What is valuable in a 1.8 engine for building something more powerful?
 

My local porsche guy just went bankrupt and I'm negotiating the purchase of a 1.8L rubber bumper 914 for parts. The 1.8 turns over and has weber 40s (according to him). I've heard (from many of you) that the 1.8 heads are a good base for building a higher-performance engine (like bringing my 1.7 up to 2.0). Besides the heads and the carbs, is anything else in this engine considered to be a higher-performance upgrade for a 1.7?

You can use the 1.8 cylinders to bore to 96mm.

Other than the carbs and heads everything else is the same as the 1.7.

In order to increase to 2.0 or greater performance you need the longer stroke of the 2.0 L crank and rods. The 1.8L has shorter stroke. My 914 has a 1.7L block, 1.8L heads, 2.0L crank and rods, 94MM (2.0L Stock) Pistons, mild scat cam, and dual 44 webbers and runs like a champ. Compresion is 7.6 to one and has about 100HP. Good luck in your endevors! Duane

Yah what Duane said, I was too vauge in my reply.


You could get 1911cc out of the 66mm crank and rods with the bored 96mm cylinders though. Pretty cheap way to get into a bigger CC engine w/o the expense of the 71mm crank and rods.

You can probably find a 71MM crank for a 2.0L with rods around $200. (76-79 VW bus are the same). I felt that it was worth the expense for the extra HP. I had the new 94 MM P&C's on my shelf or I would have went with the 96MM. either way it will outperform the 1.7L. Be shure to buy a new performance cam and lifters for the engine. Enjoy, Duane