Club 80-90 Forums

I have a 1.9 water cooled petrol engine with auto gear box,how can i improve the pulling away power? It is very slow to get going. It already has twin choke weber carburetor, and electronic ignition. Any ideas Please.

Always a good idea to introduce your self mate.

Enjoy the slowness, they're not race cars.

I have a 1.9 auto and it is no slouch away from the lights it's just after that that the slowness starts. You can get up to 20 quite quick after that it's about another 50 seconds to 60, but if there is any sign of a slight incline I can forget 60 and maybe even 50!!! Mine has a rebuilt engine and as far as I know a good g/box. If you hold the throttle down aggressivley it should hold off the change up to 3rd until about 40-45, if you throttle up gently it will change more like 30-35.

Put a pierburg carb back on.
VW fitted it to give the engine the best all round performance.

Yeah, keep it 'stock' as our Merican friends say, and check the ignition timing.

Would be nice to hear what you find......

123-jn wrote:I have a 1.9 auto and it is no slouch away from the lights it's just after that that the slowness starts. You can get up to 20 quite quick after that it's about another 50 seconds to 60, but if there is any sign of a slight incline I can forget 60 and maybe even 50!!! Mine has a rebuilt engine and as far as I know a good g/box. If you hold the throttle down aggressivley it should hold off the change up to 3rd until about 40-45, if you throttle up gently it will change more like 30-35.

Mine changes into 3rd at about 40 as well. I thought they were meant to go into 3rd at about 50. A local mechanic raved about the autobox saying it was over engineered and can handle a much more powerful engine. Whether that's true, I don't know.

My manual box likes to change at 40, although fifty is possible the tacho gets a bit high for me.

It is a lovely old fashioned simple gearbox, apparently very capable of handling 160-180 BHP from a Subaru engine (commonly converted in the states) They mess with the change points so it changes up later due to the extra torque.
I love driving mine. They are just not intended for racing around, just nice and relaxing up to 60 ish with no rush!!!

What isn't fun is driving a manual when you're following someone in an automatic up an incredibly steep incline. You almost need a gear before 1st