Hey,

Are engine cases for 1.7, 1.8 and 2.0s identical?

no, the windage tray is not in the early W cases IIRC.

Nope!

.... but all 3 were based on the same engine case of the 1.7, with the Porsche Racing Dept's. engineers who did the 917, showing VW how to bore & stroke the 1.7 to 2L (1971 cc) by modifying the journals/etc. in the crank case area - when VW insisted that 1.8 was the max. they could get out of their case!

There's a topic in the Originality & History forum on the 2.0L engine designed by the racing dept. guys fyi.

and ......

i think the 1.7 has a stouter area under the piston cyl. bases (i believe it's refered to as "register area"). from what i've read the 2.0 has more issues with this area warping.

914 Type 4 Cases are all the same. The internals are different. Early cases did not have U ledges for windage tray as noted in previous post.

Basically the same. Some early cases didn't have the windage tray, the fuel injection and carb or bus cases have some slight differences in the dipstick, oil fill and fuel pump areas. Late cases have no second relief valve. Bus cases have no cutout for the taco plate temp sender.
Late bus (and replacement) cases have a passage so that instead of just dumping the relief valve oil into the sump it sends it right back to the oil pump. These cases also have a shorter pick-up tube.

For a performance build I would use a 1.7/1.8 case as they were less stressed.

Thanks for the info.