Club 80-90 Forums

Hello all,

As you may know, I have been entrusted by the wife and mother in law to completely rebuild a 1983 panel van that has been very crudely converted to a camper.
It is the ultra basic model with no rear wash / wipe, no heated rear window, no hand brake warning and basic 805 instruments.
Oh and 23 years of "standing rust.!!
And for good measure it has a 1.9 DF wasserboxer.

From reading the wiki and doing thread searches, I can find next to no information about the DF set-up.

Yes I know it has the 34 pict 5 carb and all that,
and I know that the valve heads are smaller on the DF exhaust valves compared to the DG equivalent.

But beyond this there is no comparative information about the DF.
That is, cam shaft profiles and angles, crank-shaft configuration etc.

If I fit DG heads, inlet manifold and Pierburg carb - does that now change my DF to a DG?
Which in essence would mean my asthmatic DF would be able to dream of pulling the skin off a custard.

Or DG heads and digifant set-up - would that make it a DH?
So even more custard skinning ability.

My overall plan is to retain the wasserboxer, but just thinking of whether to stick with the DF for originality, or look to convert to something a bit more gutsy. (DH or DG) ? Or even if that is possible with minor alterations.

I have worked on various cars for about 28 years so happy to do all the electrics, plumbing and mechanicals myself.
The only limiting factor is information.

Haynes does the mechanicals fine but wiring diagrams are for later vehicles with blade fuses.
Bentley's being an American book does not cover the carb engines.
And like I said above - the DF appears to have minimal coverage on all websites and forums.

Sorry for the war and peace - but the fuller my query, the more appropriate the answers - hopefully.

The DF has a different camshaft the engine was built to replace the 1600CT for the deliver van market where low down power is more important it produces it's max power 1000rpm lower than the DG.

It sounds like you have a project
If the waterboxer is your look
I would suggest you do the bodywork first and be on the look out for a 2.1 engine to do up in parallel with the body work
Converting along the way to new water system as the old parts are getting obsolete and run injection or pierburg.
As for the lovely DF unit you have - mine was rebuilt before I got it - with new camshaft and bits/bobs and I am more than happy with it - Sits comfortably at 55-60 behind lorries on motorways sipping on gas at about 20-21 per gallon.
Engines pop up readily on this site and many others - with many a conversation over good / bad supplliers etc

I agree with Duane.. look for the 2.1 and gearbox, if your goung that deep then you might aswell go the whole hog.

Thanks for the replies.
The 1.9 has it's left head removed as it blew it's valve guide out of it's bore 23 years ago.
Father in law then gave up on the van.
Since his death two years ago, I was asked to do the old girl up rather than let it go to the camp site in the sky...

I am not too concerned about power or speed. So just gauging your expert opinions.

Probably need to look at an lpg conversion too in the long term.

Van will be more or less a blank canvas.


By the way - the gear box is a 4 speed DT, which I believe is a good work horse unit.

I had read many of the horror story threads about "Profesionally" reconditioned engines.

Plan is to completely strip the DF myself, and see what the internals are like.
It has simply been left as it was, not drained of fluids or dry-stored.

If it all appears mucky but sound, then I will rebuild using new parts as required.
If as I expect, it is porous and rotted internally, then I will simply weigh the engine in - no point flogging a dead horse.

As suggested, I have started stripping the front end out completely, and slowly working my way backwards..
Blimey these VW designers had a strange sense of humour...