Most Pain free engine conversion?

[unknownmale]

So, I don't think my 1.8 ex engine has long left in it...I think you know it's time to let go when your oil bills are higher than petrol!

I've been looking at switching for the past year and just can't seem to figure out which direction to go in.

I don't care about putting in a massive VR6 and to be honest my brain isn't up to all the fabrication and wiring involved (nor is my budget).

I wanted something a little more straight forward, the DX seemed to be the most obvious option, but I can't seem to find one anywhere under 150k miles!

So I'm guessing the right direction for me to go in would be for the KR or ABF as they're a little easier to find and lower mileage...I know there is a intake clearance issue with the bonnet and I believe a dizzy / brake booster issue, but other than that, should this drop right into the a1 chassis and get along with my gearbox without too much arguing?

I don't mind putting the work in, but anything involving welding and heavy electrics will put it way out of my skillset!

Any advice, warning welcome!

[Little_bro]

There's a 30k fire damaged mk2 rocco on eBay at the moment http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-SCIROCCO-G ... 4ae49dfae3

[GTXTRA]

If you can find a decent 9A and a set of KR cams that'll do nicely.

If I lost an engine on one of mine that's the one I'd go for and relatively easily, fits under bonnet too without mods unlike the ABF.

[mr.brown]

ABF/KR will use the same engine mounts as the EX so easier/cheaper from that point of view.

KRs were only around till 91/92 whereas the ABF continued to 97/98 depending on car/model.

Your main issue will be fuelling since the EX only had an engine mounted mechanical pump. The injected cars were altogether more convoluted therefore a KR/ABF on carbs might be a less complicated solution.

[unknownmale]

There's a 30k fire damaged mk2 rocco on eBay at the moment http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-SCIROCCO-G ... 4ae49dfae3

Yeah, I saw this one, Dorset is a bit too far for me to go for an EX though, by the time I pay to get it here and buy it I could have bought sometime better...Considered it though!

[unknownmale]

If you can find a decent 9A and a set of KR cams that'll do nicely.

If I lost an engine on one of mine that's the one I'd go for and relatively easily, fits under bonnet too without mods unlike the ABF.

I read a couple of places about the 9a, i'd not heard of it before? Same displacement as the ABF?

[unknownmale]

ABF/KR will use the same engine mounts as the EX so easier/cheaper from that point of view.

KRs were only around till 91/92 whereas the ABF continued to 97/98 depending on car/model.

Your main issue will be fuelling since the EX only had an engine mounted mechanical pump. The injected cars were altogether more convoluted therefore a KR/ABF on carbs might be a less complicated solution.

That's good to know! Yeah, the fuel injection side of things has intimidated me as all the cars i've played with are on carbs. If I were to fit an electric fuel pump and run the factory ecu etc, are there work arounds in regards to ignition, immobilisers etc, or is it an all or nothing deal?

Cheers for the help guys!

[mr.brown]

9A was the Corrado/Passat 2.0 16v. The advantage is that it is a "short" block so the same height as the EX/DX/KR - but it was only around til 93(?) so again age is an issue. The Audi equivalent was 6A then ACE (I may be talking crap here so google)

The ABF is around 13mm taller - more of a headache with respect to the exhaust manifold than bonnet clearance.

I don't think an aftermarket fuel pump (Facet etc) will get you the requisite fuel pressure for an injected engine.

[Nate]

I put a 2E from a passant in my last one. Wiring wasn't a problem, as I transferred the entire wiring loom and just swapped the plugs for the rear lights. Think everything else went ok. I obviously there is a lot of surplus wiring you can remove, and the front to back loom did need shortening quite a lot.

I used a standard toilet bowl downpipe and manifold. It was close to the rack, but not too close. Tight to the bonnet too, but didn't touch.

[unknownmale]

Didn't realise there we so many options!

So far i've got my eye on this as it's super cheap and close to me - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221688289791? ... EBIDX%3AIT

I've also been offered a DX for £200.

Would I need a new fuel tank if I were to go with the DX or ABF?

Considering the ABF on bike carbs, but as it's my daily driver I think I might regret it MPG wise.

[mr.brown]

Fuel tank is the same as far I'm aware. Just bear in mind that this is the injection system for a post-84 DX



You have the lift pump feeding the reservoir. This then goes to the main pump - which connects to the accumulator and then on to the fuel filter. To replicate this you'd basically need a donor DX.

ABF on bike carbs might be thirsty but it would be a lot simpler to fuel.

[Nate]

Personally I'd favour buying a complete running donor car. You then know you've got everything and know it drives ok.

As fur fuel pump, I kept the standard carb tank, and added an online pump from an old beamer, which I mounted just ahead of the tank with a custom made bracket*

Was told this wouldn't work, but was told this by the same people who told me the engine was too tall and it's impossible to fit a golf filler neck, both of which I had already done.






*cable ties

[james butler]

i have an abf lump waiting to go into mine one day, stripping the loom is easy. the hardest bit is retaining the imobiliser, key reader and the key. tape it all together and put it under the dash.
i was going to mount a fake ignition barrel with the key reader in it into in the dash so when the doner car key is removed the car will be correctly imobilised using the genuine vw setup.

[Huffy]

I have a 16v mk2 been sat for the last 6 years in my garage....