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Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap
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uberaudi
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2021 9:18 pm    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

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I just returned from another grand adventure in southern Utah and am happy to report both the exhaust rework and the ABA swap performed better than expected. This was the first big trip with the swap and the additional power over the stock 1.9 was fantastic. There were quite a few 'I can't believe we're passing someone' moments over the 2100+ miles traveled. Of course, there were times it still felt inadequate power wise (headwinds and hills, steep rocky ascents) but overall it was success and I'm happy I stayed the course with this swap.

With tons of washboard, rocks, sand, dips and dives I certainly gave the whole package a run for it's money...even going airborne with all four coming out of a wash...got to love that moment when everything just goes silent for a brief period of time Smile Oil remained level throughout (funny to even type that) and nothing needed 'fixed' along the way. This was a significantly better experience and a lot less nerve-racking than dealing with the old 1.9. A little bump in power and a huge bump in driveability goes a long way with this one.

The reworked exhaust seems to do just fine. It's still as tight as it was when we left, with the only adjustment needing to be made will be a little more clearance between the exhaust tip and body. There were a few times that I could hear/feel the metal to metal contact while reversing under load. I could have rotated the tip down while on the trip, but I didn't want to open my tool bag at all if I didn't have to...now that's what I'm talking about!
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 6:03 am    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

Whelp now it seems like a turbo is the next inevitable step to maybe help with those slightly inadequate power moments.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 7:17 am    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

Congratulations on a successful trip! More pictures!
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danfromsyr
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:00 am    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

don't be afraid to drop into 3rd gear. the ABA loves RPMs and will eat up the hills.

the losses you likely felt were altitude as well as grade based. so sure a Turbo would alleviate that.
but the pure simplicity of a NA I4 is a great roadtrip feeling.

and we can all see the need of a well thought out air cleaner arrangement.
I do pity those who put a cone filter in the engine compartment w/o any additional ducting to clean(er) air in the intake columns.

nice job and nice (short) trip report.

Dan
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 9:10 am    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

Your swap really shines, it even looks great in sepia tone! My tour through Utah and Northern AZ with my ABA-T was excellent going over Dixie and around the state. Our trip buddies had a bostig swap that was a dog at elevations and hills but spanked us in the lowland flats.

I look forward to seeing your 1Z conversion, are you at all worried about the said brutality of the diesel eating the transmission? What steps are you taking to mitigate the carnage?
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 9:59 am    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

Great to see your conversion being driven on a trip. I'm envious of your engine bay. Clean layout. And, I really like the intake mod and air cleaner-intake routing-location.

I've experienced the same power loss. e.g. pushing through headwinds on (84 ?) along the Columbia river. No amount of pedal could over come that and at times, I had to hold the steering wheel at a slight angle to maintain a straight line.

I've held my 15º ABA at higher RPM's on long climbs, many many times over a lot of miles with no obvious ill effects to the engine.

Glad the exhaust is holding up. My first versions were quite poorly designed thus failed somewhat early on. That said, I think that designing an exhaust that will last over the long term, is probably the biggest challenge on the I4 swap.

Neil.
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erste
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 10:53 am    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

dkoesyncro wrote:
Your swap really shines, it even looks great in sepia tone!

Vanagon Nut wrote:
I'm envious of your engine bay. Clean layout. And, I really like the intake mod and air cleaner-intake routing-location.

Exactly what these two said. That bay looks great! Really nice swap.
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Zeitgeist 13
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 11:12 am    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

That really is a well thought out swap. Everything just looks like it belongs in those exact locations.
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uberaudi
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:22 pm    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

Vanagon Nut wrote:
Great to see your conversion being driven on a trip. I'm envious of your engine bay. Clean layout. And, I really like the intake mod and air cleaner-intake routing-location.

I've held my 15º ABA at higher RPM's on long climbs, many many times over a lot of miles with no obvious ill effects to the engine.

Glad the exhaust is holding up. My first versions were quite poorly designed thus failed somewhat early on. That said, I think that designing an exhaust that will last over the long term, is probably the biggest challenge on the I4 swap.

Neil.

That's the whole point right, making these trips that much easier. Simplicity is king for reliability and that's what I really love about an NA ABA. So far so good.
I think you're spot on with the challenges of designing an adequate exhaust for the I4. It seems like there are a ton of different methods, but I hope documenting this over time, whether it works or not, will help uncover a reliable solution.


Zeitgeist 13 wrote:
That really is a well thought out swap. Everything just looks like it belongs in those exact locations.

Thanks! It took many nights of drinking beer and cutting out cardboard to figure out the component placement.


erste wrote:

Exactly what these two said. That bay looks great! Really nice swap.

Appreciate that!


dkoesyncro wrote:
Your swap really shines, it even looks great in sepia tone! My tour through Utah and Northern AZ with my ABA-T was excellent going over Dixie and around the state. Our trip buddies had a bostig swap that was a dog at elevations and hills but spanked us in the lowland flats.

I look forward to seeing your 1Z conversion, are you at all worried about the said brutality of the diesel eating the transmission? What steps are you taking to mitigate the carnage?

So the Bostig had better power in the flats than your ABA-T? I have to think about that for a bit more. No doubt some forced induction would make the hills I encounter a breeze!
As far as the 1Z swap is concerned, I'll be using a tdi input shaft along with the DMF to hopefully reduce those harsh waveforms of the tdi. Eventually I'll have a transaxle rebuilt to handle additional loads, but for now a stock DK will have to do. It will be my first go at a tdi swap, so I know once I'm finished with it, I would do the next one differently Smile



danfromsyr wrote:
don't be afraid to drop into 3rd gear. the ABA loves RPMs and will eat up the hills.

the losses you likely felt were altitude as well as grade based. so sure a Turbo would alleviate that.
but the pure simplicity of a NA I4 is a great roadtrip feeling.

and we can all see the need of a well thought out air cleaner arrangement.
I do pity those who put a cone filter in the engine compartment w/o any additional ducting to clean(er) air in the intake columns.

nice job and nice (short) trip report.


Dan

I was holding gears pretty high into the range, around 5k for what seemed like long periods of time. I kept a close eye on my coolant temps via the Scan-Gauge but those didn't really seem to change much. I believe my new TT chipset bumped the redline to 7200 but I hear the OBD2 heads start getting valve float when you push them too far.


vwhammer wrote:
Whelp now it seems like a turbo is the next inevitable step to maybe help with those slightly inadequate power moments.


As much as I love those damn turbochargers, I'm going to keep this ABA as simple as I can...for now.
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danfromsyr
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:35 pm    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

the VW I4 loves RPMs.
on one trip with a 89 1.8l I4 Digifant engine we tow'ed a 2nd van ~1,ooo miles. did very nearly all of that in 3rd gear, as 95hp only goes so far. 5oooRPMs for hours at a time..

on another trip with my 1.8T I lost 4th gear 5hours from home.. well 6hours was the return home in 3rd gear.. again hours of 5oooRPMs.

the engine load is less when the RPMs are up. the waterpump is spinning faster so in general it doesn't generate the heat of trying harder in 4th gear.,
and alot less likely to over stress the 4th gear bearings.
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uberaudi
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 9:03 pm    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

joetiger wrote:
Congratulations on a successful trip! More pictures!


Haaha thanks. I am pretty terrible at taking pics while out on the road, but I did manage to snap a couple with my phone so here we go. A half baked TR for your viewing pleasure Smile

Our first stop was at Bear Lake on the Utah side of it. Pretty nice spot, but a bit chilly. Glad to have the Chinese diesel heater operational for the evening and next morning.
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We kept going South after that and went though some rural towns of Utah. Went up to Fish Lake but that area hadn't quite opened for the season yet, so we made due out on some BLM at 9000'+ and watched a great top of the world sunset fall over Capitol Reef NP which is actually 180 degrees off of this pic...naturally.
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The next day we boogied down 24 past the popular Fruita until we reached Hartnet Road.
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This is a great loop around Cathedral Valley that begins with a mandatory river fording. It sounds harder than it was, but a fun way to start a memorable remote loop. Airing down the tires made the drive much easier to enjoy. I wanted to explore and stay for a couple days but the wind was very active and cold so we baled after a day.
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Next up was down to Glen Canyon for a beautiful star filled evening

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Starting to get a little more gravel in our travel.
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And then off to Natural Bridges NM. We had our dog and it was hot by this time so we didn't get to explore very much of it. It was also very busy so we passed on through.
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After that it was down the wonderful Cedar Mesa to Muley point. A couple nights there wasn't long enough!
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The Moki Dugway was a fun entrance into the Valley of the Gods, but sadly, no pics. Those big ass trucks pulling those monster triple axle 5th wheelers don't know what they're missing!

Then off to Comb Ridge/Butler Wash area which is simply incredible. With the tires aired down again, the loose terrain was no problem. The ruins and ancient history around every corner is hard to beat.
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Then up to Indian Creek north of Monticello to Lockhart Basin, airing down for the third time. We took this rough Jeep road all the way to it's end where it meets up with Canyonlands NP then doubled back for a nice secluded spot overlooking the Needles and the snow capped San Juans.
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At this point I must have stopped taking pics, but we had another night up past Moab (what a zoo that's become!) by Dewey Bridge, hiked up Fisher Towers, then closed the trip with cold rainy camp on Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake. Once again, the CDH proved it's worth, warming the cabin while we played cards and ate and drank to our hearts content.

You know it's a good trip when the kid's start to tear up upon leaving the Utah state line...and then cheer when we cross back into Montana.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 9:34 pm    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

I hope that my build ends up like this story: Success!
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Had a Carbureted ABA after engoing the heck out of it now going for ABA 2.0 Jetta EFI ill put a garrett in to the tin can later or maybe go electric?
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uberaudi
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 10:40 pm    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

danfromsyr wrote:
the VW I4 loves RPMs.
on one trip with a 89 1.8l I4 Digifant engine we tow'ed a 2nd van ~1,ooo miles. did very nearly all of that in 3rd gear, as 95hp only goes so far. 5oooRPMs for hours at a time..

on another trip with my 1.8T I lost 4th gear 5hours from home.. well 6hours was the return home in 3rd gear.. again hours of 5oooRPMs.

the engine load is less when the RPMs are up. the waterpump is spinning faster so in general it doesn't generate the heat of trying harder in 4th gear.,
and alot less likely to over stress the 4th gear bearings.


That's great! Hours at 5k wouldn't actually be that bad...it seems that the motor really smooths out and keeps pulling right up through that range, at least with some supporting mods. It's somewhat comparable to driving a wbx but with more power and stretch throughout the entire range. Anyone make a 6spd 094 yet? Smile
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 11:30 pm    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

That last pic is great.

Very awesome scenery. Thanks for sharing.

I'm missing my road trips!

Neil.
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:49 am    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

I was quick at my previous comment but boy o boy did I enjoy reading the entire thread congratulations to Uberaudi's build. Very inspiring to head for the same route. I have a Tig welding machine and will begin to practice after my resources come along. Visit me at my build in the future. This build is pure art. I wonder how can we make a Turbo fit in there at 50 degrees? hmmmmm interesting lol!!!!!
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Had a Carbureted ABA after engoing the heck out of it now going for ABA 2.0 Jetta EFI ill put a garrett in to the tin can later or maybe go electric?
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 6:33 am    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

uberaudi wrote:

I was holding gears pretty high into the range, around 5k for what seemed like long periods of time. I kept a close eye on my coolant temps via the Scan-Gauge but those didn't really seem to change much. I believe my new TT chipset bumped the redline to 7200 but I hear the OBD2 heads start getting valve float when you push them too far.



Weren't you running a cam with your ABA swap or am I thinking of someone else?
It was my understanding that nearly any cam required a valve spring upgrade on the OBD2 heads.

I have a pretty mild cam and still required the upgrade on my ABA.

I am sure I will rev mine out a couple of time just to make sure the springs are doing their job.
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https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=708418&highlight=

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 6:50 am    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

Thanks for adding the photos from your trip. That part of the country just never gets old, so much to explore. That last picture is great--Reminds me of my crew.
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'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com
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erste
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:21 pm    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

uberaudi wrote:

After that it was down the wonderful Cedar Mesa to Muley point. A couple nights there wasn't long enough!
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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All of those photos and rock formations are amazing, but something about this spot just blows me away.
Thanks for sharing.
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uberaudi
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:35 pm    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

vwhammer wrote:

Weren't you running a cam with your ABA swap or am I thinking of someone else?
It was my understanding that nearly any cam required a valve spring upgrade on the OBD2 heads.

I have a pretty mild cam and still required the upgrade on my ABA.

I am sure I will rev mine out a couple of time just to make sure the springs are doing their job.


I do have a cam, but it's mild enough that stock valve springs are good enough apparently. I'd have to look back and see which one I ended up with lol


joetiger wrote:
Thanks for adding the photos from your trip. That part of the country just never gets old, so much to explore. That last picture is great--Reminds me of my crew.

So much to explore! I've already begun building a new list of spots for next year. One thing I need to remember to do though is to bring more water, gas, and beer next time to avoid having to refuel every couple days. Everything gets consumed faster in the desert!
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:39 pm    Post subject: Re: Uberaudi's lo-pro ABA swap Reply with quote

erste wrote:

All of those photos and rock formations are amazing, but something about this spot just blows me away.
Thanks for sharing.

I wish I had better pics for ya, but you're better off just seeing it for yourself anyways Smile
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