I strayed from the Path...(ABA/JH oil pump Q - HUH???)

[jkarlsso@metabolex.com (Jonas K.)]

On 6/3/02 10:43 AM, "Mardak" <maardak@yahoo.ca> wrote:
> 
> Why won't the ABA oil pump work?  I'm going to be turning the key on my
> ABA/JH swap tomorrow, but I still have the ABA pump in there :(

Not the end of the world. At this point, you have 2 options; Keep the 36mm
pump in there and hope that the oil pressure doesn't blow out your
headgasket, or pull out the oil pan, and swap in the 30mm oil pump. The
measurements are the length of the internal gears only, the outer dimensions
are the same. Since the 36mm pump is not needed, you'd free up some
(miniscule) HP by going to the 30mm pump.

> If I have to use the solid lifter oil pump, what exactly has to be
> clearanced? 

I didn't clearance anything on my old pump that went into my ABA swap. I
installed it and rotated the crank, it get's close, but it still has some
room to play. Install it and check if the crank hits. It should be fine
as-is. 

> How come I haven't heard this mentioned on some of the
> swap pages I've seen?

Most people put in a head with hydraulic lifters, cause that's what they had
to begin with. The extra oil passages in the head makes it fine to use the
bigger pump. Only the JH motor has the solid liftered head that works with
the ABA, all the other 1.8's were hydraulic. There were relatively few
Rabbit GTI's, scirocco's and Cabby's so that's probably why it's not
addressed often. 

Jonas