I'm working on a 2.0 that has a couple cruddy tins - the rear engine cover plate (at trans) has a tear and my right side tin has been butchered for AC. I have a parts car 1.7 and my current in-car 1.8 (with refinished tins). I've read that I can cut the spot welds at the front portion of the right side tin and graft in one from a 1.7 or 1.8. Is this correct? Is the rear engine cover plate uniform across engines?

Thanks.

Tins can be fixed. 2.0L has differnt locations for spark plugs due to unique heads on 2.0L.


I have been reparing them by fabrication from scratch to fix the AC butchery. If you have old 1.7/1.8L tin you could also do as you've stated to create a hybrid. Note in photo that you probably only need the front right corner which is a seperate section that could have spot welds drilled and salvaged. Rear tin does have some minor variations that I've seen in hole locations but is interchangeable.


Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Here's is the one that was repaired after powder coat. Weld only slightly visible but will be nearly impossible to see as installed in car.

Click to view attachment

I'm currently working on repairing a set as a side project for another member. Definately do-able. Don't toss 2.0L tin! For some reason 2.0L tin seem to be hacked by AC more often than the more prevalent 1.7L/1.8L trim. Maybe higher end cars got more dealer AC installs.

I modified my original 1.7 tins to work with the plug position on the 2.0 heads I installed.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Early 1.7L cars also had different tins. There's extra holes/provisions near the back for the pre-heater setup.

Thanks guys. I'll plan on swapping over the right front corner from my 1.7 tin.

@SuperHawk996 That is fantastic. My car had a/c but they cut the shelf rather than the tin. I made a temporary patch out (with channel) until I'm in a position to replace the shelf. I'm very familiar with that edge of the engine tin!

They did the same thing to my car. Both self and tin were cut. Idiots!

In my case the whole right side long inclusive of the element up into the engine bay were replaced due to rust. I'm replacing the whole shelf with the RD sheetmetal as part of that project to repair the Shark Bite chunk the idiots at the dealership sawed out!

I will also replace the cut shelf with the RD piece. Meantime the patch (2x8”) came out well and will keep dirt out of the engine bay.

More importantly it keeps hot air from below the engine from being recirculated back into the fan inlet.

Not a fan of AC conversions Other than the couple guys that have put the compressor up above the engine and to them I say

Hard to believe the dealer hacked the sheet metal like that but I guess there was no other way to get the compressor mounted back then. I understand nowadays a compressor is much smaller and no cutting would be necessary. Still, for me it was too much clutter and drag on a 100hp engine and with all the black it could barely keep up. But I do remember summer days on a road trip when that a/c was nice.