2.0 ABA/JH swap FINALLY done - I'm a happy guy :-)

[maardak at yahoo.ca (Mark)]

Woohoo!  Man this thing flies!

If it wasn't for a stupid mistake I would have been able to drive it to Waterfest... 
After pulling an all-nighter working on the car the night before Waterfest I forgot to
torque down my front axle nuts, and on my way to get an alignment I fried both of them...
:-(  Oh well, at least I got the thing done, and I'm driving around in a car that is
actually safe now!

Here's a list of the parts that I threw on the 81 S in the last 2 weeks - good thing work
was slow, I would have never had enough time...  Let me tell you, I was BUSY!

2.0L ABA bottom end w/ steel ABA head gasket and all new seals
JH head - ported and polished, performance valve job, g-grind cam, adjustable cam gear
4K tranny w/ 100 mm flanges and new Peloquin 80% diff kit
New 16pp and 8v disc
Lightened,surfaced and balanced 210mm flywheel
New rad, hoses, low temp thermo switch and thermostat
Knock sensing ignition grafted in from a 86 GTI
New techtonics distributor for ABA swap
Ported A2 Golf intake manifold w/ throttle body - fuel distributor relocated to p-side.
New water pump
All new hard brake lines and stainless flex lines
New calipers and wheel cylinders, turned rotors and drums
New wheel bearings all around (gotta replace the fronts again - damn)
100mm inner cv's on 90mm shafts - new boots on all
All new engine mounts - TT front, Diesel p-side, poly rear and d-side insert
New shifter hardware and bushings - homemade short shift - Neuspeed weighted rod
Complete poly bushing kit - control arms, rear beam, struts/shocks, etc
All new suspension bolts/nuts/washers
New Febi strut mounts
Neuspeed front lower tie bar - have to install upper front and rear triangle bar yet...
Neuspeed 22mm front sway bar - installing Cheapass style rear soon
Koni adjustable fronts, Bilstein rears - on old H&R/Neuspeed springs
Old TT 2" exhaust system w/o cat


My impressions so far (only a couple of hours on it yet) - EVERYTHING is nice and tight -
no clunks or vibrations.  The 2.0 pulls like a freight train - I haven't even properly
set the ign. timing yet, and it HAULS!  Looks like all the hours I spent rebuilding and
porting/polishing the head were well worth it.  The exhaust note sounds great compared to
when I had the old 1.7 in there - nice and "barky"!  :)  Can't say enough about the power
- feels like a 6 cylinder under the hood!

Next on the list:  getting rid of that damn CIS box with a Megasquirt ECU/digifant
hardware setup.  Tuning the handling towards neutral/slight oversteer.  Sourcing decent
rims and tires.

Mark.
80 S - now in my shop awaiting it's restoration
81 S - now kickin ass!

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