two cars side by side swapping engines... bumping for ?'s...

[bbob203]

how much would it take a seasoned mechanic to do this. one of my jettas needs to be sold soon. my dilemna is my eco/ td has the better engine with lower miles on the tranny and engine and a new clutch. my na has a better body and paint and a sun roof which I'm having trouble parting with. so I'm thinking about just mish mashing em making one real good one and selling the other one to my buddy who doesn't care as much about such things.

[bbob203]

also I don't have access to a lift.

[82vdub]

One good experienced mechanic should be able to do both swaps in a whole day

[CarlosA]

also I don't have access to a lift.

If you were to find a 20% off coupon to Harbor Freight, buy the cheapest lift they have, you can usually sell it on craigslist for 90% of what you paid.

I`ve moved a few engines without a lift too ... a few options there from floor jacks and wooden blocks, $15 furniture dolly's and so on. Dangerous for sure, but sometimes you gotta do it. In this case i`d try to drop the engine under the car & jack the car up over it.

[bbob203]

i was more reffering to a car lift. but an engine hoist is also something i don't have but thats a good idea and i will probably do that. i'm also going to be swapping trannys as well. hopefully keeping the engine and tranny's bolted together on both.

[bbob203]

well im going with it. the eco diesel was already partially dismantled anyhow due to removal of the passenger side motor mount and trans mount as well as all the shifter linkage, shift box, radiator/fan and core support.
couple questions...
1. will my toilet bowl exhaust pipe fit into the eco turbo down pipe and vice versa. in turn deleting the cat converter on the favorable car by default and not having to worry about cheating the man by swapping around core supports with the correct catalyst non catalyst sticker.
2. if im going to drop the engine out the bottom is all i have to do is take off the bumper and and cross member behind it and lower it and pull it out(the engine)?
3. any parts that are easy to miss when disconnecting stuff to pull the engine?

thats all for now

[ad]

I dont think the exhaust pipes will match up, and you will need to use the turbo downpipe.

It is highly unlikely you will get it done in a day. Maybe if you had a full shop with a lift, every possible tool you need,etc. But for a home shop mechanic with adequate tools, its not gonna happen. Given that you dont have a lift, engine hoist, and you are asking how to do it, I would plan on a whole weekend to complete it, and that is only if you dont need any replacement parts...and that never happens.
I always replace the rear main seal & timing belt, maybe the clutch, belts, test the glow plugs, etc. if I have the engine out, unless I know everything is relative new. Basically everything is easier with the engine out, so I always find things to replace, inspect, clean, etc.
You also might strip a bolt/nut, have to run to the store for oil, antifreeze, etc., and all that stuff adds lots of time. If everything goes right and you dont replace any parts and you just swap engines with tranny attached, it would be a long day for an experienced guy. But as you are already discovering (turbo downpipe), things are rarely as simple as they first seem to be, and things will come up. When I was doing a lot of air cooled work, I could have an engine out in 1.5 hours, but they are much simpler, and all you need is a floor jack to drop the engine.

[bbob203]

also looks like my speedo gears differ by 1 tooth.. big problem?

[bbob203]

I dont think the exhaust pipes will match up, and you will need to use the turbo downpipe.

It is highly unlikely you will get it done in a day. Maybe if you had a full shop with a lift, every possible tool you need,etc. But for a home shop mechanic with adequate tools, its not gonna happen. Given that you dont have a lift, engine hoist, and you are asking how to do it, I would plan on a whole weekend to complete it, and that is only if you dont need any replacement parts...and that never happens.
I always replace the rear main seal & timing belt, maybe the clutch, belts, test the glow plugs, etc. if I have the engine out, unless I know everything is relative new. Basically everything is easier with the engine out, so I always find things to replace, inspect, clean, etc.
You also might strip a bolt/nut, have to run to the store for oil, antifreeze, etc., and all that stuff adds lots of time. If everything goes right and you dont replace any parts and you just swap engines with tranny attached, it would be a long day for an experienced guy. But as you are already discovering (turbo downpipe), things are rarely as simple as they first seem to be, and things will come up. When I was doing a lot of air cooled work, I could have an engine out in 1.5 hours, but they are much simpler, and all you need is a floor jack to drop the engine.

you definitely talked me into doing more work. gonna get new oil cooler hoses and front and rear main seals and carrier gaskets and intermediate shaft seal. 100bucks on little various parts that could leave you stranded is a no brainer.

[bbob203]

pulled the valve cover to check things out. discovered 2 things...

1. rubber valve cover gasket update
2. the end of my cam on the locking end is busted off halfway of the on the end

[CarlosA]

The cam i`m currently running has the same issue. No doubt someone in the past used the cam stop to try and loosen the nut on the cam. It works fine, and times fine you just have to be a little more meticulous. I may swap in the good cam in the future, but i`d rather wear out something that is already junk, or has no core value if ever needed.

On the other hand, here is the harbor freight coupon I was talking about, for many of us the Holidays are the best time to finish ambitious projects.

[bbob203]

ah that's good news. thnks for the coupon it will cost me about 150 for hoist now. that's about what they're going for on craigslist and what it would cost to rent it for two weeks.

[bbob203]

picking up a hoist Sunday hopefully the eco engine will be out of the car by next week and on an engine stand getting cleaned up and seals r&r'd the turbo ip installed and new glowplugs and individual wiring. I got my timing tools today and since I had my valve cover off I tried lining up all the timing marks and it appears something is off. with cam at tdc and my pump locked my flywheel tdc mark appears to be off center from the mark by about 3/8 of an inch or so... but I have no idea to figure out whT could be off. I mean the car ran and I drove 1000 miles albeit with a wacky vibration and stalling and not being to adjust the idle to what seemed good.
.

[Fatmobile]

I don't use an I-pump locker, just line the marks up.
A white paint pen is your friend.

Break the cam sprocket loose from the cam and line up the cam/crank.
the injection pump should be close if you put the belt on with the marks lined up.
If not, move it a tooth.

[Caerbannog]

with cam at tdc and my pump locked my flywheel tdc mark appears to be off center from the mark by about 3/8 of an inch or so... .
.

My observation is that on an engine with the cam locked and the flywheel right on the TDC mark with a tight timing belt, if that belt is loosened, I found the flywheel mark drifted to the right (toward the back of the car for transverse mount), perhaps to the right edge of the timing hole.

So belt tension makes a difference. I suppose that also means so does belt stretch.