which engine? your thoughts please

hi all, i have a '79 mk1 LD and am thinking of changing the engine. Whilst the engine is still ok, i think given its age and 200k miles on the clock i would like to try a different/fun engine without cutting or modding anything that would destroy the history of what is a very very solid and original 79 golf. so the options that seems to be knocking around are;

1. mk3 TDI 1Z - keeping the diesel theme but worried about the fly by wire mods required etc
2. g60 eaton m62 - probably the least about of modding?
3. 1.8t (aum or auk) - the 1.8t is more of a wildcard just because there seem to be a lot of good engines out there.

needless to say going from 50bhp to one of these engines will need the brakes & suspension looking at. each of these i would guess would need their own gearbox.

any thoughts welcomed, i am pretty novice at engine changes so any thoughts on who could carry out the engine swop as well without butchering the car & looms would be great. located in surrey.

cheers.

ABF or KR every time for me.

16v always looks good

Unless you want to go really fast  then yeah the 16v range of engines seems best.

i'll second that.  I've had 1.8KR and 2.0ABF, both ideal for the mk1, the latter being my preference and go for the matched box and fuel injection.

I want to do the ssme thing with my 81. I do want to stay diesel. The less mods the better. I have heard the 1.9l is basically a bolt in.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk