I intend to build a new engine for my Golf soon as the current one has done a fair few miles and despite being in rude health I enjoy a nice engine build and the peace of mind will be good, I can also tidy the bay up at the same time. Is there anything especially beneficial that should be done on the 9a/KR combo? I was intending to use a standard bottom end, all new genuine VW consumables like bearings, rings etc and have the bottom end assembly balanced. I will port match the head and clean up the castings etc but fit standard cams or mildly uprated as I think 160ish hp is just about perfect for the MK1 chassis. I will also fit an oil cooler and remote filter set up, mainly as they are sat in the garage with nothing to bolt onto , I have an oil stat aswell. Although if I can get some extra hp on the cheap I wont mind Also, can you get direct replacement ali radiators for the MK1 as mine is looking a bit tatty and could do with a freshen up? Cheers Dave!
imho that all sounds peachy, i just wouldn't bother getting the bottom end balanced. from what i've heard elsewhere they're well balanced from standard and you'll not see any real difference (except to your wallet!). however, it is worth getting the (kr) flywheel lightened (from 21 lb down to about 10lb) and balanced (wrt. the pressure place/clutch assembly). kr cams will easily give 160bhp if you get the fuelling sorted properly. if you want further mods start thinking about a ported&polished head.
Where would you get a lightened KR flywheel? Do you buy them ready 'light' or get someone to modify a standard one? What sort of price are they and what's the benefit? More revvy engine?
You can buy really lightweight racing ones, but that'd be daft on a road car. Normally you'd pay about 50 to get an engineers to lighten the standard one for you. I'm having mine done this week. They just lathe some metal off it. The benefit is the same as fitting lighter wheels. It effectively reduces the weight of the car by about 100Kgs and makes it a lot more responsive in 1st gear. Have a search, there's plenty of dicussion.
I'll get another flywheel then and have that done I can get the head flowed but is it going to be worthwhile with the standard cams? Are they quite a long duration and high lift cam as standard? The car already has a 2.5" Jetex Rally system and Tubular manifold etc. I may get this WUR mod done aswell while it's in bits. Thanks for the reply Dave!
you get up early! why do you need another flywheel? just get the one you have done. unless you were planning on fitting the 9a flywheel, clutch and gearbox (which would be daft, imho). have a look on the 2.0 16v thread at the top of the enignes section. fitting a flowed head with matched manifolds seems to be the 'tried and tested' best thing to do to a 9a/kr combo once the fuelling is sorted.
The Golf is my only toy so I will get a spare engine and then get that complete and just swap the engines over, it will mean less time with the car off the road, that's why I need another flywheel. Are there any well regarded people for VW head work? I was on night shift in Uganda, I never get up that early unless i'm either being paid or given a token morning hello from a young lady Dave!
what on earth do you do? as for recommendations, the search will easily get you lots of info. like this
Ask Hotgolf, he lightened mine in his 'spare time' and got it balanced to the clutch at his local engineering shop. Makes the engine more responsive ( free revving )
Must be someone local that does it, have to ask Mart how much he takes off them, I'm not sure - it's quite a bit tho..
edit: stuff that after a bit of a search it looks like the standard kr flywheel is about 13.5 lb (6.1kg) tubs has previosly posted that his was dropped to 3.3kg (7.3 lb) Edited by: GTI
How come the flywheel is so heavy as standard, something to do with engine braking/inertia perhaps? What are the disadvantages of a lightened fly?
If you listen to the sceptics, they'll tell you that a lightened flywheel will make your car gutless uphills ( loss of torque) and stall really easily ( less momentum keeping the engine running) I've ran mine with the Hotgolf'ed flywheel for a year now and not noticed either of these things.
Car sat outside without a 'box, so took a couple of pics. As you can see, the ribs have been taken from the front face and the material from behind the ring gear, the holes are where it's been balanced. Edited by: GVK
Cheers Gary, good pics. Anyone got a pic of a standard 16v flywheel for comparison? Never taken mine apart since I've had it so not sure what I'm looking for exactly...
my engine is in pieces at the mo (big end problems ) so i'm planning to have my mechanic take the flywheel to the engineers on monday when he takes the crank to be reground. i guess they'll know how much to take off but i'm going to ring them myself to make sure.
