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THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!!

550K views 2K replies 370 participants last post by  syncrogti 
#1 ·
There are alot of vortexers looking for info on the X-Flow swap. I was in the same boat before doing mine, so I've decided to make an offfical detailed post about it.
Here is the basic info of what I started with.
1995 OBD1 X-Flow motor (no doner car) $200
The motor was basic no alternator or tensioners.I had to buy/borrow/ and steal alot of parts. go with the buy and borrow methods if your not confident in your ability to steal

What I needed
Alternator (Must be A3) $200
power steering pump and bracket (MUST BE OFF OF AN A3) $20
Water pump bracket (MUST BE A3) $Free
A/C Delete pully (I ditched the A/C) $16
MAF ($50 for both Coil, and MAF)
Coil
New spark plug wires (A2 wirers wont work) $78
Wire harness (engine and fuel rail) get the VAG harness if you can but its not necessary. $150
Gaskets (might as well)
38 inch V belt for the alternator. If you do the A/C delete use this belt! It wont fit exactly but it will stretch on. 38.5 will fit good for about 4 days then it will touch, put the 38 on and let it stretch. beleive me I have 60 dollars worth of belts in my car that I have to return. $20
ECU Stolen (sorry ma!)
General notes
Radiator: You can use the stock radiator with this setup. eliminate the long tube from the overflow bulb to the upper radiator and get the one from the A3 that goes from the back of the block to the overflow bulb. simply cap off the open end on the radiator
Buy a clutch: You might as well go ahead and do this while its out. get a flywheel too if you can I bought mine from qualityvwparts.com. I love it!
wiring: This is where the problems are, when the old harness goes out and the new one goes in there are only 4 or so harnesses that are being switched. when that is done there will not be enough power to the comp to make it power up and run the car you will need to tap into some power supplies, Ill post up later and tell you what color they are
Also, there will be some wires that you wont use hook up everything else that you know of. again this is one of those things that I will have to get back to you on I do know this off the top of my head:
1. use the alternator wires from your a3 (red and a little blue) place a small slide on terminal on the end of the old herness and stick it onto the BOTTOM pin of the alternator simply cut thesmall blue wire on the A3 HArness.
2. there is also a singl red/black wire next to the blue alternator wire on the new harness. put a spade termainal into the single harness and connect it to the starter, this is your starter turn on wire.
The downpipe
I have a 1992 GTI 8V I used the downpipe that came with my car and the exhaust mani fron the new engine no spacer was needed to make this work, maybe thats only an issue for CIS cars. Im not sure but Im just happy that I didnt have to buy one.
Ill update this as I remember if there are any questions email me or IM me and Ill include them into this post. HAVE FUN!!!

Here is the link to the pictures of the swap. Feel free to look at my other albums while your in there





Modified by X-FlowA2 at 4:07 PM 6-30-2003
 
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#102 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (SimonH)

Hey Koni, what did you do? I run1 serp belt too, but its a wierd size. What pullies did you use and what size belt did you use?
Ive heard only good things about the Hybrid digi/crossflow swap. Great tourque as well as an increase in HP I think Ive seen numbers in the area of 135 or so for HP and the tourque was supposed to be off tha damn chain! and if you use the Rabbit head with the big valves its supposed to be even better. Do it and lemme know what happens!
P.S. Thanks for the props on the post-
http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
 
#104 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (X-FlowA2)

yea man that was me. i was on my way to bap geon to get my distrubitor bushing. my motor is in but i am waiting on the upper radiator hose to come in. sorry i didnt see your post earlier or i would have dropped you a line. i'll be posting the pics as soon as she's running. i have been working on it for about 20 hours straight

[Modified by 2b rally golf, 4:18 AM 10-27-2002]

[Modified by 2b rally golf, 4:18 AM 10-27-2002]


[Modified by 2b rally golf, 4:19 AM 10-27-2002]
 
#107 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (X-FlowA2)

i have to work tomorrow (mon) but tues if i have off i will stop by your work if your working. the motor is in and ready except for the upper radiator hose which will be in tommorow. in theory everything will work out and the car should start right up but i dont know about reality. we will just have to see what happens. i am not going to post pics until its running
 
#108 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (2b rally golf)

finished pic ehhh i started in may 2002...ended 2 weeks later...easy swap...but now I am going to go turbo soon....i want more power... I am changing from my 4k to an a3 tranny, a3 cluster. I now need to source the a3 speed sensor, cluster and a3 trans....anyone want a 4k trans??
pics...only one i have of it in the car.....i will take better ones soon

anyone know what i need to change in order to get the a3 cluster to work??
 
#114 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (IwannaGTI)

quote:[HR][/HR]finished pic ehhh i started in may 2002...ended 2 weeks later...easy swap...but now I am going to go turbo soon....i want more power... I am changing from my 4k to an a3 tranny, a3 cluster. I now need to source the a3 speed sensor, cluster and a3 trans....anyone want a 4k trans??[HR][/HR]​
Good move on going with the A3 TRanny Specially since you going boost. I recently had got rid of my AUG for a CHE and what a difference. The longer gearing helps nicely and dosent top out at 105mph

quote:[HR][/HR]Anybody have recommendations for trannies (besides the original A3 unit) that match the ABA torque/hp curves? I currently have the stock ACN tranny mated to the tall block.[HR][/HR]​
besides the A3 Tranny i would go with a g60 tranny but that is more work involved. or stick with the ACN. If i am correct the ACN has a sweet 5th gear
. I plan on putting in the ACN fifth on my CHE tranny sometime over the winter.
As for pics this is my setup pre-turbo

 
#116 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (roccostud)

here is my question full a3 conversion dash and all,obd2 with a/c the lower rad hose is gonna be pinched by the comp. what is the fix? is there another rad that will work.because the a/c is staying.really after i went through the trouble of putting the dash and the a3 heater box in the car
 
#117 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (dubweizer)

quote:[HR][/HR]here is my question full a3 conversion dash and all,obd2 with a/c the lower rad hose is gonna be pinched by the comp. what is the fix? is there another rad that will work.because the a/c is staying.really after i went through the trouble of putting the dash and the a3 heater box in the car[HR][/HR]​
ha ha, clearance IS a problem isn't it? I moved the rad/ac condensor out about an inch on the pass. side and made a bracket for the bottom rad peg. I used a hydro front mount and two washers on top of it that I made to fit, along with a "thinner" M10 1.5 thread pitch nut...that gave me enough clearance for the bottom rad hose....I had to get the high pressure line from condensor to compressot lengthened as well...convert to 134a (I used a G60 compressor) and I have been cool ever since....
 
#118 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (PAGTI91)

When you do a crossflow swap, does it matter what coil you use? I didnt get the one off the donar car, so I just have my digifant coil and a MSD blaster 3 and 6a. Will either of these work?
ALso, I have a OBDII motor, but an OBDI wiring harness/ECU that I am going to use. MSD says you cant use their 6A ignition with a post 95 car (OBDII, basically) ANybody know why you cant use a 6A with a OBDII car? Because if its ECU/wiring related than I should be able to run it just fine...but if its something else...
 
#120 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (roccostud)

4k tranny is fine, any 020 transmission is fine. 16v requires 16v clutch disc, 8v requires 8v clutch disc. IWANNAGTI has a 4k w/ .75 5th and a Peloquin kit..runs fine...tight gears....good for all motor...bad for boost...
 
#122 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (TheTrader)

wish i wasnt blind or i would have posted in here first but
can i use the digi1 setup on an aba swap into a rabbit, also the car its going into was carbed in addition to the digi1 setup, and the actual motor itself what else will i need to make this work i.e. aditional harnesses or parts of the fuel system. The reason i ask about the digi1 is because i am looking to turbo in the furture after i get the car up and running. and when getting digi! what all should i make sure i get?
Thanks
 
#123 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (TommyC83)

Excellent post BTW...
Here's mine...

After the paint job...


1990 Corrado with a 1999 ABA. Upside down throttle body, etc blah blah blah.
BTW: I'm using an A2 Power steering pump and bracket.
It has AC but it doesn't work. For those interested you'll need a G60 compressor.


[Modified by vw mofo, 8:47 AM 11-20-2002]
 
#124 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (X-FlowA2)

just want to say this is an awsome thread for all interested in this swap.i just finished mine,but i went the extra mile and did the dash swap and all the junk that goes along with that.i think maybe we should post some info on here for people who want to do that as well.i know there are probably easier ways to do it than i did,but my car is all a3 from headlight to tail light i used the heater box kneebar pedals and colum. and it all looks stock so if anybody would like info or if you have a better way let me know.i also have air and cruise.
98 od2 swap
BTW if doing this swap and using the dash and all the harness i do not reccommed using the stuff or a donor car that is a cabrio that is where mine was from and there is alot more crap to sort through due to the top and all that.just my 2 cents
 
#125 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (vw mofo)

vw mofo-
I'm not hating at all but why did you swap in an X-flow into your corrado. You already had EFI and could have used your digi1 for a turbo or something.
In any case, it's the FIRST Corrado I've seen with an ABA. Congrats...
Jason
 
#126 ·
Re: THE OFFICIAL X-FLOW SWAP POST!!!!!! (vdubspeed)

Long story...

- Bought the car in January 01.
- Charger went in February 01.
- Was about to order a turbo kit, got comp test and leak down. Two cylinders were making less than 1/2 of the comp they should have.
- $2000+ for a rebuild, still no boost 85HP woo.

- $3500+ for a vr swap
- $1200 installed for an xflow.
You do the math...

At any rate, I just bought another Corrado to replace this one.
I don't have the time or money to make it fast. So hopefully whoever buys it will continue with my plans.
You're probably going to start to see alot more Corrado's showing up with atleast xflow heads on them as the original 1.8's start to get tired. I know of at least three others and one that has the complete engine like mine.
 
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