VW Polo AFH engine rebuild

[majic79]

Afternoon all,

I'm looking at building a car for road rallies/endurance rallies and possibly stock hatch racing. I've picked a car that I think ought to do well according to all the regs and I've found some suitable project cars (bet you can't guess what!) I'm on a budget, and buying a ready made race/rally car off the shelf isn't an option for me.

So now I'm looking at some information on rebuild costs - you could say I'm pretty handy with a spanner, but I'm not too hot with all the grinding/ machines (plus I don't own one, I hear they're quite expensive) and before I go and spend the money on a car, I was wondering how much a typical rebuild cost of the VW AFH engine is (for the real engineering work to bore and hone the cylinders, grind the crank) and if there are any pitfalls to watch for with this particular engine?

Some of the cars I'm looking at are far in excess of 120k miles, and if I'm rebuilding the car to take a pounding, rebuilding the engine to do the same seems to make sense to me.

[majic79]

oh bugger, just found the technical forum - any chance a mod could move this thread? Ta

[Defcon5]

Is the AFH a 75 or 100 unit? The 100s have big issues with valve stem seals, not to mention pedal boxes and gearboxes.

[majic79]

100, but thanks for that, I was going to rebuild with new seals etc, mainly wondering if the bores wear or the crank is likely to have gone eliptical and how much it'll cost to repair

[Defcon5]

I think its wear on the bores, however Im not sure, I have an AVY so not too clued up on the others

[clubracing]

If the bores aren't worn beyond the acceptable tolerances then honing the bores is actually a very easy job, just need a suitable electric drill and a honing tool which are about 20 quid.
If the block needs machining because it's outside the tolerances, with all the prep work done by yourself it should cost between £100 and £200 at a machine shop or engine builders depending on what actually needs doing.

[majic79]

Thanks peeps