ABA swap questions

[Tim Ebling <tim@surreal.com>]

Well guess what, my poor tired (but until this point reliable) stock 1.8l
16V engine finally blew its head gasket at 195k miles.  I had been planning
on doing some kind of engine swap at SOME point, but this little event has
sort of accelerated the process!

So that leads me to the question of what I want to swap.  I'd like a 1.8T
(who wouldn't) but lack the funds at this point, and probably at any point.
2.0l 16V is something of a no-brainer, but an ABA swap is very intriguing to
me, esp. since I dig the idea of having an almost-new engine at a cost far
less then the 1.8T.  Not to mention the other benefits which have been
mentioned here.

So after poring over the list archives (search for "ABA"), I've learned
quite a bit about the ABA swap, but still have some questions:

1) Can I use my 16V head?  Apparently this lowers the CR to 8:1, so does
that limit me to turbo applications?  Turbo is a possibility, and moreso if
I hear more from the list members who are doing this (Scott?)  Still, would
I need headwork or pistons to make it work?  It'd be nice if I could keep
the head from my present engine, but it's not a requirement by any means,
and less so if it involves quite a bit more work.

2) Throttle body clearance issues - some people say they have 'em, some
don't.  Everyone says that a big hammer does the trick :-)  Now does it
REALLY?  Be honest!

3) What's the FINAL word on the problem with the upper stress bar not
fitting?  Very curious on this one, because I certainly want to keep mine!
Will my existing 16V bar work, since it already accomodates the 16V throttle
body (which supposedly has its own clearance issues when doing 16V swaps
into earlier cars).

4) Crossflow head: Is all the work to keep the donor head + Motronic really
worth it?  It seems that those who are doing it ARE doing it, but at the
cost of getting snagged on a lot of little issues and having to come up with
custom parts in order to pull it off (Eric?)  Yeah you can chip it, but that
can't be the only way to gain hp with these motors.

5) Final HP figures?  The specs say 115hp at 5400 RPM stock, but have any of
you guys who have done this swap put your car on a dyno?  At any rate the
torque curves look very nice, and considering that my main application would
be street, I'm lovin' the idea of lots of low-end grunt :-)

Thanks for the help!!!

-tim

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