Tiico conversion better than the Zetec and Subie????

[Jon_slider]

> something is inheritently wrong...running the same for 5 years now.

by any chance are you running larger than stock tires?

if so, give the make and model and I will tell you what happened to your gearing..

[weatherbill]

Volks, yes, it would be worth the effort to take to a real vw mechanic to get analysis of the engine.....it might save me a conversion.

I've also been looking hard into increasing power thru this site, which I find facinating.

http://www.hho4cars.com/

[weatherbill]

[Alan Brase]

Many years ago the Audi I-5 was considered a good conversion motor. I've often thought a 5 from a Eurovan might be good, with its extra displacement and torque.
I don't hear about many doing this conversion anymore. I'd think the mileage might still be okay. Eurovans do pretty good, though with slighly better aerodynamics.
Al
_________________
Al Brase
Projects: 67 sunroof bug, 67 Porsche 912 Targa, 70 Westy
Dec 1955 Single Cab pickup WANT 15" BUS RIMS dated 8/55, thru 12/55
To New owners: 1969 doublecab, 1971 Dormobile
Vanagons:
80 P27 Westy JUL 1979, 3rd oldest known US
83 1.6TD Vanagon, 87 Wolfie Westy daily driver, swap meet home

[Jon_slider]

> not running larger tires, just stock 14 alloys

14" alloys is not the rubber

what rubber, make, model, and size?

but no, I dont think that is the problem, since you have 14" rims.. still, lets finish the excercise by inputting all the facts..

[weatherbill]

205 70R14 95S M&S is what the tire reads. they are firestones.....

did you say you could telll me what was happenign with my gearing??

[Crankey]

just a heads up on Tiico...I bought grill parts from him on the phone, I paid via CC and at the time, he didn't have them in stock.

well, it's been a year and 1/2 and after many many requests for a refund I haven't gotten anything from him but talk.

I even sent an email with my paypal email and a link to paypal just to make it super easy for him...and I got ZIP

the Tiico guy is an A Hole of the first order IMHO. this scumbag owes me $200

all my communications have been really civil too. I'm not slandering him here, these are just the facts on my experience.

[tencentlife]

[Joe VW]

The solution to Cofaps is easy. Just deck the flat surface of the heads 1mm and chuck the head shims in the trash. Just don't forget to debur the spigots so you don't cut an O-ring. Your compression will go from a stock 8.6:1 to a 9:1 ,increasing HP and mileage. Without this mod you get 8.3:1 and an inefficent deck height pig.
I'm running no head shims with 6lbs of turbo boost right now. My mileage has sucked so far because I'm running a longer duration cam and a blow through carburetor. Although I have improved it some I will eventually megasquirt it.
Power and torque is considerably better than A 2.5 Vanaru conversion I drove although the Idle isn't as smooth (lean carb). Gearing needs a change to bring the revs down on the highway. This would help with mileage too.
Waterboxers don't need headgaskets, just o-rings. Think about it- all type-4 rebuilds require gasket removal (re. Volkswagen) and they are notorious for head warpage and Beetles never had them. The wasser head is much more stable.

[funagon]

Tencent: I didn't want to say it but you said it for me. My first thought when reading Bill's symptoms was low-compression aftermarket pistons. I know Bob has a good rep, and I don't know anything about his business, so I didn't want to throw my theories out there.

But when a rebuild WBX has poor compression and can barely get up hills, the first thing to suspect is those pistons.

Hey Joe VW: If you were planning to turbocharge the WBX, why didn't you leave the deck height as-is for lower compression, and then turn the boost up higher?
_________________
1990 GL 7-passenger
2.2 liter WBX

[tencentlife]

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with leaving the combustion sealing rings out. T4's specified this, we used to build T1's this way all the time, lapping the cyls into the heads with compound to get a perfect match. I'm beginning to wonder if the reason the imported aftermarket P&C's for wbx's, the AA's, QSC's and Cofaps, all have the same error in compression height is because they intend for people to do what JoeVW does. I mean it's assumed that wbx heads will be pitted when you remove them, even though that's not always the case in fact. If that's what they intended, it sure woulda helped if they had put some mention of that in with the sets. Who knows?
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Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

Experience is kryptonite to doctrine.

[ChesterKV]

[Joe VW]

[levi]

Choosing a tiico over suby because some have said one gets better mpg isn't very sensible. The engines themselves are going to give similar results there.
Here's an example from my own experience.
Two different vans, with the same exact engine.
One van gave me a low of 14 mpg to a high of 17 mpg, in more than a year it never did better than 18, even if I babied it, keeping it under 55.
The other van (with the same engine!) has never returned less than 20 mpg. Generally over 23 in the city, and better on the road.
Hmmmmmm....
Same engine. Same driver. Same gps device for the mileage.
What gives? One had an auto tranny, wide soft Nokian tires. The other has a 4 speed, and stock size 185r14.
Probably other factors at work here too, that I'm just not aware of.
I'm not saying you should go suby, just be aware that mpg results reported by folks are across the board, for many reasons.
If anyone can explain why these two different engines (tiico/suby), of the same appx hp, same appx displacement, both 4 cylinder, and using the gas, should have reasonably different mpg results, please tell why.
_________________
One of these days I'm gonna settle down,
but till I do I won't be hangin round.
Going down that long lonesome highway,
gonna see life my way

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[Captain Pike]

I get 21 MPG, for the last 14 years
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LEARN TO SELF RESCUE
59 Panel bus, 1966 Single cab. 73' 181. 73 Westy. 91' H6 Vanagon 3.3L.
.....................All Current.......................

[foodeater]

[Joe VW]

"Hey Joe VW: If you were planning to turbocharge the WBX, why didn't you leave the deck height as-is for lower compression, and then turn the boost up higher?"
Detonation and lost efficency. I'd bet I would hear pinging at the same boost or lower with a loose deck. At 6lbs with no intercooler there is none. I will try to find the lowest possible octane it can safely run with this boost level.

[tencentlife]

So what's your actual squish clearance after shaving the heads? It would be zero with Mahle pistons, which wouldn't be good when its hot. Did it have the Cofaps and you corrected?
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Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

Experience is kryptonite to doctrine.

[r39o]

[weatherbill]

Tencentlife.....you may have hit the nail on the head. thanx for your detailed observations! This is probably my problem. WOW! All these years I was wondering what it was and I think you nailed it. And thanx for putting it into a simple language I can understand!
I wonder what the best route to take to correct the problem would be, replace the pistons or shave the heads with the other modifications. I wonder what a job like that would cost??? I would be totally happy with my engine if I could get it back to normal power becaseu I';ve already had both heads replaced correctly on this engine and I don't need super power, just normal get up and go and I would be happy and if these modifiactions can be done and save me a few thousand from getting a conversion, I would be one happy camper.