Club 80-90 Forums

Hi there helpers

I am not in a panic yet but would like to know my options.

So, hypothetically if I was looking to upgrade my 1983 petrol 1.6 Aircooled CT (recon) engine on me van, what is, who is, out there and is it worth it?

Cheers
ps I did look at previous forum entries on they were about diesel swaps etc

Whats your budget?

you can put any engine in a van... money will solve that.

cheapest upgrade is a 2.0 CU... then the world is your oyster..once your into new fangled radiators

unless you converting the van to watercooled your options and the easiest to do is a cu engine code 2.0 litre which produces 70bhp as fitted to t3 vans up to 1983 , then if you want more power a 1800cc an code engine out of a vw 412ls this produces 85 bhp but easily tunable to over 100bhp i had one of these years ago which produced 93bhp at the wheels just with very simple mods , then theres a 2.0 914 porsche 4 cylinder 100bhp gb code engine , then your options get a bit more complicated theres the chevy corvair 6 cylinder motors ranging from 80bhp right up to the 180bhp motor , then we move onto the porsche 6 cylinder ranging from 130 bhp from the 2.0 right up to 3.8 rs 300bhp and yes its definately worth it but it all depends how deep your pockets are to how fast you can afford to go ,

Yikes lots of options then. I think my van was a 1.9 petrol engine prior to getting a recon ct 1.6 Aircooled fitted.

Would it be quite easy to go back to a 1.9 then?
Cheers guys

expensive...
everything's easy.
you have to stop thinking in how hard, just how much and how long

Fag sums it up with the obvious options , but as it used to be a watercooler then it does make it a touch easier to convert ,but cheapest quickest is a 2ltr
mm

the only worry you will have if fitting a 2.0 Aircooled motor the rear valance will need modifying if you still have a water cooled box fitted