No the 9a is the same deck height as a KR. The tall deck one is found in the mk3 16v golf. Can't remember the code at the moment though. lol.

[tobz.]

Ok so suitable candidates at the moment are a 9a from raddo or passat, or kr from mk2.

[Veedubgt18v]

yep!

[Helios_Blue_Valver]

I would lean more towards a 9A with the cams and inlet manifold from a KR. Depending on the budget I would have the bottem end balanced and the head ported and polished. I would stay away from a 4 branch manifold as well. They generate loads of heat and the one I had on mine was loads of trouble with cracking and what not. (gave the exhaust a nice rattle though) You can get the same performance out of a flowed exhaust manifold and a down pipe without a box on it. Have the inlet manifold and port matched to the head as well. Should be a screamer in a caddy.  Carbs would be nice as well but your fuel economy will be crap unless they are setup right and synched right. They are pretty fiddly. Good luck with it.

[Veedubgt18v]

get a mild steel manifold then maybe?

[Helios_Blue_Valver]

That would solve the cracking problem probably but the heat would still be a killer. When i had the 4 branch on mine it got the relay shaft and the shift bushings hot enough to start melting them and eventually after they had heated up and cooled down a few times they just cracked apart. Just my 2 pence though. You could wrap it in thermal tape but from personal experience i have found that all thermal tape does is hold heat so well that it crystalizes the metal and makes it brittle. lol. Ceramic coating is nice though just expensive.