Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2010 12:02:30 -0800
Reply-To: neil n <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: neil n <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Replace Heads or Engine? I-4.
In-Reply-To: <465810.15478.qm@web110614.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
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On Sat, Nov 13, 2010 at 9:54 AM, Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I'm curious about the possibility of adapting the stock I-4 gasser parts to serve in a 50 degree install. Are the diesel pan and oil pump essential, or can you slice-and-dice the gasser steel pan and oil pump pickup to resemble the diesel pieces and serve as well? Just thinking out loud here, but someone must have done it. Neil's homebrewed swap comes immediately to mind, but I think that even he used a lot of factory parts. With the Kennedy adaptor it might make the project much more attractive to those of us so inclined.
>
> I'll admit I'm unlikely to be the pioneer in this enterprise, since I have a gravel drive for a workspace and little room beyond that. There won't be an I-4 lounging in the driveway while I figure how to make it work, but if I knew this path had been trod before I might be more adventurous. Meanwhile, the WBX runs fine so this remains just an academic exercise for me and besides, the honey-do list has priority.
First off, I'd suggest sneaking "engine swap" slips of paper in the
household job jar. ;)
The engine on my swap is basically stock; pan, oil pump etc. Head and
pan stayed on. Engine management, with some alterations to body
portion of harness, is stock. The rest is custom. Except for the KEP
plate/FW, I made the rest. Engine carrier, exhaust, blah blah blah.
Re: altering Mk3 parts. I had wondered about fabricating parts. Like
copying the DV engine carriers, altering the Mk3 gas oil pan. Too much
work IMO, (though I'd see the "sport" in trying) and I think the DV
pan is made out of AL for a reason. (maybe because exhaust hangers are
mounted to it? Engine vibrations don't harm AL as much as steel??
..... Crackage?? ) In theory one could make the required parts and use
a KEP kit, but you would need to be a good weldor and be adept at
design or at least accurately copying the parts needed. If one wanted
to mount at 15* as mine is, keeping engine closer to stock, one
thought toward reducing height mod required to engine lid was to use a
different intake manifold like this http://tinyurl.com/34bn56p This
might help but it's not cost effective new and the lid would remain
about as high as the 1.8T swap (2" IIRC). Plus I'm not sure if the
coolant expansion bottle would end up being in the way or could be put
on the driver side ending up being too close to the exhaust manifold,
and/or if wiring harness etc. would be in the way (I found it better
to mount relay/fuse box on passenger side firewall)
The knowledge is out there. Check out some of these links on google
group I started:
https://sites.google.com/site/t2t3vaggasengineswaps/
Tom Carrington, Mark Drillock, Alistair Bell, Frank G (oh crap. Can't
recall spelling of last name!) etc have all been a big part of the 50*
diesel to gas history. And I'm sure there are others. No preference to
the order in which names posted but should provide lots of info for
searches.
Neil.
--
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"
http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines
