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On 23 Jul 2004 at 8:26, RichardSt@price-hvac.com wrote: > I may be buying a 72 T3 with a 2.0L T4 engine in it. Last weekend I bumped > into a guy who is selling parts off of his Porsche 914 (I think) turbo; it > 's a 2.0L as well. This got me thinking... has anyone here turbo'ed their T3 > or T4 engines? What are your thought on this? I'd be concerned about buying someone else's T4 conversion. If they put that much work into it, you have to wonder why they're selling it now. 914s were never turbo'd from the factory, so that's a conversion, too. Again, what went wrong? > I've seen a lot of people abandon their EFI and go for something like a > side-draft carb for easier air/fuel ratio adjustments and for space reasons. > Also, would you need a knock sensing ignition? Or does the stock compression > ratio allow you to turbocharge the engine without a knocking problem? Space reasons would be the best reason to KEEP the FI; all the other options take up more room an make things harder to work on. The stock single sidedraft carb is probably more compact, but not much, and you pay a big performance price for that. I'd worry about turbo charging a VW air-cooled engine. That puts the effective compression ratio way up there and compounds any knock and head stud problems. Since these seem to be the weak points of this engine, it just seems foolish unless you just want to say you've done it and then sell it the following year. I'm sure we've seen turbo conversions somewhere on the web, I just don't know if any of them have actually become useful, reliable cars. I have a friend who installed a turbo conversion in his Dasher many years ago. It worked great for about 6 months, and then he blew a head gasket. It was really hard for him to understand that he was asking things of the original engine that it was never designed to take, and that he was now starting to pay the price for that. Consider GM's short lived experience (Oldsmobiles, was it?) with diesel passenger cars. They tried to just change a few things and sell diesels when gas prices went up in the 70s. Then these engines started failing because GM had used the same piston rods as the original gas engines, and the bearings weren't up to the task. In the end, it's your car and you can do anything you want with it, but it won't be without unexpected consequences. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ Shameless link for search engines: http://listarchive.type3.org ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~