The scary G60 conversion

Okay so some of you may have seen on the Newbies section that i am going to convert my Mk1 Gold 16v (Around 170-180bhp) on throttle bodies into a G60, this is based on the fact its allways been my dream match up the lightness of the mk1 with the brutal howl of a G60 this to me is the perfect mixture, i looked at 1,8t's and some of my friends have mk1's with the 1.8t but i find its a little soulless and also if you run the bigger turbo then the lag can catch you out on corners and if not the bigger turbo they are no more powerful than a well setup g60

So to date i have purchased the following:

PG engine with 90k miles
Refurbed unused Jabba Stage 2 Charger (Going to run standard pulley to start then get new chip etc for full stage 2)
Full gasket kit including head gasket
Cambelts/tensioners etc.
Full loom with corrado fuse box
Standard corrado g60 ecu
Custom engine mount for mk1 conversion
Slim line custom tensioner
I am looking at buying a TD5 intercooler as it appears they are the easiest for this conversion

In the last year and 100 miles the car went through a full rebuild including?
1.8 16v full brake conversion all round with cylinders including a variable brake bias valve in car
Braided brake lines
Uprated fuel pump
New fuel lines
Coilovers
Everything polybushed (engine mounts, steering rack etc)
Uprated front and rear anti roll bars
Resprayed engine bay and exterior
New stainless steel exhaust system
Battery relocated to boot
Washer bottle relocated to boot

I will add photos as the build commences and carries on, i have changed engines before but never a full wiring integration like this so i am expecting many bashed knuckles and screams over the next few weeks LOL and if your in the watford area feel free to pop round if your interested.

Hi. Sounds good, I've always wanted/ loved a 16v G60. Good luck.

I am actually going for the stock 1.8 8v g60 as i want it to be reliable at stage 2 tune, in a mk1 you dont need much more mine is fully stripped with a half cage and one ultra light seat so with around 210bhp and weight of circa 730kg gives me  288bhp/ tonne or put another way enough to scare myself :-D.

It's a good worthwhile conversion, what gearbox are you going to run, as this is an important part, and I had most problems with wiring looms and fuse boxes,

I finished off with mk3 vr6 fuse box and untouched mk2 g60 lhd wiring loom

The current gearbox is from a 1.6GTI with a diff in it which was recently rebuilt so was just going to run that for the time being. I really dont want to have to get into converting to cable change, when this one pops i was going to look at a 16v box or similar due to the longer gears.

As to the wiring i was going to use the full corrado loom and fuse box if possible as its matched to the engine all though its located on the right hand side of a corrado normally and obviously mk1's are on the left but i am hoping that with a bit of magic and extending if necessary it will all work, Or worst case i move it to the right in my mk1 as theres room under the dash

lazey_boy said

I am actually going for the stock 1.8 8v g60 as i want it to be reliable at stage 2 tune, in a mk1 you dont need much more mine is fully stripped with a half cage and one ultra light seat so with around 210bhp and weight of circa 730kg gives me  288bhp/ tonne or put another way enough to scare myself :-D.

Ah, of course. You did say PG engine. I got too excited. Surely the 16v one is the really scary conversion  

For sure way beyond me :-D would love to see what could be done with a supecharger and my engine though as its got individually injected throttle bodies which can be seprately mapped if wanted so i reckon would be a beast, but no way i am the man to attempt that


This is a picture of my current setup, some of my friends think i'm crazy but its the G60 sound i want lol probably won't be much quicker eithor but c'est la vie

you had a good lil buy on that car gonna paint the engine bay while its out?? looks a bit random blue  

dub-step said

you had a good lil buy on that car gonna paint the engine bay while its out?? looks a bit random blue  

+1 , my biggest pet hate , half a respray !!

You will have to do some (expensive) work to get 210 bhp out of a 8V G60. 190bhp is easily achievable with a chip and 68mm pulley upgrade combined with a stage 2 charger rebuild.

Good luck with the build and keep the pictures coming !!

This is mine:

now thats a thing of beauty :-)

Now you see why I got all excited when I thought you were doing a 16v g60.

On day, many years from now I will have to decide on either 16v g60 or carb…

Haha yeah i like the 16v G60 but its alot of money and i have heard scary reports on reliability, if i wanted out and out power it would have been a 1.8t conversion i nearly bought a 225 audi tt engine and all ancillaries for £800:00 including KO4S turbo so instant 275Bhp with remap but its not what i want, i owned a 450bhp Pulsar GTIR so i know how much highly modded engines can cost to keep going lol :-).

I love whats been done but again its also not a G Ladder which i believe is the only progressive supercharger which also accounts for the inherent wear in the design lol, I guess the heart wants what the heart wants and i promised myself one years ago when i bought my first mk1 and went to santapod, and some guy was running mid 10's in a white mk1 G60 and the sound blew everything else away on the track :-D it was love on first sight lol

Unfortunately I think you have some rose tinted glasses on if you think an 8V G60 will achieve mid 10's !!! More likely mid thirteens if you get the gearing right to suit a fast sprint time. First and second will almost be useless - you need a cable change box really like an 02a or 02j

The best guys at GTI International in a Mk1 Golf achieved 9.9s quarter and 2.6s to 60 - this requires 4 wheel drive and 700bhp :-) - It was built and geared for sprinting.

Not sure what you mean by "progressive supercharger" - Twin screw chargers like the Lysholm are more efficient and effective across the rev range. G60 ones are not as efficient and do have wear issues if not looked after properly - but then that is true for everything.

What the G60 does do is up the torque level across the rev range so that makes for a really nice drive out on the open road - where most of the enjoyment and driving will be done.

My engine you see above was once an 8V G60, then a 16V G60 and now a 16V Lysholm.

Still want to see pics as you progress though !!

It was about 8 years ago i saw it and it did have a rallye 4x4 conversion, as to the car you mention i asusme you mean the Dubweiser :-D what a machine that is.

As to what i meant by progressive its a scroll type rather than a sliding vane or screw style charger, and is in theory the optimum operation for a supercharger (This is taking acoount of sound levels crerated as you say a screw style produces the most boost but is not efficient in other areas) except for the wear issues they discovered as the tolerances have to be so fine for its operation, its a bit like concorde amazing but flawed lol

Yours looks incredible though whats it producing i am guessing 260+ and how have you found reliabilty on it as i did nearly buy a brahn supercharger instead

The twin screw chargers are more efficient and produce more boost in all areas over the G60 - the downside/upside :-) is noise though, I have a silencer kit on mine (just moves the throttle body to before the charger so that it does not see full air all the time).

It is a myth that then G60 unit is unreliable - it just needs to be fed with clean oil, i.e. regular oil changes and a clean effective air filter - the guys at JabbaSport see them with 90K on them and no running issues at all.

This one !!

9.9sec Golf

Mine produces 230bhp and 192lbft of torque - down on what it should be as I am losing boost (it sees 10psi, should be nearer 17).
I am pretty sure that the clearance for the pistons for the over bore is too much (it uses oil) and I am losing boost past them.
Oh well the joys of building and running modified cars !!
Planning on a winter rebuild…

It is still a hoot to drive though :-)

Wow thats seriosuly quick :-)

Surely you would hear some piston slap though if it was a problem with the bore size, i know this may be a dumb question but have you put a pressure reader on the pipework just before the manifold, my friend had a similar problem turned out to be a tiny hole in his intercooler of all things where a weld wasn't done quite right

I have a freshly built by Jabba Stage 2 charger so am hopeful i shouldn't see too many issues with it :-)

As to the modified cars comment i so agree, the pulsar i mentioned ate the gearbox twice, and constantly had fueling issues not fun at all. Main reason why i am going for the full engine transplant at least its all standard :-)

Yes, not bad for a piston driven car :-)

I have pressure tested it and could not find any leaks :-(

It uses about 1 litre of oil every 200 miles, no smoke though and no leaks. The exhaust is sooty and you can smell the oil has been burnt - a bit like a two stroke.
I have done a cylinder leak down test and all four are showing 20% which is a little on the high side.
The pistons do not slap at all.
The breather is vented to air and you can see vapour coming out of it and it generates quite a lot of gunk in the breather pipes.
The bores were taken out to 83mm with a 0.006" clearance as per the Ross data sheet - which is quite a lot of clearance…

okay then lol thats not so good, are you using a very thin sythentic oil as using a thicker oil could help alot in the short term if your using a 30W try a 40w or something of that type of incremental increase.

I hope it gets sorted soon as its a work of art that youve created :-D

Hi I was thinking of doing a ABF 16v eaton 45 has any one got some info on parts that I may need can I use any think from a G60 like loom an ECU or will i need to start from fresh ?