First I will say that there there are a lot of performance upgrades for almost any stock engine, some are simple and do not involve a lot of skill or know how while others are a lot more complex and require more patience and time. The list below are a couple of performance boosters for a1 VW’s going from the simpler one's to the more complex upgrades.

There are not that many upgrades on this page because I am only putting up the ones I have first hand experience with. If you know of an upgrade and have experience with it send it to me with your name and Email address and I will try to post it.

A simple tune up can bring the pep back to an old engine. A tune up normally involves changing the fuel filter, spark plugs, air filter and changing the oil and oil filter. Other things to do would be to check all the tire pressures and top off the fluids.

TB= Throttle body
AB= Air box

You can take off the "snorkel" on the bottom of the air box for a little extra power and while your doing this you can drill some 1/2 inch holes in the side of the AB as well, just be sure to drill the holes under the filter and on the front side of the box so your not sucking in hot air from the engine compartment. you could also put in a K&N air filter. This is good for about 2-4 HP. Another upgrade that you can try is to put a piece of sewer pipe from the TB to the AB and get rid of the "S" shaped tube that is there from the factory. I may make an air induction system, if I do I will post a how to.

For my car I put on a Techtonics stainless steel cat back system. I also added a duel down pipe from a pre 82 Rabbit these pipes flow exhaust gases far better than the 82+ down pipes. You could go to a muffler shop and have them bend you up a system similar to the Techtonics one. This may add about 15% more POWER.

There are a lot of different up grades that can be done to the cylinder head. You can get a cam, this is a good upgrade for a decent amount of power. You can chop about 50 Thousands of an inch off of the cylinder head or the block this is good for about 10 HP. (when I did this I needed to get my Starter motor rebuilt because of the extra compresion)