holmeshi guys my engine blew up yesterday litterally, changed down a gear and it spat it’s guts out the front of the engine lol. anyway never mind it’s an incentive to get the car sorted, can you please tell me would the 2.0l mk3 8v golf head bolt onto the mk2 1.8 8v engine without any problems ie valve bounce etc i relise the injecter holes will need plugging as mine is a carb but is there anything else? ta
holmessorry scrap that gona try and get a crossflow head.
no such userif your going crossflow your best off gettign a 16v i think, but if it must be 8 valve get the hole enigne they aren’t exactly expensive any more . and there are a lot of hidden costs if bolting a random crossflow head to a pb, gu, 2e block. also management needs to be thought about as digifant 2 is an expensive mistake
holmesexcuse my ignorance, would a 16v head fit onto a 1.8 8v bloke without any problems? iam going to run bike carbs i think so won’t need to worry bout any of the injection stuff so what i really want is a head i can bolt straight on and then put the bike carbs on and go but what else would i need to get or look at. soory for all the questions but i want to get all the possible info before i pay money to get it all done. thanks dannyp for your last post
no such user16v head + 8 v block it bolts up but you get about 8:1 compression, so best avoided unless boosted.
what you really need to do is decide what your budget is and what you want to achieve.
the 1.8 8valve block is ok but due to the poorness of rhd syncro exhaust 2ltr block is top favourite will still go flat up top but the more torque you can get before it dose the better. also good 2ltr bottom ends are east to come by and cheep. head wise options are the same
gu head = pants ( don’t spend money on eject to bin )
pb head = better pants ( it’s manageable few ponies over the gu one is stock form and bit more can be got from it with less effort )
2e head = unwanted pants ( it’s actually so posed to flow slightly better than the pb one put a pb cam in it and then deal with the strange ports. it can be used but gain is minimal with carbs adapter plate is nasty quick tweak pb head will be as good if not better)
cross flow 8v = ok ( needs a little work to fit PB, GU, 2e block best flowing 8v head, fits your exhaust, water housing is expensive if you don’t have it. meant to flow 15% better than counterflow head really needs something better than stock exhaust.
far as i can see there are two heads worth looking at PB or cross flow.
holmeslooks like a crossflow then, it’s just £200 is expensive or is it? what else is needed for this then you said the water housing was needed, iam getting mine from chris so i can assume that it won’t come with it. what could be done to increase the compression on a 16v if needed ie would a good skimming help or is there not enough valve clearnace for that?
there is alot to think about, iam getting the spare 8v bottom end hopefully sorted out tonight iam sure with a few scraped knuckles so really after that it’s just sorting the head. still unsure tho, i know iam down to 2 options but mainly one, being the crossflow. i need to gain more info maybe.
there is one more subject, i do have a spare 2.0l 8v block which i was going to put in it but got put off cos of all the hidden extra’s everyone kept scaring me about. would you happen to know exactly what i would need to buy or get to make that work, ie distributor etc
your help is greatly apreciated and thankyou for taking the time to do this.
no such userto go 16v buy a complete engine it’s the cheapest way the pistons are very diffrent between 8&16v, same apply for cross flow as well. cross flow enigne have got cheep recently mainly because the novelty value has worn off and a lot of cars fitted with those motors are now getting to the breakers for various reasons.
if you buy a bare head it’ll be very expensive power, iirc it needs a water housing at £80 then a rather impressive top hose that’s about another £80, a lumpier cam is also required, and the head also requires work if going on a gu or 2e style block, the best person to speack to about cross flows would be diamond hell as has built and runs one but he can’t post on here any more.
my current opinion of the cross flow is that it’s not really worth the money, if you can find a whole enigne for the right price. but if your going to spend that sort of money it may be worth looking into other engines such as the ABF, it may not be as easy to fit due to the exhaust but it’s worth it. more torque and more revs and much more tunable
holmeshi dannyp, wots special about the water hose and housing can it be fabricated? iam kind of on the side of chris and feel talking to diamond may cause offence to chris. i have a 2e which i have got the block off last night so its ready to go really. as for the head iam still un decided as there are alot of 1.8 8v gti heads out there alot cheaper than the crossflow, but the crossflow is supposed to be good for an extra 15hp? and plus i want to fit the bike carbs and iam not sure if there would be room if i stick with a conventional head? if i can get a crossflow for about £150 i don’t mind but anymore than that is alittle pricey really.
no such userthe water hose arrives fabricated out of bits form vw. the cross flow head has different arrangement for the water unions, you could probably bodge a hose up. out of intrest are you staying with the original rod shift box, if so a minor tweek to a counterflow head on a 2.0 bottom end, with any sizable carb or carbs is going to be enuff for the box, yes theer is enuff room to put carbs between the head and firewall but it’s tight, b ut no one said they had to be pointed at the firewall. ever looked at the gti manifold and thougth how easy it would be to modify that to point the carbs forward. crossflow heads seem to give 15% more flow. makes for a very torqey engine and in theory it should get higher up the revs before going flat
holmesi should be able to sort out or fabricate some water pipes i would think. i am staying with the rod change for now as it should be ok for bout 150hp which is the max i want to get really as it’s the torque iam after but i relise this will put alot of strain on the box so i will refrain from screeching away from the lights lol. i will put a better clutch and flywheel in i think, i have heard that a 16v fits? but am not to sure. ive spoken to chris this morning by mail and he is going to help with the crossflow so that should hopefully be with me in the next coupleof weeks and hopefully the whoole project done in 1-2months( engine wise that is). your help has been great and ill keep you posted. thanks
holmesanother query the carbed 8v has a vacum advance from the carbs for the distributor, i am hoping they have a port for this or what would i have to do? ive looked on the gti forum but all or most of the guys there are running 16v gti’s so doesn’t help alot with my aplication. thanks
no such usertorque is the gerabox killer. but the rod box should be able to cope with 150 ish ponies if you stick with std gti clutch. find if you nail it a bit hard, the clutch will slip rather tan transferring massive shock loads onto the gearbox, i used to give my old one a lot of abuse the clutch would quite often slip a little on hard gear changes doesn’t do wonders for clutch life but they are cheaper and easer to source than gearboxes, most of the uprated clutches ain’t all that ether, cheep ones have a habit of been the cheapest on on the market painted pretty colours, or just a stock friction plate with a an overkill pressure plate witch give a really crap pedal.
bike carbs normally have a vacuum port/s on each one. it’s worth connecting small inline fuel filter inline with the dizzy when connecting it up it just helps smooth things out a bit
no such userDon’t waste your time with a crossflow 8V. I’ve driven mine extensively and also taken Danny’s out on road and track.
None of the established maps for 8Vs will work on a crossflowed motor, especially if it’s breathed on in any way. Mine leans out way too early. You’ll need loads of bizarre parts to put it together and you need someone who knows what they’re doing to weld up the oil return, re-drill it in the right place for the block you have and then skim the head, too.
By the time you’ve spent sufficient money to make the crossflow worthwhile you might as well just buy a 16V Toledo or similar and a few Golf GTI downpipes to make a tubular manifold and fit a 2.0 16V motor. This will get you far more power from stock and stop you wasting a lot of time. A 16V Toledo will get you a load of nice upgrades too – 280mm brakes, complete set of cable clutch mounts for a cable-change gearbox etc etc.
no such userTC is in about the best position to comment on the cross flow 8v and compare it to other engines havering built one and gone to the effort of making a rallye downpipe and manifold fit, and also helped LOTS when i was putting the 16v in mine so knows first hand how much effort is required to fit said engines. tho the engines are in different cars the 2 cars are very similar otherwise. ATM tc’s motor feels not much different to a good counterflow based enigne alltho with more effort more power will be got from it. but it’s a lot of effort for the same power the abf came with out the box