Club 80-90 Forums

HI All,

I am undecided as to whether convert to golf GTI or 1.9TD.

My question is - how does a conversion affect the value of a bus?

Does a petrol conversion add more or less value? How about with LPG?

Is diesel more saleable?

Or is it better for the value to stick with the waterboxer?

I am not that interested in selling the van, but interested for the future and want to spark a bit of debate

Light the blue touch paper and retire........

Steve

Would be GTi for me - mostly because I prefer petrol engines, esp if converted to LPG

I cannot really comment on the re-sale value as I would not want a Diesel, though I do suspect that a well converted 1.9TD would sell for more money than a GTi conversion.

Ill give you my facts about my conversion

had a 1.6 n/a
bought a 1.9 n/a for 150 quid
Bought a spigot bearing for 6 quid
bought a sump gasket for 14 quid
oil and filter..say 20 quid

Thats the minimum it cost me to convert.you could buy new oil pump and belts but thats what it cost me initially...190 quid
insurance ..no different

the value proberbly hasnt increased but while I have it ,it has to me

LPG will add to value to any petrol bus

Facts as i see em or know of them

Gti = mid 30s mpg if driven sensibly. My old AAZ bus did about the same sort of mpg.
Gti (although roughly same size engine and injection system as a DJ) hammers a DJ on perfromance (my old doka was 2.1)
Gti on LPG gives equivilent of mid/late 40s mpg on LPG according to Hutch.
Compare 2E and AAZ 'on paper' and 2E makes more torque than an AAZ at 2250 rpm and the line is horizontal until 5k rpm.

AAZs command top money on forums/ebay etc. Gtis are cheap as chips.

No brainer IMHO but im a Gti convert so biased! (oh and ive fitted a 268 cam in mine and have a G60 in the planning for winter)

really elvis
mid 30's if you drove it sensibly, you told me you never lifted your foot off the floor.
1.9 n/a aef slow on hills cruises at 70 late 30's or more mpg and cheap to buy.
happy days

Hutch told me about the mpg thing as he drives like a girl- sometimes

After going from a JX to an AAZ i would do it again ONLY if the JX was fubared. I wouldnt think about doing it as an 'upgrade' - VFM/smiles per miles etc it just isnt worth it IMHO.

A JX fitted with a GTD pump isnt far off AAZ territory. Just MHO.

If the LEZ ever covers all campers, I think I'll go GTI. G60 would be tempting though....

Hi All

Thinking of a 1.8 Turbo 20 valve engine code AUQ out of an Octavia. Is this the same engine as Elvis is talking about from a GTi ( or very similar )?
Engine is supposed to be very torquey and very good on mpg. Going to cost me the same as an AFN conversion.
Got an AFN in my syncro camper doing at least 32mpg at diesel costs per gallon and 1000 miles per month this costs about £203.
If I could get 28mpg ( which I guess is realistic ) from the AUQ costs for the same 1000 miles at petrol prices come out at £217.
So for £15 a month more and an engine that is a lot smoother should I go AUQ or go AFN which I know.

Any opinions greatly appreciated.

Should I expect to get more than 28mpg out of an AUQ in a syncro panel van?

Cheers Rich

just ring your insurance company and find out how it will effect your policy if you do the conversion ,

that should stop you!

also to get the full benifit of your conversion you will need to change the gearing in the gerabox , so budget an extra £700- £1200 for the rebuild/ replacement box

i have dropped a ahu tdi into the doka, for smiles per miles it was worth every penny ( i paid someone to do it )

mainly done as the jx lump ( which had been refurbed at much expense to previous owner ) was useless once the caravan was on the rear - and i like to do a bit of touring with it.

mpg is still to be calculated BUT just from a trip meter / fuel guage position i know i am getting a better return than the old engine.

as above i need to sort out the gearbox next as it is running 4000 rpm @ 70 mph - i have a 3h 5 speed fitted with 215 14 rears - and just saving the dollar up for the circa £1200 bill.

conversions shouldnt be done on a how much will it increase the value IMHO - but done to better the use of the vehicle whilst you own/use it.

Elvis is talkin about 2ltr 8v engine agg fitted in golf gti mk3 not 1.8 20vt. 20vt struggle to get 28mpg in a mk4 golf so in 2 tonne van. low 20's and no where near as cheap or straight forward to fit.

1st mpg check on 1.9 Tdi has given me 35

That's been a good mix of use but not towing.

I did get to tow yesterday, double axle car trailer with a chevy van on the back ( the one that looks like a ghostbusters van ) and couldnt fault it. we recond that the chevy n trailer were approximate 2 ton

I tend to keep my cars a fair bit of time and in the recent past I've owned two, 2 litre 2E engined Passats, one a high mileage GL (over 120K) on a H plate 91, the other was a CL, low mileage, under 60K on a 95 Preg.

I don't drive particularly fast but on a mixed cycle both would average around 28mpg, on a run they would creep into the very low 30's (31/32) but put the caravan on the back and that would drop to a lowly 23-25mpg (I did several European tours towing an average sized Swift van).

How people can say they get 33mpg out of a 2E engine fitted in a 2000Kg van is beyond me!
Lovely engine though....capable of STELLA mileage. Seen a few with 250K still going strong.


Martin

Were they TDI engines Martin?

I reckon i would get 28 on average out of my AAZ - but i didnt hang around.

Ringo