Club 80-90 Forums

The guys put a mTDI in for me and pulled out all the stops to get it done in time for my trip to the Hebrides. Delays in the supply of the mechanical pump meant it was a rush at the last minute to get it all done.

The guys didn't really want me to take the van as they hadn't test driven it properly and had graciously offered an alternative but the wife was not keen on using another van. Against the guys advise I took the van anyway.

The trip has been great but not without problems. One of the injectors started blowing so it started to sound like an Aircooled engine. Cak handed me decided to torque down the bolt which holds the injector in place and managed to snap the bolt in the block. A call to Britannia Rescue sent two brilliant lads from a local garage in Kyle (near Skye - one of the guys know Baxter - think he said he welded up Simons first Beetle) They had the broken bolt out in minutes. The injector removed and the build up of crud removed and a new bolt in. Running sweet again. Amazingly this was at 6pm in the evening and they only charged me a tenner. I gave them a few extra spondoolies for saving my holiday and a lot of grief from the wife.

What a difference the TDI has made over the AAZ. A lot less wand waving and it has effortlessly got me up and down the many hills in Harris and Lewis with ease. I was dreading having to drive the van with the old engine over here.

The accelerator has barely been pressed to the floor. The van actually accelerates up quite steep hills with little or no effort where the old one would have dropped back to a crawl and pissed off the people behind me not to mention stinking them out.

The van has used very minimal oil over the last 500 miles. A hell of a lot less than the litre every 700 miles with the old setup anyway. I think fuel economy is better as well.

I have yet to test it out on the motorway which was my biggest grumble with the AAZ. The trip has largely been on winding A roads and twisty mountainous single track roads. Their isn't many motorways north of Glasgow in the West of Scotland. i.e none

Aside from the injector issue I have had to top up the water once and tighten the oil feed pipe to the turbo as it had a slight weep. Again issues that the guys would have sorted had I given them enough time to test it properly.

Aidan of course rebuilt the gearbox and it has performed well so far. Not had the opportunity to test it off road yet (aside from using the G gear to get down the drive to the cottage in Harris - very steep and made up of type 1 gravel). 3rd and 4th gears seem to be perfect for the job.

I'll be dropping the van back in for a couple of things that didn't quite get finished before I took it from Syncronutz. Overall I am delighted with the van and would recommend both the conversion and Syncronutz wholeheartedly.

Good one slobbo... obviously enjoying a relaxing holiday, nice when the vehicle doesn't embarrass at every turn or require 101% concentration just to get from A to B.

One small clarification though...

Apart from the Tdi being better on fuel than an AAZ, all your other comparisons seem to be between a good Tdi and a totally shagged AAZ - not quite fair

Yeah maybe your right. I know a lot of people are more than happy with the AAZ.

I know I was using a lot of oil (a litre every 700 miles) and it was stinking. I never seemed to get consistent performance from the engine as well. I had tried changing fuel pumps, turbos and all manner of tweaking to get the AAZ running as I wanted.

That said Andy has stripped the AAZ and found nothing wrong with the components where you'd expect to see the problems manifest themselves with the symptoms I have been experiencing.

The performance I was craving I am now getting with the TDI. I think I expected more than I should have. I drive a V8 Jeep with loads of torque and have been spoiled. The van weighs in at roughly the same weight but with a lot less torque so driving it was only going to be disappointing in comparison. I didn't expect it to perform the same just better than it did.

The TDI is an improvement in the following ways;
1. More fuel efficient (not by much)
2. Less strained to drive
3. Performs much better on hills and twisty roads with less gear changes
4. Doesn't use as much oil (could have been just my AAZ)
5. Power delivery much nicer than the AAZ

That said my wallet would have preferred to have stuck with the AAZ but I had tried everything short of stripping and performance tuning the AAZ so I either had to bight the bullet and go TDI or performance enhance the AAZ. I chose the TDI because on paper it looks the better option. In practice I have found the TDI to deliver what I want.

So again I say the AAZ isn't a bad choice of engines. For me the TDI was the better option.

The gearbox modification for those who are interested is using an AAN, 4.86 ratio box but with third gear changed to 1.18 and fourth to 0.77 using Albins gears, to give a motorway speed at below 3000 rpm on 15" AT tyres.
I have an identical box in stock, with early diesel belhousing (no breather pipe holes as fitted to early syncro TDs) and diesel input shaft for sale outright £1550 fully rebuilt all new bearings synchro rings seals gaskets etc..

HarryMann wrote: a totally shagged AAZ - not quite fair

Not shagged! Just wasnt suitible for slobo's high motorway mileage, And now he has the gearing sorted it will suit him to a tee!

The AAZ with a suitable gear ratio will achieve what you can with a 1Z (on road) If driven with respect in relation to what the vehicle is, and not like a national express coach!

Anyhow what would i know? I got a gay 2.1wbx

(near Skye - one of the guys know Baxter - think he said he welded up Simons first Beetle)

I've never had a Beetle!
'Ar lass did, but it never had any welding in the time she had it..
It was a late Mexican one, the only one I would let her have as I couldn't be arsed fixing it all the time, I dislike Beetles a fair bit (Being a mechanic).
Wonder who that is then?!