"Upright" inline bellhousings

[silverbullet]

I can't believe that this hasn't been suggested before or that it's taken me so long to think of this, but this has occurred to me:

In SA, alongside the 2.5 k-jet engines there was a 1.8 carb version and I think that in addition to the later 2.3 and 2.6 Motronic engines, there was the same (or maybe a 2.0) inline engine, derived from the Golf etc. all with the engine sat at about 15 - 20 degrees from vertical.

Now the 1.8 / 2.0 would have needed it's own bellhousing as it's not the same bolt pattern as the 5-pot, this is well known. There may well have been more of these 4 cyl models made as "economy" versions for the base Volksie bus and panel vans (yes they made windowless "big window" vans, I've seen the pics)

So...since the 5-pot bellhousings are at a premium now and there are more people in Europe interested in fitting the likes of AFN Tdi's and ADY petrol engines, why not try and get a bunch of these bells sent over from SA? There are a few people who claim to have contacts there, in fact if we could get hold of just one then I can arrange the remanufacture here, from foundry castings to fully machined final product.

Any thoughts?

(I really shouldn't be logged in, far too busy this weekend but this is a bee in my bonnet and it's done now!)

[Aidan]

SA in line 4 was mounted using the diesel bars and bellhousing ie at 55'
afaik it was pretty short lived in that market/stop gap to the 5 pot

[ELVIS]

Would it not be easier/cheaper/more cost efficient make an adapter plate chap?

[waltraud]

I'm going to be in the market for a diesel bellhousingvat some point and expect these could reach 150 on fleabag in a years time, if anyone produced a plate that would easily allow us with worn out dg/DF/dj to an Aag or similar engine then my guess is there will be a steady meerkat.

[silverbullet]

SA in line 4 was mounted using the diesel bars and bellhousing ie at 55'
afaik it was pretty short lived in that market/stop gap to the 5 pot

Ah, ok. That's a shame. Funny that there was the choice of 1.8 or 2.5 with such different installations. You'd have thought that they'd have gone for commonality, maybe even using an Audi-style double drilled bellhousing like on the 80 and 90 cars.

What a b.stard that the Audi one is integral with the trans casing...

But then again Roger still has the remains of his 80Q and I could steal a march on development if it was put to the bandsaw

The inline plate that I modified before was ex-petrol, probably to put a Golf engine in a bus. It was made to work with a 1Z diesel but I wasn't very happy with the final results. Too many compromises really.

There's enough metal between the holes to have a 4-cyl adaptor ring on the petrol bell, at 20 degrees or even zero, I'm not sure if Andy McC is working on something on the quiet? I have all the hole centres drawn out in CAD and I also plotted out the 5-pot ones, but I am struggling to make sense of the co-ordinates for the latter at the moment.

[jebiga41]

The yanks are using a mexican bellhousing from the watercooled bay window vans they produced and sold in Mexico from 1987 through about 1995. These vans had 1.8 liter Golf engines mounted upright in them. Eurospec also does them http://eurospecsport.com/products/Vanag ... 0Page.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; but needs a longer input shaft

[syncroandy]

Correct. When I came across these a couple of years ago I got dead excited for a bit till I realised they use a small petrol flywheel/starter combo so no use for the TDI I was planning. Eurospec use a special custom flywheel/clutch combo for their TDI kits, but I wanted to stick with off the shelf service parts, so a 228mm f/w (minimum) was required.

It was around this time I designed an adapter plate and was pretty much ready to have metal cut. However I was running out of time/steam with the project and ended up going 55 degree just to get it finished. I still aspire to putting in an upright PD, which will need an adapter plate, so would still like to get the adapter finished. I just need a bit of kick up the a*** to get it done... eg. if I was offered a cheap PD130 motor and electrics I might suddenly re-prioritise ! TBH though the next chunk of work on the pickup has got to be some bodywork.

[ELVIS]

Paul, read the links on thesamba last year or so and there is a chap who is a manager for vw of Mexico who sells the stuff.

Enquirer about the Mexican bay bell housing and matching parts you have to buy ( for life of me can't remember which bits but maybe input shaft clutch flywheel stater type parts ) and had a OMFG type moment. Was very expensive compared to KEP parts. Will try and find pm from them.