The Project Pad

You totally should have towed the Yota with the Jetta

nothing exciting to report, other than I had a strange issue yesterday that nearly torched this truck. Went to start it, and the starter turns half a revolution, stops and smoke starts pouring out from under the hood. Popped the hood and found both battery cables red hot and the battery posts and plastic starting to melt! I had tools with me and got the ground off somehow. It was really only about 15 seconds, but I thought that I might end up with a burned truck or an exploded battery in my face. Pretty scary. I got a nasty burn on my thumb from ripping the ground off.

I figured the starter must have shorted to ground internally. I tore all the wiring out in the parking lot and rigged up a jumper from the alternator to the battery and fuse box, pushed her down a hill, jumped in and bump started it and went about my day. Ran a bunch of errands and just left it running everywhere.

Pulled the starter, and it was dead shorted inside the solenoid. Rebuilt the main wiring and put in a NAPA reman starter.....which of course has a faulty bendix, and only works one out of every four tries.....Back to the parts store.

Glad the truck didnt burn. I did not have a fire extinguisher with me.

Glad you saved it! Too soon to burn it down.

Just because it isn't an old Audi, doesn;t mean you shouldn't have a fire extinguisher

audifreakjim wrote:Just because it isn't an old Audi, doesn;t mean you shouldn't have a fire extinguisher

very true words. Added to my road survival kit in this truck.

Guess this thing isn't so boring after all.

dana wrote:The ETDI swap is so simple, once the harness is pared down. Electronic control of the TDI makes it so much better in every way in my opinion.
-full glow plug control
-working OBD plug and check engine light for VT inspection Nazis. This alone makes the ETDI swap a requirement in my opinion.
-cruise control
-viable tach output
-engine tuning variable with variable outdoor conditions

Some people love an MTDI, but it does not make sense to me, especially when swapping into an OBDII vehicle.

I agree, this is why i am searching for a pre '97 vehicle as obd2 will not be an issue here in NH. I know it is '95 now the guy i go to for inspections said they are changing it to 97.

I've been using this truck all summer. The pilot bearing in the flywheel is going very bad, so its definitely time to get serious about the ALH swap.

I got my donor ALH mk4 jetta running well. It would start fine, but stumble a fair amount and make smoke that smelled like fuel. I suspected bad injectors or a failing pump. I bottle fed it some diesel purge, and it immediately improved. I think the fuel filter or fuel pickup is restricted in the car.

Tested injector balance numbers with VAG COM, they were decent. It still looks like the injectors are somewhat worn, but the car runs smooth and no smoke.

I tested compression, I got 500 470 505 480. Not the closest numbers I have ever seen, but good enough to consider things healthy in my book. I suspect this engine is highly sooted up. I will be pulling the head and cleaning all the ports and valves before putting it in my truck.

I also got the adapter from Randy at TD Conversions and test fitted it. His adapters are much better than some of the others on the market, because they use the dowel pins on the engine to align, not the threaded holes, which vary from block to block. This caused many clutch and pilot bearing failures on others who used the ACME kits that have been out for a while.

I contacted Randy several years ago because i saw he was making VW kits for other truck transmissions, and I asked about toyota. I told him I would buy one if he made them. I kept checking in over the years, and he finally got enough people interested, so he decided to make the part.

His kit was intended for a 22re flywheel with a 9 1/4" clutch. Other people have had issues with those clutches holding, and one person had machined the 22re flywheel to accept a larger 10" clutch from a v6 tacoma. This was a good setup for him, but his flywheel was too light.

Again, I contacted Randy and inquired, because I saw he offered heavy flywheels for other applications. I was able to convince him to make a heavy flywheel that fits the 22re bolt pattern and takes a 10" clutch. He sells centerforce clutches, so I got a clutch rated to 385 foot pounds.

They are strange clutches, they have weights that swing out and apply more clamping pressure as RPMs rise. I am suspicious that the weights are going to make noise at idle, but he has them on other TDI swaps with good luck. We will see.

Below is the adapter setup fitted to an AHU block I happened to have in the shop. Everything looks good!



Scrapping a MK3 that I parted to use the cylinder head on my TDI audi. Towing weight with the 4 cylinder tacoma is pretty funny. Pinned all the time.

This project is awesome !

I wonder how you will be able to tow with the TDI in it .
I had a new Tacoma with the v6 and I still couldn’t tow anything close to car size without just maxing it out . Makes sense then why people get the 4 cyl, to get the better mileage and still probably be able to tow about the same amount .

Cool project!

Afterthought wrote:I had a new Tacoma with the v6 and I still couldn’t tow anything close to car size without just maxing it out .

I know my v6 Toyota was having a hard time bringing my coupe home.

Afterthought wrote:This project is awesome !

I wonder how you will be able to tow with the TDI in it .
I had a new Tacoma with the v6 and I still couldn’t tow anything close to car size without just maxing it out . Makes sense then why people get the 4 cyl, to get the better mileage and still probably be able to tow about the same amount .

I have helper airbags in the truck, which helps the ride a lot with heavy tounge weight.

I Know it will tow better with the TDI. I have towed some retardedly overweight things with my mk4 jetta and it had no issue power-wise. Its never going to be a heavy hauler, but I know the TDI has a better power curve than the Toyota 3rz.

Well, i actually started doing something real on this project. I forced myself to take a break from the house project and get this project off the ground. Also, I knocked up my wife, so if I dont get this thing going before August, its probably not happening.

I pulled the drivetrain and harness out of the mk4 last weekend, and am going to pull the 3rz toyota motor this weekend. The doner motor is in really good shape, and wont even need the head pulled to clean off the valves, so thats a score.

Started staring at the engine bay and visualizing how its all going to go together.

First thing I noticed is a surprising lack of intercooler space behind the grill and also a lack of space to get intercooler piping through the front crossmember. I will need to hog a couple holes in it somewhere. The engine is shorter, so I can probably push the radiator and condenser back a bit.

I am wondering if people have recommendations for a good intercooler place to shop at. Treadstone didn't have anything in the 2.5" thick core. Also couldnt find anything at Vibrant. I just want a simple, small, single pass 2.5" thick intercooler that is not the typical ebay CX racing or JDM brand crap. I suppose I can fab up something, but I think the TDI doesn't require a ton of cooling, so I just want something like 22"x6"x2.5" with normal end connections. I think I could make that fit.

dana wrote:Well, i actually started doing something real on this project. I forced myself to take a break from the house project and get this project off the ground. Also, I knocked up my wife, so if I dont get this thing going before August, its probably not happening.

I pulled the drivetrain and harness out of the mk4 last weekend, and am going to pull the 3rz toyota motor this weekend. The doner motor is in really good shape, and wont even need the head pulled to clean off the valves, so thats a score.

Started staring at the engine bay and visualizing how its all going to go together.

First thing I noticed is a surprising lack of intercooler space behind the grill and also a lack of space to get intercooler piping through the front crossmember. I will need to hog a couple holes in it somewhere. The engine is shorter, so I can probably push the radiator and condenser back a bit.

I am wondering if people have recommendations for a good intercooler place to shop at. Treadstone didn't have anything in the 2.5" thick core. Also couldnt find anything at Vibrant. I just want a simple, small, single pass 2.5" thick intercooler that is not the typical ebay CX racing or JDM brand crap. I suppose I can fab up something, but I think the TDI doesn't require a ton of cooling, so I just want something like 22"x6"x2.5" with normal end connections. I think I could make that fit.

Dude!!!! Congratulations! That's awesome news!

Back to car stuff, if the purpose is to tow I would go bigger than smaller with the IC core. It may also make sense to find something OEM from another car and repurpose it.

Congrats Dana!

What about DSMIC, or even AWIC?

Congrats! Better hurry
Could you tuck a UrS side mount in somewhere?

Thanks dudes! Shits about to get real for me now.

As far as charge cooling: An AWC would definitely solve it, and there is lots of room in the bay for the air to water component to live, and room to mount the water side up front. Diesels defiantly like cooler charges when working hard to keep EGT's down. The downsides are the added complexity. I want this swap to be as close to OEM reliable as possible. Not ruling it out though.

Side mount could be an option, would need some ducting. There isnt really anything conducive to side mount about the existing bodywork.

I need to pull the pump off and get a closer look. I could certainly restructure the front cross member, but I dont really want to do that.

Volvo intercoolers seem good, nice thin core, but the outlet locations are not great.

This is one place to look. If you want a core that’s somewhere in between on quality
They have quite a few sizes available, I used this one to weld new end tanks on and fit in my urq with limited space. Note it’s actually 2.25 core
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-260002

Nice one! That’s the size I think I can make fit behind the grill by pushing the radiator back. Was it better than the Cx racing eBay shite?

dana wrote:Nice one! That’s the size I think I can make fit behind the grill by pushing the radiator back. Was it better than the Cx racing eBay shite?

Yeah it seems to be decent quality and works ok. I was able to cut and weld on it without much hassle so the aluminum Is thick enough and somewhat decent

Congratulations dude! Looking forward to seeing this come together.

Here are some pics:
3rz coming out;





adapter in place with 22re bell housing installed:



TDI in place and bolted to trans



got some decent firewall clearance thanks to the thickness of the adapter plate.



Oil pan will conflict with front diff. Going to try and notch out the ALH pan.






using a laser level to try and get the driveline straight, having some issues there, not sure what the solution is quite yet.

I am struggling with the driveline alignment. In my mind, the driveshaft should be in a straight line when viewed from above or below. I drew up the below options to help me visualize what I am seeing. My method was to use the existing crossmember transmission mount, and build the front engine mounts in the right place to get the driveshaft straight. It does not appear to be possible without offsetting the stock trans mount quite a lot, which doesnt make sense. I didnt look close enough before pulling the stock motor, and I dont know how it was.

If anyone has ideas about how to approach it, I am all ears. A normal shaft with a ujoint at front and back is easy, you just make the trans and the pinion parallel and as long as the angles at each joint are the same, its all good. With a CV joint in the middle, I cant figure out what the right alignment should be.

Here is the type of driveshaft I have, has a center bearing and a CV or double ujoint after the center before the rear ujoint. Also has a joint at the transfer case output.




Here are my 3 options that I can see. These are all looking at the drivetrain from the TOP view.

Option A is how you would install the engine without measuring. I.E., trans mount stays in place and you visually align the engine crankshaft with frame rails, center bell housing in tunnel etc.

Option B is what happens when I climb under and force the output of the transfer case toward passenger side to get the driveshaft straight. I.E. drivetrain pivots on the trans mount.

Option C involes me drilling NEW mounting holes in the crossmember about 1/2" to 3/4" offset to allow the whole thing to be in a straight line.




I cannot see anything bent or out of line in the truck enough to cause such a discrepancy. I am wondering if the crankshaft is naturally offset from the rear diff by around an inch from the factory? I cant see to find any info on this over the internet. Only finding info about people leveling the shafts in the vertical direction after a lift etc.

So I may be misunderstanding the issue, but if you built the motor mounts so that the trans is straight to the chassis then you shouldn’t need to mess with driveshaft. What changed?

the german wrote:So I may be misunderstanding the issue, but if you built the motor mounts so that the trans is straight to the chassis then you shouldn’t need to mess with driveshaft. What changed?

I think the trans mount is offset about 3/8 front center of the truck. There are pretty obvious center marks on the trans, on the trans mount, and the transfer case. My laser shows that the crankshaft, all the centering marks and the output to the rear diff from the transfer case are all in alignment.

I think the crossmember that holds the trans mount is off center from where it should be. It looks like it was hung up on a rock at some point in its life, and that may have made it out of wack. I think the CV joint in the driveshaft allowed everything to work fine with no strange vibes, but I think I am going to slot the holes in the crossmember, so everything can be in a straight line to start with.

The principle is similar to driving a lowered car where the outter cv angles change. Sometimes they last forever, other times you're constantly replacing CVs.

If you're looking to just put it together, I bet it works and it doesn't feel much different than it already was.

Obviously in the long term having everything line up as it should will prolong the life of the joints and possibly even improve the stability around corners.

If I were you I'd probably just put it back together and just make sure the bearings are packed well.