I'm talking to some guys about just doing the LS swap....cheaper, more power, less gas mileage, bah...who cares.
I REALLY want a diesel though....
..And I haven't read anything about cam failure?
Seems to be well known in the TDI community. The Pumpe-Düse has a lifter that sits on the cam. From what I've been told it's not a roller while the others are. Seems the pump which is on the end of the cam doesn't get oiled well. There are recommendations to not drive faster then 75mph and be sure to change the oil earlier on and not do the extended timeline.
LS's are the way to go though. They are plentiful and can make a lot of power. MoTech is Las Vegas does a nice swap retaining everything needed to pass 49 and 50 state. The only thing I don't like is how they have the exhaust on the driver side connect to the pass side after the transfer case. This is because of the cats that attach to the manifolds. Though you can swap to car manifolds which have the output in the center rather then on the end which gives you more room.
I've been looking at a 4.6L Stroker or maybe a 350 TBI since they're cheap and fairly easy. 4.6L is at the top of the list though.
I was just curious is though wanting to do the 1.9L swap have really looked into the engine. It would suck to do a swap then have to rebuild it again and maybe again. I was told the cams are around $700-900 with the install kit.