Date: Tue, 14 May 2013 08:46:53 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: 2.0L I4 Opportunities
In-Reply-To: <D6450FFD-9003-45EE-A56B-8B5039AB7BF4@eoni.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Interesting and informative discussion recently on I-4/vanagon
conversions. Let me contribute my own thoughts and experience, pretty
long response
I currently have in my 84 van a hybrid 2.0 ABA block/1.8l head running
on Digifant. I read and researched all I could find as my Vanagon
evolved, including helpful hints from Frank and Alstair's very informative
pages. The VW Vortex forum is also a good source and now Neil's discussion
site also, here:
vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines
@googlegroups.com
Not just because it is what I have now, but overall, I think the
hybrid/digifant II inline transplant is the simplest and most effective
use of time and funds, when someone's looking to improve the reliability
and performance of a Vanagon....Here is my thinking, after having worked
with a 1.8l Rabbit ('92) Digifant motor in my van and now with the '93
2.0l Jetta block, combined with the1.8l 8-valve Rabbit head, making it the
hybrid I have had now for about 60k miles.. I did all of the work in my
own garage on a shoestring budget as a first time engine swapper.
There are plenty of other ways to put an inline VW or Audi into the
Vanagon, but the simplest is the 50degree 1.8liter/Digifant 'direct'
install using all the Vanagon diesel parts....With all the parts in hand, I
bet you could do that swap in a couple of hours.....That is what my van
had in it when I bought it, and it worked really quite well just like that
for a few years. It wasn't the most zippy Vanagon around, but with the
diesel 5sp manual tranny I could easily keep it integrated into the traffic
flow, the gas mileage was good and it was trouble free. For a cheap swap,
you can't beat the direct diesel to gas inline exchange. You only need to
find a diesel engine parts vanagon or the parts from one...they are around.
Finding one and doing this swap....you will have saved lots of extra
money and work and you will get a good end result that is 'almost' a
factory product... Good 1.8l 8-valve VW inlines can be had for around
$300. Common and plentiful. Cheap and plentiful parts too, widely
available worldwide.
I found a '93 low miles complete Jetta ABA motor on my local CL for
$300...a pretty good deal, I think, but not outstanding. ABAs are cheap,
too. I bought it, having done some preliminary reading on the VW Vortex
pages. I learned the 1.8L cross flow head bolted right onto an ABA block
and that the combo/hybrid was a 'good simple performance enhancement'
commonly done by the VW Tuner crowd. I like "proven". It's been done
often and it's been proven to work well...So I decided to go that route....
My 1.8 was still fine, but I couldn't pass up the CL deal on the 2.0
Jetta motor, and I was intrigued to try the swap, for fun and some extra
power...and because I had no history on my 1.8....it coulda had 300,000+
miles on it, I just didn't know.....
When I had a few days of extra time, I went for it...pulling my 1.8 out
and combining the two motors. It was simple and straightforward. Keeping
the Digifant II and the 8-valve cross flow head meant I had to do no
messing around with different non-VW mounts, no engine bay modifications,
no changes to the electronics...Simple bolt-together stuff, and the
performance is outstanding.
Combining the two motors was done with the few needed new parts sourced
from Techtronic's Tuning.
http://techtonicstuning.com/main/index.php?main_page=page&id=15&chapter=5
They supplied me with the proper head gasket, a block-off plate to keep
the crank venting system of my 8-valve head, a distributor drive gear to
use my 1.8 distributor in the 2.0 liter block...that's about it...I got
some pulleys and belts from them also but I decided to not use the power
steering and AC that came with the Jetta motor, so I didn't need that
serpentine belt and extra stuff...
I spent about 4-6hrs swapping the engine parts around..Again, basic
wrenching, nothing at all complex like Jim seems to have encountered with
swapping engine managements. No problems finding any of the needed parts
or information...Very common and cheap stuff. I did spend a lot of time
getting my water hoses to work, using the ones I had from both
motors.....my old 1.8 block didn't use the oil/water heat exchanger that is
common on most other VW oil filter housings...so I had all my hoses on the
bench, trying to fit them together like a jig saw puzzel...finally got it
to work.
It's not the most sophisticated swap, nor is it particularly modern.
But it works fine. Nothing I could see justified anything more complex or
expensive for my needs or budget. I think I put about $600 total into
combining my two motors..including the ABA motor. I didn't even look to
see if it has "piston squirters"...at $300 for a whole motor, I don't
really need to care. It probably won't make a difference..I don't need to
know about Motronic, Digijet, CSI or whatever....I have developed a pretty
good understanding of the Digifant that some Vanagons use and mine
uses...seems fine to me and I get about 23mpg...so I kept it simple ...
enough words here. I hope I've added some to this discussion.
Don Hanson
I have the two Bentleys also....but I've seldom used them
On Tue, May 14, 2013 at 5:07 AM, Jim Arnott <jrasite@eoni.com> wrote:
> On May 14, 2013, at 3:28 AM, Frank Grunthaner wrote:
>
> I must agree with several listees here that the best I4 conversion
>> is the 2.0L I4, but the ABA version is unnecessarily complex and
>> costly.
>>
>
>
> I would agree with that statement were I swapping into a Digifant
> equipped van. I wasn't. Converting the Digijet to Digifant seemed to
> me to be an unproductive and costly step. I choose to use the engine
> management system that VW supplied with the ABA motor. Another
> consideration for me was that the counterflow VW engines are a few
> years older than the ABA.
>
>
> Lastly, ABAs are common. 3As a bit less so in this part of the world.
>
>
> On the negative side, there is the expense and mass of the two or
>> more Bentleys.
>>
>
>
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