Manchester Engine Conversions

Does anyone know any garages or people around the manchester area that do engine conversions or has the expertises to do one.

I'm looking at 2 extremes at the moment

1.8t
or
2.0 8v Crossflow ITB

all I want is a reliable 180 horses or so I can put some reliable miles on the car to go to shows and will last.

I have moved to manchester recently and put the car on SORN wraped up in cumbria with an unhappy 2.0 8v in, but still runs I miss her

My A4 is boring me
I need help and have money!!! lol

Hope someone can help

The obvious would be Awesome GTI, but then they're going to cost a lot. Why don't you DIY and if not, how much money do you have? This will dictate the engine of choice. Don't get drawn to 2.0l on ITB - I think it would disappoint you.

i can do the 18T conversion if you can get the car down to me :wink: pm me for a price

Hey, thanks for the replys
What would you recommend paul? Reliable 180bhp goodworkmanship
I'd love to go down the DIY route but due to work and girlfriend commitments (e.g lack of time) and city centre living (e.g no garage anymore) or tools I am driven down the pay for line.

Done majority of the work on it myself up to this point. I've plenty of money saved up but not sure what would you expect to pay for a 180bhp conversion of any engine variation. Not a fan or turbo's or G-ladder but would take an eaton charger and love NA not into all this psst etc   but would settle for it for reliable power. enough rambling!!

PM'd Ben but think Bognor is a bit far from Carlisle/Manchester

Well I wrote the guide on the left, so there's something there to read through too. If you're looking for LONG TERM reliability, then first to eliminate would need to be G60. I know you can have the charger rebuilt, etc but its a kinda 90s technology rather than modern.

For 180bhp, you could do a conversion with a 2.0 16V but you'd need to do more stuff (raise rev limit, bottom end rebuild, port/polished head and manifolds) to achieve that power. So the costs escalate, probably to the point of a 1.8 turbo. It would make sense if you were racing and wanted to stay within, eg a non-turbo class.

1.8T is really only the sensible choice for that power level and a good chance at reliability. Unsure if they use tricks like variable vanes, or whatever, to make them less peaky (on-off boost).

I'm in Cheshire but I've not done a 1.8T conversion, unsure if you'd want to be the guinea pig for my first?

Hope it helps.

Paul im preety sure you could dop this conversion with your eyes closed mate nothing like a vr6 one alot easier

plus im always available to help over the phone :wink:

18t is the way to go 200bhp without any major mods other than a boost increase and re map but you also have the capabilities of putting a ko3s turbo on it re mapping it and getting 240bhp  

Just been into Awesome GTi and they are currently doing a mk1 with 1.8t conversion the guy whos car it is has set a limit on the spending ?10,000  8O  8O
must be gold plated

Ben how long do you recon it would take you, if you had everything you needed on site?? take out old lump replace with 1.8t.

3 days to get the engine in and all ancillarys then 3 days wiring and mapping so 6 days total but always allow for problems so id say 2 weeks tops :wink:

A5OPY said

Just been into Awesome GTi and they are currently doing a mk1 with 1.8t conversion the guy whos car it is has set a limit on the spending ?10,000  8O  8O

Sounds about right. Awesome GTI really do like to charge a lot of money for stuff. Unsure of their quality, or the guarantee received, etc but there you go.

they have a good name but then are very pricey

my conversions are by no means gold plated but do what they should do
just completed a mk3 and the guy has been in about 3 times to say how funny it is driving with a 200 bhp golf  

Paul i'd be more than happy to be your guinea pig as I can see you obviously have a good knowledge on these sides of things. The limiting factors for me at the moment are:

Space to do it
Electronics as a whole

I am capable to removing the engine and fitting a 1.8t but i do not understand the wiring side of it.
I have a good understanding of the mechanical side of fitting/removing engines and associated work but getting ECU's to work i am clueless/inexperienced. So i'm more than willing to spend time doing this if I have a place to do it. I'd hire your services do you have a place i/we could do it?

Ben do you have a breakdown in terms of costs of parts for a 1.8t conversion?

Thanks again for the help
Jonathan

I'm not sure what bits you'd want me to do - its not just a case of lifting one engine out and lowering the new one in, there's various mods to do to the engine (adding a different engine mount and cambelt tensioner) then stuff like clutch & flywheel swap, mounting an intercooler, fuel lines, pipework, etc. even before the electrics are tackled. Also you'd need to do some kind of upgrade on the brakes and suspension. So, let us know what stuff you'd need doing and what you'd want to do yourself. If you're really in Carlisle, then I'm still a long way away!

Ah I live in Manchester but the car is in Carlisle at the mo and could easily get it down here on trade plates.
I have KW Variant 2 Coilovers & Mk2 Gti drilled disks all round with 22mm master cylinder on the car.

Engine mount & Cambelt tensioner I could do this.
Intercooler & Pipe Work an issue & turbo's are alien to me, but I'm sure with a little help from ben could work something out

Do you have a workshop? As need this most
I'd happily remove and prep engine bay, but could do with help putting 1.8t in and working out where everything goes. I'd happily pay for help and somewhere to do it, if you'd fancy it.

Seen this on qpeng website if its any help to others:
http://www.qpeng.com/conversion_guide.html

TBH I don't really fancy it, sorry.

ok no probs, thanks for the guidance though.

Anyone else in the manchester area? who has done a 1.8t conversion or knows someone.

gonna see if I can get some quotes from:
Voodoo
Awesome
Storm

an take it from there

you will be looking at 6k for one of those to do it

if you have the money and want this doing im sure we could come to some arrangement on getting the car down here :wink:

Decided to go the whole hog with the mk1 and run about in another in the mean time.

Flush engine bay
Respray (well needs two bits sorted arch bubble and door small bit but i want this car perfect)
Interior
then Engine

And go up to carlisle here and there when i have time probs gonna take me a year or so. You've touched on some good points i've got this far myself i really want to go the extra myself now.

Therefore going to buy a good run about for the time being.

Ben if only your cab was a tin top i'd have snapped your hand off then gnawed on the bone.

Good luck with the sale and looks like you'll be getting a call next year

Thanks
Jonathan