'01 Jetta 5spd ALH into '01 GTI 1.8t

*UPDATE* Decided it's worth the effort, and started the swap..Pics and updates below.



I currently have a base model '01 ALH Jetta GL that I'm considering taking the engine and trans from to swap into an '01 GTI 1.8t auto.

The Jetta has no options whatsoever. It's also a piece of crap. The GTI has power windows, heated seats, moonroof, and an auto trans and is in much better overall condition.

The mechanical aspect seems very straight forward. Swap the engine, trans, axles, shifter etc as one unit. Fuel lines, tank, associated parts. That part I can do in a weekend.

It's the electrical portion that I'm thinking will turn me away from the swap.

I'm getting conflicting info from these mk4 to mk4 swap threads regarding engine and body harness compatibility. Some say if you have the complete engine harness, all you need to do is deal with the immobilizer, key chip, and the fuel relay from the tdi. Other people are splicing and rewiring the complete harness. It wouldn't be so bad if it was Golf to Golf and 5spd to 5spd..At that point it's about getting the engine to run. But I basically am looking at the total opposite..One body style to another, auto to manual trans, no options to all power options and a TDI swap.

So what type of wiring nightmare (or not) am I looking at?

I think that you only need to swap the engine harness the glow plug relay and instrument cluster.
Don't forget the pedal cluster since will use the manual trans.

João

Should be dead easy since they are both 01s and immo2 Swap engine harness from TDI to GTI. Plugs right into the rain tray. The cluster can be swapped and reprogrammed to the GTI keys. There will probably be a few wiring mods but nothing crazy. No need to touch the chassis harness or extreme wiring mods.

I know from EXPERIENCE that the chassis harnesses are greatly diffrent. You may be able to plug the two together it's true but the wire colors/functions/locations don't match up, and that is comparing 2 02's. You can pull the dash and disect the entire harness to figure things out but I just found a chassis harness for a TDI GLS. Still doesn't have provisions for power seats but gets me much closer.

The last two responses were as varied as the information that I got out of searching through the other threads. I don't mine removing harness pins and sorting out their new locations to match up, just don't want to do a complete engine/trans swap and THEN remove the vehicles entire enterior to make it work.

Sourcing an entire chassis harness would prevent me from even beginning the swap..At that point i'd sell my current Jetta and start looking elsewhere. I need to PM Audiphile because it seems from his most recent TDI wagon swap thread that he has the wiring down to "what needs to be done" not "doing everything just in case".

So I started the swap. My plan is to strip the GTI down first which will allow me time to dissect the auto trans harness and prepare the chassis harness to accept the TDI cluster and ECU. I will also be able to use the jetta for another week or so driving to work. Doing the easy stuff first..Remove the engine and trans. I'll take the time to clean up the engine bay and rain tray, then roll it back into the garage for the the time being.

-Gabe

Some progress so far. Harnesses are removed up to rain tray junction block, engine bay cleaned up, instrument cluster, pedal assembly and auto trans shifter assembly removed from interior. If I can tomorrow night I will drop the tank and removed the gas fuel lines. That should leave me with a GTI ready for the swap.

any updates? How's the swap?

Been making slow progress on the swap...I said it would be a "rainy day" project to my wife, and as luck would have it, really hasn't rained all that much this spring. That meant mountain bikes, dirt bikes, fishing, and other distractions have taken up my free time. And I'm totally fine with that.

As of tonight, both cars are disassembled, engine and trans from Jetta are hanging on the engine hoist while I wait for a new clutch and some misc parts to arrive. Saving myself the trouble of having to install a new one down the road. I replaced all the braided hoses with silicone, and am doing some regular maintenance items while it's convenient.

Hoping to have the motor bolted up by weeks end, and then it's on to the electrical nightmare. I'll try to snap a few pics when I have the time.

-Gabe

Here's my progress from today. I'm hoping to have all mechanical stuff buttoned up by the end of the week, leaving the front clip off so I have the easiest access to all wiring locations.

That's a really nice GTI. Will be even better after TDI swap.

Again the project was put on a shelf because I was doing some summertime home renovations that required all my attention. Last week I finally got back on it..and tonight was the first startup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrHe-6bat-M

I still have a lot of items to re-install in their permanent position and some ABS/ASR stuff to go through but I'm hoping to test drive her on the road this weekend sometime.

-Gabe

looks like somebodys making themself a gtd

How did the wiring work out? Did you just swap engine harnesses?

I'm finished with 99% of the wiring..I do have an ABS/ASR light on that I need to diagnose now that the car runs. The wiring was time consuming but was fairly straightforward. The TDI engine/manual trans harness was moved over completely untouched. I made diagrams of the rain tray connectors for both the donor Jetta and GTI and used them in conjunction with the factory wiring diagrams to create a list of wires that needed to be moved or adapted to the GTI. To save time I removed the jetta compartment harness, fuse and relay panels as one large assembly. That allowed me to remove the wires I used in the GTI quickly, and by removing the pins and having to cut only a couple wires from plus connections. The GTI's fuel, coil, and emissions related wires remain in the compartment harness, but all pins are heat-shrinking, tape wrapped, and zip tied out of the way.

Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to post a video of the car in action on my street..Fingers crossed.

Did you get around to making that video? My friend really wants to swap his beetle over to alh from a 1.8t. Would you also have that diagram you made? So I can pass that on to him. Thanks

also curious about how the wiring went...anyone have detailed instructions for this?

Sent you a PM...One of these days I will get to posting some pics and more info. About to hit 13k since the swap next week:

Ok: Found some pics:

AWESOME!!! Great work! Would look great with some Montes or Long beachs.

-French

Sweet