Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 07:55:19 -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: <03d401cc3562$df0b5230$6401a8c0@PROSPERITY>
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On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 12:13 AM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans <
scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>
> Well who is going to put a stock DV exhaust system on a gas 1.8 anyway ? ?
> If that's what he meant .
> that tiny pipe would be rather ....uh .......either dorky, or way
> undersized.,
>
The fellow who converted my van, that's who....
My van, before I *pre-emptively* swapped in the ABA 2.0 liter block, when
it came to me with it's '92 Golf/Cabriolet motor... it had the "rather
dorky" diesel exhaust manifold. Yes, it was pretty restrictive looking and
the hanging system was very crude, to say the least. The guy who did the
conversion, he was a door builder, not a mechanic. He welded on a really
tight bend right below that cast diesel manifold and ran a pipe right
straight back to a "fart can" muffler that stuck straight out back, with a
steel hanger welded to the frame.
I added a magnaflow muffler across the back of the motor just ahead of the
bumper, hanging that on a flexible mount to the frame. I drove it that way
for two years without any problems. That diesel exhaust manifold...strong!
Even as restricted as that exhaust manifold must have been, I still often
drove past WBX vanagons on hills.
When I did *pre-emptively" swap to my $300 Jetta ABA motor's lower end, I
replaced that diesel exhaust system. I changed to the Jetta dual downpipe
manifold that came with my $300 motor. (it bolts right on to the 1.8 liter
head) I did replace the 17yr old flex coupling on the Jetta pipes with a
new one from Techtonics Tuning, and I re-mounted that same magnaflow
muffler, but I used the diesel Vanagon style muffler brackets. I had some
pipes 'bent', configuring the primaries to the lengths I got from the Gurus
at Techtonics Tuning.
"Pre-emptive" motor change...that's the key here. I didn't have any
complaints or problems happening on the old '92 1.8 liter It didn't need to
be changed. I chose to change it...I simply wanted to mess around and that
complete Jetta motor was for sale nearby. I'd been reading on the VW Vortex
pages, etc.. and talking to people about combining the two, I had some free
time and it was raining and snowing in the Northwest...indoor project time.
So I went for it and it worked out just fine. It cost me not much and I
learned a lot. I found some good power, but I lost about one mile per gallon
fuel economy...probably because I drive a bit faster now.
I still have that 1.8 block, a spare now, wrapped in plastic, and should
this one ever fail...I could re-install that one and expect a couple of
hundred thousand more miles from it...It would probably work much better
without that restrictive diesel exhaust, better with the Jetta dual
downpipe I have on the head right now.
I "heard" that the Tiicos as they came had problems. But as I said, their
List chat is that the New Guys who've assumed responsibility for Tiico, they
are good, and they've been making things right with that conversion. Happy
posts over there.
Don Hanson
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