Best way to more reliable horses?

[jasontrue]

Hello there. I might be buying a mk1 gti with about 140kish on the clock. What would be the ideal way to bump up the power? Would a rebuild with some cams and a chip do well? Transplant for something mental would be the most desirable choice but i'm a student with budget of about a grandish. I don't know a lot about golfs. Thanks in advance 

[gibby]

The options are endless and all dependant on how many dollars you have to throw at it. The first thing to do would be to give it a good service, get a decent exhaust and a panel filter and this will give you a bit more oomph, but don't expect miracles. Then you could go for uprated cams etc etc, but this will all add up in price and will not be cheap. The other route is the engine transplant, 20vt is probably the best option  but will cost some coin to put in, a more affordable transplant is a 16v conversion as this will be your cheapest option and a mk2 16v in a mk1 would make it fairly rapid seeing as the mk1 only weighs about 840kg. You can't chip a mk1 k-jet engine by the way. These questions have been asked a few times so have a search round the site and see what you can find. 

[jasontrue]

Who are the main tuners in the uk? Are there any ones worth mentionning in Essex?

[sportline_velly]

imo the best and cheapest way is one of the following

1- change the bottomend for a 2.0   (bags of torque)

2- fit a 1.8 16v lump

3- fit a 2.0 16v lump

prob the 1st one out be the simplest 

[gibby]

Who are the main tuners in the uk? Are there any ones worth mentionning in Essex?

Have a look at the main site page ----> http://www.golfgti.co.uk/ at the bottom there is a load of useful links, take a wander round there as I don't know Essex I'm afraid, too far south !

[benmk1]

Or cheaper an easier way is to rebuild the block to 1900cc, less problem with breather hoses, etc. Get a cam,do some gentle homemade head polishing, stainless exhaust and manifold, 16v warm up reg and an audi throttle body. Sould be a bit of a stonker then

[black_cabbie]

How deep are your pockets? 

[sportline_velly]

that really is the bottom line