[Vwdiesel] question re Rabbit engine swap

[Roger Brown]

David Ross wrote:
> 
> folks -
> 
>   I am contemplating an engine swap between two Rabbits here and am
> going to be asking for lots of advice, so thanks in advance.
> 
>   The daily driver here was an '84 Rabbit NA with a 4spd, I would guess
> it is a 1600 but no guarantees here.  The car currently has problems -
> something came loose under the timing cover and has lodged next to the
> injection pump sprocket.  There is a horrendous noise coming from under
> the timing cover -  the lodged object has dug a 1/8" deep furrow in the
> injection pump sprocket and has also cut away 1/3 the width of the
> timing belt.  The engine has run maybe 30 seconds in this condition, and
> was running when I shut it down.

I'll bet it was one of the steel spacers that sit inside the rubber grommets.  Had the exact same thing happen on my old '78 gasser.  One fell out, could not find it, I assumed it was lost.  Several days later the lost spacer fell out and into the timing
belt.  Luckily it was about 1/4 mile from a VW dealer, walked over, picked up the belt, called a tow truck and had it fixed about 3 minutes after I got home.  Luckily the old 1.5 gas engine was non-interference.

>   Recently I picked up a nearby ebay parts car, an '82 NA with a 5spd.
> I drove it home, about 200 miles -  the engine runs strong and has more
> pep than the '84 driver, the transmission feels OK.
> 
>   What problems will I have putting the '82 engine & 5spd in the '84
> car?
> 
>   Are the halfshafts interchangeable between the '84 4spd and the '82
> 5spd?
> 
>   Are there any differences in the '84 4spd shift linkage vs. the '82
> 5spd shift linkage?

Its similar but almost everything is a different length, so best to change all the parts over:
	http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/ForSale/ShiftLinkage.shtml#Introduction

-- 
   Roger