Sounds like the transmission input shaft is bottoming out in the bore of the
crankshaft. Exact same thing happened to me when I put the Rabbit gas engine
in my Vanagon.

I ground about 1/8th of an inch (.125" approx) from the input shaft, and all
was fine. Take a look at http://volksweb.relitech.com/vanagon4.htm for the
details.

Good luck,
TomC
tcarrington@relitech.com
http://www.relitech.com/tomc
http://volksweb.relitech.com
85 Vanagon Crew Cab
82 Westy diesel=>gas conversion
65 Notchback

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mladen, Zoran [mailto:zmladen@NOVAZEN.COM]
> Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2000 12:36 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Problem putting Golf diesel into Vanagon
>
>
> Hi All!
>
> Strange problem taking place here.  We have a customer that
> brought us his
> diesel Vanagon (with a bad ebgine) and a diesel engine from a
> Rabbit/Golf.
> We took out his old engine, removed all of the Vanagon specific parts
> (including oil pump), broke down the Rabbit/Golf engine
> (checking rings, all
> bearings, etc).  We put everything back together, and the
> engine turns fine.
> Put the engine in the Vanagon.  While the engine is hanging
> in the Vanagon
> but not tightened, engine turns fine.  Once we tighten the
> engine to the
> transmission, engine turns VERY hard, almost to the point of
> not turning.
>
> As part of the engine swap, we replaced the clutch plate,
> disc, T.O.  We
> checked the transmission, and it turns fine without the engine in.
>
> What have we done wrong????
>
> HELP!!!
>
> Z
>