ShopTalk Forums | Aircooled VW Tech & Restoration Help

I am looking for what is availible or what options I have as far as pistons with stock 2.0L rods and crank. Quality is the issue at stake. The car is a 914 2.0L in the mild/medium performance range (mostly steet but tuning for autocross). Due to a mistake I ended up with dished pistons, so I am looking for better quality and higher compression (8.5:1 range).

I would also like opinions on the cam specs, 298 degree Duration, .522" lift. The flow is through stock 2.0L 914 heads with ports matched and polished, CB 48mm throttle bodies and a free flowing exhaust system. I am starting to believe this cam will go beyond the desired rpm range of the stock rods and sacrifice low-end power too much.
Thanks

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Chris

I can supply you with New German Mahle pistons. Steve

Jake,
Thanks for dragging up such a painful memory for me. As to the cam grind and rpm range for autocross, unless you run bus gears i dont believe that would be an ideal power range either. Power while it lasted was 3k and up with a lot of porting and HD parts. Then there was the whole lifter thing...
Sean

Jake, Sean,
Thanks for doing the r&d that has kept me from making a serious mistake. Jake you have also convinced me of Webcam and I am now giving serious consideration for the 86 grind. The 914 has rather tall gear ratios and maximizing lower end torque is more important than max HP.
1st 3.091
2nd 1.889
3rd 1.261
4th 0.926
5th 0.710
r/p 4.429
6000 in 5th would put me at around 140 mph, not really important for street or autocross.

As for pistons, I like the idea of 96s. Would it be cost effective to get pistons and have my barrels machined (have two sets now) or a pre-made set. I get the impression that quality can vary.

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Chris