Club 80-90 Forums

HELP..... does anybody know if the golf gti block is a simple fit to the diesel bell housing? .I cooked my flat four 2.1 and cannot find a good engine for less than 1500 quid . Why are they so flippin exspensive!!!!!? Have looked at scooby and porsche but do not want to spend thousands as the fun police are keeping tabs .( wife). Is there an engine option for around a 1000 quid that is not a flat four vw block. My reason for not wanting another flat four waterboxer is mine ran sweet pulled well went to have a miss fire looked at and even the garage were gobsmacked at the state of the engine it was totally shot . Is 70,000 miles a lot for a waterboxer ? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Dougal.

There's a few supposedly decent used wbx engines out there to be had which would fit your budget
it's not the 70k miles, it's the 25 years and previous owners and mechanics that probably did for your old engine, if it was in fact the original one and the milage was genuine
You won't fit any sort of engine conversion well for a grand unless you know what you are doing and do it all yourself imho
they cost what they cost because of the scarcity of parts and diminishing number of breakers and the attrition of 25 years and the scrappage scheme and the cost of fuel in a 2 tonne vehicle with early eighties engine technology
the compromise is thay have depreciated completely now so they are worth what someone will pay and they cost what they cost to keep running, I always tell people to expect to spend £1k a year running one, if it costs you less then be thankful, but don't be suprised if it does cost that
a new T5 camper is best part of £50k, a T3 camper when new was relatively more expensive and were only bought new by people with large disposable incomes or the very prudent same as they are now, old ones don't suddenly become cheap just affordable to more people

any alternative engine swap will cost at least £2k, there is at least £100 on oil coolent and filters, and then the sky is the limit there is almost a never ending list of what you choose to replace on your replacement engine. i dont know too much about 2wd vans but on a syncro i sold a complete petrol to diesle convershion kit for £850 last year and that was a good price, ok so you may not need a tank but that was £150, so you can see how the costs can mount up. quickly. if you already had the diesle parts it would be considerably cheaper.
if you want too keep the wbx you going to have to increase you budget 3 or 4 fold for a quality rebuild, that said it should/will last anouther 100k/25 years. and i would look at modernising the fuel injection system.

neil

Cheers chaps . The budget of a grand was the kit to swap the engine. It was the damage to my old engine that put me off i had already got new heads and other things like push rod tubes and gasket sets sorted and as you both say it was around 800 quid in and things were getting worse the further into the block i went . The engine had been rebuilt 6 years ago but it looked like the cam was origional as it was pitted really badly. With the rebuilds i have looked at it never mentions new cam fitted . I think i might just rebuild the old block new cam and all . Thanks for the words of wisdom i will go back to the shed and have another look at it make a new list of parts and go from there. Luckily my brotjer in law is a bit of velvet monkey wrench did not want to ask the favours but looks like i will need some help to sort my old block as changing it all is turning out to be a mission that is not do able with my limited knowladge. As the van has not cost a fortune to run for the last 3 years i think you are right just spend what i need to spend and enjoy the next 100.000 miles . thanks again . Dougal

Dougal devon wrote:HELP..... does anybody know if the golf gti block is a simple fit to the diesel bell housing?

The answer to your original question is - yes.

The Gti has essentially the same block as the TD engine so you can fit the TD backplate, flywheel, clutch, engine mounting arms and many other pars and bolt it all directly into place. When you've got there, it all goes very well indeed. 70mph all day and 25 mpg while you're doing it and that's in a syncro campervan.

Gary it sounds like your block is laid over as you have used the diesel mounts has that meant you jad to change the sump or any parts . I just needed someone like yourself who had the conversion done to give few pionters . The swap to gti i pressume yours is mk3? Any more info you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks dougal.

Dougal,
pm me your email address and I will forward a whole bunch of documents, wiring info etc which should answer a lot of your questions - and many you haven't even thought of yet.

In answer to your direct questions - apart from having HT leads and a dizzy instead of a pump and injectors, it looks just like a TD installation.

A GTi install could be done for under a grand and you'll have a cracking van afterwards.
Read Gary's bible and you'll see how easy it is.

Where in gods country are you bredrin?

I'm at a30/m5 junction

ELVIS wrote:Where in gods country are you bredrin?

I'm at a30/m5 junction

Just the far side of newton abbot from you.

Will keep an eye out. Down that way regularly as my bro lives in Barton just uphill from the speed camera. Give me a shout if you want to look at my Gti.

Elvis you are a star that would help loads . Have found a bell housing and block but you know yourself the best way is seeing one in place as it it is easier to copy than make it up as you go along. Gary is emailing me his bible as titus calls it ! So any probs will involve a meet up with you and beers if thats good with you as like i said somtimes it becomes clearer
when you see it. Dougal
Cheers for the advice fellas will keep you all posted on how it is going .

Bargain

..and not too far away either..

syncroandy wrote:Bargain

..and not too far away either..

Cheers for that andy but like is was ranting in the origional post my engine sounded sweet ,pulled well , no smoke or funny rattles and it was totally shot . I dont think a second hand engine is worth buying at all i think it is too big a risk even on the run to Busfest mine only misfired once on the way home . Thanks for the heads up though fella . Dougal

Wont any engine you buy be second hand.?