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Date:         Tue, 23 Feb 1999 15:44:02 -0500
Reply-To:     Bill Knight <bill@NS.ESC.STATE.NC.US>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bill Knight <bill@NS.ESC.STATE.NC.US>
Subject:      Upgrading 1.9 to 2.1
Comments: To: Vanagon List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

I received several inquiries about my recent project of upgrading my '84 Westfalia to 2.1 liter power. Rather than answer the individual questions, I thought I'd post my experiences to the list directly.

I found the job to be very a straight forward swap. For the record, I've rebuilt several waterboxer engines in the past, so the procedure is not new to me, and I have all of the appropriate tools. It is a fairly easy job if you have tools and patience, but I'll guarantee that you will run into some kind of nasty snag somewhere along the way as I always do and this time, for me, was no exception. My last engine snag was removing rotted cylinder head studs, this time it was the lower engine mounting studs as I'll explain below. There is always a gremlin lurking inside.

The "new" engine came from an '88 Vanagon automatic. My van has a manual transmission, so it was necessary to swap over the flywheel, reset the end-play, AND SWAP OVER THE TWO LOWER ENGINE TO BELL HOUSING STUDS. Let me digress here about converting from automatic to manual... Why did I emphasize those last few words? I found that the lower mounting studs are about a half-inch shorter for the automatic. When I installed the engine, the studs did not go all the way through the bell housing, so I could not install the nuts. Out came the engine again and I successfully removed the longer studs from my old engine, but the short ones on the new engine would not come out, and they finally twisted and broke when I used a stud extractor. Now of course those are like grade 8 bolts in a soft aluminum case, so it took careful drilling and the installation of heli-coils to do the fix.

Since I was in the position to take my time, I completely tore down the "new" engine, took the parts to the local machine shop (a plug for T-Hoff here... A great shop for parts and machine work.) to have the case cleaned and checked, the crankshaft checked and polished, had the rods rebushed, and had the heads get a valve job. The water gasket surface of the heads were barely pitted, so I left that area alone. I had the cylinders honed, and purchased a new set of german rings. The camshaft was worn, so I bought a reground camshaft from Jim Thompson, and from whom I am still waiting for my core refund after 3 months.

The engine went back together like clockwork, only trouble I had was with the rod bolts which, in the 2.1 engine, are the stretch type. Bentley was not clear about torque when reusing them so I finally decided to replace them. The bolts were only available from the dealer and they cost $75.00 with new nuts. I used Curil sealant for the case halves, and the factory stuff (another dealer item) for the head gaskets and the factory yellow stuff for the head nuts.

When I had the long block complete, I pulled the 1.9 motor out of the Westfalia and selectively swapped external parts. I used all of the 1.9 parts except for the intake manifold and throttle body. On the 2.1 they are of a slightly larger inside diameter so I chose to use them since I got them with the new engine. The 1.9 AFM boot fit the 2.1 throttle body perfectly allowing me to keep the stock air cleaner box. There is no room for the 2.1 style air box due to coolant hoses being in the way. I kept the Digijet FI system and find that it works great.

I used the 1.9 exhaust system since mine was almost new as well as the oxygen sensor mounts differently for the Digijet system which I was keeping. I also used the injectors from the 2.1 system. Although I believe they are the same for both engines, these injectors had about 50% fewer miles on them so I figured they were in better shape. I needed to fabricate a little hose and fitting for the Digijet air bypass valve to make it work with the new intake manifold, but that was pretty simple.

I installed a new water pump and used all the original 1.9 coolant pipes, thermostat housing and hoses. I have, for now, left off the 2.1 oil cooler since there is no convenient way to connect it to the 1.9 cooling system. If oil temperature becomes a problem, I will come up with a way to plumb up the oil cooler, possibly using the coolant bleeder valve that is made for the automatic transmission model, and route the lines to the oil cooler that are meant for the transmission oil cooler. That is my plan for now. I have noticed that the oil temperature is quite a bit higher than the 1.9 engine, running up about 250 degrees on highway runs at 70 mph. I am taking the oil temperature reading at the oil galley where the 2.1 motor uses the second oil pressure switch. By removing the second pressure switch and its sleeve, a 16mm VDO temperature sender fits perfectly in its place. I also have a VDO dual contact pressure sender mounted remotely on top of the engine and plumbed with a length of copper tubing.

I swapped the flywheel, which had been recently surfaced from a recent clutch job, and set the end play, which required ordering some shims from the dealer. This would be the time to swap the lower engine mounting bolts if you are converting from an automatic to a manual. I replaced the pilot bearing in the crankshaft at this time as well. Carried over the clutch assembly as well since it was nearly new.

I have noticed, however, that the starter motor, which worked fine with the 1.9 motor, is having trouble cranking the new motor. I've checked with my parts guy and found that the newer Vanagons use a higher amperage starter motor. Probably because of the higher compression engine, a stronger starter is required. I'm planning to upgrade to the new starter soon.

Am I happy with it? YES. I wish I had done it a two years ago when I bought the van with the original blown engine. I found that the rebuilt 1.9 motor that I had been running to be underpowered for the Westfalia, and on a cross country trip had trouble keeping at the speed limit during the long westward climb up to the continental divide on I-40. Big trucks kept blasting past me which was frustrating. The 2.1 engine has plenty of power now and I'm confident that my mountain driving experiences will be pleasant. If it weren't for the Boston Engine heads only lasting 15K miles, I wouldn't be going through this exercise, so I guess I'm happy the right head developed its hairline crack in the water jacket so that I would have a reason to do the swap.

Regards, Bill Knight Raleigh, NC 84 Westfalia Wolfsburg 2.1L


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