I have a 1.6 cam in my 1.9 AAZ head. Works fine.
OK, my bad. I was going from second-hand information from somewhere I don't remember that someone had tried to fit a cam from an ME into a TDI. The AAZ and 1Z/AHU swap nicely, but IIRC the was some issue over fitting the ME cam into the TDI. I must have mixed something up... maybe the issue was over valve-to-piston clearance...
I'm curious as to know how you or Gerry will overcome the RPM limitation with the 12mm pump. Many people are afraid to go over 4,500 RPM with 12mm. Even Jeff @ Rocketchip avoided going above 4,000 RPM on a dyno with his 12mm
Secondly, for 5,500 or above ("or so", as you put it), what is his solution for timing advance?
To be honest, the 12mm pump bit is my little contribution... I got a brand new AHU pump a while ago, and sent it to Marc to install a 12mm head kit into it. It is still sitting in Gerry's garage and I'm hoping it gets some use because it's a lot of money being tied up doing nothing...
At the moment, Gerry's truck has a bit of a Frankenstein pump with AHU pump body, 11mm plunger and solenoid portion from an ALH to be compatible with the 98 New Beetle wiring harness and ECU that is being used.
We don't really know what the 12mm pump will do much over 4,000 RPM, but several Europeans (Stefan @ Digital Racing, TDIFreak in Finland, etc.) are running 12mm pumps and don't report problems up to the TDI's conventional redline... I seem to be more keen on the 12mm than Gerry but to answer your question, Gerry's truck is running an 11mm and a 12mm just waiting to be used.
As for timing advance, Gerry and I have met with Jeff @ Rocketchip several times since Waterfest 2004 and he has shown us his pump mod in the timing control collar to allow greater advance. Gerry is in the process to do that mod over this winter.
In the TDIclub.com thread you posted, you mentioned that a Porsche has a VNT. IIRC it is VGT. They both have the same concept but not the same technically.
From what I have seen of pictures, the BorgWarner turbo still uses guide vanes in the turbine, just like Garrett. The adjustment mechanism might be different though... Some years ago Garrett won a patent infringement case against BW and an injunction on BW's KP39. BW was forced to change the design so that it did not infringe, but I don't know the details. I think VTG is just BW's way of calling more or less the same technology as Garrett's VNT. Holset variable turbos use a completely different mechanism that looks like a big single swinging arm in the turbine. The Porsche turbo definitely doesn't use this from the pictures I have seen. Guide vanes are nothing really new. They are used almost universally in gas turbines, and many of the same technologies for gas turbines trickle into turbocharger designs.