my mistake so in theory all you have to do is change the afh crank for an aee crank and gti rods and you would have a 1.6 afh right?

could this be done on the 3f and abd or 1w or is the 1.4s taller blocks

The 16v engines are from the 6n generation units,you're on your own with crossing components into the smaller-bore pre-94 engines as they have various measurement differances. The earlier crankcase isn't wide enough to accomodate the 1.6 crank,anyway.

Its hardly a blog laid out Pete,as i tried to keep it in the nature of the gallery,but I've always intended to put it up as an example of the sports side of the earlier Polo's people tend not to see.

Cheers Frybert - i think the Polo was the best city car the people of the '80s had,yet i didn't think of it seriously before i found the red one. The granny image kept me away,i guess. I still have the plans penned for a pre-'84 Lotus Fiesta but its unlikely i'll ever build it now..

Sweet as dude engine conversion is mint :)

My fave car on here, well done!

^^ Cheers lads

I get a lot of enquiries about the few sets of carb flanges i made on a lathe. Currently got 44/40mm ally ones for the huge valver intakes but these 40/36mm brass ones for the 1.4 ABD are the prettyest..

And the posh shot whilst I'm on it..

And the posh shot whilst I'm on it..

<image>

This is the ultimate sleeper.

I like this.

:-)

awesome thread and skills with the engine build well thought out! top car a favourite look forward to the rr results

awesome thread and skills with the engine build well thought out! top car a favourite look forward to the rr results

Turned up to the RR late and didn't get a run,hangovers are evil,but yeah its got a broad range of instant poke which suits my daily driving. Though that's good enough for me,it wont take me another year to get some figures up.

Hi Mikey, I've come to you in aid of help been as you seem to know your stuff :)

I'm planning on doing an AFH conversion into my mk1, I know of afew people who have/are doing mk2-3 and have even helped out renegade on his conversion a fair bit.

Everyone who has done this conversion, including yourself runs the engines on carbs! why is this? as I would like to drop an AFH into my mk1 but I'm not too sure on carbs, can i do this without carbs? if so what will i need in place to get the engine to run fully functional?

Thanks alot

Dan

Hi Mikey, I've come to you in aid of help been as you seem to know your stuff :)

I'm planning on doing an AFH conversion into my mk1, I know of afew people who have/are doing mk2-3 and have even helped out renegade on his conversion a fair bit.

Everyone who has done this conversion, including yourself runs the engines on carbs! why is this? as I would like to drop an AFH into my mk1 but I'm not too sure on carbs, can i do this without carbs? if so what will i need in place to get the engine to run fully functional?

Thanks alot

Dan

I would say as its eaiser than messing with the electrics, adds extra power/torque and sounds fantastic!

Mark.

Thanks for the reply mark, I just felt it was extra cost and hastle for not alot more power gains, also even though I know of several people running carbs without problems I'm not too clued up on them and I always have that image of safs old mk1 golf when it went up in flames, aswell as a friend of mine whos golf also went up in flames

Dan

Thanks for the reply mark, I just felt it was extra cost and hastle for not alot more power gains, also even though I know of several people running carbs without problems I'm not too clued up on them and I always have that image of safs old mk1 golf when it went up in flames, aswell as a friend of mine whos golf also went up in flames

Dan

Well its almost 30% more BHP than standard so its not too bad. :) Well to me even though I don't know how carbs actually 'work' I know how they should be plumb/plugged in as appose to trying to wire in a Mk4 engine loom to a mk2/3 car. An issue not helped by the fact there is no specific wiring diagram for the AFH that I could find. Yep I saw the pictures as well.. which did scare me a bit. I'm not sure of the circumstances but with foam filters on and the cbr600 air box fixing the chance of a back fire sending fuel though the filter past the air box to the exhaust seem a bit slim.... I hope!!! :)

Thanks alot for you help Mark, it shall be going into a mk1 polo which already has the chkein place so I'm sure i can mod my OEM choke to suit, be sure to be hearing and having to answer alot of questions from me :) thanks alot

Dan

As Mark said,really.

I was so impressed with the carbs on both 1.4 and 1.6 8v engines it was a no-brainer to keep them on the valver. Contrary to looking at other options for fuelling the valver,i only really upgraded to another eight valves because the carbs were crying out for them! The 1.6 8v was showing its breathing limitations and the carbs were up for more.

I've never been impressed with stock systems,giving me gremlins,strangling the engine and not even being as efficient as the carbs. And I've had a few - used to trade cars. All the engines i bought for the Polo were full of carbon,including two AFH's and an '03 BCB,so obviously not running at optimum. You can choose your set-up but I've found it to run quickest and yet reliably from my fractionally lean-biased tune,not to go into the impressive economy - the MoT tester thought his emissions reader had packed up..

I cant imagine going back to mpi,it'll be a law-enforced step backwards,and once you've had the throttle response and sound of the carbs you'd not go back to mpi either.

This engine's so eager,its alive like you dont get from mpi. Its always on its toes,strongly willing you to flex the throttle a bit more. You need to be responsible. Performance is great,sound is amazing on the 8v's (16s a far more refined sound),throttle response brings the life into it and it makes the whole car from the drivers point of view.

They're the best part of the car.

There's all the info you need in the FAQ. I've put a few links up in my first post there,too. People read it all and are still a little lost but we're all unsure when doing something for the first time - you've just gotta persevere and have a go. Id never known it done,just suggested to me by some bloke with a V8 Capri. I used standard choke and throtle cables,its easy enough to be on Blue Peter. Then you get it on rollers when its running (which i didn't,but I've got it well enough).

This is definately one of the better mk2's on CP in my opinion, even though it's build on a budget, it's all just properly done! Hats of to that! Good work lies in the effort and attention to detail one puts in, not the amount of money, that's something many people tend to forget, and you've clearly hit the spot and made a beautiful looking mk2, with a beast of an engine, all using OEM parts only makes it even more sexier then it already is! Keep it up, I'm a fan!

Wow thanks for the reply Mikey, sounds like your in love :) And I'm sure I too shall be. ARe you running the 1.6 bottom end? Thats what I plan to do with mine :)

This is definately one of the better mk2's on CP in my opinion, even though it's build on a budget, it's all just properly done! Hats of to that! Good work lies in the effort and attention to detail one puts in, not the amount of money, that's something many people tend to forget, and you've clearly hit the spot and made a beautiful looking mk2, with a beast of an engine, all using OEM parts only makes it even more sexier then it already is! Keep it up, I'm a fan!

Nice one - I'm raising it up a touch for comfort reasons,which reflects everything I've done to it. I didn't re-spray the engine bay because i didn't care to,but i do need it reliable and safe as well as fun,so that's where my effort went. Used OEM parts yards were chosen for financial reasons initially,but the research and development became fun despite some frustrations. Educational,too - you learn alot whilst doing it the hard way.

Wow thanks for the reply Mikey, sounds like your in love :) And I'm sure I too shall be. ARe you running the 1.6 bottom end? Thats what I plan to do with mine :)

I could never see myself parting with it even when it was a 1.4 8v,because it just fitted like a glove and was simply good fun (was never into silly speeds,just liked thrashing them about),but i was kidding myself that i didn't care about its tatty looks. Now that it's tidy,and can scare passengers with its performance,others are feeling it too. This is a new thing,as everyone else hated it before its latest incarnation..

Not that i ever planned for it to have 16valves aswell as 1.6 internals,but still. I'm not a practicing mechanic these days but i get asked for work,it seems to be advertising my skills. But you cant make money from building a car like this,too much research and expensive parts for a cheap final car,so i'll continue to spend my spare time on the ale instead - one of my other loves.

Sorry if you've already mentioned this but what kind of fuel consumption are you getting? I'm very strongly looking into doing this high comp 1600 valver conversion to my 6n, but fueling is my main issue (since I'm not too sure what Id do ECU wise) so bike carbs seem the easiest option, however it being my daily driver i dont want economy to suffer too badly!

I should do a proper run,and find out over a day out around the country. This i'll do when i can afford to fill the tank a couple of times and spend a day out on a tour. But i never run with more than half a tank,its lucky to get over a quarter at any time. I can still get 100 miles on a tenner if i stretch it,but that's not fun.

Still,it doesn't drop to 10mpg when being hammered,dont think i could polish off two gallons in under 40miles no matter how i drive,i can zoom about quite swiftly and get enough not to worry about fuel.

Its hard to estimate what you could expect. The bike carbs made the eight-valve engines very economical,as a 1.4 8v on them it drank less than my previous three year old Fiat Seicento 1.1i Sporting,and the 1.6 8v was more economical than the standard 1.3 carb had been.

The Seat Ibiza 1.8 GTi 16v i had between the Seicento and Polo drank far more fuel than the Polo ever has,and I've never rated sporty injection engines for economy - so yours might be more economical on the carbs than a standard 6n2 GTi,but i certainly couldn't guarantee it,and dependant factors are led by how the carbs are set up.

There are many other factors though - It drank more when i lowered it. Crashy and figety compared to the previous setup,i could see where that energy was coming from.

Then weight. It'll happily cruise about town centres and housing estates in fifth gear,it doesn't need to see 2k rpm,traffic permitting. I dont know its torque figure,but whatever its got doesn't need to work hard to pull the circa 720kg car. Add a couple of passengers,or use a 6n shell,and the engine has more work to do.

As I've mentioned,I've always set mine for economy. This has been dented with the valver,not helped by its large ports and high rev nature,and its the first engine I've melted a piston on by running too lean. But now they're set up to match the engine's nature as well as mine,it's all good.

Inspirational mate.

Words fail me.

Nice car.

^^ I can say the same about yours.

I do love this car

you have the skills to pay the bills

And what you said about carb noise is so true. Just the noise sends a tingle down your spine and a smile on your face.

Edited 16 April, 201016 yr by residentmelon

nice motor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had a bit of an episode with it recently - part of the big plastic coolant pipe along the back of the block had perished around the O-ring,broke away and damaged the waterpump impeller. Combined with a perished oilway seal in the oil pump,plus a heavy foot,and it got me home with a protest of clattering.

Having also found overheated pistons,i figured a full rebuild was in order. Not a good time,as I'm very busy lately.

Its always tedious when doing something new,especially with little spare time to hand,but i figured id try an ally cylinder block. Its from an Ibiza and when id removed the air-con/pas pump etc i found a 90A alternator. Which is nice.

But i thought itd be really easy. It wasn't. The thread for the cam-belt's idle pulley was too big,the water pump didn't fit at all,and the head-bolt threads are so far down that no VW's use bolts long enough to clamp the AFH head to it. Fortunately,some Rovers do,so a suitable set meant for a 45/75 2.0i V6 are in the post..

I modified the water pump and made an adaptor plate to mount it,tapped a steel grub for the pulley (to maintain 1.25 pitch over an insert's 1.5) and adapted the wiring for the alternator.

The headbolt of fail..

The expert precision engineering works..

Pump and pulley mounted and aligned..

As i left it today..

Finally got it all back together,no difference than before but for the 90A alternator and it being about 25kgs lighter..

The Rover head bolts,btw:

I'm having problems with the suspension,though. Being so much lighter on the front,the springs and shocks were too hard (they were anyway). Fitting standard replacement Bilstein front dampers was a no-brainer but I'm struggling with the springs. I need soft,i went for late MK1 springs at circa 50mm that are just about held well enough in the struts but it now sits higher at the front than the rear,and it's still too hard at the front (i think the Apex spring is wound to be hard,given that gap!),so if anyone's got some standard lanky rear springs i can doctor,or knows of others that fit,or knows of any particularly soft 40-45mm front springs,send me a PM please.

Old 60mm TA-Technix left,new Billies/Apex on the right..

Eibachs are nice and soft, only about 35mm of lowering though, and probably less for you.