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N/A aba....

3K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  VWRally 
#1 ·
Been a while, so I thought I'd revisit... what kind of number are going up these days with the naturally aspirated game? I love the idea and I love the aba platform (in a rabbit so I dont require much) but with the turbo game making the strides it has, is it even worth the effort?

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#3 ·
No matter how you add it up, a turbo will add way more power and be much more driveable than a normally aspirated engine. I just do not see 150HP NA as a daily driver unless you like driving at high RPM's. A turbo can do that very easily.

In the end, how much hassle you are willing to put up with, how much skills and money you have will dictate what you should do. One thing for certain, once you have a turbo, you cannot keep the boost low. You will end up going more and more till you blow up something.
 
#4 ·
NA power costs about 2x as much as turbo power, so if you want a lot of power, you will need a deep pocket.

NA 8v numbers are in the 120-150whp range for a lot of higher effort race motors, you can slap a 16v head on a junkyard aba and run a saab or volvo turbo and make 250 all day long. Just depends what you are after. Using an 8v head to make NA hp is a waste of money, you can make a nice 180whp 16v NA that is a pretty good time, but it will cost you more than slapping a turbo setup together that will make 80 more than that...
 
#5 ·
So many other Washington folk on this thread! Kinda cool...

As far as NA goes, I guess its all about your build and what you intend to do with it? Daily, weekend quarter mile car, spirited cruiser, road course, autoX? NA can have its place, if your auto crossing your car you likely don’t want the wheel spin or lag of a turbo setup since your gonna be constantly playing around in 2nd and 3rd gear....maybe you want that on demand throttle?

Are you going for a power/weight ratio balance? Do you have a number in mind you’re trying to hit?

What’s your budget?

I’m doing a spirited NA build right now for a few different reasons. I don’t plan on tracking this car or getting too wild in the pedal, wanting something that’ll just have a better power band for drivability. I went carbs to “be different” and I’m throwing a 2 stage spray kit on for the random days that I maybe wanna take it to the track...and also for the same “its different” reasoning.

If you’re just shooting for huge numbers for cheep there is no way around boost.
 
#6 ·
Just testing, I have a second motor on the stand that I will be building. I have time and enough money.... realistically my goal is 200-250 ish I will stay with the 8v (i like the challenge).

My original plan was a turbo, built for abuse, track days, driveable, summer car ect. I just like the way itb looks and was wondering if I was missing something. Guess I'll stick with the turbo plan. Thanks is for your time!

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#8 ·
200-250 is no problem on a stock aba with a small turbo. Back in the day we used CIS basic with a callaway kit and made 253whp. Using the stock ABA management with a chip tune for turbo you can make that power with no issues with an otherwise stock car. :beer:
 
#13 ·
No, injectors need to be bigger than stock, depending on what management solution you go with will dictate which size you need to use.

There are a lot of 'stories' in the past, but +250whp with CIS basic from VW did not happen without a lot more fuel added. Fuel not coming from the basic CIS. VW's are known to be good to around 175hp.
In my particular case, its not a just story, we dynod at kinetic motorsports and it made 253whp. That was on CIS basic, aba motor, callaway turbo kit with split second second injector controller. We ran the CIS injectors into the outside of the aba stock intake, and used the stock aba injectors in the stock location controlled by the additional controller. It has a manual boost controller, 020 trans in a 1980 rabbit. It was just built from crap we had laying around and we had fun welding the cis injector bosses into the aba intake. I would not recommend this route to anyone honestly haha it was fun though! There is a picture in PVW of the car whooping up on a beautiful mk2 scirocco from waterwagens that year.

You cannot make 250 on cis basic alone, no question there :laugh:
 
#10 ·
There are a lot of 'stories' in the past, but +250whp with CIS basic from VW did not happen without a lot more fuel added. Fuel not coming from the basic CIS. VW's are known to be good to around 175hp.

People get confused with CIS, it's not the injectors that are the limiting factor. The injectors will spray whatever the distributor will give it [to a point].

Add me to the list of people from Washington.
 
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