Hey everyone,

I think i've made my final drivetrain decision with my car. It's
currently running a 1.8L GX 85hp engine with auto tranny. I'm going to order
a ABA engine, get a 9A GTI tranny, change the 5th gear so that it's a bit
better for highway driving. And do a shit load of work to get that in my
car. Basically, my question is, is the engine work worth it and plausible.

I want the engine to be turbo ready so i'm going to be adding little mods
and stuff while i have the thing on a stand. So with this swap i can take my
curren GX CIS Lambda head (head work done even though it's in great shape)
and put it on the ABA. And i'll be able to tell a difference in HP just by
doing that. I'm of course going to add a cam to the head but will i really
be able to tell the difference. i should right? i know i need to add a knock
sensor ignition so i'll take care of that. but i jsut want to know will i be
able to tell the difference?

So at the end this what i want to have:
2.0L ABA BLOCK
1.8L GX HEAD
268 TT Cam
TT Cat back exhaust
16V DUAL OUTLET MANIFOLD/DOWNPIPE
Knock Sensor Ignition
5-spd 9A Tranny with modified 5th gear


should i have around 150+ HP with that? and i'd like it to be turbo ready
cuz in the future i definetly plan on adding some boost to and some more
push to it. that should be enough to stop the average civic around here
right?

i'm thinking of calling the guys from TT would they be able to give me
insight on this, and well i'd like to ehar experiences from other people.
thanks!

-Brandon
1987 Jetta GL
141,000 miles (yesterday in fact, bout to get some ass kickin' power)

Apparently the GX valves are smaller, probably would be worth it to upgrade
to larger valves right?

-Brandon

"Brandon Russell" <aperture01 (AT) mail (DOT) com> wrote