You'd get a 1.8T in there i'm sure. As stated above not seen one in a mk1, but a mk2 isnt vastly different so it's definately doable.

Id recommend stripping the mk1 engine bay of all underseal and seam sealer, and properly welding the seams and adding some bracing etc. My brother ran the mk1 in my avatar with a G40 engine and it literally ripped the chassis legs apart. Also, he's building a mk3 G40 at the moment using a 1.0 litre, 20,000 mile shell with no previous accident damage - however when he stripped the paint / underseal off where the bulkhead meets the chassis leg there were visible hairline cracks. They're not the strongest chassis to begin with is my point.

I wouldnt have thought a 1.8T would be too bad in a mk1 - they're renound for being fairly lightweight (alloy block?).

Good luck with the build dude!

Joe

There are some seriously blinkered opinions in this thread, power doesn't = death, and who said he was just chucking an engine in and leaving every thing else standard? In fact most of this has already been uprated iirc when he was fitting the 16v

The main issue by far will be space, the afh into a mk1 is tight squeeze at the front due to the bay being so much shorter than the mk2 and a whole lot shorter than the mk3. It could be done but it might need a little creative thinking to squeeze it all in.

Good luck this should be an absolute monster and its good to see some one doing the kind of stuff to polos that they have been doing on the continent for years, although its clear from this thread why we're so far behind our sausage munching polo driving cousins.

Actually just noticed your not the only one doing on this conversion on here, you wait around for years for a mk1 20vt then two come along at once

i have heard that it is hard to fit a 1.8t into a mk2f polo due to the height of the engine becasue it would be soo low down and cause clearence issues ??

The only issue that gives you is that it dictates how low you can have the car as far as I can see?

apparently the actually bay of the mk2f is shallow ?

Yes but all that means is you have to sit the engine lower in the bay so you can close the bonnet, the lower the engine sits the further out the bottom the sump will sit meaning you can't lower the car as much as if it had the standard engine in.

Not sure what effect sitting it so low in the bay would have on handling mind? but the handling isn't going to be this cars trump card anyway, whether its being built for it or not I'm not sure but it would be a weapon and a half on a drag strip.

could you put a shallower sump ?

You could redesign the sump I guess but doubt it would make all that much difference its still going to sit pretty low no matter what. There are cars running this set to tho so it can't stick out so far that it makes the car undriveable, guess it just prevents you from going -100mm on 13's. 15's and a more purposeful drop and no doubt you'd be ok but I've never looked under a early polo running this sort of set to so couldn't say for sure.

what about 14" and what sort of drop ?

but I've never looked under a early polo running this sort of set to so couldn't say for sure.

but I've never looked under a early polo running this sort of set to so couldn't say for sure.

sorry not totaly with it had a bad day :(

when i get to my pc il put some photos up of how to go about this. i found a build thread years ago which has since been pulled- i saved all the photos to my pc though.

something that does concern me is the bullishness about the confidence of getting it in, this aint no easy challenge and goes far beyond getting it in. the steering rack aint going to like your turbo and you need to start with a left hooker really because the brakes wont be fitting in. start looking at pedal boxes!

when i get the photos up things will become much clearer. youve got some work ahead!

Will you not need that subframe that is hard to find/make?

I saw something that interested me yesterday... Nothing really to do with this but on the talk of sitting the engine lower...

The angle the engine is at...

right well i have made a plan of action so far.

to get the engine to fit i will.

- be removing the wings front panel and as much as i can to get easy access

- cutting the rear bulkhead and removing the heater box

- i will be running a mk2 golf subframe and linking it into the car by building a front space subframe/cage to support this, will prob seam weld a bit while I'm down there. will see what needs doing when under it really.

- mk2 golf gti gearbox with uprated clutch, driveshafts to match box and mk1 golf legs

- mk1 golf front coilovers and gti disk set up

- seperate pedal box as i think it will get in way where it is.

- radiator is going in the boot with apropriate pipe work (no more need for heater box lol)

- turbo manifold from a passat cut at flange and flipped upside down to take a top mount T3/4 will prob have to enlarge my carb hole from existing bonnet

- exhaust will go where battery currently lives and be side exit infront of the wing mirror......

- rear braking will remain drums as they already have the ability to lock before the front but i will be fitting a bias valve to overcome this.

- mk1 golf rear coilovers

oh and here is a pic of the car as it stands at the momment, its in the mk1 photo gallery.

car currently out paces mk4 R32 golfs on a handling course however i came third at inters to a bloody Audi TT RS so i need to go faster

i will need some advice on what are the lowest ratio box's that will mount up to the 1.8T engines and yet will take 220bhp

my goal is 400bhp per ton fwd.......... 4wd is for girls

my goal is 400bhp per ton fwd

I hope you've factored in the cost of a few clean pairs of undies

Get on with it now please.

i think you will struggle fitting a mk2 subframe. the width difference is vast. and its not really needed.

as for your front shocks using the mk1 stuff theres a FAQ guide for you to look at for them. and i will also be bringing my demo set for people to look at to the polo show.

when i get in i will post up the photos

i dont know what it will look like till i get it up there but my thinking behind using the subframe from a mk1 or mk2 means that the wheels will then be the right distance apart so that i dont have to modify the drive shafts. i can always modify the wings if the wheels poke a long way out from them and as for suspension i was planning on ditching the usless standard suspension mounts on the top and swtiching to pillowball adjutable items which can moved to compensate for the wider front track

i think it will be to wide mate. its easier to make a pair of shafts then sorting all that stuff out.

surely actually building a subframe into the car can only increase strength into the front end though, i can weld and modify things but cant make drive shafts. do see you point but eventually i want to go wide track anyway so it wouldnt be too much of an issue really. could also consider fitting a mk2 golf gti rear beam into the car aswell to match the back up.

here is a pic of new wheels

i have included a little picture of my other car so that you understand that being wide is no issue for me :)

yes thats 10j wheels on the front...... 7"s of dish....... and still handles well

well it has a welded diff, ahomemade coilovers and an e36 steering rack so i tend to steer it from the rear, so yes handles well :)

now when it had 12J rear banded steels then nnnnnooooooo to the good handling but the image rims are nice n light.

look see even small animals like my epic dish

I'm not posting them all - theres to many

brilliant, thanks for that, thats more or less what i had in mind for cutting out except I'm gonna go a bit further than that i think. I'm not shy about having the turbo above the bonnet line so dont think I'm going to have to remove from the bulkhead but not a problem if i do.

should be nice easy job...... i do love a bit of welding