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Just out of curiosity how good are the 1.8's for tuning in regards to the 1.9 , like for example if a stage 1 1.9 would go to 125 bhp would a 1.8 stage 1 go to 115 ?
Or are they quite different in their design and not suitable for tuning hence why people go for 1.9 conversions
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They tune up fairly well, pretty negligible difference imo. Not seen any big power ones but I had mine Bosch'd and gov modded on a K14 and it was a touch quicker than a saxo vts, so must have been running around 120hp @18psi iirc
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As Dan says they tune up very well. I had mine on a stage 1 lucas K14 at 19psi and it wasn't as quick as the current engine with a T2 and Bosch when it was the same psi but that was probably due to the Bosch and FMIC to be fair as the 1.8 didn't even have one.
After stripping my old 1.8 I had notice the head studs are a good inch shorter and appear to be of a lesser strong steel (could be wrong) as I remember people saying they tend to loose the head gasket after a tune up.
Apart from that I can't see why they won't be any less powerful.
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There are two types of headbolt, some are shorter and dont require the spacers
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Cheers guys, considering gettibg 205 but not keen on engine swap idea
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The 1.8 is good , I put mine up to 22psi with a Bosch and it flew. But mine couldn't handle the temps so I turned it down. Think the main difference is just the cooling really
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Yeah cooling will be a ball ache. You will have 2 issues you can either go the FMIC route and that would involve changing the mani, the cam, the vac and removing the PAS or having an electric PAS. The reason for this is they are both run off the cam pulley and thr vac pump is bolted to thr inlet. It will work out cheaper to get a 1.9 in good nick than having to buy a 1.9 cam, 1.9 vac, 1.9 inlet, cambelt, new inlet gasket ect.
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So a simple stage 1 would be possible then
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Yeah but be prepared for heat soak.
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