engine swap

[Ken Keith]

On 2 Feb 2001, at 13:23, Gary Erickson wrote:
>
> RndLiteBMW at aol.com wrote:
> 
> > You could almost have 2Bennett put a 20VT in it for that much!  I
> > think their MC conversion runs around $5,000 or more- there are a
> > few guys on the list who have had it done, one in a CGT.
> 
> I may get flamed for this one, but having seen the results of a couple
> of the 2B conversions, I don't think the quality of their conversions
> is up to the $8500 price tag they are asking.  (Disclaimer: I've seen
> two of their 10vt conversions; never laid eyes on a 20vt conversion)

Why you ungrateful, divisive, libelous, terrible, bad man! :-)

Actually, the only conversion I've seen and driven was Duane Hale's 
(at the time).  There were numerous issues that I was/would have 
been concerned with.  I'm sure things have gotten better, I believe it 
was one of their earliest conversions.

I could say that the conversion that I saw was unfinished, as far as 
nailing down miscellaneous issues.  It was enough to put it in my 
head that I had to have one.  Now, I'm almost there.  I can almost 
feel the skinned knuckles.  (I haven't started wrenching, just 
accumulating parts)

As someone else who responded to this post before I did 
mentioned, conversions take alot of time and do involve some 
degree of liability.  Not to mention there aren't many shops doing 
them.  Anyone that thinks they can setup shop and start churning 
them out for $2k or so, go for it and give me a call.  If it includes 
the motor, it would be more cost effective to have it done.

I'd rather do it myself tho', since I want to know it's done right.

While part of me wants to have a beautiful show car, the other part 
of me just wants a clean turbo quattro daily driver street car type of 
thing.  If I don't get too crazy on the "while you're in there" nickel 
and dime stuff, I should be able to put it together for just under the 
price of a complete running mid-eighties turbo quattro ($2-4k).  This 
is definitely not including all the B.S. items, like the storage I had 
to pay for about a year, the rental fees for the trailers to move it 
around when I moved, etc.  For me, it will get worse before it gets 
better.  I'm determined to force this one through.  Somehow, before 
the end of April.

Later,

Ken