I'm posting something I've read elswhere. What engines could be expected to drop reasonably easily into a Golf that had a 1.6 AFT, retaining the gearbox and as much of the plumbing as possible?

aft?? erm i don't recognise that code off the top of my head.. i'll look it up

ok, it depends on which car it is in?? gonna need a bit more info

It's a Golf 3 cabriolet- one of the ones with Golf 4 lights etc.

MK3.5 Golf then.

AFT (1.6 8v big block iirc).

So just about anything.

1.8T, VR6 (would need hydraulic clutch but not difficult, all breakers/shelf parts, 2.0 16v (ABF), V5, V6 24v you name it.

How much would be changing for the ABF?

Is the AFT still the same basic block as a Golf II 1.8 etc? So 020/02J etc boxes fit?

The chap is aiming to retain as much of the original stuff as possible.

whats the point changing it for an ABF? not exactly a fireball of an engine...

esp given a vr6 mk3 is dirty cheap and simple swap.

ok, this will be a case of pretty much anything you want going in there. but it depends how much other stuff you want to change as well, the only other engine that will 'swap' for the 1.6 without changing any of the plumbing or wiring is the 2.0 unit..

if you fancy a vr5/6/ you will to need find vr6 gearbox and driveshafts too, plus the track control arms are longer on the vr6 model iirc

The ABF is a very tuneable engine, and tbh would be my choice. Much better than the VR unless your going turbocharged,

The ABF in design put out 170 - 180bhp, but this put the VR to shame so they de tuned it to 150bhp. Thus a cam swap, bit of head porting etc and your back upto 180bhp and 200 is pretty easy to obtain. Also drives a whole lot better than the old sluggish heavy VR.

I'd get a complete 24v VR6 set up myself and bosh that in, something a little different and sounds awesome.

if you fancy a vr5/6/ you will to need find vr6 gearbox and driveshafts too, plus the track control arms are longer on the vr6 model iirc

The track control arms etc are all the same on the MK3 IIRC. They are longer than the MK2, but even so everything swaps over. I'm running VR front axle on my MK2.

I'd get a complete 24v VR6 set up myself and bosh that in, something a little different and sounds awesome.

me too, engine from a golf 4motion, FWD box from a mk3 golf:)