VAG 1.8T 20V - What makes it GREAT? - ICONIC ENGINES #17

What is up engine heads, it’s time for another episode of iconic engines. It’s been a while hasn’t it. Well today we’re back with a European giant. And no, it’s not a giant engine, at only 1.8 liters and 4 cylinders it’s one the smaller end of the scale, but it’s a giant in the sense of the incredibly important role it has played and continues to play in the European, Brazilian, UK and a few other non-US tuning and aftermarket modification scenes. The VAG 1.8t 20V may have graced the engine bay of what many consider to be the most disappointing Volkswagen Golf GTI ever, but it’s accessibility, ease of tuning and power potential meant that it quickly became the best sleeper GTI ever

Now Volkswagen is an interesting brand. And if you’re coming over from a Japanese or American manufacturer you’re used to clearly defined lines. In a sense most automakers employ what’s similar to a caste system for their engine families. In other words there’s no mixing between the families.
Compared to this the Volkswagen group four cylinder world is one big orgy and drawing clearly defined lines between the engines is difficult and inevitably ends up being subjective.

The reason is that the grandfather of all vw water cooled inline fours is actually a Mercedes engine called the M118 which was Mercedes' attempt to take Auto Union into a new direction, away from DKW's two stroke smokiness. Of course all of this was happening back when Mercedes owned Auto Union (today Audi) and sent over a man called Ludwig Kraus to build a future for Audi. But before any of it actually bore fruit Mercedes sold Audi to Volkswagen who saw it as a great opportunity to pick up much needed expertise in a time of declining sales for the air-colled VW Beetle that finally started showing it's age. But when Audi went to VW, Ludwig Kraus didn't, Mercedes' prominent engineer stayed over at VW and started working into redesigning the M118 into something new. The new engine was called the EA111 and saw the light of day in 1974, first in the Audi 50 and then in the first ever Volkswagen Polo.

Now our engine of interest the 1.8 turbo 20 valve bears both the EA827 and EA113 code because it's production spawned both generations. The 1.8t 20v engine saw the light of day in 1993 on the Audi A4 and it received a very lukewarm reception, largely due to it's 150hp output. Soon after it would grace the engine bay of the Golf MK4 GTI, again with only 150hp, representing what many saw as a shame to the GTI name. In the years that followed VAG would install the 1.8t 20v into virtually everything it had on offer with four valves. A total of 16 cars got this engine and this list includes everything, from the tiny Polo and Ibiza to the Leon, Octavia and even the hefty Audi A6 and Skoda Superb. Power outputs soon started growing to and the ubiquitous 1.8 eventually covered a range from 150 to 240 horsepower.
But by far it's most significant achievement has been achieved after its warranty....in the tuning scene. The incredibly widespread nature of this engine meant that for many the 1.8t as their first turbo car. The tuning scene would soon change forever and Volkswagen's initially disappointing little four cylinder would almost single-handed breed an entire generation of power addicts.

Now the 1.8t engine may pale in comparison to more exotic powerplants but it's blessed with simple, robust and proven hardware which is often the most reliable path towards pragmatic, real life fun and enjoyment.
We have a bore of 81mm and a stroke of 86.4mm, giving us a pretty undersquare design, which by it's nature results in good amounts of torque low in the rev range.

Most engines feature an aluminum intake manifold and cast log type exhaust manifolds. There are three different KKK turbochargers fitted to the engines and they are K03, K03S and K04. Most engines feature the basic K03, while the K03s can be found on the following engines and the K04 being reserved for the most powerful versions.
K03S turbos are on: BBU, BE, BJX, BVP, ARY, AUQ, AWV, ARX, AUM, AWP, BEX
K04 turbos are on: BFV, APY, APX, AMK, BAM
Everything else like the AEB, AGU and others is K03 turbo.

The tuning success comes from the fact that the VW 1.8t 20v ticks all the right boxes. It's plentiful and readily available and not too expensive which means replacement and upgrade parts can easily be sourced. The engine is already turbocharged from the factory, the internals aren't weak and the ECU isn't restrictive or impossible to remap. So you can easily score +40hp on the 150 engines with zero hardware changes and zero getting dirty.

A special thank you to my patrons:
Daniel
Daniel Morgan
Pepe
Brian Alvarez
Jack H
Dave Westwood
Joe C
Zwoa Meda Beda
Toma Marini

#d4a #iconicengines #1.8t

00:00 Intro
00:54 History
15:04 Specs
20:29 Tuning

[ddaniel]

The 1.8T and 1.9/2.0TDI are absolutely dominating eastern europe tuning scene. Literally, every second VW group car is equipped with one of these tuned to 300+ hp

[jonathonwilliams]

So glad the 1.8t is finally getting the coverage it deserves on Iconic Engines. It really is one of the best bang for buck platforms available.

[Bullario]

I had this engine 13 years in my '99 AUDI A4 B5 QUATTRO and it had over 300 000 km without a problem. Incredible work. Amazing engine. And it still had original turbocharger :)

[collinshaw]

As someone who has visited the Wikipedia page for list of VW Engines, I actually laughed out loud when it was mentioned.

[fastinradfordable]

As a mechanic I probably made over $100, 000 alone off 1.8t broken timing belts and leaking timing chain tensioner seals and coolant flange failure. And not to mention breather systems made of garbage. So sad how many of these owners refused to rebuild the breather systems.
Resulting in the turbocharger boost leaking into the crank case.
Of which no engine should be asked to endure.

I love em.
Chip tune em and the first person who drives it will buy it.

[Rubberfoxy]

"Du fragst zu viel mein Freund!"
🤣 I laughed so hard. Thanks for that gem.
Love when you speak german

[ryansouthgate]

Those German Bars!! Awesome Rap at the end 🤣🤣🤣🔥🔥🔥

[Trendyflute]

My first two cars both had 20v 1.8Ts, never did tune them, honestly a MkIV GTI with 180 HP was a bit of a muscle car stock so I focused on chassis and driver upgrades with those cars! Was religious with 5000 mile oil changes and the problems I had past 100k was a bum coilpack, a coolant temp sensor going bad, and after a decade it finally developed the tiniest valve cover leak so it got a new gasket. Never burned a drop of oil! Great motors. I'm on to an EA888 1.8T with a stage 1 tune now and it's a different beast to drive but no problems at 5 years and hoping it'll stay that way! One thing you could've mentioned is their racing pedigree, built 20v 1.8Ts with up to ~500 HP were the Formula 2 engine for awhile.

[liver.flush.maestro]

I also really like how you go through the historical aspects of the engine, very interesting.

[mauricio]

Yes this engine, specificaly cylinder head is iconic in Brazil, like a high end evolution over the ubiquitous AP 8v engine.

[ballbaggeder]

The Iconic engine series is so well researched and I appreciate the time and effort it takes to put it all together Love them so much keep up the good work!!

[liver.flush.maestro]

"Multiple engines with the same code, and a single engine with multiple codes", you made me laugh !!!

[Ash-lqxx]

I was quietly hoping you were going to cover this engine, I’m glad you did, for someone like me who’s running this engine at 642bhp / 516ft-lbs in my S3! Even I’m learning something new, I enjoyed the history element of where it all began! These engines are fantastic and it will be sorely missed as with all the combustion engines slowly fizzling out to make way for the electric/hydrogen scene.

[Daemonarchk]

Very good explained, the 827 block is legendary robust. I have the 1.8T in my 1999 A6, and even with only 150hp it's an fun and thankful engine.

[fritzbrause]

Thank you for the great and comprehensive insight. I do however, have one comment: The EA111 family of engines (Audi50, Polo) was originally designed for lower displacements of 0.9 to 1.3 liters. Their bore center distance is 82mm.

[liver.flush.maestro]

I also like your attention to detail, you love to fully dive into things, to get the full essence of your focus, this is great. This is the main reason I subscribed to your channel. 🙂

[maxcactus]

Excellent video as always, but the humor in this one has my crying I was laughing so hard! Happy D4A Sunday from California!

[dreci]

Built a Golf 4 fwd some years ago with an upgraded turbo. Car ran amazing, so amazing that it started snapping front axles and blowing turbo pipes. Turned out the wastegate was stuck shut and the engine was seeing 40+ psi of boost on mainly stock internals. This engine is bulletproof.

[Zygersaf]

I had one of these in a Passat B5.5, I had it remapped and it turned into a completely different animal, SO much extra torque all throughout the rev range, it was amazing. Got me hooked on tuning the minute I did my first 2nd gear pull!

[halleffect]

As I remember, this engine got a bad wrap thanks to VW specifying 10K oil change intervals but not clearly stating synthetic oil only, at a time when synthetic wasn't ubiquitous.
so many of these died from burned carboned up oil in the crankcase and cylinder head.
The longitudinal mounted Passat and others had an even smaller oil pan which made the problem worse.