Swapping my K-Jet for a Digifant?

[Chris Green]

hello all,

I have recently been given a 1988 8v GTI, that I intend to break.

However, the engine in my 1986 GTI has a massive oil leak (Possibly crank end seal). I am thinking about possibly using the Digi engine in my GTI.

However, is this an easy swap? are the looms similar? I know the injection is different, but how does the rest of the engine compare? Which other parts will I need to swap?

Failing this, is it possible to use the Digifant bottom end on my K'jet head?

Any advice would be welcomed.

Cheers!

Chris.

[...joe]

i'd imagine the easiest would be to use the digi bottom on the k-jet head as the digi's use so many more electrical components it would need the engine wiring loom and the fuel pumps.... i think!

[rubjonny]

The 1.8 bottom end is the same and will swap straight over. The heads are the same apart from the injector inserts, so you'll need to remove the digi inserts & fit K-jet ones to use it.  (Unless you plan to convert your K-Jet car to Digi, but its alot of time & effort for no real gain)

If you plan to swap the bottom end, then I'd get a 2.0 8v lump from a MK3 GTI (2e) or an Audi (6a??).  If you use a 2e the only thing you need to do is block the breather on the front, and swap the dizzy gear from the 2e onto your old dizzy and fit it using an adaptor plate.  The breather blanking plate & dizzy adaptor are both available from TSR I believe

[Organisys]

The easiest Audi lump is a 3A short block from a 1988-91 Audi 80 2.0e.

[richandhazel]

I would have thought your easiest option is to swap over the complete engines. I have a digi engine in my mk1 cabriolet at the moment. As rubjonnys says, you will need to swap over the injector inserts. It goes without saying that the inlet manifolds with throttle bodies will need swapping over and the rocker box covers are slightly different. If I remember correctly the K-JET has a bracket on the cover for the accelerator cable. There may be some other bits that haven't come to mind but it should all be straight forward as you'll have all the bits you need for swapping over.

[Dizzie]

fuel pump will be ok as the k-jet one is a higher pressure unit anyway than the digi.

[Chris Green]

Thanks for the advice so far.

Jonny, I already have the Digifant engine to use. I'm not planning on modifying the car at all. I'm sure a 2.0 would be very nice though.

So, I can just use the Digi engine, with my existing K-jet injection and loom?. sounds simple enough. I've got no reason to switch to Digifant injection anyway. the top end of my engine is sound enough I think.

Would I need to buy new injection inserts, or can I use the ones of my k-jet head?

[rubjonny]

If your old K-Jet head is ok you can just chuck it on the digi bottom no worries.  If not you could try to swap the inserts over, but I wouldn't count on them coming out in one piece (or even not being broken already!)