VW Citi Golf 1.4i.
Volkswagen Power Engine Upgrades | Performance Conversions | Cylinder Heads

Over the last decade, Steve's Auto Clinic (SAC) has become famous for producing numerous power conversions for Vee-dubs without compromising reliability. The company has produced some very successful 2,0-litre engine upgrades on 1,4 / 1,6 / 1,8 VW models, as well as various other engine upgrades for other models.

In keeping with this tradition, SAC recently developed what they call a 'reliable cost effective 1,4i Only Power Conversion' for VW's citi 1,4i.VW's citi Golf has enjoyed legendary success in the South African market and is still a strong seller, 29 years after the first one rolled off the production line in Germany. The VW Golf was the very first in-house designed VW and was the car responsible for saving the company from huge financial debt in the mid seventies. In 1976 - two years after the Golf's official launch - the company had produced and sold more than a million examples! Needles to say, their financial problems were over!

After the success of the Golf I the Golf II followed suit, as did III and IV, and in 2004, Golf in launching the Golf V. In South Africa the Golf I is still being produced and sold as an affordable and reliable means of transport. The citi 1,4i is exactly that, and SAC has designed this conversion to complement the car's characteristics with added fizz! The amount of fizz that is injected into the car depends entirely on the owner's personal preferences and budget.

As a base, the conversion is offered in two stages:
Stage 1, consists of a Wildcat 4-into-1 Racing Branch, a Wildcat stainless steel free flow exhaust, a Wildcat air-filter with an airbox modification and finally, a Unichip to make all off the above gel together. This will set you back in the region of R 4800 including V.A.T and will unleash an additional 10kW on the front wheels! If the need for speed is not completely satisfied yet, then stage 2 can also be purchased for an additional R4900 including V.A.T. This consists of, a 40mm BV cylinder head, a cut and flowed intake manifold, a flowed throttle body and a 268-degree performance camshaft. Stage two liberates an additional 10kW over stage one and if both stages are compared to the standard car, there is a 20kW improvement in total - all for just under 10K!

When SAC Vanderbijlpark loaned the test vehicle you see here to ROADRAGE, Mark Jones from SAC Holdings informed me "this conversion was not designed for the race track, but rather to give the car more flexibility on the road. The car with the SAC logos is a promotion vehicle for this conversion, as well as the guinea pig for both stages of the conversion. As a rule of thumb, SAC never tries out conversions on clients' cars. Instead, they buy the projected model for a conversion and install the conversion that is being considered. Once all the installations are completed, the SAC crew tests the car thoroughly before passing it through the gauntlet of motoring journalists for official testing.

Mark was also kind enough and proud enough to provide us with the car's dyna-test sheet, with 'before and after ' results in terms of power and torque. The gains on paper were very impressive with the standard car rolling onto the dyna with 55kW @ 5837rpm and 1965N @ 4845rpm, and after having been beefed-up, clocking 71kW @ 6520rpm and 2160N @ 5816rpm! Do this maths and this 1400 has 84kW on the flywheel at sea level conditions - that's 2kW more than the 1800 Cti!...