You should be able to put an intake manifold from an '85-'92 Golf or
Jetta on the Fox motor. This will move the throttle body to the other
end of the manifold (rear of the bus), and should preclude your having
to bang the metal out.
Someone else mentioned the low power output of a Fox motor- this is
true, but it's largely due to the exhaust design, a 4-into-1 manifold.
Get the manifold off of an early Dasher or Quantum, and you'll get a
10% power increase.
Of course, there's no replacement for displacement, but there are a lot
of camshaft choices out there that can help even a 1.8 do well.
Best of all, once you're converted, you can re-use all those spiffy
diesel parts on any 2L engine you might find...
-Simon

On Tuesday, September 24, 2002, at 08:21  PM, john Runberg wrote:

> Has anyone installed a 1990 or newer Fox engine into Vanagon using the
> diesel mounts? Did you have to bang the sheet metal to clear the
> intake? I
> have a line on a 90 Fox with new engine and bad tranny for a real good
> price...
>
> john
>