vanagon with a shot 1.6na

[Bravo2043]

so I'm new to this vw diesel. it's a 1982 vanagon in really good shape other than the engine. I bought it in Pennsylvania drove it 800 miles home to Michigan, when I got here I fixed a couple things but ran it every time I had an excuse. Trouble was I kept getting air in the coolant system. A couple weeks ago I decided it must have a blown head gasket. its pretty easy to get out. bought some tools for locking cam and pump, and went for it.

the head has 5 big cracks in it, so the thought of a quick turn is out, the #2 cylinder looks pitted, basically I'm not sure the smart money is on rebuilding the engine I have. sure it could be bored out. but maybe I should be looking for another engine.

the final goal would be reliable transportation, its a family truckster, camping rig. vanagons were never fast but are amazing fun to drive.

I'm wondering if I find a 1.9l na engine if I can bolt on that oil pan and oil pump pickup, and the other stuff and make a go of it

the other option is to find a turbo engine.

how common are these old diesels, do they share parts? what should I be looking for? what should I be looking out for?

[RunninWild]

Your best bet would probably be to find a used 1.6td. It would be mostly a drop in engine swap as far as I know and shouldn't cost you much. It's not really worth rebuilding a n/a especially with the 11mm head bolts your engine has. I recently bought a 1.6td that was in really good shape with injection pump and everything for $500cad. A 1.9l aaz would also work but if your in the states they are hard to come by and more expensive. Whatever choice you make it highly suggest a turbo charged engine. Your mileage won't really suffer and you'll have a lot more power when tuned a bit.