Re: 1.8T conversion (whoa, long)

["Riley McDowall" <roog@telus.net>]

> Now...Tell me if I am wrong here, but this is my general understanding of
> the swap.  It can be done much cheaper, but as price decreases, your skill
> and resources must increase exponentially.  The physical aspect of getting
> the motor into the car is not such a big deal, just a relocation of motor
> mounts, etc.  You MUST get a complete motor for electronics...Which cannot

That's right, actually bolting the motor into the car is a snap.  The
logisitics of fabricating all the plumbing, etc., is also fairly
straightforward.  A lot of guys can get this far in their own garage with an
engine hoist, a welder, and some prefab sections of exhaust pipe.

And yes, you need the whole wiring harness, but that goes without
saying....note that the motor you really want is from an early Passat or
Audi - one that came WITHOUT the drive-by-wire throttle.  Then you'll have
to source a Beetle/Golf/Jetta intake manifold because the opening for the TB
is in the right place.  Even then, some of the parts off the donor motor
were engineered for a drivetrain that runs front to back (rather than
transverse), so you'll have to go through the parts bin or fabricate from
scratch a bunch of other stuff.  Pullies, ancillary brackets, etc.

> the main technicality is the drive train...Going from a cable clutch to a
> hydro clutch, along with a cable shifter is not an easy task (and I
believe
> that this is where the bulk of momentum's expense (sans engine) comes in).

You can also use a 16v tranny.  No need to spend the time and $$ fitting a
newer transmission/clutch/shifter.  You will want a Quaife though :)

> Also, do not forget brakes (with a 5 lug pattern), etc.

Because you're keeping the 16v tranny/axles/CVs, this part is also optional.

One of the tricky parts of this swap is getting the turbo plumbing to clear
the pass. side shock tower.  Momentum built that custom header you see in
the pics partly in order to relocate the turbo towards the center of the
car....

And then there's the electronics... how much of the harness do you have to
integrate with the 16v electrical system?  How do you get the instrument
cluster to work?  Etc etc etc.  That's where experience pays off, because
someone who's guessing will probably not get it 100% correct and will end up
producing bizarre glitches that take forever to diagnose.  Case in point -
HPA swapped a 1.8t into one of RPI's employee's cars last year.  The job
went over budget, took 3x longer than it should have, and right now the
owner refuses to drive it because it's pissing him off so much.  Fuel pump
cycles on and off for no apparent reason, etc.  Nobody's heard about it
because the owner doesn't want to publicize the fact that he got taken for a
ride.  How many other shops have customers like that who have been jobbed
but don't speak up?  If you haven't seen him do the job before, how can you
be SURE the guy you pick for the job is going to do it right, the first
time?

One last thing - your $10k gets you more than a 150hp conversion.  It also
gets you the right clutch, the lightened flywheel, the software, the
intercooler, the blow-off valve, the custom T-304 downpipe, the custom
exhaust manifold, the turbo timer, the boost guage, all new seals for your
tranny, and god knows how many other little pieces that make your install
work, and look, better than anyone else's.  Add up the cost of those extra
parts and subtract the total from the cost of the entire conversion... now
does it seem reasonable?

Yes, $10,000 is more than anyone else is asking for a 1.8t swap.  But
please, don't assume that because they're asking $10k US, they're making
huge margins.  Everyone in the industry knows that unless you're cutting
corners, you don't make a cent off jobs like this.  They take way, WAY too
long.  That's a big reason you dont' see Momentum pushing conversion
packages like a lot of other companies out there.

OK, I think that's about enough.... sorry for the length, guys :)




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