VW WC 1.8i into late bay

[trev]

anyone seen a Golf GTI 8V or 16V engine in a bay? Surely the stock air-cooled gear ratios would be better for the petrol engine that the low-revving diesel engine?
I have a 1.6TD engine I was going to investigate putting into my bay but by all accounts the stock gear ratios are a major stumbling block to overcome. It might be easier to work out the petrol engine and should give more power and better fuel economy than the 18MPG I get from the 1.8 type 4 motor in there at present.

any opinions or experience?

[richbaker78]

my mate Jace has been running one for a few years......nice drive and a cheap conversion to do as well.

http://www.vwkd.co.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?t=65

i went to visit him last weekend to give him a hand with his headgasket....hes got a rear mounted rad which has never been satisfactory but the rest of it has proved very reliable.

[Bugsy_malone 666]

guess it depends on what size wheels you run on your bus, if your running stock wheels, a stock 1600 lump revs to about 4500-5000, a diesel is rev limited to about 4500rpm, so to be honest the engines rev about the same.

so what ever revs your currently petrol does the diesel will be the same, the answer to getting taller gear ratios at the back is bigger wheels/taller tyres.

Im going diesel gearbox although i think its got the same ratios as a 1600 bay! but in order to assist bringing the revs down im going to look for bigger wheels so i can have tyres with a similar profile sidewall but raise the gearing so the engine doesnt rev so hard at 65ish
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Second Gear All The Way Baby!

Doing Thing Differently.

[72panelvan]

I considered a 8V GTI, partly because they were so much cheaper than the diesels and would be quieter when in. a 16v, certainly the 80's ones from a mk2, would have had clearence problems with the fuel tank though, and also after putting in my diesel there may be problems with the intake manifold clearence in a bay. Nice engine though and soooooooo much better value than the d's.

[13 window deluxe]

2000 lawn mower box would drop engine revs loads for diesel
_________________
1964 rat 13 window deluxe 1Z tdi,
1975 rhd twin slider tintop (TBA)
1991 golf 2 gti with tweaked AHU tdi,

previous tdi swaps: gone but not forgotten
1979 rhd twin slider tintop bay ahu 1.9tdi
1990 T25 1Z 1.9tdi
1993 suzuki samurai with 1Z 1.9tdi

[chuggaboom]

http://vwkd.co.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1819

SHOULD GET THAT FOR 325

[trev]

thanks guys, I've given up on diesel and sold the 1.6TD to a mate. In the meantime though, I've bought a KEP kit to fit the 1.8i out of my dad's old '93 Passat. I have the complete car there to butcher and it has been converted to run on LPG too. Don't know if I'll use that kit though, the LPG tank is massive.
Anyway, this might all be for nowt, if I can't iron out some recent financial issues the van might be up for sale...

http://www.veewrx.com/vanpage/westfalia.htm

[richbaker78]

nice van trev! crying out for that pasat engine i would say. LPG would be a great idea - if its only the tank thats stopping you going for this you can pick up some decent cheap second hand tanks on ebay - even new ones arent too expensive. Ive a 120 L tank in mine and it fits down inside the cabinets on drivers side. Means some lost space in cupboards but m not that bothered.

My mate jace (mentioned above) started of with a passat engine before going to 8v gti. He has now just finished converting it from the 1.8 to a 2ltr 8 v gti :-) next on his list is the 20V Turbo.....so good choice of adaptor I would say for future upgrading

[13 window deluxe]

passat 1.8 injection is same engine as gti pb engine code
_________________
1964 rat 13 window deluxe 1Z tdi,
1975 rhd twin slider tintop (TBA)
1991 golf 2 gti with tweaked AHU tdi,

previous tdi swaps: gone but not forgotten
1979 rhd twin slider tintop bay ahu 1.9tdi
1990 T25 1Z 1.9tdi
1993 suzuki samurai with 1Z 1.9tdi

[trev]

looks like I might get away without selling the van now so the conversion will more than likely go ahead. Meanwhile the EJ20T conversion in the veewrx bug is on hold til I get my own garage

I don't want this to turn into a long drawn out affair (the veewrx project is 5 years on the go now and still quite a way from ready) so I want to be as prepared for this as possible. To this end I'm considering servicing the engine while it's still in the Passat because access will be much easier. I have to measure up the chassis rails of the van to see what radiator will fit best in there. I have the choice of a few radiators, my dad's a mechanic and there's always a few scrap cars about the garage at any time.
I've read through the VWKD engine conversion guide for pointers and I'm trying to draw up a check list of parts/materials in advance to get myself as ready as possible before disabling the van for any length of time.

I reckon the shortlist would be something like this:

engine: 1.8i Passat engine
engine adapter kit: KEP kit
clutch: replaced the clutch in the van about 1000 miles ago so that'll be fine
radiator: maybe the passat radiator, have other choices though
big bore rubber water hoses
big bore copper pipes
pipe clips for copper pipe
expansion bottle: passat bottle
small bore rubber hoses to bottle
steel stock: to make rear engine support bar
heater matrix: from passat
plastic/fibreglass box to house heater matrix
blower for heater
sheet steel to create ducting for radiator
fuel pump: have one from an Opel Ascona that should do
fuel return line: (to feed back to one of the tank vents maybe?)

I still have to investigate what wiring is required for this engine. I'm hoping it'll be minimal and I'll be aiming to keep it as simple as possible. Advice particular to this engine welcomed

I'd appreciate any pointers anyone can give before I start. I'm trying to get all my sh!t together in advance and hopefully attack this and get it done all in one go. I have holidays coming up in July til September (teacher ) so I'd be hoping to drive both cars into the garage, do the conversion and drive the van out under watercooled power within a week. Am I being naïve? Is this feasible within a week?

[13 window deluxe]

if the engine is a 1.8 8v pb code efi engine 88 on same as the gti the engine loom is seperate and has a 2x 2pin or 1x 5pin plug/s on the bulkhead dependent on year it only needs a live,switched live,and earth to run there is also a swithced earth in there for you fuel pump relay. you could do with a seperate fuel swirl pot external to tank as well i had trouble when running without one kept siezing fuel pumps due to starvation during cornering this would also sort out where to run your return to, i have used early external bosch pumps from vauhall eg cavalier and ford eg sierra/escort xr3/4 as these usually have a barbed 8mm outlet or vw/audi external type with the banjo type fittings
_________________
1964 rat 13 window deluxe 1Z tdi,
1975 rhd twin slider tintop (TBA)
1991 golf 2 gti with tweaked AHU tdi,

previous tdi swaps: gone but not forgotten
1979 rhd twin slider tintop bay ahu 1.9tdi
1990 T25 1Z 1.9tdi
1993 suzuki samurai with 1Z 1.9tdi

[trev]

another issue I've just thought of: the input shaft.

I emailed KEP to ask about the relationship of the input shaft of the transmission to the engine using their adapter kit. They said that "the input shaft is half an inch too long when using a Rabbit engine". Since the Passat engine is the same engine used in the Rabbit (Golf) it's safe to presume that the input shaft will be too long for the Passat engine.

The whole premise of this conversion was not to do anything that would prevent returning the van back to absolute stock specification (save for a few drilled holes etc). It's 99% original and if I ever go to sell it I'd like to be able to offer it with it's original engine. Lopping half an inch off the input shaft will obviously prevent this.

So what I'm really asking is: is there an alternative to shortening the input shaft like deepening the hole in the crank shaft by the half inch or would it be easier to source a replacement input shaft if I decide to refit the type4 engine down the line? Is fitting an input shaft a big job requiring specialist tools?