yeah mk1 golfs are fun! I felt it had a lot of character, was a hoot to drive, and was very rapid. i had a 2l 8v with wild cam and big valve head, among other thigns. I rebuilt the thing from the ground up and was pretty fond of it. Had a corrado interior and a BBS bodykit, it was great! I'll dig out a pic later. sure it felt like it was made of baked bean cans, but I do miss it. it handled very nicely too. It's a completely different car to the BMW, I couldn't compare and of course I like the BM, but that's not to say I'm not still a veedub (and audi!) nut too.
Ok, so with the lifters, have we confirmed they will work? Havent seen it confirmed that the groove is in the same location and that the lifter will pump sufficiently. I'm also struggling to find a cheap source in the UK; there's a few of the heavier part number lifters on ebay (UK) though very cheaply, and right now getting rid of the tapping has to be a priority for me so I might risk buying some.