Pros and cons dx vs kr engine

Hi guys!

Me and my brother have started a little project, we are rebuilding an 83 golf. It originaly has the 1.6 carb engine in it. But we have decided to do this proparly, and want to put in a gti engine. But, we are wondering about what engine is the "best" we have narrowed the choice down to the 1.8 8v from the mk1 gti, or the 1.8 16v from the mk 2.  I personaly realy like the look of the kr engine from the mk2, and it has a little bit more power. But maybe there is an easy way to get a little more power out of the mk1 engine as well. Anyone have any suggestions, or pros and cons that could help us out in chosing the best engine for our project?

16v every time, apart from the power advantage i find having the manifolds on opposite sides of the engine makes it easier to work on.