$4k to upgrade a gti

[mollins]

if you are going to any part of the exhaust fixed.. please please please upgrade the exhaust manifold! PM loon and see if he can post you a later 8v exhaust manifold.

mk2's handle really nicely with some lower springs and good shocks, along with some decent rubber. you can pay extra for coilovers, but the cost/improvement isnt worth it in my opinion.

You can make 4k go a long way, or blow it quickly and have a slower car.

good luck and have fun!

[Spyda]

I don't know why they are telling you to get bigger brakes, all you will have then is a slow car with big brakes. Waist of money.
If you are going to upgrade handling before performance then you will sooner be busted for using the handling mods than any performance mods.

The stock brakes will do fine until you get more power then a UK spec 8v.

Get the coiloveries and install them yourself, that will save you a bunch of money, hottuning will save you even more money and are a decent coilover, the car will sit low and will handle well with hottuning. Its up to you if you want to spend more on something better. I still wouldn't fork out more for a fancy set when my car is slow.

You have to remember that the car handles great in standard form but the engine doesn't perform well. I've got a set of hottuning and a good set of tyres and i can point the car in any direction at just about any speed and it will go there, it usaly just depends on how fast you can turn the wheel more than what mk2 can handle.

You should at least look at getting up to UK GTI spec.

Get an exhaust, cam, 2L bottom end and coiloveries. You should have ~90kw at the motor then worry about brakes and sway bars. If you are going to drive it hard as a daily then get some better pads and GOOD tyres. Your cars handling is nothing without GOOD tyres.

[AusScare]

I don't know why they are telling you to get bigger brakes, all you will have then is a slow car with big brakes.

You should at least look at getting up to UK GTI spec.

What do you mean by slow? What is its 0-100 time with the extractors and de-cat? (or even stock 0-100?) The owner thinks it has about 85kw at the engine (77 stock).

Get an exhaust, cam, 2L bottom end and coiloveries. You should have ~90kw at the motor then worry about brakes and sway bars. If you are going to drive it hard as a daily then get some better pads and GOOD tyres. Your cars handling is nothing without GOOD tyres.

Ok, so after coilovers and audio I'll look into exhaust. Cam and 2L bottom end you mention, I'll have to read up on that, haven't heard about it before.

edit: A quick google says the 8v should do 0-100 in 9s, and the 112hp (83kw) version should do 8.3s. So I'm guessing this one is around 8.5-9s, slow I guess, so I'll compile a list of engine mods to do in the OP.

[Spyda]

What do you mean by slow? What is its 0-100 time with the extractors and de-cat? (or even stock 0-100?) The owner thinks it has about 85kw at the engine (77 stock).



Ok, so after coilovers and audio I'll look into exhaust. Cam and 2L bottom end you mention, I'll have to read up on that, haven't heard about it before.

If the motor hasn't been changed then its an RV which comes standard with 77kw. If you have a full exhaust then you are looking at maybe 85kw since the most restrictive part of an RV engine is the exhaust. Stock RV 0-100 is about 13sec according to when i hit the gas and counted in my head lol. With exhaust and de-cat i cant say, maybe somewhere between 10sec and 13sec.

With a cam you will gain a few more kill wasps and with a 2L bottom end you will have a lot more torques. The cam is prity straight forward and you can find a lot of info on the net, there is also a DIY guide on ClubGTI if needed. Most popular is a 270 or 276 degree cam. I just bought one yesterday.

The 2L bottom end conversion is also very popular and cheap if you do it yourself. There are a few bottom ends you can use but the easiest to find is a 2E tall block. For this conversion you will need a 2E dizzy, 2E head gaskets and head bolts. You bolt it on and plug the mk3 oil breather hole. I think that's it as far as i can remember. I was planning on doing it myself so i did a lot of reading on it but recently bought a mk2 with a 2E bottom end already fitted.

My first mk2 which i smashed had a stock RV motor, stock exhaust (minus one muffler, sounds mad), hottuning coilovers, ebay chip and K&N panel filter. Slow, so very slow but sounded fast lol and handled great. I couldn't out run a corolla.

The mk2 I have now has a mk3 duel down pipe and manifold, mk3 cat and a 2L bottom end. I kept up with my mates 5.7L VT in first and half way through second and a VZ SV6 Ute had trouble keeping up with me. The car is out of tune, timing is off and its not road worthy.
I have a full stainless steel exhaust (no-cat) from the manifold back, 276 TT cam and the ebay chip lined up. When its all in and running well I will run it on a dyno and see what comes up, im very curious to see what the difference is.

[jeanheide]

my stock rv did 0-100 in 9.8secs. the 16v did 8.3.
as said, the exhaust is main thing you do need. dont de-cat it. for one its illegal and also i think the AU MK2 have a G-kat with is a regulated cat which means your engine adjusts to to how much petrol it puts in. if no cat then all of a sudden your engine cuts down fuel and you wont run properly.

[Water Boy]

Spend like $1200 on some Weitec coilovers and get some phat 15's or 16's. Get a nice 2.25 stainless mandle bent exhuast and upgrade the brakes with some good pads and rotors. Also go through the whole car and replace worn and old parts.

Id also get a single head light grille.

[qsilverza]

If I was you, I would drive the car for six months get used to it and than decide.

[DVR68U]

i wouldnt bother with any brake upgrades , if you dont have increased power the car will be slower , due to the increased rotational mass. i would change the wheels for some 16" bbs and get some good tyres , check all rotors and brakes pads to make sure they are in good shape. and keep the money for when something brakes and rego/ insurance . drive the car around for a month to see where you would like to spend the money.
cheers brenton