Big power 1.8t's

[gtodesign]

Hi all!

I'm contemplating the purchase of a 1.8t with the plan of doing a big turbo conversion on it 300+ hp.  I was wondering how many miles the cars that have had the conversion have covered before and after the job was done.  Also any problems that have arisen due to mileage.

[topher]

there's a guy named Liam who's AGU 1.8T is running 350bhp~ish with a jabba/IHI kit .. i think he said his car had done 100,000 when the kit was installed, and is on about 130,000 now ? thats on standard rods/pistons as far as im aware. look after these engines and they last forever, even on big power.

[gtodesign]

Sounds good topher.

Everything I read seems to be about the Jabba/IHI conversion, does anyone in this country do the GT28 one?  How does it compare?

[topher]

JBS Autodesigns are about to release a gt28rs kit aswell as a line of their own custom ecu software, in various stages.

James has the highest power kit fitted to his octavia (and nitrous, the mad man) which includes uprated rods and pistons so obviously that's going to have a hefty price tag. They're keeping quiet about the prices until GTI International which is the official release date.. but i've seen some of the testing and time trials .. very impressive, if jabba want to keep up with that.. they're going to have to come up with something new !

[gtodesign]

TBH I'd rather avoid the cost of rods and pistons unless the worst happens and it detonates.  What sort of power are people acheiving reliably on std internals?

[topher]

anything between 300-350 but you'll need to ditch the intercooler and get a proper front mounted one .. im sure it goes without saying but suspension and brakes should be upgraded first

[vaughn]

don`t like to tread on your toes chris but if i were you mate i wouldn`t take a 1.8t above 280-300bhp without using an s3 engine, also the gt28rs has a bad power delivery, and there`s a lot of claimed figures not proved

[Ryan_s3]

Hi mate,
       Basically there are a few varients of the 1.8t engine,there are smallport and bigport,smaller and bigger gugeon pins(rods) and forged and non forged pistons and crank.
Basically the early 1.8t had a better flowing head and stronger rods(larger pins) and no vvt.While the later engines and smallport head and weaker rods(smaller pins)and vvt.Only the s3 and 225 tt 1.8t's had forged mahle pistons and crank.Although only the apy/apx early s3/tt engines had the stronger rods and forged pistons and crank but a smallport head.The weak point is the rods in the 1.8t and 320-340lb/t should really be the top mark on standard internals.Power wise ,small pins i reckon 320bhp and larger pins 350hp.The standard s3 pistons/crank are good for well in excess of 400bhp.The largeport head will flow more top end wise but the smallport head will produce better mid-range.
Turbo kits;On standard internals there really is only one choice at the moment which is the jabba/ihi kit which has good response and power.Jbs are talking about releasing a gt28rs lite kit but the ihi is tried and tested and i know of one car that has done 35,000 hard miles(many track) and is still ok on standard internals(large pins).
The gt28rs is a good turbo but is quite laggy on a 1.8t so most people go for the smaller .64 housing but this can only make around 330bhp max.The JBS gt28rs is a hybrid which i believe contains quite a bit of gt30 core hence the big power.This kit definetly requires the rods changing to get the most out of it ,if not pistons aswell.
Another thing that seems to go on 1.8t's is valves ,so it definetly worth uprating these if you go BT.

[topher]

nicely put, so when's yours seeing the big blower treatment ryan ? (i want a ride in it when its done)

oh and did you hear james' latest mad idea ? i heard he wants to strap a supercharger on a clutch to his engine to eliminate turbo lag, reckon he'll need 4wd to get that power down ..

[Ryan_s3]

They call it twincharge ,normally use a supercharger with a magnetic clutch that disengages when the turbo has spooled up,only problem is that it's very hard to get the transition between the two right and like you said with 2wd it's already a handfull.
Well you will have to wait and see with mine ,maybe come to the meet at santa pod in july or the amd RR day if it gets sorted.

Oh forgot to mention above that the s3 and tt(225hp) engines run lower compression than the other 1.8t's so the are a bit more suited to higher boost.