TDI to Mk3 gas car

Thinking about putting an AHU TDI in a Mk3 gasser.

The mechanical parts don't present serious problems and I have most of them.

A V6 car offers a better suspension; converting a four-cyl car might be more straightforward. Meaning fewer auxiliary electrical systems…maybe

The engine harness may be plug-and-play into the main electrical panel.

But the rest of the electrical system, with its forest of connectors that are probably different among gas and diesel and six- versus four-cylinder versions discourages me.

Tips will be greatly appreciated!

Vr6, and the suspension isn’t THAT much better. You’re better off putting the vr6 suspension onto a mk3 tdi.

The engine harness is plug-n-play, you just pull the mk3 gas stuff and ecu and install the tdi engine harness instead. The one thing that will not be correct is the front coil spring rates (maybe rear too but unlikely) and you'll have to find a mk3 gas / tdi to get those from.

You'll need to reconfigure the fuse box a little bit. Some things (like electric fuel pump) go away with TDI etc.

Other issues
fuel tank pump / sender wrong on gasser
radiators might not be same hose orientation for tdi

There's really no benefit to swapping into a gas 4 cylinder version. The only true benefit is finding a chassis that is clean and undamaged and not rotted out or roached out.

Personally I always wanted a Mk3 Golf TDI, the one that we never got here in the US, so if I were to do another conversion it would be for that and possibly to build a 20th anniv GTI tdi Golf clone, another car we never got.

Steve

1984 Gas Rabbit

I would like to know which TDI would be the best conversion into my Rabbit. It has manual transmission. It's a New Mexico rust free car.
Also has anyone had any experience buying engines from qualitygermanautoparts aka vwdieselking?

Knuckle buster said:

I would like to know which TDI would be the best conversion into my Rabbit. It has manual transmission. It's a New Mexico rust free car.
Also has anyone had any experience buying engines from qualitygermanautoparts aka vwdieselking?

Click to expand...

Rabbit as in 1975 to 1984 Rabbit?

Best... loaded question!

Personally, to keep it as simple as possible with the least amount of custom stuff, I would get a 1996 to 1999 "1Z" or "AHU" TDI as you motor mounts will be the easiest to fit on this motor. The "ALH" and later engines will require custom parts to mount it - it's not the end of the world but something to take into consideration. The wiring on these motors is quite simple too.

You're still going to have to mess around with an accelerator pedal solution and if you want any more power than the stock 90hp/150ft.lbs of torque then the stock 020 transmission isn't going to hold up very well long term if you drive hard and you will need to install a 02A or 02J transmission which adds a lot of messing around with the build again. The 02A/J have a hydraulic clutch and installing those parts along with the cable shifter and the custom mount, is sometimes fun. Cable clutch conversions are available for this transmission, but my experience is that if you go more than the stock clutch your knee will hate you with a cable clutch. Volkswagen Motorsport ran the 020 in their 16V rally cars with 200hp but they had as much less torque than a TDI makes.