Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2011 08:40:50 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: I4 Happenings in turbovans land
In-Reply-To: <BANLkTimEaPP1RvAMvWoWHXRKikK-mGzBZg@mail.gmail.com>
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On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 4:35 AM, miguel pacheco <mundopacheco@gmail.com>wrote:
> Scott, I got the following, from
> http://www.foreignautosupply.com/Tiico_Owners_Page.html
>
> Engine Details: The Tiico is a 2.0L and not a 1.8L. The block is of a
> 1.8L
> but the Crank, piston rod, and piston exchange provide the displacement to
> increase to 2.0L. The purpose of this is to have a block that is 2cm lower
> so everything fits under the engine lid.
> Miguel
>
>
A 2.0 liter motor will fit under the decklid of vanagon without messing
around with the internals of the block. There are many of us out here
happily running just such motors. The fitment issues with the 2.0 liter
motors is that they have cross flow heads which puts intake parts on the
right hand (Up, when mounted as the diesel Vanagon 4 bangers are) so that
the deck lid won't clear. Tossing the cross-flow head and replace it with
the 1.8 liter head makes a good clean installation with no clearance issues
inside the van. It is necessary to slightly modify the driver's side front
of the engine compartment (as is the case when transplanting all the inline
gas motors that are mounted at 50degrees) to clear the throttle
body..Nothing major.
The 1.8 liter / 2.0 liter head swap seems fairly common with the VW Tuner
set for more power in their street hot rods. There are lots of aftermarket
speed and performance items available for these motors....fancy valve heads,
forged pistons...all that. Techtonics Tuning in Oregon has a whole line of
convenience items to make that head swap simple, plus a write up on their
website. When I swapped a 2.0 liter block (93 Jetta motor) into my inline
gasser vanagon they were very helpful with advice and in return, I bought
many of my parts (headgaskets, etc) from them. Below is a link to their
tech tips page outlining the ABA/1.8 liter head swap.
http://www.techtonicstuning.com/main/index.php?main_page=page&id=8&chapter=5
I do not have the Tiico package in my van..saying that upfront...For
general interest, however...
.... I do lurk on the Tiico forum. My installation is mechanically similar
to the Tiicos.
It's my understanding that this F.A.S. group has recently taken over from
the original guy who first had the Tiico business, and they are 1000% better
than he was.
It's my impression that many of the complaints from Tiico owners were the
result of sloppy work and indifferent customer service by the original U.S.
Tiico guy... It seems these new guys have been retro-helping the older Tiico
owners get their rigs working properly. They are being praised amongst the
Tiico owners. FAS seems to be developing new items to make that conversion
better. There have been lots of posts recently from happy Tiico owners,
some with quite high mile conversions.
One issue that seems to have become "common knowledge" (urban myth) about
the Tiico and inline four conversions is that they are said to
vibrate...Some have, from what I hear....but FAS has traced this down mainly
to poor alignment between the motor and the tranny. That may be the "sloppy
work" I mentioned. Their answer is to always connect the two major parts of
the drivetrain together before they are firmly anchored into the
vehicle...making sure the tranny and the engine are aligned to each other
and to the vehicle.
Don Hanson
