Refurb or refit

[cookbot]

I'm in a bit of a conundrum. I've got a late T25 that at some point in it's life has been converted from a 1.9 petrol to a 1.6 (non turbo) diesel and lets be honest, it's never going to be the quickest thing in the world at the best of times! I've not really driven far in it yet, but I'm hoping to get away to the South of France over my summer break for 6 weeks.

The problem lies, do I refurb the engine in the hope of getting a reliable engine with the power it should have, or do I push on and fit a PD130 over the easter break, although I'll only have 2 weeks to do it (I do have my own welding gear and access to a full machine shop though). If I go down this route, it's likely I'll make a few more sets and offer a full conversion kit though, so there will be a few sets going spare. I'm also going to make some adaptors to allow the fitting differing calipers too, probably the old ones off my TT track car as that's moved onto Brembo's now.

Just curious if anyone has ever done a long distance trip with a sound laden 1.6D and how they found it?

[chuckle-bus-tom]

Set off now and you may get to the south of France by late summer.

[cookbot]

I want to refurb the 1.6d, but I just can't see it happening and still being usable. A remapped 1.9td sounds like much more fun.

[Smcknighty]

The 1.6d is ok - it should be fairly bulletproof - you will do around 55mph though and will slow on the hills. Once your off motorway it won't really matter. You'll get stuck behind motor homes or other traffic. It will be a boring journey down though. Does it run ok at the moment? I think the next problem after fitting tdi is getting a gearbox with the right ratios to use it - with the existing gearbox your just going to get to 55/60mph faster and not slow down on hills. Not done the conversion yet (but have done 2000 miles around France in one trip!)

[cookbot]

I may just do the quick refurb now (rings, valve + stems, seals, etc and I'll have a good engine for someone that wants to keep it OE when I come to sell it. I'm intending to keep with the Passat box of the 1.9, so ratios with enough power (and a Sachs performance clutch) shouldn't present too much of a problem.

Need to do my research before hand though, although this thread is a good read:
http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/t3-au ... fflenarnia

I guess I'm lucky in that I have access to free machining and I can bumble my way around solid works when I comes to making parts. This is the last part I've made and allows the fitting of a 3.2 boxster S Brembo caliper to a Mk1 TT.
https://www.facebook.com/CookbotAutomot ... ns/?ref=hl

* I tried linking the image directly, but it threw a wobbly, so here's a link instead with it all on.

[cookbot]

I do like the mpg of the 1.6 too, although it smokes, struggles to start and is lacking compression I think.

[silverbullet]

The torque delivery of the PD 130 engine will mince your 091 transaxle imho, it will lead a brief and miserable existance in a loaded camper.
A modern 2.0i petrol will be kinder to the transmission, more flexible, return good mpg and bolt straight in with the existing diesel mounts and sump etc.
Just a thought.

[cookbot]

Why would it matter if I would be keeping the box off the donor car and flipping it? Out of curiosity, what average MPG are petrols bringing to the party in a van?

[silverbullet]

When you said "make conversion kits" there was no mention of an inverted Audi transaxle.
Its nasty bodgineering imho. Ask TitusADuxass what he gets from his ADY engined tintop/poptop camper. That was a diesel.

[cookbot]

Sorry, I didn't make it clear in the first thread. There's so much option and you can guarantee, whatever is done will never be simple! I can see me breaking into the 1.6d only to be met with more work than anticipated, it usually works out that way!

[silverbullet]

The upside down Audi trans reduces ground clearance and needs a whole new gear selector mech too. It just goes on and on, the final result is stil a b4$t4rd child with unproven long-term reliability. The only benefit is a cheap gearbox.
I would ask Tim at Ultimate Engineering about an UN-1 conversion, some of them have quite tall final drives which suit diesels and they are very strong, but not cheap and there are bodyshell mods involved.