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I have recently upgraded, I bought myself an R reg '97 1.4 16v. I will soon be selling my 1.6 GLX. First I must say the power difference is amazing as long as you keep the rev's up (which isn't difficult).

I was wondering basically what is the best way of getting more power. There are the obvious routes of engine transplant 1.8T G40/60 etc. or an engine re-build with a turbo/supercharger or perhaps Nitrous Oxide. Any of these would give you almost endless options for more power but at a significantly high cost. I was thinking more along the lines of the little known Polo mk4 GTI sold (as far as I know) only in Germany.

After a bit of research I can say this engine is a 1.6 16v 120bhp, August '98 - December '99, engine code AJV, not the one used in the mk5 GTI or newer (engine codes AVY, ARC).
EDIT: More research tells me that the AJV might have been used in the early UK spec mk5 GTI's. 120 or 125bhp I'm not sure.
My 1.4 16v AFH engine shares some parts, most ancillaries and some main components. The piston rings are the same diameter hence the cylinders also, but different stoke. I will check other parts when I can.

Essentially I want to change my engine from the 1.4 16v AFH to the 1.6 16v AJV. Thats 20bhp (maybe 25bhp) more. What would the cost be as a comparison to other methods of power gains?

Has anyone here looked into this before? I'm not sure if it would be cost effective. Comments and view welcome.

Cheers Steve


P.S. Please correct me if I am wrong with anything above.

First of all no chance would see me changing the entire engine for a gain of 20bhp. Your best bet IMO is get a upgraded manifold, induction kit and full exhaust system all that looks like costing you less than £500 and you would be looking at a gain of round about 10bhp bringing you up to a decent 110bhp then you could go into other mods to engine but am not clued up in that!hope that helps!Cheers

Scott

but if you do the engine swap there's greater potential for further power increases - induction / exhaust etc - after doing the swap.

depends on what your target is, and how much you want to put into the car.

scotia_polo wrote:First of all no chance would see me changing the entire engine for a gain of 20bhp.

My point was that I may not need to change the whole engine, just some parts. I'm not sure how much needs to be changed so I want to know if anyone has looked into this in more detail that could advise me if its worthwhile, or what sort of money. It could be an intermediate stage from tuning my current engine to complete engine swap.

I guess if I could find an AJV engine for sale, working or not, this could give me a better idea. I have access to a program called ETKA, for those of you that aren't aware this is the program that at least VW & Audi use in their parts department if not the whole VAG Group. This program isn't the easiest to use in my experience.

Pic of the AJV engine from ETKA

i guess it should be relatively straightforward. the chassis is the same - so you should be able to drop it in without any physical problems. may need new mounts, possibly driveshafts etc.


the wiring might be a different story though, you'd have to look into that quite thoroughly.

i made my 1.4 AFH into a 1.6

Made 137bhp on a Rolling road

Tell me more

Did you bore the cylinders, enlarged inlet/exhaust manifold, new or chipped ECU etc...? How much £££'s? 137 is pretty damn good!

I'm currently looking into givng my 16v beast some more grunt. I found a website for a performance vw company that can tune the 1.4 16v to 115 bhp, 130 bhp and 150PS (german hp is slightly less so about 140ish brake). I'm not sure what the price for these tunings are but it involves sports exhaust systems, camshaft work etc. It wouldnt be cheap (might be looking at 6-7 hundred) but i reckon it would be cheaper than dumping a new engine under ur bonnet and sorting out all the s**t that comes with it....
I've tried asking for a quote but they havent responded yet, maybe you will have better luck....

The site is http://www.advancedautosport.com/poloengine.htm ,the 16v stuff is near the bottom.

Hope this helps!