1. Home
  2. Volkswagen, everything else
  3. 90 Jetta engine/gearbox swap, worth it?

90 Jetta engine/gearbox swap, worth it?

Okay

friend of mine has a Jetta, 1990 I believe. He is quite unsatisfied with the automatic 3 speed gearbox, especially being mated to the least powerfull engine of the time (in a jetta), the 1.8L 100 hp unit.

He wants to at least put a 5 speed in, but he wouldn't mind putting in a bigger motor, maybe the 16V engine, or one of the 2.0L units, if they fit.

Is this remotely cost effective? his car is clean, likes it, but he wonders if it is worth the money (he can get cheap parts) and time (mostly his own, but not for all of it).

I have seen this type of question being asked in the Volvo forum, and the answer is no, unless you REALLY want to, that it is cheaper to get a new

*used* car that has what you want, same deal with VW?

..... I said we might have a 91 Golf coming on the used market, and that piqued his interest, so this MAY be entirely moot.

Reply to
Rob Guenther
Loading thread data ...

Yes, it can be done, this type of conversion has been done TONS. The key is getting your hands on a good donor car, like a nice 16V that was smashed in the @$$, and start swapping parts over. The act of bolting up a engine and tranny is the easy part, it is the wiring that can cause trouble.

Reply to
Pencilneck

Reply to
Rob Guenther

Christ man, you must not drive it hard, my 91 Golf doesn't get that good economy, but then again, I drive the piss out of that thing. Since the odometer doesn't work I don't have exact figures, tho my highway figure is similar, my city figure is more like 350-400kms.

Reply to
Rob Guenther

I'll assume you live in T.O. If so, this is my driving time +1 h to Kitchener-Waterloo. If you drove to KW from Ottawa in 3.5 hours, you're nuts. Can I be your friend? Otherwise, you probably *average*

140 or so. :)
Reply to
Darryl

Ottawa to Georgetown actually, its near Brampton. Speeds that night were anywhere from 125 to 180 on the 401, mostly around 160ish. My hands were shakeing after that trip, as the steering wheel was vibrating pretty good (no power steering, you feel everything). I think my "average" was like

135ish, but that includes all the time getting out of the city and into Gtown and such.... Christ I swore I would never drive like that... and I doubt I ever would again, but sometimes you HAVE to get home.

But when I was doing 160ish I was getting pissed off because the car kept beeping at me (I could barely hear it over the engine and wind but there was something) but when I sped up it went away, I was told it was a speed alarm... maybe because the OEM tires weren't rated for more then 160? The tires I have on are good to 190kph, so is the engine... 192 kph exactly, after that there was nothing, pretty good since I didn't excpect more then

175.
Reply to
Rob Guenther

I have noticed the same thing, go over 130 and the tank just drains. I tend to go around 125 with the old one, maybe 135 with my TDI. The TDI is great, you can drive quite fast and the fuel economy barely changes.

Too bad there are speed limits, and OPP blitzes all the time now. Can't do any more mad rushes, i've never even been able to figure out just how fast a

90hp diesel can go... Its done 185kph, but it was still increasing in speed with a noticable enough acceleration when I backed off.
Reply to
Rob Guenther

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.