Club 80-90 Forums

Hi,

I have a T25 1987 that has had an engine change to an AAZ from a VW golf mk3.

Its a long story (isnt it always with a camper van!) but basically she has been previously insured with Footman James for a reasonable price. I tried to import her to France (having already imported her from Germany) but it was never gonna happen with the engine change. Anyone want to know what a world of pain that was just email me! It can be done, but definately not recommended after an engine change.

I need to get her insured and then sold in the UK as I now live in France. On the V5C I noticed just recently that the engine is noted as the original 1.6TDi although the installed engine, the AAZ is actually a 1.9TDi.

I guess that this is a bit naughty of me (although not deliberate) and I have to decide what to do. Should I;

1. Insure her with the new engine as I did before and just leave it at that.
2. Insure her with the old engine (which I guess might invalidate my insurance if she gets written off etc, perish the thought)
3. Get the V5C updated to the new engine so that all is 100% above board and insure her with the new engine. If the DVLA are anywhere near as difficult as the French, this could be expensive and difficult is she needs loads of tests and stuff. What has everyone else with engine changes done?

All help gratefully received...

Leftfield27/Duncan

Your engine change insurance & log book problem is like mine.I installed a 1Y in the van it did have a 1.6td .I informed the insurance company about the engine change & there was no extra premium.If you read the log book its a legal requirment to inform them the DVLA of any changes .

If I write to the DVLA and inform them of the engine change, what will they say ??? Will the van have to be examined, have further tests and maybe fail them? In France they are sooo strict, any engine change requires a thousand euros worth of testing by a private company and the report submitted to the French DVLA and all that...

I noticed a few other van owners on this forum which have changed the engine and simply informed the DVLA and received the new V5C... is this par for the course....

You dont have to give an engine number ,just a change of cc, I went from 1900 to 2200 just fill out the v5 and sent it off!

Like you say it's a right pain in some countries , I've a brother that's lived in France over ten years and has some specialist vehicles that would be nearly impossible to register there , so some of his vehicles are registered insured in the GB , this just saves so much chew , If you could get an engineers report to say the engine has been fitted professionally ( MOT stations will be able to do this ) this will keep the insurance happy