You Might be wondering if the title is a typo. It not. This is the story of a man, his Vanagon, a junk diesel engine and a smashed GTI rabbit.
Let me start by saying this article is not a tell all, definitive how to replacing your diesel engine with a gas engine article. Its a lot of work and I'm sure to forget something. Also remember this conversion was one VW in-line 4 cylinder engine to another. It's almost impossible to convert your air or water-cooled flat 4 to a rabbit engine. Then again if you have the money anything is possible
It started in the Spring of '95. We were looking for a camper. After spending a year and a half in the old '70 and having 3 children, my wife Barbra wanted something modern. I wanted a '78 or '79, she wanted heat and a nice ride. (Please remember she's a Ford person. To her VW's were those ugly little cars she passed on the hills.) We had previously owned a nice '83.5 Camper. That's what she had in mind.
We went out for a nice spring ride, looking for a camper and ended up at Gordi Davis' 4-ever-4 in Marlow, NH. 603-446-7820. We looked at what he had, believe me he has a lot of stuff in that little shop, but unfortunately all the campers he had were out of our price range. I could believe how much the prices of campers have gone up in two years. Just as we were getting ready to leave Gordi says to me, 'Hey wait a minute, I'm taking a '82 diesel Camper in trade from a couple in New York state in about a week or so. I haven't seen it and I understand there's something wrong with the motor, but you can have it as it sets for 1500.00.' What a deal! I couldn't say yes fast enough. My mind already jumping ahead to installing a 16v GTI motor.
About 2 weeks later Gordi call me up and asked if I still wanted the camper. He was headed out to pick it up the next day and he could drop it off at my house on his way by. 24 hours later I'm meeting Gordi at the local convenience store so that he can follow me to my house. What a sight, one Vanagon pulling another. First impressions were pretty good, no rust and it was strait. The deal was done.
Gordi had told me that the previous owners had it looked at a garage in town and the mechanic said there was something wrong with the head. I had it in my mind that I was going to junk the diesel engine in favor of the GTI motor, but I figured I see how messed up the motor was. Most people know that diesels are noisy. But when I started it up I thought that someone had thrown rocks in the crankcase. I checked the oil and drove it over to the shop where I work to put it on the lift and check it over. I barely made it there, and I didn't make it home. I didn't know it then but the oil cooler had sprung a leak and oil and coolant were mixing together. Oil pressure was barely enough to keep the light out and after about 5 minutes run time the engine overheated. I didn't feel like fiddling with this motor, so it was time for a new motor.
I made a few phone calls to check on some leads I had made to find a 16V motor. They all dried up. I found an 83 rabbit GTI motor at John's Car Corner in Westminster VT. So no big deal I'll use the Rabbit engine. Fortunately the motor was still in the car and I could hear it run and do some tests on it to make sure it was a good motor. One of the most important things I would need would be the fuel injection wiring harness and all associated parts. The engine check out so I bought it and all the parts I would need. I traded John my old bus for everything I needed. Sell the old '70 is a decision I now regret.
Basically the conversion is as simple as changing motors. The gas and diesel engine blocks are almost identical. When changing the motor you need to use the diesel engine's flywheel and clutch( don't forget that pilot bearing in the crankshaft), oil pan, oil pick-up tube, complete exhaust system and engine mounts. While I had the motor on the stand I did some cleaning and replaced most of the seals. Installed a new timing belt and replaced the valve cover gasket.
It only took me one day to switch engines and almost a year to get running right. The first obstacle I encountered was when I was installing the engine in the van. I found that the intake manifold, mainly the throttle body hit the firewall of the engine compartment. So I used my handy sledge hammer, Tim Allen Grunt, OH OH OH, and made a slight dent in the body. I also had to cut a hole so I could get access to the idle mixture screw. Oh well one small problem so far not bad. Once I had the engine in I realized had to fabricate a new throttle cable. I had thought the Bus cable would be long enough. What needs to be done is the rabbit cable has to be joined to the bus cable to make it longer. By the time I found this out it was late Saturday afternoon and I didn't have the rabbit cable.
The next problem was fuel injection. Note: when doing this conversion, you MUST use the fuel injection. The steep angle of the engine makes it tuff to use a carborator. It took me about 3 hours to find where to put the mixture control unit and fuel pump. Actually, it took me almost a week to wire in the fuel injection in the bus, and I won't get into details here but just remember you want to have to fuel pump a low as possible in relation to the fuel tank. And relays need to be securely mounted. I ended up mounting the fuel pump to the frame about 3 feet from the fuel tank. (just about where is would be on a gas vanagon) I mounted the mixture control unit to the engine mounting frame next to the battery. (the batteries on diesels are mounted in the engine compartment) It put the throttle body about twice as far away as the stock rabbit. I was worried about the larger distance between the mixture unit and throttle body, but I've been told that it shouldn't be a problem, and so far I haven't had a problem. Unless you count the holes that have developed between the mixture unit and throttle body. Thank God for duct tape! I also had to replace a couple of the shorter braided steel fuel lines with longer ones but so far so good.
When I finally got everything wired and hooked up, it was late but I had to try to start the engine. It fired up right off but immediately stalled. I tried again, same thing. Hmm. I double checked the wiring and found one wire wasn't hooked up right. I tried it again and it started. I felt just like old Doc Frankenstein "ITS ALIVE, ITS ALIVE". I soon noticed, however, the oil pressure didn't seem right. The light took a few seconds to go off and then it came on again after a few seconds of idling. Ut-oh, something is not right. Well, it was late so I shut it down and called it a night.
Announcer: "Seems like trouble for our hardy mechanic. Will the Camper run? Or will it become a salvage for 'The Junkman'? Tune in next issue for the dynamic conclusion, same Bat time same Bat channel"
.
