Mk2 Golf Gti Engine Rebuild - Tips?

[RikkiGTI]

Hi all!

After new year I am looking at giving my Golf GTI an engine rebuild - new seals, rings and just a general cleanup as she's now reached 215k, a tad smokey under full throttle and has a bit of an oil drinking habit, so I think it's time to give the old girl a bit of tlc and strip down and rebuild the engine and return it to former glory

Engine info, it's a 1989 1781cc 8 valve with the digifant injection system if that makes any difference to the rebuild?

So far I have started pricing up;
Full cylinder head gasket kit - incl valve stem oil seals, cam seals, HG etc.
Piston rings
Main bearings
Cylinder head bolts
Lower engine gaskets - crank, sump, etc
Already have a new oil pump so will refit, along with a selection of new oil pressure/ blue temp sensors

Will also fit a new clutch obviously while it's all apart!

I know it's a few weeks off yet but I will be posting pictures up as I progress!

Is there anything else I should know or have missed off? Any advice/ opinion would be welcome!

I am also looking just to do a standard rebuild - no power tuning! Lol!

Cheers, Rik

[RikkiGTI]

To be honest I'm very, very tempted to go the whole way and take the engine out, take everything apart and give it a damn good clean before rebuilding with fresh parts! Juat thinking it will seem a very satisfying job having a near factory fresh, clean engine!

I wasnt entirely sure if the smoke would be down to the valve stems though as it doesn't smoke on start up just in the higher rev band or when giving a good caning and double declutching - makes epic smoke clouds appear - more likely, to be piston rings right?

I'll have a good think though, have priced up the bits needed for the rebuild too, gonna cost around £300ish, which isn't too bad, plus I've got a nice big garage and plenty of tools, plus lots of guides on you tube make this look a relatively straight forward job to do!

[RikkiGTI]

Thanks everyone for your comments! Really helpful!

Basically as I stated first I don't want to see a performance gain out of this, I just want to rebuild the 8v engine as factory fresh and like new - they were good engines brand new and I don't think the past 21 years, 9 owners and 215k miles have been as sympathetic towards this engine, as although it still feels quick for what it is, it doesn't quite have the same punch as a younger engine with less miles, and the oil burning issue is driving me nuts! It's not leaking either I did sort that out lol! :P

I haven't got around to doing a compression test yet, the only one I have done so far is for oil pressure, which was still pretty good at both top and bottom ends!

The 2.0 bottom end conversion does sound good though, will make for quite a torquey engine from what I've read up on, so will try and keep a look out for one, if not I will rebuild as standard, same with the 16v lump, but I'm only 20 and insurance won't allow for any engine modifications I'm afraid

Also surely, wanting to rebuild an engine at my age over the winter in a nice warm garage, is clearly better than going out and spending my money on clubbing, alcohol, etc... The typical 20 year olds weekend/ evening! Lol! I thi I it will be quite educational and the feeling will be good once I've done it

Rik