Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 22:05:23 -0700
Reply-To: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Subject: Digifant II 'Diesel' Conversion Pics
In-Reply-To: <AIEFIGCNNANNIHLNFBPEKEHEDPAA.vanagon@volkswagen.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I just uploaded some pictures of an installation I did to a customers 1982
Diesel Westfalia. Out goes the 48hp Diesel and in goes a 105hp Digifant II
motor (ok... time to do the Tim Allen rant!). Quite the installation and I
must say that my 15 degree kits are much easier to do than the Diesel setup!
The biggest challenge is the intake manifold and intake system - there is
NOTHING out there, that is available in North America or Europe that will
fit without doing some sort of modification to the side wall of the engine
bay. Good to see VWSA has a custom cast intake system for their I4
conversions. We used a 1981 Rabbit intake manifold that we removed some
material from to it wouldn't interfere as much with the side wall. We still
had to take a ballpien hammer to a 3x6" area on the side wall just above the
frame rail and dent it in two inches so nothing would interfere. A bit of
paint and some rust proofing took care of the damage on the side wall,
although I don't think the customer is totally happy we had to do this. We
used the original Digifant II throttle valve and installed it 'upside down'
so everything would line up right - the vacuum lines for the fuel pressure
regulator and the line for the frequency valve would be hitting the side
wall if it were installed the right way up. This also meant doing some
welding and grinding to the intake manifold so we could open the mouth of it
large enough for the A2 series valve to function correctly. The rest of the
intake system was fabricated with a lot of time and thinking... it resulted
in a very clean looking ABS plastic intake system and a K+N air filter
mounted on a custom bracket that fits on top of the water pump - once the
heat shield is in place it will make a very nice installation as everything
moves with the engine. The wiring harness was pretty uneventful as this is
the umpteenth time I have made a 'plug and play' Digifant II wiring harness.
Besides running a wire to the battery terminal the wiring harness was a
'plug and play' event with only three seconds of cranking to get the engine
running the first time! Warning - make sure no one is asleep when you fire
up an I4 engine with only an exhaust manifold installed as it is a tad bit
on the loud side! :)
Pictures can be seen at
http://www.fastforward.ca/vanagonswap/dieselparts.htm for those who are
interested.
Any questions??? Feel free to ask!
David Marshall
Fast Forward Automotive Inc.
4356 Quesnel Hixon Road
Quesnel BC Canada V2J 6Z3
mailto:info@fastforward.ca <mailto:info@fastforward.ca>
http://www.fastforward.ca <http://www.fastforward.ca>
Phone: (250) 992 7775 FAX: (250) 992 1160
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