JAMES,

Sounds like your mechanic DID NOT SET UP THE COMPUTER.  you must set the computer with the vag 1551 or use a vag com.  that will take care of the rough running.  as for the loudness and vibration I will not comment on that as my motor is smooth and quiet but I have heard different stories.
this motor and ecu must be set with a computer to run properly.

Dan

James Adams <james_adams@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I have recently had a TiiCo engine put into my 1990
>Vanagon GL and I am not very pleased with it,
>especially considering what I paid for it.  So I
>thought that I should run a few of my impressions past
>the expert readers of this list to see whether I am
>justified in my disappointment or if perhaps I was
>just expecting too much.
>
>Let me enumerate my complaints below - any feedback on
>these will be very appreciated.
>
>
>1) The engine coughs and sputters if I crank it and
>drive it right away.  In order to avoid this it needs
>top be cranked and left running at idle for about 15
>minutes.  Otherwise it will drive very poorly (in
>first and second gear mainly) for about 10 miles.
>Especially in first and second gear it behaves as if
>there is some sort of problem with getting gas or air
>to the engine (coughing, I'll call it) until it hits
>about 3000 RPMs at which point it races and seems to
>be getting too much juice.  I was under the impression
>that a modern, and in this case brand new, engine
>wouldn't require any significant warm up time.  I
>realize that it is always a good idea to let the
>engine warm up no matter how new or modern it is, but
>the fact is that I'm a typical American and I don't
>"take my time" as often as I should.  Typically I want
>to crank the engine and drive away.  One reason I went
>with the TiiCo engine is because it would be a brand
>new, modern engine which I assumed (incorrectly,
>obviously) would not require much if any warm up
>before driving it.  I based this assumption on the
>fact that other modern cars, such as my brother's 2001
>Jetta, don't require much, if any, warm up, even in
>the winter time.
>
>2) My engine is loud and vibrates *MUCH* more than my
>previous Vanagon 2.1L engine (rebuilt once).  Is this
>just the nature of this engine ?  I feel like I'm now
>driving a hot-rod and this is not at all what I am
>used to nor what I wanted.  I must gun the engine in
>1st and 2nd gears and need to drive this engine much
>more like a race car, which I'm not accustomed to.
>With my old engine I didn't have to "race" the engine
>to get normal acceleration, but with this one I do.
>When I found out that the TiiCo engine is the same one
>that is used in new South African Golfs and Jettas I
>went to the VW dealer to test drive these vehicles and
>they were dreamy.  No warm up required before driving
>it, smooth progression through the gears (no feeling
>of driving a race car, having to gun the engine, etc).
> Of course I probably shouldn't have expected that my
>new engine would feel as smooth and quiet as these new
>US VW vehicles, but I certainly didn't expect that
>this new, *EXPENSIVE* engine would be as rough, loud
>and vibrating as it is.  My previous engine was smooth
>and quiet, and I expected that a brand new, very
>expensive engine would be approximately the same in
>this respect.
>
>3) The engine has some knocking when going from 1st to
>2nd and again from 2nd to 3rd gears.  This is a very
>"light" knocking which isn't always noticeable, but
>when I'm driving between buildings or other places
>where I can get a good sound reflection I can hear it.
> Passengers in my van have commented on this as well,
>without prompting them, so I'm sure that this isn't
>just in my head.  Add this to the fact that I get
>significant vibration at about 3000 RPMs and you may
>understand why I feel like something's not all right
>with the engine.
>
>
>I have had this engine installed by a very experienced
>and, in my opinion, a very competent mechanic so I
>don't think that the problems I'm experiencing are a
>result of a poor installation job.  But perhaps the
>engine can be tuned to smooth out the vibration,
>remove the knocking, and improve the performance of
>the engine when it's first started or "cold" ?  I
>realize that an engine needs a few thousand miles to
>"break in" but I am a bit worried that the problems
>that I'm experiencing are more serious in nature.
>
>Any feedback on this will be greatly appreciated.  If
>anyone can suggest procedures that I might attempt to
>improve the situation then please forward me your
>ideas (tune up ?  valve job ?  obviously I'm pretty
>clueless about this sort of thing).
>
>Thanks in advance...
>
>
>-James
>
>
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