Originally Posted by
bobl
I just finished helping my brother build his Mk3.1. I built a pretty mild 351 with stock crank and rods, but used AFR 185 heads. It made 475 HP at 5800 rpm. Here's the kicker.
So, I've driven his car quite a bit and can offer an opinion. My car has a 347 making over 500 HP at 6700 RPM.
The 2 cars drive much differently. His has 4.10 gears, mine 3.55. I like the way his car cruises at low speed because of the gears, but at hwy speed mine is much happier. As far as acceleration his car is violent but hits the rev limiter very quickly in any gear. My car comes on less aggressive and pulls harder to a much higher rpm, which I believe keeps the tires hooked up a bit better. So to me anyway, this confirms that gobs of low end torque is not your friend in one of these cars. So, I quess the bottom line is build what you want and learn to drive it.