[Vwdiesel] Gas -> diesel conversion, was: Basic questions from diesel owner wannabe

[Andrew Buc]

On Monday, September 19, 2005, at 09:58  AM, Sandy Cameron wrote:

> And remember not to pass up a gasser in good condition, to drop a
> diesel
> engine into.
>
> It's a simple bolt-in operation, I now own a realy nice 87 Carat
> diesel with
> all the toys (not available from vw) curently an NA, but destined to
> become
> a TD when the old 87 Jetta rots out and donates its engine.

After my initial skepticism, I figure it can't hurt to find out a bit 
more! About how many hours of labor to do this? Assuming that my 
mechanic has never done anything like this (and I don't think he has), 
should I add on a fudge factor? Going rate for a wrecking-yard diesel 
engine? I imagine I could drive the car as a gasser for a while, look 
around for a donor engine, and spread out the cost over time. I 
contacted my state's DMV about the legalities of this, and apparently 
it's OK, if you cross all the T's and include all the stuff that would 
have been on a diesel car from the factory.

I'd expect this to be at least a little more complicated than replacing 
a gas engine with another gas engine--surely there are things that are 
present on a gasser and absent on a diesel and vice versa?

By any chance does NA stand for normally aspirated?

Thanks.