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

[RichMason]

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?

[Pillow]

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.

[piperpilotduane]

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

[Pillow]

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.

[piperpilotduane]

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