Dealing with my engine issues.
The big issue here is mechanical.
Electrically, much can be achieved with what already exists.
I would want to use the ABZ motor in place of the PT. If I could get an ABH engine, this would be better. But they seem to exist only in Germany, cost a fair amount, and then there are the shipping costs. My german sucks, to use american parlance.
It is a fairly well supported opinion that the ABH will slot right in where the PT should be. Electrically, there is little to change. ECU program and fuelling being the main concerns, which have been addressed before.
So, mechanical considerations of fitting an ABZ-
Will it mate up with the existing gearbox?
Will I be able to use the Engine mount brackets from the PT?
A fairly simple necessity. I cannot go changing all the drivetrain components just because the engine is dead.
I cannot get into a project of designing or adapting engine mounts, gearbox bellhousings, etc. It needs to mate up with the gearbox as it is now. And mount using existing engine mounts and brackets.
Anything else is simply too great an expense, and an ABH engine from Germany would become a better financial option.
Will the intake manifold fit?
Basically, for the same reason as above, I cannot get into redesigning the intake, or modifying it. The intake from a PT will bolt to an ABH. Will it do likewise with an ABZ?
Will the Alternator, AC compressor, and PS/Hydraulic pump fit.
Again. The components from the PT engine are in good working order, So I would like to reuse them.
At the end of the day, there are a great many components shared between the PT/ABH/ABZ engines. So it is a fair, but unproven, idea that the block didn't dramatically change.
I suspect that the answer to many of these questions is yes. But I have no concrete proof.
If anyone knows a friendly breakers yard where these components could be swapped around to determine, that would be fantastic.
Under other circumstances, I would actually have the car on stands, partially stripped, and simply buy in an ABZ engine to find this information myself. But this is not a practical option at this time. More's the pity.
I'm with you Mario. I hate stripping perfectly viable cars just because of a single(albeit major) components failure. A badly accident damaged shell, or one that has been allowed to rot, are pretty much the only reasons that I would strip a car, personally.
I know of 2 V8s being stripped. 3.6 and 4.2. One has accident damage that made it uneconomical to repair, but not impractical. The other is a later model, and was pretty much fully serviceable. But was partially dismantled by people who didn't understand what they had sitting there. So, there is an ABH engine, in pieces, and no way beyond stripping it and checking it, to determine if it is viable.
If I had space and time, I'd buy both of them now, and in less than a year, 2 good V8s would be running from the 3.
