Mk4 2L APK TUNING and Performance

Hi I’m a newbie at all this so please be gentle, I’ve recently progressed (or maybe not) from a collection of 6n1 Polos which I’ve had great fun and respect for. Now I’ve purchased a couple of Mk4 Golfs, just the standard 2L APK motor and automatic transmission.My question is are there any performance mods and tuning tricks that would help pep it up a bit.
be honest with you answers if I’m wasting time and money,I need to know .
Ie.what are the differences with the GTI motor. Is it internals ,throttle body’s and chips.
look forward to your information
cheers

incidentally I live in New Zealand so I’m not sure how available bits are over here..

The APK... have fun changing the spark plugs:crying: these engines are completely different engines to the GTI TURBO in every way but the same as in the 2L GTI which was a bit of a joke as a GTI. There was a supercharger kit from Neuspeed many years ago but that was for left hand drive Mexican built US spec cars. If you want me to be really honest then yes, trying to modify one of these is very hard work with little reward.