180hp 1.8t in Bug

[volkdent]

Maybe I'm just not adventurous enough, but I figure that the factory probably has a couple of more brain cells into this setup than most people, and I tend to think that factory stuff is conservative so their product will last for awhile. Case in point, if the 180hp 1.8ts block was "strong enough", why did they bother to add a bunch of extra ribbing to the block and add extra oiling and piston squirters of the 225hp motor? It's only 45 more hp. Were they just bored?

Do the guys that say they have 300hp (180hp block) 1.8ts know more than the factory? I don't think so. They are cutting corners and the result is reduced longevity, reduced safety(ever seen a turbo motor fire? not pretty), and reduced drivability(yeah, I'm not really into having 300hp come on tap suddently at about 4000rpm). I just can't imagine that I would be able to tune something that the factory spent thousands of man hours on with data logging equipment that I don't have access to and get results that are superior in any way besides horsepower and torque numbers, which are only SOME of the important numbers you need to make something last for awhile. What about EGT, head temperature, transient oil pressure, knocking, fuel economy, water temp, and a bunch of stuff I've never even thought about, but I'm guess VAG did.

Here's a little something I thought about. If you put in a lightened flywheel or a turbo, your motor will spin up faster. What I suspect lags is the oil pressure/volume. Just slightly, but I think the oil is removed faster than it is replaced for just a few milliseconds before the volume catches up again. So if this keeps up, I think wear would be increased. I think that's why race engines have such big oil pumps, gotta keep that oil pressure and volume up as those motors zip up and down. That's just one of my theories, anyone care to comment? Those little changes that "modifying" creates aren't often looked at in my opinion, but when a manufacturer hots something up, they HAVE TO.

All that said, 300hp sounds fun, doesn't it? I'm only human you know!

Jason

[bean_8044]

I dont think you can accuratly look at a race car and derive literal street translations. Theres always race on sunday, sell on monday, but not everyone needs 14" rotors. I cant speak for the VW1.8T, but i have had expierence with the toyota JZ engines. With either the 1jz or 2jz, you can slap on a larger turbo, pump some more fuel and never have a second thought. They come stock with the oil squirters and sump, not to mention some pretty stout manufacturing processes.
In refrence to oil starvation, i dont think that youd run out because of the sudden rpm increase since the oil system has some kind of pressure at all times. The oil isnt going to disappear when the RPMs increase unless youre running some crappy oil. Maybe if youre constantly going from 1k to 10k rpms and back down then you might see some extra wear, but for normal driving/occasional racing it doesnt seem to be an issue. Then again, its dependant on what you start with...

[volkdent]

I spent WAY too much time with the wiring harness. It looks like I'm going standalone! I called up 034 Motorsport and they are going to hook me up with a killer system. I like the idea of being able to tune it for the what I want it anyway, and this is a way easier system that uses most of the stock sensors.



I met a guy, Dave S, today. He is a member on GL Forums but hasn't posted yet. Keep your eyes open, it's going to get even crazier around here! Anyway, he had a DBW Mustang and said the throttle response sucked because of it, so I'm kind of glad to be getting rid of the DBW system. I'll be ordering up a cable throttle body tomorrow.

On the cooling front, I installed the bleed area up front. This is at the highest point of the front area of the cooling system. The valve can be opened when the pressure is up a bit in the system, and then any trapped air can be bled off.







Jason

[volkdent]

Here's a pic of the rear end in its more or less complete form. Those are 4 piston Wilwood Dynalites. I'm thinking 6 piston up front, black again, and 13 inch rotors. I also have a mechanical brake caliper, but I'm going to have to fab up a bracket for that, it's not a bolt on type affair. Who needs an E brake anyway!

The hole for the strut was opened up a bit more than I would have liked, but it's all done in the name of science!



Jason

[Panelfantastic]

That was one scary looking rat nest you had going ! Glad you found an alternative with 034. That was the exact thing that made me nervous about my conversion, getting a harness/ecu.
It's really starting to come together!



Jeff-

[volkdent]

Finished welding the 1.8t chassis components today. Next time I work on it, if it's not raining, I'll be doing sanding, rust removal, primer, and paint next time. I wish I had a TIG welder and knew how to TIG, my MIG welds are strong enough, but don't look so hot and cleaning up splatter is a PITA.

Then it's re-assembly, hoping that nothing got too warped in final welding, and pop the engine in.

Jason

[volkdent]

Painted most of the superstructure this weekend. Almost everything fit after final welding, ALMOST. The main assembly pulled together with some triangulation welding quite severly, so I'm going to have to cut and reweld 2 tubes, fortunately the alignment of the superstructure isn't affected by these rascals. I hope someday I'll have welded enough that I'll know better, but for now I'll just muddle along. Everything else looks quite good.





I've got the aluminum coolant lines in position. Walt bent them for me, and they fit into the notch between the body and the pan so tightly they actually stay there without a bracket!