Tdi in a hiace van??

HiaceTDI

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Location
Calgary
TDI
2000 golf tdi
Howdy y'all! I'm looking to do a tdi conversion to my 1992 Toyota hiace super custom 4wd, has anyone ever done a conversion to a hiace? I believe it will be possible using the 22r conversion kit from tdconversions.com as the G52 transmission in the hiace bellhousing matches the w56 of the old 22r powered Toyota pickups.
I've got a 2000 golf tdi manual transmission with 171000 on the car(was a sweet salvage pickup) I have the full car and will have the luxury of swapping most of the parts over.
The hiace is the 3l diesel model which makes it a little bit more streamlined in the conversion process, and I figure I'll be using the 2 key approach as I feel it'd be a ton more work to try wire all the vw harness to utilise both the Toyota ignition and guage cluster.
I've never done any kind of engine swap before and understand the herculean task before me, but I do have some mechanic knowledge and I guess it helps that my brother is an airplane mechanic and vw fan.
I'd like to keep the hiace guage cluster, but I understand it would be far simpler to use the tdi cluster instead.
I'm looking forward to reading all of the forum posts on the successful swaps and try to emulate that success as much as possible!
 

bbob203

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2012
Location
Louisville, ky
TDI
b5.5v
I would recommend looking into making it a mechanical TDI also known as MTDI. This will simply the swap a good bit. You may even be able to find a diesel guage cluster from abroad which would make hooking up the tachometer a breeze. Even without it just requires a converter module. I had an MTDI it was the best TDI I owned.
 

HiaceTDI

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Location
Calgary
TDI
2000 golf tdi
Are you able to do that with an alh? I've already got the full golf so I wouldn't be opposed to cha going the cluster out, it would just make integrating the Speedo a bit tougher I imagine

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evguy1

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Location
Erington, BC, Canada
TDI
2000 Jeep Cherokee TDI, 2008 Jeep JKU TDI
The dash really depends if its run from an engine ECU or older analog. If its analog and just looking for gauge inputs then its easy. I use the temp and oil senders out of the gas engine, stick them into the TDI and run the stock gauges. If its run from the ECU then I leave the ECU in place and again run the original senders to feed the ECU. Tach can be more challenging with an ECU.
 

HiaceTDI

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Location
Calgary
TDI
2000 golf tdi
I believe the hiace speedo is driven via a gear and cable, not sure if there's a speed sender. The tach has a module that sends signal to the cluster and the other lights and indicators on the dash all have corresponding wires that I can splice into the vw harness

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HiaceTDI

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Location
Calgary
TDI
2000 golf tdi
What's wrong with the diesel engine that the HiAce already has?
The engine has a cracked head, and the L series diesel engines are notorious for head cracks. The engine was also rebuilt with cheap, questionable bottom end parts. I looked into buying a replacement engine, but these things are very hard to come by in Canada and are very expensive if you can(around 3500 to 5000 for a 3L) I've also been looking for another project car since I stopped rallying Corolla and I though doing a tdi swap would be a challenging project(although I might be eating those words in a few months!)
I picked up the hiace for 800 bucks running(albiet poorly) and got my tdi for 900 so I'm in it for 1700 CAD now and with the adapter kit from td conversions at 1400 I'm still below the cost of a replacement engine. I do expect the costs of the swap to soar as I go on but I'm looking forward to fabricating and figuring out the various custom parts I'll need. Plus, this will be the first hiace tdi that I'm aware of, which is pretty cool in its own right

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HiaceTDI

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Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Location
Calgary
TDI
2000 golf tdi
I'm curious to know what inputs I can delete from the ecu on the alh.
My goal is to use the stock cluster from the hiace and eliminate anything that isn't 100% necessary for the operation of the engine. I'll most likely be doing an egr delete as well.

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jmodge

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 18, 2015
Location
Greenville, MI
TDI
2001 alh Jetta, RC2 w/.205's 5speed daily summer commuter and 2000 alh Jetta 5spd swap, 2" lift, hitch, stage 3 TDtuning w/.216's winter cruiser, 1996 Tacoma ALh
Interesting, I saw one of those vans for the first this summer in Northern Michigan. I heard the diesel as we were hiking to Lake Michigan for a swim. A gal from Texas was up here exploring our west coast with it. Right hand drive, never knew such a thing existed.
 

HiaceTDI

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Location
Calgary
TDI
2000 golf tdi
It's a pretty cool vehicle for sure and definitely a unique vehicle choice for a tdi swap. The most convenient thing was the fact that the running gear on the vans were from the 2nd Gen 4runner so there is lots of conversion hardware for tdi swaps and drive train parts are more or less easier to come by. The downside is the cooling layout: the vans are cab-over-engine and use a viscous coupling clutch type fan. These couplings would eventually fail causing the system to overhead and the cylinder heads would crack. The Hilux surf would suffer the same problem with their 2LT turbo diesel engine. I figured a tdi would be a good choice as the power output is very similar to the 3L that came with my van(3L=90hp 133ftlbs torque tdi=90hp 155lbs torque)
My goal is to utilize the stock instrument cluster so I'm wondering what inputs are 100% necessary for running the engine and things I don't need. I'd like to use the stock ignition too so I would need to doable the immobilizer as well.


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HiaceTDI

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Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Location
Calgary
TDI
2000 golf tdi
I've got the golf tdi up on the rack and am starting to tear it sow to its engine and necessary swap components and had some questions: I'm going to start by labelling all the bits I'll need, but I'm not sure what's what under the hood and can't seem to find a workshop manual online.
I'll need to find the n75 valve determine what those vaccum valve things are on the back of the engine bay and other stuff.


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HiaceTDI

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Location
Calgary
TDI
2000 golf tdi
Spent a good amount of time disconnecting things and getting stuff labeled.now is the asv connector the one on top of the intake manifold, or is that the n75?


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Hasenwerk

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Nov 28, 2003
Location
Quesnel, BC
TDI
1982 Cabriolet (BEW|VNT17|Stage4), 1989 VW TriStar Syncro soon-to-be CR TDI (CBEA), 2001 Ford Ranger Edge 4x4 (ALH|VNT17|R520|Stage4)
As to your question on MAF and MAP. Yes, the MAF can be deleted, the MAP can not. There's a bunch of other items that can be deleted as well.

If you are looking for someone to help with the wiring, sensors and software required to make this run smoothly in your Hiace give me a shout at http://www.fastforward.ca :)
 

HiaceTDI

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Location
Calgary
TDI
2000 golf tdi
So I've hit a pretty substantial roadblock with my swap: the adapter plate doesn't fit the bellhousing on the transmission. As it turns out, the north American G52 bellhousings are very different compared to the hiace's. There are a couple of engine to transmission mounts that bolt up to the bellhousing as well as a shifter linkage bracket that are absent on the north American bellhousings. So I'm pretty much screwed right now. I'm going to try to have a new transmission plate built at a machine shop and thst should solve the problem.
Another issue is that the height of the intake manifold is going to hit the underside of the drivers seat so the new adapter plate will have to be able to clock the engine a further 15 degrees or so, but then I'm getting into oil circulation issue territory.
Unfortunately I did have to delete the ac as it fouled the diff as I predicted. The ac mounting bracket also fouled the body side engine mount so I had to trim out a section of the bracket and will have to run the accessories with a shorter belt.


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toohighpsi

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Joined
Mar 12, 2003
Location
Seattle, WA
TDI
2005 Jetta, 2001 Golf
Might not it be easier to just find a junkyard US transmission and swap that in? Interesting project, I have thought about doing a swap to a Mitsubishi Delica, I found one locally with a blown engine, as they also have overheating and head cracking issues.
Also, I would not swap to a manual injection pump. You will have much better all around performance and economy by keeping the ecu control. There are several places out there that can delete the immobilizer from the ecu for you and modify the engine harness to make it super simple. Only a few wires to connect to the van.
 

russx

Active member
Joined
Jan 3, 2020
Location
Ukraine, 45400 Lutsk
TDI
A8 d2
Ac you may install on the right side of engine from passat b5/a4/a6 1.9/1.8t with its own tensioner and belt.
For the ecu cheapest way is to buy cheap eeprom programmer about 5$ and do immo off with immokiller program. Then you dont need golf cluster
 

HiaceTDI

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Location
Calgary
TDI
2000 golf tdi
Ac on the right sounds interesting but I might have driver's seat clearance issues..
Over the last couple weeks I procured a w56 bellhousing and bolted it to the G52 transmission and it fits as per my Toyota guru's information!



I had to cut out the top cross member in order to drop the engine in from above as I order to go from the bottom I'd have to remove the front axle and sway bar. No thanks.

And as an added bonus, my passenger seat/engine cover ACTUALLY fits! I should probably go buy a lottery ticket



The only issue on the passenger side engine cover is the oil filler can sits juuuuust a little too high, might have to shave down the plastic a little or somehow find some kind of aftermarket oil filler cap that's a bit slimmer.

Now onto the problems:
Looks like the intake manifold is going to have to be cut down and heavily modified as its sitting way too high up for the divers side engine cover to go back on. Under normal circumstances, I could just cut a bit of the engine cover out and build a sheet metal cover for it but the deat mounting bolts and seat rail sits right on top of the manifold. It shouldn't be too difficult to modify, but I don't really have the skills or machines to weld aluminum so I'll be talking to the machine shop guy down the street from me.

Another issue is that the hiace utilizes 2 cross shafts for the shifter linkage and the rear cross shaft seems to line up right where the clutch release arm is, but again I think this bracket can be modified to clear it.


Next up is to build the engine mounts. The stock location is quite a bit forward of where I need it to be so I'll have to cut them out and move them back to where the block bolt holes are. I'm planning on using the stock Toyota mounts as they're quite robust and could easily handle the weight of the tdi.




You can see the n75 diagram is sitting just above the body mount so some modifications will have to be made.

That's all for now, but my slave cylinder just came in so I'll mount that up and see if the hiace release fork is the same as the Toyota pickup the bellhousing came from.

Im feeling pretty relieved that the engine is sitting in there now!
 

jimbote

Certified Volkswagen Nut
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Location
spiral arm, milky way (aka central NC)
TDI
Tacoma 4x4 converted to TDI
cool thread but pics are wayyyy too big, like trying to watch tv with your face 1" from the screen :eek: ... try uploading to the club server and choose medium image for a more readable thread... good luck with the swap!
 
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HiaceTDI

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Location
Calgary
TDI
2000 golf tdi
More stuff happening!
My engine mount kit from td conversions got delayed due to a freak snow storm on Vancouver Island so I've been busy doing other things while I wait namely modifying the intake and figuring out where my intercooler is gonna fit

I still need to get the manifold welded up as I don't have a tig welder or know how to tig :/ the new manifold should be able to clear the engine cover. I've also been toying with the idea of cutting out the oil filler port and moving it back 3 inches to clear the panel as I've got a big honking hole cut into the panel and had to lose my e brake mounting bolt.

I'm also in the market for a radiator and fan combo. Problem is I can't use either the vw or hiace rad as I need a narrower rad to squeeze the intercooler piping past. I need something 16 to 17 inches tall by 20 wide for it to fit and maybe a bit thicker than the 1" the hiace came with. Gonna try pick n pull first then try mopac
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HiaceTDI

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Location
Calgary
TDI
2000 golf tdi
I've got a question about cooling:
I'm trying to figure out a new radiator for the van but I'm having difficulty narrowing down the cooling needs.
The van is approximately 4500 lbs stock, plus the amount of camper stuff I'm gonna ad roughly 800 lbs or so.
Problem is I can run the stock vw rad due to size restrictions so I'm gonna have to run a smaller, but thicker aluminum rad.
I was thinking of using a civic radiator (https://www.northernfactory.com/Product/205226) as it'll fit in front of the intercooler but the guys over at vex performance in Calgary say that it won't provide enough cooling for the engine. Instead, they've put together a crazy expensive alternative (around 880 CAD!) I really don't want to spend that much on a radiator/fan package as I still have to pay for the aluminum welding of the intake manifold and valve cover.
Any advice? The radiator has to be max 22 wide, 15 tall and 3 inches thick in order to fit into the hiace

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HiaceTDI

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 15, 2019
Location
Calgary
TDI
2000 golf tdi
Finished a couple of things:
Got the cooling system, intake and charge piping and fuel lines run since I got the engine mounted and moved back into my garage.
Next up will be getting new power steering hoses/lines made up.
Then it's onto mounting the ecu and running the wires before sending it off to fast forward for the custom wiring harness.
Still lots to do but it's on its way!


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