No longer a pipe dream (TDI 944 swap starts now)

I know I have been on and on about my swap and build. Today marks the start of the long process for me to swap my AHU into a 1984 Porsche 944 with an aggressive 400HP goal bla bla bla; I’ll get to all that later on. I'll end up with a build blog, YouTube updates (they will be doggy and camera phone unedited because I ain't got time) and so forth.
I started this thread to let you all in on this moment with me. It's been a year in the making. I just finished restoring a $400 screw 2 post lift. It is a 3 phase and was bound up. Now it works. I will also have a How I did it on that as well, I have many pictures.
With my kid and his issues and getting back on our feet financially, it’s been very slow but now, I have the weekends and some time here and there.
This isn't a build thread, just a share in my victory that I just got the car up on a lift that I rebuilt blind (no how to or how it works). I will have the engine out this next weekend. I also have a Van I’m pulling the engine from and once that’s done the 944 goes into the shop. My goal is end of the month to have the 944 in there with the Jetta GONE. SAY GOODBYE to the jetta.
if you guys want anything let me know, in 2 weeks that car is going to the crusher. i will have the full suspension, brakes, known good items but most of the interior, and the shell with the power doors and what not is going AWAY.
Aalso 1 question. it's been a while, i did some searching, and i assume that i can just unbolt the sub assembly, and front radiator lower bar and the parts that connect the engine and just lift the car off the entire engine and trans and suspension all at once right?
also i guess you know now i'm not going with cinder blocks lol
here are some pictures, horor and fun of what i found under there.



REMEMBER THiS 3" downpipe i made for the gt2052? yea this is why you don't heat wrap
pipe other than stainless. i knew it was bad but NOT THIS BAD lolololol. its been something like this since those autocross videos a few years back. HA. back in this thread,viens! FORGET THAT starting back at post #11. ALL THAT WORK, stupid heat wrap. thing is that all the rest of the pipe is 100% fine and the heat paint still doing its job. !!! RAGE> oh well not like i am going to use it on the 944!

nice. good job. finally starting on it. lol.

Nice to hear the family is doing well enough to afford you to put some resources towards this project. I hope your good fortune continues

jmodge said:

Nice to hear the family is doing well enough to afford you to put some resources towards this project. I hope your good fortune continues

Click to expand...

Thanks. Now that health issues have settled into a habitual routine with my son I can now put in 10 hour shifts at work and I'm almost paid out of depth. I'm not out of the woods yet but I can see the clearing. The Jetta and the van costs me $ to keep in tags and insurance due to where I live. Its cheep enough though but once they are gone, that's 2 more $ things I dont have to pay for.
I still have more setup in my new shop so it's a project one after the next to get here.
Took me 2 years to find a lift for so cheep.
I cant believe how bad the rust is under the mk3 let alone how gone the downpipe is!

Got a lot of progress done today. Made a video too. i have a little bit of work to do to it and to upload it but i'll post a link when it's ready.
Tomorrow i "should" have the rest of it stripped and ready to haul away.

Well. Today is the day. It's been completely stripped of all its useable parts. Nothing left but to drain the tank and send it to the scrapper.
also a video update. it's just a 101 intro!
VW TDI engine swap into a 1984 Porsche 944 Intro Video

I'm excited to follow this Mongler!!!

Have you already acquired the Porsche? I'd like to see that up on the lift. Always liked the 944's, even if they get ragged on by the Porsche purists.

turbobrick240 said:

Have you already acquired the Porsche? I'd like to see that up on the lift. Always liked the 944's, even if they get ragged on by the Porsche purists.

Click to expand...

If you watched my mk3 memorial video, there is a teaser of the 944 sitting in front with the Jetta on the trailer for scrapping, right at the fist part of the video.
I'll have that 944 on the lift and an in depth video of it and its condition and my plan of attack in the next few weeks. I have to pull my SBC350 out of my van first and scrap the van. Then the o44 goes on the lift for probably the rest of the year. I have a lot of home repairs to do this summer so once the 944 is on the lift it's going to take a brake from major work until I've replaced my deck, windows, door and bathroom floor of my home. So..... I'll still get work done slowly on it here and there but it's probably this fall that I'll go full steam into it.
The 944 is rust free, a few dents but otherwise aside form no engine, is complete and in good shape for what I got it for.

good luck

Hey man so i completed my tdi swap in my 89 944 last november. i wish you good luck. I was the first one i could conclude to actually get it working and do it, so many people talked about it, and such, but no one ever did anything about it.

so Good luck, be prepared for lots of creative thinking.

tims944 said:

Hey man so i completed my tdi swap in my 89 944 last november. i wish you good luck. I was the first one i could conclude to actually get it working and do it, so many people talked about it, and such, but no one ever did anything about it.
so Good luck, be prepared for lots of creative thinking.

Click to expand...

We need to talk lol

Shoot me a message or an email and no problem.

Just an update, ill have a new video out soon. its been slow but steady, i have scrapped my van and pulled its engine and trans and goodies, now im working on my 85 nighthawk 650.
soon as that is done, this weekend, i will have the 944 moved into the garage and ill make a long winded video about the entire pipedream and what im going to do and so forth.
the next few videos in my channel are going to be boring, just me addressing comments, update on why and what i just did to get one more step closer to getting the 944 in the garage and why im not just going forth on it right this second.

Hop to it dude, entertainment has been sparse.

Small update.
The 944 is in the shop!
Believe it or not, this is a huge milestone to have. Many things had to happen first.
https://youtu.be/HACfk5hRVDo

Hey man, glad to see you got her in the shop, after watching your video.

ill give my 2 cents

the driveshaft might not like the uneven portion of welding a long shaft etc on, especially considering its spinning at engine speed, but its still a good idea, if you push the engine far enough forward you can eliminate a lot of issues, but you will also create a whole bunch.

Good luck!

tims944 said:

Hey man, glad to see you got her in the shop, after watching your video.

ill give my 2 cents

the driveshaft might not like the uneven portion of welding a long shaft etc on, especially considering its spinning at engine speed, but its still a good idea, if you push the engine far enough forward you can eliminate a lot of issues, but you will also create a whole bunch.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

yea, one of the comments on the video was to have a VW clutch made with a 944 center. totally going to have that done. so much less BS! i totally agree. but that was what i had in mind at first. that or using the 944 clutch some how!

Mongler98 said:

yea, one of the comments on the video was to have a VW clutch made with a 944 center. totally going to have that done. so much less BS! i totally agree. but that was what i had in mind at first. that or using the 944 clutch some how!

Click to expand...

So it was me who made the comment on your video. Here's another idea.

I have also had a flywheel drilled for a different clutch. There were two possible clutch assembly's available for a tractor I was working on. Of course I needed the more expensive one. Like by about a $1000 and it was unavailable. So I just had a machine shop drill the flywheel for the cheaper clutch assembly.

If a Porsche pressure plate fits on a TDI flywheel then that would be even cheaper.

I also swapped a 6 liter Ford diesel into a New Holland bale wagon. The pilot bearings were the same size so it was a no brainer to just have the diesel flywheel drilled and tapped for the gas clutch.

Mongler98 said:

yea, one of the comments on the video was to have a VW clutch made with a 944 center. totally going to have that done. so much less BS! i totally agree. but that was what i had in mind at first. that or using the 944 clutch some how!

Click to expand...

I can tell you what setup to use

i mean my application is a little different since im using a longitudinal motor and flywheel

but im using off the shelf components

hehe research research research./

Yea I know.
For the most part I have my hands full with other tasks. As I get to the 944 bits I will figure out the best course of action for sure between all the forums help I can get. Nothing is set in stone other than 944 and ahu lol

alright
so this just happened
Its gata go down 8 inches and back 7 but progress is still progress!

Sub'd!