VW Golf Mk2 GTi 16v

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Georges Fonso
Posts: 23
Joined: September 5th, 2007, 2:26 pm
Location: Athens, Greece (A)
Contact:

VW Golf Mk2 GTi 16v

Post by Georges Fonso »

Hello, Guy and fellow members!
This is a small pictorial of my engine build for my Golf Mk2 daily driver.
Brief Background:
I bought the car as a bargain (at 1500 Euros including all transaction fees) around 3 years ago, originally intended it as a rolling restoration while also serving as my sister's first car (another long story, anyway...). Bonus: the Golf was a complete 1.8 16v Conversion, even including MK2 Teves ABS. Malus: Nearly 300K km on the clock.
To cut a long story Short (The complete Spec of the Car will be uploaded along with pictures of itself), I finally kept the car and the "Rolling Resto" concept, and put a nice "Trackday Capable Daily Driver" Stamp on the envelope.
And Voila, this is the engine...
The pictorial is not as complete as it could have been, nor my workplace as tidy (albeit scrupulously dust-free) as it should have been. BUT the whole build was initiated in a coup of "Now or Never", just about 10 days before joining the Hellenic Navy for my 12-Month National Service, having to take the old engine out of the car, cannibalize parts to be transferred to the new engine, build the new engine, fit it in the car, get up and go. Oooff!

So here's the spec of the engine:
Base Engine VW ABF 2.0ltr from Golf Mk3 GTi 16v
OE Bore x Stroke: 82,5 x 92,8mm
OE Compression Ratio: 10,4:1
OE Valve Size: 32mm inlet, 27mm outlet
OE Power: 150Ps@6400rpm
OE Torque: 17,8kgm@5000rpm

Actual Spec:
Bottom End:
Block Stripped, Cleaned, Replugged and Hammerited
+0,50mm Overbore (2007,4 cc)
Plateau honed cylinders on Sunnen machine
Block deck skimmed 0,15mm to true up gasket face
Rotating assembly balanced down to <1grams tolerance
Reciprocating assembly weights matched to +- 0,1 grams piston to piston, rod end to end
Forged Pistons 12,4:1 CR (Total Actual Compession Ratio Incl. Block/Head Skimming and new valves 12,8:1)
Tool steel lightweight tapered piston wrist pins - DLC coated
Forged 4340 Rods
Trimetal Rod & Crank bearing shells
VW TDi sump gasket w/ integrated crank splashguard
Schrick motorsport spec alloy sump, finned with internal baffles

Cylinder Head:
OE MultiLayerSteel head gasket, OE stretch bolts
Cylinder head ported, valve seats 3-angled to bigger dia to accept oversize valves
Competition stainless one-piece valves 32,5mm inlet / 28mm exhaust (+0,50mm/+1mm oversize respectively)
New bronze valve guides - Flex-honed after fitting, Viton stem seals
Competition dual valve springs
Titanium valve spring retaines (originally opted for steel ones, but with time at premium and retainers at backorder, time equalled money once again...)
New OE hydraulic lifters
272deg camshafts with approx 11,4mm lift inlet, 11mm lift exhaust (nominal)
Modified cam pulley to allow advancing/retarding
Superflow SF-110 Results at 10in water (corrected via FlowCom): Inlet 129cfm@12mm lift, Exhaust 97,5cfm@12mm lift (were 107/81cfm respectively)

Cooling:
Heavy-Duty Radiator (for the A/C version, core approx 600x400mm, dual row aluminum)
Twin 12in fans
80deg C thermostat
Waterless engine coolant
Golf MkI GTi Oil Cooler Takeoff base w/ built-in thermostat
19-row oil cooler
1/2 in braided SS lines with convoluted teflon hose (extremely flexible, vital in the tight corners they had to cut through)

Fuelling:
Dellorto DHLA 45E Carbs (Come to think of it, maybe I should now call i a GTD...)
Filter King Fuel Pressure regulator @ 4psi
Original EFI (K-Jetronic!) fuel pump in OE swirl pot, with restricted bypass to return in order to avoid stressing the 'King (approx 120lt/hr @ 6psi delivery rate)
30mm bellmouths
Plastic Airbox w/76mm inlet and gauze cone filter placed in wheelarch

Exhaust:
VW-Motorsport replica exh. manifold (41mm id primaries x 65 cm long, 57mm id secondaries x 15cm long)
57mm pipe with 3 silencers in OE positions

Current Status:
The car has done approximately 2000km since the rebuild, in the scarce leaves I've got since joining the navy. Hadn't had the chance for a rolling road session yet, because:
1. I have to install (and map!!) my MBE 957i in order to get rid of the original Bosch ignition ECU, its silly 7100rpm rev limit, and effect some decent timing accross the entire rpm range. Current compromise is 29deg advance @ 4000rpm BUT with lots of static and quite some pinking below 2500rpm under heavy load
2. Put a decent gearbox on: been running a Mk3 8v 'box, for running in leisurely. Way too tall: 3rd gear makes around 165km/h @ 7000rpm, 5th gear hits >260km/h on the rollers.
3. Put a good clutch: I tried my luck with a factory reconditioned OEM flywheel and a brand new top quality clutch with a reinforced cover (for Diesel egines), but it has already started slipping which probably means that my nice little engine exceeds the 21kgm that the OEM setup can "reputedly" handle. Why not, she runs almmost 13:1 CR on 100octane Premium Unleaded (one of the few joys left of living in Greece, heh) and 38 chokes in the Dellys
4. Put bigger chokes in the Dellortos. I think 40mm or even maybe 41mm would be perfectly acceptable on such a light car (995kg with fully trimmed interior and full tank) and my "proper" gearbox (4,53:1 final ratio instead of approx 3,7:1 currently installed).

Most importantly, i have to take some proper pictures of the car and the engine bay, next time I am AWOL from Souda Bay, Crete, and back to Athens.

So, the project originally planned in viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1274&start=0&st=0& ... hilit=golf has finally gone live!

Regards to everyone!
G.F.
Attachments
Waiting for the head to arrive
Waiting for the head to arrive
Engine_Block_Face_Up.jpg (96.78 KiB) Viewed 9471 times
This is the loud side of the head
This is the loud side of the head
Exhaust_Port_Modified_3.jpg (72.12 KiB) Viewed 9468 times
All comments welcome. I was tempted to fill up those old injector channels, but I thought that it would be a hassle when converting to throttle bodies at some point in time.
All comments welcome. I was tempted to fill up those old injector channels, but I thought that it would be a hassle when converting to throttle bodies at some point in time.
Inlet_Port_Modified_2.jpg (70.61 KiB) Viewed 9470 times
So here I am, yours truly, centering that pull type clutch
So here I am, yours truly, centering that pull type clutch
Me_And_My_Engine.jpg (69.88 KiB) Viewed 9464 times
Maybe not exactly a beauty, but power is what I'm after in the end. Golden touches courtesy of my Dear Denise -- didn't seem too girly at the time
Maybe not exactly a beauty, but power is what I'm after in the end. Golden touches courtesy of my Dear Denise -- didn't seem too girly at the time
Ready_To_Rumble.jpg (77.35 KiB) Viewed 9462 times
New and old valves in head
New and old valves in head
Valves_Comparison_CC.jpg (49.2 KiB) Viewed 9465 times
Exhaust valves, 1mm oversize. Note: new valves and retainers are single groove, a-la-older GTi Engines (1.8ltr), since the triple groove design has given other engine builders quite some trouble at high rpm/spring rates
Exhaust valves, 1mm oversize. Note: new valves and retainers are single groove, a-la-older GTi Engines (1.8ltr), since the triple groove design has given other engine builders quite some trouble at high rpm/spring rates
Valves_Comparison_Exhaust.jpg (57.66 KiB) Viewed 9462 times
A moment of great relief, somewhere around 04.00 in the morning
A moment of great relief, somewhere around 04.00 in the morning
Built_Up_Engine_Side.jpg (56.73 KiB) Viewed 9455 times
May the valves keep clear of you guys for belts and belts to come
May the valves keep clear of you guys for belts and belts to come
DSC00160.jpg (76.52 KiB) Viewed 9459 times
I hope nothing finds the way out when I put 300/12mm cams and step up to 9000rpm...
I hope nothing finds the way out when I put 300/12mm cams and step up to 9000rpm...
Engine_Block_Bottom_End.jpg (94.67 KiB) Viewed 9454 times
Inlet valves: the new ones have undercut stems and slightly different underhead shape, i think they contributed their couple of cfm on the way to 130
Inlet valves: the new ones have undercut stems and slightly different underhead shape, i think they contributed their couple of cfm on the way to 130
DSC00138.jpg (43.2 KiB) Viewed 9455 times
Neal H
Posts: 22
Joined: July 8th, 2008, 10:13 am

Re: VW Golf Mk2 GTi 16v

Post by Neal H »

Hi Georges,

Great to see a VW here in readers cars (well, an engine anyway!!), the engine looks good and I will be interested to see some results when it is fully set up.

I am very interested in the oil cooler takeoff that you have. Is this an item made by VW? I have never seen one like that before and it looks like a neat way of running a cooler with using a sandwich plate.

Good luck with the rest of your project,

Neal.
Georges Fonso
Posts: 23
Joined: September 5th, 2007, 2:26 pm
Location: Athens, Greece (A)
Contact:

Re: VW Golf Mk2 GTi 16v

Post by Georges Fonso »

Hi Neal,
Thanks for the comment! I'm also glad to see a fellow member into VWs.
This is the oil cooler takeoff used in the late Mk1 GTIs. It has a built-in thermostat that opens fully at 110oC. VW Motorsport used to supply an alternative thermostat opening at 80oC, unfortunately NLA since the late 80ies or so... But I have also heard that some Porsche engines used the same style of thermostat cartridge, made by BEHR, still available for order at Porsche dealerships and also rated at 80oC.
As you can see below, thermostat element is like a two-stroke piston with ports on the skirt, opening/closing a cooler core by-pass). If you take a closer look at the pictures from my engine build, I have also retained the original water to oil sandwich cooler, in order to heat-up the oil quickly after a cold start, I thought this is vital in a daily driver running forged piston clearances. The thermostat piston also has four small holes (around 1,5mm), obviously to let some oil run through the cooler at all times in order to bleed the system after an oil change.
Since 110oC was too much for my liking, I enlarged those holes up to 3mm. If you warm up the engine a bit without getting up and go, it takes less than 3 minutes to get the oil to 65oC, having started the engine at 15degC ambient and jogging it at 2000rpm. With my setup, I have put the air to oil cooler right in front of the radiator and in direct contact with it. One of the fans draws air from the engine side, so actually moves some air through the cooler as well. I have chosen to place the cooler in contact with the radiator so as to avoid any overcooling, because I didn't know how the 4x3mm holes on the thermostat would affect the whole situation.
Under pressure the oil temperature does not exceed 95oC, under load and rev situations that the previous 1,8lt engine (also with the Schrick sump) would readily see 110-115oC, while under normal highway motoring it stays around 85-88oC. I suppose you already know how notorious these engines are regarding high oil temperatures, the oil returns from the cylinder head lying on the exhaust side of it and the oil also cooling the exhaust ports before draining down the sump...
At some point I want to disable the water-to-oil cooler, in order to see how this would affect oil and water temperatures. Also, I want to change the sequence that my fans operate. The first one, pull-type, kicks in at 88oC and the second one, a push-type on the right hand side of the radiator (I had to use a push-type in order to clear the carbs airbox), activates at 93oC. I want to reverse that order, because I get the suspicion that sucking air through the oil cooler at first does not really aid cooling. I would rather see the first fan push cool air through the radiator and then the second one suck air through the oil cooler to tame high oil temps should they get out of hand when slowing down to enter the pits or when chilling out after an "ïnspired" ride on the hills...
Next week I will be AWOL so I will also provide some shots of the engine bay.
Also, a very important problem with this setup, when trying to fit it on 2-ltr blocks: This oil filter bracket was designed for the older generation of 827 blocks (1.8ltr downwards), which have a separate hole on the face of the block, for sending oil to the cylinder head. This oil line opening is situated inwards of the bolt pattern for the filter bracket. On Golf Mk3 blocks and later, this whole is no more there, instead the filter bracket channels oil to the cylinder head's transfer gallery through the upper bolt hole of the filter bracket. This is an issue you have to adress by chanelling oil to the bolt hole and sealing the bolt properly. In order to avoid oil leaks through the bolt's boss on the filtet bracket, I machined the face of the bracket and used bronze seals, same as those used on banjo oil unions.
The following screenshot is from VW Group's ETKA Software (the electronic parts catalogue) and you can see both the bracket and the respective part numbers. Also, this bracket is quite a bit sought-after, since there are not many MkI GTi engines around any more, but you can still locate the odd one in auction sites every now and then. I found mine at a local VW breaker, and been looking around the local market for months in order to get a spare, but had not much luck.
Best regards,
G.F.
Attachments
oil_cooler_takeoff.JPG
oil_cooler_takeoff.JPG (184.38 KiB) Viewed 9304 times
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