Was Alec's... Now Andrew's

[LostTruckLover]

Alec Olson's MK1 found a new home, I originally bought it to avoid some fuel expenses seeing that my lifted K5 with 35 inch rubber sucks fuel like its going out of style. Then the little thing grew on me!! If I ever get some spare change burning a hole I may show it some love... IF!

[LostTruckLover]

Also if its not an American V8 chances are, i dont know much about it. Is there much performance wise for these 1.6's besides a 1.8 or 2.0 swap? Or would it be time and money wasted on this motor? I will be acquiring a 1.8 and a 5 speed from an '87 (I believe) before long.

[Mikewire]

Spotted the MKI over at the pond the other day, didn't know it had a new owner, but welcome!

Well, it's a 1980 Westmoreland, and it's an auto, so it's somewhat unique. You could swap whatever you want into it. A 1.8 manual swap would be a nice upgrade. Just do your research and don't get over your head and you'll be good

[LostTruckLover]

If I do decide to do swap in the 1.8, it'll need rebuilt. And chances are I would leave it automatic. The 1.8 is a jh block, so I guess my question is what is possible from 1.8 without spending an arm and leg?

[Mikewire]

Also if its not an American V8 chances are, i dont know much about it.

What exactly...uh, is it you want to do to it?

Stroke/bore, turbo? ABA 2.0L swap? VR6 swap?

Whatever you do, please don't rice it out. OEM+ gets you more scene points.

[LostTruckLover]

I'm not sure, I'd like to get some more power, which I'm assuming would be easier from the 1.8 rather than the 1.6 that's in there. What can the 1.8's make without going too crazy?

[YASHA7FOLD]

ABA swap is probably the best way to go. And it's a peppy stock motor for a MKI


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[Mikewire]

^^^TROOF

Well the 1.6 puts out about 78HP. The (rebuilt) 1.8 will give you 94HP. The cheapest, most effective way to get more powa would be to do an ABA 2.0L (115HP) or a 2.0L 16V swap (134HP).

You could bore out the 1.8 to maybe 1.9(?) and stroke it out, and maybe you'll get close to 130HP after spending $$ on parts and machine work.

Putting this scenario into domestic small/big block terms, this would be like taking a Ford FE360 and stroking it out to be a FE460. Sure, you could do that, or you could just buy a healthy FE460 and swap it in.

Oh and you're running a 33 year old VW automatic, which will probably go boom after giving it 60% more power than it was designed to handle. Your fuel consumption will also go back up and MPG will go down. See what I am getting at?

My advice, for what it's worth...do a moderate motor and 5 speed trans swap and enjoy it. They are fun little cars! They make bad boat haulers.

[LostTruckLover]

Thanks for the input and advice! When the money is there I'm sure I'll pick your brain for more knowledge