Greetings from British Columbia. This summer I picked up a Mk1 Rabbit to race next year. I usually race my local 1/4 mile paved oval but my cars do double duty on road tracks as well. The Rabbit was almost complete when I got it, including what I am told was a more or less stock but freshly rebuilt motor. I know nothing about VW's other than being beaten by a couple very fast ones over the years on various tracks. Because I know nothing about this particular rebuild I will have a look inside over the winter, and possibly hop it up a bit. I am wondering what I should be putting together for a reliable but decently quick car. The motor is a 1.8 8v, but beyond that I know nothing. I want to stay with the 1.8 because I have to weigh 1 pound per cc, and this car fully caged and pretty much track ready scales at 1550 pounds. So with fuel and me I will be very close to ideal. The rules say I need to keep to 11 to one compression, although I expect I could push that a bit, especially if I had some cam overlap that makes it hard to easily check. I also intend to stay carburetted as there is a penalty for fuel injection and an ecm. I need to use a 350 cfm Holley (any) or the stock carb, so I picked up a 28/32 Weber on an early GTi manifold. I see no reason to try to dial in a Holley unless you guys tell me it would be worth the effort. So I guess my questions are: cam choice, (very narrow RPM range on a short track and I will not worry about road courses for now) carb setup and jetting (I hope the GTi tune will get me close) and pistons. I can upsize the valves but no porting so I am not sure there would be any benefit there. I am hoping I have a decent head already but if not I can look for something better to put on. For what its worth the casting number points to it being a solid lifter head. I won't know more unless I rip it apart which I am not ready to do yet. One last think, what sort of revs can I pull safely? I did four engines one year on my Nissan and one guy I race is on number 5 this year. Some of these for both of us were self inflicted, but that is still a ton of frustration and expense I do not want to revisit. I am not as hungry to win as I used to be, I just want to have some fun for a reasonably investment of time and money. So reliability needs to play a pretty big part. Any thoughts would be welcome. Thanks
Meaning what exactly? The rule doesn't say static compression. I will run every pound of compression I can get away with just like everyone else.
I almost don't want to answer this, but will for the younger ones. Nah, I can't do it, its so obvious I can't comment, sorry Jon
You need to take a good look at the club members cars in the 8v section for lots of advice that’s tried and tested .
Asking very general questions you’ll get a few general answers . Do some research then ask if this or that is a good idea and people are more likely to invest time with your project . Everyone is busy nowadays it’s just life ! But if you use the massive amount of info here to come up with ideas then people will discuss them and advise you . There’s pleanty of 8v loving folk on here Jon Olds being a bit of an expert after many years of trial and error . Jon olds , mrhillclimb and mitlom are all 8v fans on here https://clubgti.com/forums/index.ph...-road-car-comments-on-parts-requested.285114/
