AFN, PD or ALH into 2000 Isuzu VX?

Fist off, thank you for an entertaining and educational site. Been reading your forum and following these threads for awhile. Just getting ready to start my own swap, which I plan to thoroughly document here. What I have is a 2000 Isuzu VehiCROSS, currently running a 3.5L V6, 4L30E auto trans with the Borg Warner TOD full time 4WD package. The VX runs about 215 hp, 4.08 geared axles with double wishbone suspension. Here's a link for reference:
http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticles/ID/3844/Project-Isuzu-VehiCross-Part-1-What-Are-We-Getting-Ourselves-Into.aspx
What I plan on converting it to is a TDI powerplant , TDconversions Adapter to an Aisin AX15 manual 5-speed trans and a NV 231 TC.
Since there isn't a lot of height in the engine bay, I'm leaning towards the PD with a rear sump and steel oil pan in case I need to fabricate a custom pan for clearance. I've read here that the AFN might be an equal candidate. External water pump housings concern me, but not as much as wiring an ECU in the case of running an ALH.
Isuzus are becoming more and more scarce, the VX was rare to start with. Have you seen many Isuzu TDI swaps? I've read the Isuzu PUP swap line, however mine will be much more technical as the 4WD and compact engine compartment complicate issues.
What engine selection advice do you have for me? Is a purely mechanical MTDI the best solution, or is a Malone tuned ECU worth the brain surgery level of rewiring?

The ALH (VE Pump) or BEW/BHW (Unit Injector) engines are both good choices. The PD motors, if you are looking to boost power have more potential right out of the box without changing turbo/nozzles than the ALH.

Mechanical injection would only apply to the ALH, and in a word "no", as you will have parts that aren't "off the shelf" and the ECU will give better control and more flexibility for future power upgrades if that's what you want.

Getting a custom harness manufactured for you isn't all that expensive. Most things like EGR / MAF etc can be deleted if you are looking for a simple install. It costs slightly more than a mechanical pump to get a harness built and the ECU software adjusted but well worth it in my opinion.

I agree with Hasenwerk, The ALH or PD is the best choice to go for. For me the PD has greater potential. Personally I'd use a PD130/150 engine because I know that they can take a lot of punishment Horsepower wise, I live in Portugal, home of many high powered PD engined vehicles (some far too smokey for my liking). Also PD very easy to wire up, Engine loom is plug & play and the wiring to the car you can get down to about 30 wires if you have maf delete, no EGR and can live without cruise control.

The AFN has its advantages too - its already set up for longitudinal mounting and has a steel sump, and is much simpler than the other choices. It'll make >200hp easily enough and the electronics are nice and simple - I reckon you could have it running on a dozen wires car-side if you leave the OE harness intact. Throttle pot, glow-plug relay, and a few power signals. No canbus to mess with - conventional sensors and rpm signal straight from the ECU.

Its probably the hardest of the lot to get hold of in the US though since you didn't get them in any models afaik, although I do have a couple on pallets ready to ship so I'm biased

Thanks for the advice, Hasenwerk, CasaEd and Mikkijayne. Ill start looking for an AFN or ALH. The ECU tune is great advice. Ill also begin searching for a harness fabricator when the time comes.

Shipping an AFN from the UK? Maybe if I can't find one locally. The search begins...

Uhhh, you don't have to look far. Hasenwerk makes custom harnesses and well known for his work.

The B5 passat also is longitudinal too, AFN or PD, and you can also use a 121 pin EDC15VM+ e.c.u which means you can re-map down the K-line instead of removing
chip's and using an external programmer

4:1 PD vs ALH Although a PD would be buttery smooth in this thing, and a tuned BHW with all stock components would be plenty. A mechanical setup will not easily make big power and require a lot of fine tuning. There's support for those kinds of builds, but you'll end up ahead from the start with a VE, very simple harness.

Happy to help out here, definitely an oddball project

ALH because there cheap and will do everything you need especially in that platform. I might be a little biased though. But a BHW would be my first choice if money is no object.

PD harness also very simple ;-)

I have begun collecting parts to make this conversion a reality. I decided on an AX15 manual trans to replace the stock 4L60e and an AFN TDI power plant. TDconversions will hopefully help me find a way to fit them together.

I will post my completed project once it's running and looking good. In the meantime, I will likely be asking you all lots of questions and reading through the many forum threads.