Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 15:06:49 -0700
Reply-To: Undetermined origin c/o LISTSERV administrator
<owner-LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Undetermined origin c/o LISTSERV administrator
<owner-LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Subject: Re: Engine conversions (Was: I've seen the Tii conversion
completed
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> I've been through this in the past and it looks like the future holds
> another round with the testing agency on the TII kit.
>
> I will go out on a limb here a bit and say that the TII kit has a
> better chance at getting through testing than ANY other kit has in
> The past. There are my reasons for this.
There is no way that the CARB is going to pass a kit without
an o2 sensor - plain and simple. Without an o2 sensor, there is no
feedback to the ecu as to the state of the burn. Without an o2 sensor,
you're going to be dumping a lot of extra HC and CO for the catalytic
converter to break down which will eat your cat in no time (search the
archives for testimonies about running without an O2 sensor and see
how long it is before the 'I do it all the time' comes back looking
for a cat). There are certain 'requirements' that the CARB has for
'new' engines. I also do not remember an engine malfunction light
connector coming off this conversion - something the carb will also
be looking for.
> This kit is a VW Replacement kit. It is not a conglomeration of
> parts, Cut wires and pieced together as some of the other
> Kits on the market are.
Someone did some research on this kit and found that it was not
coming directly from VWSA actually though VWSA does sell the kit. If I
remember correctly, he also said that the kit was not designed by VWSA,
but it is an approved conversion do there.... However, VWSA and VWoA
are too completely different entities. Also SA vans do not have
catalytic
converters - which is something I believe is federally mandated here
in the states now on passenger vehicles. However, environmental impact
and/or federal compliance are not issues for some people.
I think people should know that there are issues with this kit
especially in California. They are all issues that can be overcome,
(and pretty easily by using a digifant II ecu from the 2l 16 valve
engines, though the data maps might not be ideal for this 8 valve
noncrossflow head engine - if I remember correctly, the motronic ecu
uses
25 pin connector with the same shape as the digifant ecu which would
mean you can use the wiring harness and just swap pins around as needed
and add the O2 wiring). There are one or two other issues which
are far from ideal, but the overall throughness and ease of installation
outweigh those... well, mostly...
Some other ideas on this kit - use a diesel bellhousing
and flywheel/vr6 flywheel (need to verify stock clutch kit will
work with vanagon clutch engagement bits) so that you can actually
time the beast and so replacement clutches are easy to find in the
us. See if one of those nifty ribbed sepertine belts can be used
to drive the accesories in a sane manner instead of using a slighty
modified version of the diesel belt system (ick).
dave
