78 2 liter w/FI into 73

[Splash]

I totaled my 78 Westy .. Still runs good but body is shot . I have a line on a nice 73 Westy with a blown engine . I want to put my engine into the 73 . Mine's a stock 78 2 liter with fuel injection . The 73 is stock carbs and 1.8 liter . I live in Cal . So the 73 is exempt ..I have searched archives but can't find anything directly related . Does this seem like to much work. Does it makes sense . . Do I need to swap trannys, gas tank , fuel pump , anything else . The good thing is that I can take pictures of what I have and just move it over to the 73 .

Tom

[glutamodo]

Well, since it's exempt, you could always just use the carbs off the 73. Howver, I'd prefer to the FI setup, and it sounds like you do too. So if you were going to swap the whole fuel injection system over, yes, you'd need to swap the tank, the fuel pump, you'd have to cut out and splice in the mount for the fuel injection "brain box" and the bracket for the air cleaner setup. I think the firewall between the engine and gas tank fits the same between these two years, I'd swap that out too, it has some mounting points for FI components on it. The car will require a bit of rewiring for the double relay as well. The accelerator cable will need to be changed and I think the bowden tube it routes through under the car would need swapped out too.

On the tranny, it would probably be easiest to swap them entirely - otherwise you'd have to swap out the tranny's bell housing and the input shaft.

Oh, and if you don't already have one, get the Robert Bentley VW Official Service Manual for this car.

-andy

[Duncwarw]

Is that right?
My '73 has a '78 2L in it and there were no transaxle changes (I installed the engine, but I didn't build it). Maybe the flywheel's different?
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[glutamodo]

The bellhousing, flywheel/clutch, and starter are all different between 1973 and 1978. The 1700 clutch is 215mm, the late one is 228mm. The tranny input shaft is different to match - use the wrong one and it will not be lined up properly in the needle bearing in the cranksahft. Most people prefer the larger clutch. Also, the early baywindow 1600/1700 tranny was geared differently (in the final drive) than the 1800/2000 - so in this case, changing out the tranny might be the best way to keep everything matched.

andy

[DustyTires]

I am in the middle of changing my 79' engine in to a 73 but I am going to use the carb set up and lose the EFI. I have already swaped the tranny and hope to have her running soon. I will not need to swap the tank in my case. Good luck and keep us updated!

[[email protected]]

I have a 72&73 westies with 1700 engines. The flywheel and clutch disk are 210mm diameter. My 74 transporter had a 1800 eng and 215mm flywheel and clutch disk. If you go with the dual carbs, this may help http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=141627.
You can swap the 1978 tranny over to your 1973 with no problems. The final drive gearing is different than the 73. You should be alright if you use the 1700 flywheel and clutch set up. the bellhousings are interchangable, on the tranny, so you can use the 78 bellhousing on the 73 tranny and then use the 78 clutch set up, which doesn't cost as much and gets better hook up. Whatever you do, it is your call, and the folks here will make sure you get the going.
Best Regards,
John
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luck is the result of good preperation

[trackwesty]

If you keep the FI you should swap the fuel tank as it has a return line and if you decide to change to carbs just plug that line. You will have to make provisions for the fuel pump. and air cleaner setup. If you swap your running engine trans setup you should have no problems there. Just neet to sort out the extra FI leads/grounds
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