need more top end speed...?

hi all i have owned a 86 golf gti convertable 1.8 8v although take off speed is rapidly quick and have left many top cars in my rear view i need more top end speed any one got any ideas ie gearbox from a different car may be,but i dont want to be cutting or welding my shell the easyer the better.
thanks guys.

have you done any mods to the engine or exhaust if so what there may be something else you can do

you would need to get a fifth gear from another car but it wont make it neccasarily that much better as it would possibly make it more of a cruising gear tim stiles did the same as he ran the first 4 gears for hillclimbing then fifth gear was for the cruise home other than that you can get a six speed box
 
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i found this book to be very informative

hi thanks for the link only just seen your reply thanks fella.

Is it a Clipper or a GTI?

4+e 5th gear is pretty much tallest you can get, pretty easy to swap:
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the other thing to consider is do you have enough power to pull a taller gear? my old 1.6 carby had a 4+e and e was amazing for cruising and economy, but the car just wouldnt pull in 5th, at all. the top speed was limited by 4th gear, or if you were lucky you find a hill to go down

I think gearing is a red herring. For more top end speed (usable speed, ie something you can accelerate to in a reasonable time/distance) you need more power.

How fast do you wanna go ?, never had a soft top but tintop gti will easily go over the ton, dont see why the soft top ( with hood up  )would be slower

hi guys basically my 8v gti does like poo off a shovel but max speed was about 115 - 120 but this is boring i need say 130 still boring but id like 140 but with out hammering the engine.
also i want to keep it as original as possible i dont want to be cutting and butchering things.

mph????

Mr Toad are we?

Im only guessing but would think you need much more power to approach 140, like double what you have.

yeh 140 mph not on the road of course.
suppose its a full engine rebuild bigger pistons etc.

also need to check the gear ratio vs your power band and rev limiter. on my 2.0 8v mk2 top speed was 120mph with a 16v box simply cos it ran out of revs! with an 8v box i could go faster. but if you go too tall, you end up not having the power to pull it see. also remember that indicated speed is usually pretty different to your actual speed

I thought 120 was bad enough in a mk2, cant imagine how scary it must be to go faster than that in a mk1

I don't know, I've only gotten up to 95mph, mind you that was 14 seconds after a standing start…..

I've heard that the Mk1's aerodynamics tend to lift the car above about 100mph  (one of the reasons why a GTI has a deep spoiler) so you'd need to consider that.

Then its just a case of increasing the power. A standard GTI does 117mph with 112bhp, and speed is proportional to the square of power, so 130mph would need 138bhp and 140mph would need 160bhp (assumes optimal gearing). You're kinda into engine conversion territory there.

And as optimal gearing is probably unlikely you can add a few more bhp to that to pull the over gearing required.

Mine has done an indicated 100mph (so probably about 90mph), another true 50mph would doubtless end in tears.  An engine capable of pulling 140mph geared to, say, 100mph is much more my sort of thing.

yeh i get bored doing 120 lol 140 is more the speed im looking for.
any way my cabriolets getting finished by next summer i will use it for a year and sell it im looking in to mk 1 caddy now may be vr6 it or g60 super charged may as well.
are there different g60 engines or they all the same and what sort of speed would i be getting with that engine ruffly any one know?

ha good luck going that fast in a cabby without the roof blowing off

mine was bad enough at 90 used to start inflating like a baloon

i do 120 ish roofs fine.
take off speed im happy with pulls hard through all the gears but hate it when a saxo 1.1 just has that upper edge at top end i want 140 extra 20 mph would make all the difference.

Why would you want to do 140 mph?