engine swap to a 1.6L

[pcturn at nbnet.nb.ca (Christopher Turnbull)]

I've no experience with this but I want to keep my Scirocco on the 
road. I have a miserable 1.8L 8v (with about 260,000 km) that has never 
worked correctly in the two years I've owned the car - in spite of 
tinkering extensively with the fuel injection. That's on the minus 
side. And I think I may have just screwed it up more.

On the plus side the car has very little rust, and of course, is really 
quite fun. And I've fixed most other problems: new sealed windshield, 
rear wipers, guages, seats, radiator, hoses, etc. It just needs a new 
paint job.

I have an old rusted out 1980 German made Rabbit with a 1.6L  FI engine 
with a 5 speed transmission (FF). It has only 120,000 actual km on it 
and its been run on synthetic oil since 35,000 km with regular changes. 
Of course, it never worked properly - but that was the miserable fuse 
box problem.

So the question is what are the likely problems in putting it in my 86 
MkII Scirocco. I could keep the O2 sensor system or just go without for 
simplicities sake.

I know, I know: its not going to be as fast, but... I'm not concerned 
about speed (pensioner) and it would run on regular gas. When the 1.8L 
runs it gets over 40 miles to the Canadian gallon so the 1.6L should be 
not bad.

But I've read that there is a problem with the front axles: the Rabbit 
would have the 90 mm transmission flanges, but the Scirocco has 100 mm. 
So would the whole Rabbit transmission-axle assemblies simply bolt into 
the Scirocco? Or is there a major difference at the front strut end? 
Other than that, I figure that it should be a straight fit, except for 
the exhaust system? Oh please!