AAZ Engine

Hi correct me if i'm in the incorrect area of the forum.
I have just got my hands on an AAZ engine that is completely rebuilt and am considering installing it in a VW vanagon.
My first question is how much horse power is possible with this set up
My second question is should I rather rebuild my ALH and use a Rover pump and larger turbo with EGR deleted.
Please and thank you.

AAZ is IDI and will be a ton easier, since no wiring will be involved. I think around 150hp is realistic with that engine, with a lot of work.

-Todd

That said, stock IDI parts are becoming harder and harder to find, and before investing anything in it you'll want to ensure the crank snout is in good shape. The AAZ engine has a very early version snout design which when coupled with the stock solid alternator pulley likes to wiggle loose and grenade the engine.

It will also require very specific know-how to get additional power, since the pump is fully mechanical and performance IDI nozzles are very rare. There are probably only two vendors in Canada that build upgraded injection pumps these days.... if they still do.

An ALH, on the other hand, starts with more power right from the get-go, comes with an upgraded crank snout and alternator, and can be tuned by multiple vendors via simple download over the internet. Lots of upgrade parts including nozzles are available. A well-built Rover pump is of course also an option.

Just a few things to think about... it's always a tradeoff. A lot of AAZ folks hang out at www.vwdiesel.net... might be worth a post over there to see what building up a performance AAZ engine entails these days.

isnt the aaz a 90hp engine, the td,idi set-up?
its good hp, i suppose, the AHU motors we run here i think have more pep there, stock. then again we have a lot of electronics to our set-up. for me its restricting in certain ways, but i havent had problems with my cars, so just a personal feeling to a point.
like mr.waldon says, advertising his web site there , there is a lot of info over there. and build, power additions. (i dont have experience personally with the AAZ, but the web site has the info. im sur).

AAZ is 75hp stock. It won't be very impressive moving the Vanagon about, but it is more than the 1.6L diesel (48hp) or the 2.0L air-cooled (70hp) engines. Not as much as the waterboxers 1.9L (87hp) and 2.1L (95hp) but will obviously use MUCH less fuel.

Keep in mind, you'll want to think about the gearing, too. The gas engines' gearing would work "ok" with the AAZ, the 1.6L gearing would be too low.

iluvmydiesels said:

like mr.waldon says, advertising his web site there

Click to expand...

To be clear: not my website, haven't been an active member for years, as my own herd left the AAZ world about 5 years ago.

One of the better reference sites for the IDI crowd however.

i was under the impression you were perhaps involved with the start of that site. your one of the top moderators, even if you have been mostly inactive, hey times change and move on, we all grow and older. you have the timing link, i dont think VW or the shop manual have that info or work in the shop for them, and its a lot as (of info)far as getting an IDI, and even a TDI mechanically timed correct.

oilhammer said:

AAZ is 75hp stock. It won't be very impressive moving the Vanagon about, but it is more than the 1.6L diesel (48hp) or the 2.0L air-cooled (70hp) engines.

Click to expand...

the 75hp AAZ is that a turboed hp#? sounds low for a turbo hooked up to it. for a non-turbo and na it sounds a little high. 75hp is lo for pushing a vanagon, mo'-HP!, the 1.6 hp# you give is na, the turbo is a good boost, for the smaller sized cars, still a 1.6 will be hard pressed to power a vanagon. at least the aaz isnt as small. i forget for sure as VW made 1.7, 1.8, & 2.0L aluminum case air-cooled. i know all three sizes went into porches most 914s and perhaps a few 912 of the time. i forget if the same 3motors went into VW busses, i know the 2.0. although the vanagon took water-boxers. the 2.0 isnt a bad motor, i suppose there are performance mods. carbs were available, will suck down some gas tho. \
like said the ole IDI like the AAZ are good on fuel. pushing out 45mpg+ isnt usually a problem,,for cars at least. the vanagon is bigger, and if you want more power,,still you will end up getting good mpg.

Yes, 75hp turbo and all. The AAZ is a 1.9L. There was a turbo 1.6L, too, but never available here in the T3s (the JX engine). We did get a 1.6L turbo in the B2 Passat (Quantum), A1 Golf and Jetta (Rabbit), and A2 Jetta early on, these made 68hp. The JX is detuned just slightly to 65hp IIRC, just like the NA 1.6L is detuned to 48hp (normally these are 54hp, and later 52hp).

A stock AAZ bolted to one of the gasoline transmissions would motivate the box along OK, and reasonable frugal, and should be able to do what most folks want them to do. But it will still be somewhat limited by low gearing, and isn't going to win any races.

I have driven all over the place in my Buses, I have owned everything from a 1600 1971 Bus to lots of the Type 4 engine powered T2s and literally every single engine ever sold here in the T3s. And I have driven my buddy's '63 panel van with its 1200 40hp engine plenty of times. My '79 T2 with the 2.0L Type 4 engine is easily the peppiest. That same engine moving the T3 is pretty taxed, as they gained so much weight, but it could still cruise along at 70+ on moderate grades without much issue.

I even used it for some towing now and then:



I think the AAZ would probably do better than that. But in a camper, loaded down, may have a tough time on some hills.

nice post oil-h, blasts-from-the-past. nostalgia and all. some of those past memories i was pre-high school at the time. we were all younger, i enjoyed those times better. that i wasnt older, well i am now, id be that much older now, dont kno i want that.
the ole 1200, and in a bus type. and the t2 with the old 1600 motor set up. yep, i think the 1200 was a slight upgrade of what came out of the war, the 25hp. maybe it was just a power upgrade, not much more, as far as improving the case. the old magnesium case they learned to upgrade to the aluminum case, esp for the bus usage, the heavy weight pounded out the case mains, esp the middle one, as is/was normal. i had bought a 63 bug at one time. it may have had a 1300 someone stuck in it. went into the trash about the next day. i stuck in a 1600 dp i put together, the dp aminfolds were right at the bay lips as we all know, tight fit! that car later was probably sitting around for a while and the floors about ended up dropping on to the ground. so i found a super beetle, i prefer normal bugs, but i got this one. added some performance mods for my upgraded 1600, and motored around for a while. put some frd's on it, they are a nice add-on for a smaller 1600 up to something like a 1776. still have them. the pump gas 94 sunocco has to be real sticky what was left in them. about the only thing i didnt do for that 1600 was put a lightened flywheel on it, a 12.5 lb lightened flywheel can make a difference! back to busses so in thinking about it, put one of those aluminum typeI cases in it, a 3-piece if you want to, i like the size of a 2010, of course with the al those CA guys like some pretty big size like 2332. a little big and wild for my tastes. i dont know, i know a fair amount about prosches, and like i said had a later model bus with the t4 al motor. i cannt say as far as that motors performance mods, never looked into it. carbs were available. when our bosch fuel injection failed he put on some 2 barrel dells, were nice,,in design. i guess they may have been the 44 size, they ended up too big. never got them running right. the intakes always ran cold, quite, if they had pre-heat pipes available for the intakes we probably could have made them work.
in the same context, i remember when i was quite young we had an ole 1600 t2. was a different time. '70s.

i think ours was a '78 or '79, one real good thing about that girl was the furnace, that was nice, the heater boxes would do next to nothing on a cold day, fire up that gas furnace and itd heat you out of that big cabin!