On May 14, 2013, at 3:28 AM, Frank Grunthaner wrote:

> I must agree with several listees here that the best I4 conversion
> is the 2.0L I4, but the ABA version is unnecessarily complex and
> costly.

I would agree with that statement were I swapping into a Digifant
equipped van. I wasn't. Converting the Digijet to Digifant seemed to
me to be an unproductive and costly step. I choose to use the engine
management system that VW supplied with the ABA motor.  Another
consideration for me was that the counterflow VW engines are a few
years older than the ABA.

Additional considerations included the differences between the 3a and
the ABA. The 3A gains its displacement by using larger pistons. The
ABA by a longer stroke. Longer stroke typically equals more torque
which is what (IMHO) is needed pushing a 5,000 lb. box around.

ABA 115hp@5400 rpm 135 ft/lbs@3200 Motronic
3A 115hp@5400 rpm 122 ft/lbs@3200 CIS-E

10% difference.

Lastly, ABAs are common. 3As a bit less so in this part of the world.

> On the negative side, there is the expense and mass of the two or
> more Bentleys.

That's the only downside I've discovered so far.... Instead of five
hundred pages of shop manual, I now travel with a thousand pages. I
think it may be time to marry the two. I no longer need the mechanical
engine sections of the Vanagon manual, and neither do I need to know
how a Jetta body comes apart.

Jim