I agree with most of it,
though i already have possession of everything but the pistons, and the injection pump. right now with all the of inofrmation that I have, the piston in the 1.2l tdi will be 7-thousands of an inch higher than the 1.6l, at tdc. not much, but enough to hit the vaves if everything else is off as well. I already have someone who can build the pistons, which is why i needed to know if the c/r was in the pistons or else where (head gasket). I want to get the compressio to 17.5:1 that will allow for future changes, I also live in Arizona, so I dont have to worry about the cold weather starting problems
ive read lots of posts about the idea of a 1.6l tdi, and a lot of people say it will work, but no one has gotten the parts to make it work, nor have they build one that runs... so it cant hurt to try and find the actuall numbers if your gonna try to do it right the first time.
i figure that if im gonna go all the way with this, I dont want to blow something up while im trying to start it the first time, becuase like you said, its not cheap. but it will be cool.
as far as mpg goes, no one really knows, maybe it will increase 20% maybe not, but theres only one way to find out. everyone says buy the tdi cause you get so much better mpgs, then why not a little more for a 1.6l or 68mpg for a 1.2l.
if I can get the pistons made, and everything looks like a go, ill post an official 1.6l tdi thread where ill post all of the progress fron the start.
as for the pistons, even if someone did buy a set, or even one, they would not work because of the different shape they and the rod share to connect togeather.