5000 or 200

[Eric_R_Kissell at email.whirlpool.com]

Ken wrote:
[snip]
>I think the whole "tranny bolt" method of securing the crank when doing
>the timing belt depends on the presence of the lip that is only
>on the heavier flywheel.
[snip]
>Your sig says you're running a K24 on your '86, which is the low
>compression MC-1 (1 knock sensor) motor, right?  Did you put that
>on, or was it already like that?  What can you tell me about the
>conversion?  I assume it's a feature. :-)  Do you like it?

I have done the "tranny bolt" method on this car, so I guess it is the
older heavy flywheel. One question I have about the flywheel is that if
lighter is better, why did they make the flywheel so heavy in the earlier
cars? Did they want to make sure that the engine felt really smooth or
what?

Yes, I changed from the K26 to the K24 on the 1986 5000cstq. Actually, I
did this on both cars since the 1989 200q Avant had a K26 as well, just
like I would expect in a MC-1.

I upgraded the '86 5000cstq with the SJM 1.8 bar boost upgrade using the
original K26. It was nice, but did not spool soon enough for my liking so I
went and found a K24 from a 1990 200q in a wrecking yard for $200. This K24
was a direct bolt-in swap. In my opinion swapping the turbo was not very
hard at all. Much easier than a timing belt. The car now feels much better
at lower rpm. I now see 1.4 bar on the dash by 2000rpm and I can see 1.8
bar by 2500rpm.

I decided to try the K24 on my 1989 200q Avant before I the SJM 1.8 bar
upgrade. So I did a search and found a K24 in a friendly salvage yard in PA
that they would send to me for $200 or $250 including shipping. It made a
low-rpm improvement in this car as well, but if I were doing it again I
would spend the $400 on the SJM 1.8 bar upgrade first and then the $200 on
the K24 second. My 1989 200q Avant will get the SJM 1.8 bar upgrade as soon
as the $400 becomes available in the budget.

This may be a while since a little deer incident has my 5000cstq in danger
of being totaled for losing the right front headlight and damaging the
right front fender. I will post more on this sometime in the future.

Eric R. Kissell
1986 5000cstq, 1.8 bar (SJM), K24, Fuchs
1989 200q Avant, 1.5 bar, K24, Bilsteins
1987 VW GTI 16V, 1984cc, Bilsteins
Evansville, Indiana, USA