The Official MK3 1.8T Swap Thread

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That is only part I, when I have finished and it becomes stagnant IMO it would be good to move it to the DIY.
 
MK3NORTH said:
I am very glad to see that this thread is being recognized outside of Montreal :bigup:

As for the reflex kit, I talked to Doug (the owner of reflextuning) at Waterfest last year about it. I think that it is an excellent idea and has been shown to work very reliably. He has also made a new smaller distributor design in comparison to the first one. The upside is obviously the fact that you can use an OBDII ABA harness, which requires no splicing! It is is more than possible to complete the swap in less than a weekend.

The downsides, are that it only caters to a very small number of VW's. Unless you have a 96.5 - 99 ABA you have to buy a complete OBDII harness and swap it into your car. This is fairly easy for the CEII fuseblock equipped cars (OBDI MK3's and late MK2's). If you are swapping into a Scirocco, MKI or early MK2, it is probably easier to use the MK4 harness and immo defeat.

Apparently an OBDI version should be out soon which will cover the MK3 crowd completely.

Another downside which is somewhat under discussion is the reliablity of the non-turbo MAF. Doug's original swapped GLX was equipped with a wideband O2 sensor, which monitors possible problems, although it adds another $400 - $800 to the price of your swap. Your MAF goes bad, engine leans out and BAM, a ruined 20v. The MK4 management uses a MAF and a MAP which safeguards from this problem.

Doug was saying that in theory it would be possible of running a 20v on Digi II although the Digi II Maf is not trustworthy enough.

The kit is not overpriced in my opinion, although it is not cheap either. You factor in $500 for an aftermarket chip if you use the MK4 management which comes with the reflex kit makes it feesible.

If you have anymore questions or comment feel free to post here or send me a PM *tu*

TIm
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Yea I guess im one of the few that actually use a search button in the vw forum world. This thread is very helpful, i dont know if you have yet, but you should def post it on Vortex - which Im assuming your on. In searching for 1.8t swap help on vortex i wasn't led to much helpful info except for Dougs current writeup in the Tech features section. Which still isnt all encompassing if your a newb to the hybrid world.

Basically Ive been contemplating this swap + bigger snail (possibly gt28r ish) vs. VRT swap for my obdII mk3. Money is a pretty critical aspect of my options however and it seems as though the 1.8t swap is easily going to run me higher in the power:$

Its nice to know about the downsides of the reflex kit considering Doug makes it seem like a "why the hell wouldnt you get this" kind of package when you dont need to splice or exchange clusters etc etc. (not to knock on Doug, i think his efforts should be applauded)

Now considering Im lucky enough to be fitted with an obdII (i think thats the first time ive ever distinguished myself as "lucky" for owning a 2.0), is this really as plug and play as im lead to believe as far as what im looking for out of a 1.8t swap? Or would it be wiser to go the road of a VRT swap? My basic goal is a 300hp number out of the route i choose.

Also, how common is it for the MAF to fail on you? Is there a way to run a backup MAF at all? or even a kill switch of some sort that would monitor the MAFs vitals? Again I havent dabbled much in mechanics so im not sure how out there these questions could be. hah, Im going to school to design the cars, not engineer them. They dont teach us much on how it works just to make them look pretty:D

-Dave
 
you Dont Have the information for a 1.8t swamped into a Golf 95 1.8 IN FRESH PLZ (vrm vrm pouri en anglais lol)
 
Sti4Ever said:
you Dont Have the information for a 1.8t swamped into a Golf 95 1.8 IN FRESH PLZ (vrm vrm pouri en anglais lol)
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It is almost the same thing. The only difference between the MK3 2.o and 1.8 8v's from a swap point of view is the brakes, which you should be upgrading anyway. All the info I posted above is the same for your 1.8 8v.
 
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