What water cooled engine to replace old Aircooled?

Post by **high_tower** » 20 Jun 2008, 10:12

Morning,

I'm in the process of gutting and rebuildin my 1981 2.0l Aircooled van. I've up until last night always had the intention of rebuilding the old Aircooled engine and dropping that back in. however, the more i've thought about it the more i thought a new alternative engine is the way to go.

I've seen plenty of info about engines for the later watercooled version of the van but nothing really about fitting to the earlier Aircooled vans.

so with that in mind what engine would be recommended? i want to use the van everyday to get to work and would like an engine thats a little fruity and capable of working all day without any complaints.

Post by **jamesc76** » 20 Jun 2008, 13:19

plenty of bays have been converted to run subaru engines with radiator's retro fitted either under the van or right at the back!

Post by **Pepperami** » 20 Jun 2008, 16:35

Wacksoo is converting his air cooled to Subaru.

Post by **high_tower** » 22 Jun 2008, 08:11

Cheers for the advice. I've looked at the surbaru think it might be beyond my price range making that one fit.

I've seen people using golf gti lumps. does anyone know if the 2.0 8v or the 2.0 16v would work?

also has anyone got a 'how to guide' for a gti lump? i think my searching skills are p*ss poor sorry. I seen a couple of posts on people who've done it but nothing really in depth.

again cheers for the advice so far

Post by **CycloneMike** » 22 Jun 2008, 08:16

If you haven't found it already this site is worth a look.
www.vwkd.co.uk

Post by **high_tower** » 22 Jun 2008, 08:25

cheers for that, I think thats what i've been looking for.

Post by **wackos00** » 23 Jun 2008, 10:39

air cooled to water isnt that hard, the hardest thing is finding all the bits you need, as there is always something else you forget... at least I do so then have to wait till next pay day to get something else

Post by **high_tower** » 23 Jun 2008, 11:31

I've looked into a few conversions and think I'm going to go with a golf gti conversion. I've read a few posts about pros and cons and think for my first conversion it should be "fairly straight forward".

Does anyone know much about the golf engines? I've read mark2/3 engines are fairly straight forward and that i need to get a hold of diesel parts such as bell housing and engine mounts.

i just wondered if the 2.0l mark3 gti engine is as straight forward as the 1.8 using all the diesel parts such as bell housing etc?

Post by **toomanytoys** » 23 Jun 2008, 12:18

16v is a screamer and not suited to a full camper...
2L is ideal, but you may find the wiring is a pain as its all electronic, this is why the earlier 1.8 GTi/Audi 80 engines are good, simpler fi system..

Post by **high_tower** » 23 Jun 2008, 12:45

is there much difference between the mark 2 gti, mark 3 gti and the audi 80?

sorry for being a pain, I grew up on motorbikes so the cars we're talking about are different to what I'm used to.

I've found alot of audi 80 1.8s are they the same engine or a different flavour?

Post by **toomanytoys** » 23 Jun 2008, 14:45

Audi 80 1.8 is the same (essentially) as a Golf GTi.. 116 bhp
mk 2 may be very similar, but Mk3 will be much more complicated...

Post by **high_tower** » 23 Jun 2008, 18:30

Ok since i've nailed down what lump i'm after has anyone got a parts list i should be getting from the golf to make the conversion go right?

I've seen the list of bits from the diesel i need to get ahold of to make that work and i'm already doing well on that front.

Post by **skell** » 24 Jun 2008, 11:55

you'll be wanting a diesel sump, I have a non-turbo diesel sump spare £40 posted.

Post by **high_tower** » 25 Jun 2008, 09:00

i've been looking down the route of getting my hands on either a gti or an audi 80. Is the audi 80 1.8 the only one out of the range that will fit on the diesel bell housing and fit with the same parts as what would be used to make the gti fit?

Post by **Pat Dolan** » 03 Jul 2008, 12:46

This is one time I would hold out for that ABA. The extra stroke of the 2.0 litre pays back a lot more in the required torque department for hauling a T3 around.