switching parts or engine from 89 to 95

25

Asked by 3000ftdown Apr 02, 2008 at 07:01 PM

Question type: Car Customization

i would like to transfer the block from my 89 jetta gli to a 95 golf.  i know the golf is a 2.0 and the jetta is a 1.8.  is that compatible?  if not, can i stick the jetta engine in the golf?  and to have it rebuilt and switched, how much do you think that will cost, roughly?

3 Answers

27,705

With enough custom work, almost anything is possible. With that said, I doubt the block from your 1.8L '89 Jetta is compatible with the 2.0L '95 Golf. The lesser of the two evils is to stick the 1.8L Jetta motor in the '95 Golf. Unfortunately, I couldn't even estimate the costs involved due to the list of modifications that would be necessary.

35

This really isn't something that is worth doing. I'm pretty sure that the 1.8 block won't work correctly with the 2.0 cylinder head because it doesn't have the correct holes to supply oil to the head. You can put the 2.0 block into your jetta though because that head isn't designed for those oil lines. You can very easily find somebody to buy that engine block from though, I actually have one sitting in my garage getting ready to go into my car. The engine code is "ABA" and is usually called a cross-flow 8-valve or x-flow engine. Look on the forums at vwvortex.com in the classifieds section for somebody selling a block. Cheers!

30

actually, yes, you can switch both of them back and forth, you can even find diagrams for putting the 2.0 aba head on the 1.8 block (great performance too). The BIG problem you are going to run into is the 89 is CIS-E (if I remember right) and your 1995 is OBD. Electronics are a pain mostly. If you are just talking about swapping blocks or heads, yes they swap.

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