Devil's Refugee

What are the best mods to get the most out of the car for about £500...
Been thinking;
Drop the suspension for starters but what else ?
Cams ?
Exhaust ?
Filters ?
Is a chip really worth the cash ?

Cheer me up since I've just sold me Scoob!

Rich and Mini

Some nice tyres, a set of lowering springs and some uprated brakes are a good basis for any future performance mods, it's what I'd do first. If your budget can stretch to it, get some nice shocks to go with the springs.

Rich

Sparky1066

You obviously know that you won't even slightly compare to the Scoob, so K&N Air filter=£80, Magnex full System=£275, and a chip or different camshaft, should take you a but over £500 but altogether should be good for 30-35bhp. I had a MK3 Golf GTI 8v after a 275bhp Nissan 200SX, and I did the mods I've mentioned and it was faster than standard but still only about as quick as a Saxo VTS!

KGB

Devils Refugee,
If you decide to go for suspension i'd avoid the Spax RSX coilover kit unless you only drive on perfectly smooth road surfaces. Put it on my VR6 and the car was practically undrivable, just bounced from one pothole to the next. Baby daughter was in tears whenever we went out in it, £600 straight into the skip!

Not sure what mods to suggest, i've got 2800cc and 6 cylinders and i've been depressed with its performance since i sold my scoob. Best thing i've found is to use my diesel van all week, then take the car out, that makes them feel quick(er)

Not what you want to hear m8, but the loss of a scoob is a sad time.

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

Is it really worth modding the 8v lump as they are not exactly quick as standard!

For the money you're thinking of spending on mods, you'd be better off just doing an engine swap for a 16v, then sell the old 8v one to go towards the conversion.

Quicker, easier and better for modding in the future as there's a LOT more potential.

Devil's Refugee

Cheers guys.
I know the step down is going to be painful from the Scoob but I've done it before (130bhp XR3i to a 1.0l Fiesta a few years back!!!)
Conversion is interesting.....think I'll investigate it further.
To my knowledge tho, the 16v lump isn't that much quicker than the 8v, only it has more top end.
TBH, I'm not looking to spend a fortune on it, so exhaust and filter and uprated springs is probably all I'll do, lost a fortune on the Scoob modding it up and in the end couldn't sell it because it was too hot for most !

Devil's Refugee

Anyone know good Golf GTI sites/ forums ?
The ClubGTI site looks Ok, but doesn't have a For Sale/Wanted forum.

Looking for a Highline interior....

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

"To my knowledge tho, the 16v lump isn't that much quicker than the 8v"

Well, as far as I was aware, the 16v is a good couple of secs or so faster 0-60 and a lot quicker 0-100 than the 8v version.

I've driven both versions and the 16v is plenty quicker!

Devil's Refugee

Bah !
Now you're making me jealous.....

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

That's what I mean...

Seems to be no point spending all that money just to get the 8v as quick as the standard 16v, when you can just drop the revvier and more potent 16v lump in there and mod that in the future.

You know it makes sense!

Sparky1066

put a VR6 lump in it

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

Gonna cost a LOT more than the £500 or so he wants to spend though...

Rich and Mini

Let's just say the 8v is too slow to wear a GTi badge, in my opinion anyway...

Engine mods aren't the only way to go faster point to point, hence my suggestions...

Rich

MooseRacer

The 8v is slower than the 16v unit, but still quicker than the tripe they serve up as 'gti's' these days.

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

"The 8v is slower than the 16v unit, but still quicker than the tripe they serve up as 'gti's' these days"

You're joking right?!

The 8v GTi is so slow that the 0-60 time is in double figures...

Even the new Golf GTi's are quicker than that.

The old 16v is a LOT faster than the 8v and I mean a LOT.

Eddie Bey

Devil's Refugee,

Have a look at www.starperformance.co.uk the guys name is Jim Curley and what he does not know about tuning GTI's its not worth knowing.
Oh and congratulation on the sale of your scooby. Perseverance is the name of the game...

Cheers
Ed

MooseRacer

Rich D - given a route other than a straight runway and a choice between a mk2 8v gti and a new base spec gti I know which I'd take

not sure about 0-60 times, but overall the 8v is still a quick'ish car from A to B.

We do agree about the 16valver though

Rich and Mini

I'd rather have the Mk2 GTi 8v, looks better, and is marginally quicker than the Mk3 8v, which does 0-60 in about 10.5seconds, hardly a GTi, I'm sure you'll agree...I'm with t'other Rich ( Rich D ), the 16v is a LOT quicker than the 8v.

Rich

Cosworth427

Dont expect much for £500, especially when you want acceleration. 2.0l 8v 115 HP is more for daily drivability on UK roads rather than motorway munching. A 16v conversion isnt cheap and kind of defeats the purpose of this post where u want something done for around £500.

Attack the bottleneck if you rate straight-line performance your priority. Look around for a more aggresive cam (only one needed) or try a head and cam combo (may stretch beyond £500). You'd lose low end torque, but you should expect more mid and top end RPM power from the cam, port, and valve enlargement/replacement.

Devil's Refugee

Thanks for the suggestions guys.
I've already contacted Jim @ Star (who performed some surgery on the Scooby only a few months back)

TelBoy

I've got a Mk3 16v as the everyday car!

A decent exhaust and filter is really all you need to do to it, for £500 anyway. The suspension as standard is way too soft to cope with any serious power increase, although the brakes are pretty effective in standard form.

Also, i use a bottle of Millers each fill up, and, like my Mk2 16v before, the engine really responds well to it. Recommended.

As far as Mk2 vs Mk3, the Mk3 is definitely quicker. And it's much better equipped, more modern etc. But i would agree that the Mk2 looks better, and is much more a driver's car. The biggest downside to the Mk2 is the need to thrash it revs-wise to get it to go, the Mk3 doesn't need to be pushed anywhere near as hard.

mike16v

DR

I have a Mk3 16v and test drove about a dozen Mk3's (8v & 16v) before going for the 16v. Much quicker, even though the 8v is a torquey car, in all aspects.

Anyway...

I have a remus exhaust & a K&N 57i and am now at 170.5BHP (Jim @ Star was convinced that it had been chipped too, but he checked and it is standard!). The 8v is 115BHP, but I have seen 2 get RR'd @ 130BHP with a K&N and an exhaust system.

To sort the handling, don't go with springs only. Get onto Larkspeed (www.larkspeed.com) and get yourself a Koni Equipped kit for £325. This will lower the car 40mm and the ride is great, even on the softest setting. (They are cheap for the K&N too)

I guess this is a bit more than £500 (prob £650 or so), but it is all that is needed in truth.

Have fun & look out for my green 16v (N184...) in & around Aberdeen.

Mike

Big Lee

Have a look on the club GTI forum, they do have a classifieds section.
Lee aka Monza Dub

Gti Engineering 16V MK2

Sell the MK3 & buy a sorted MK2, then again I might be biased. Did you see the slagging off the MK3 got in `The Golf` magazine? that alone would put me off buying one.

Devil's Refugee

Yeah, bought that mag last week after buying the car
Still, I had a Golf MkII 8v and it was like a rollerskate, superb fun.

golfliam

AMD do a rechip that works well

made a nice difference to my old mk3 a few years back
also koni adjustables with the standard springs works really well
also

mrp

Be wary of the AMD chip if your car is a later mk3 as I had one fitted to a 97 mk3 and it made no difference at all (had to get my money back). Apparently the earlier one respond well to the chip change but the later ones don't as the engine management is different (I think this happend from around 95 on).

golfliam

Mine was a pre 95

It definatly made a difference - throttle response was much better and it ironed out some dips in the power curve which i could feel on the road....

Curious did they do before and after rolling roads ?