New family member

I posted awhile back about totaling my car and got some really good advice from you guys on finding a new one I could take all my old performance parts from my old one and put on the new car. The new to me one is a 2003 TDI bone stock and it is a slug. I have my old 2002 with 520 race nozzles 17/22 turbo pd150 intake with all the egr deletes downpipe and after market intercooler also has a Malone tune on my 02. So my main question is is there any sort of order these have to be done or can I just start swapping parts and not have to worry about it. The car is my daily driver so I want it to be able to drive decent after each part is swapped over I probly won't have time to do all of it in one sitting. I hope this makes sense. There's a few other upgrades on my old car but I just want the performance of my old car with the new one. And on a side note is there any way to pull the door inserts without pulling the door panel ? My old car is all leather and I'm gonna swap all the clothes in the new one to the leather interior from my old one. Long winded I know but I've only been in the TDI game for about 3 years so still figuring it all out. Definently glad I got another car I missed my Jetta.

Depending on mileage I would probably swap the entire engine & trans.
If you had a heavier clutch in the old car you would be pulling the trans at some point.

Ya the old car has a South bend stage 2 and a peloquin diff. I just don't know how hard swapping an engine is I talked about it a little on here but I've never pulled an engine on a car like this. My old car has 280xxx with a new timing belt kit new car has 230xxx needing a timing belt kit as I don't know when it was last done.

Swapping an engine isn't difficult. Get the car up on jack stands high enough to drop the engine out the bottom.I remove the front bumper and fenders together. Unbolt the A/C compressor and radiators and swing it out of the way. Unbolt the axles,dog bone,downpipe,turbo hose and whatever else is connected to the engine. Then support the engine. Take the wiring harness and vacuum hoses loose from the engine. I hold all this out of the way with a few bungie cords.
Unbolt the engine mounts and you're ready to lower the engine.





Slide the engine roughly where it lines up close with the engine mounts and raise into position. Careful to clear the axles and downpipe.

Dweisel makes it look so easy... (of that multi-car garage, I am extremely envious!)

My engine swapping was Mk1 and Mk2 chassis stuff, but even swapping a Mk2 engine into a Mk1 chassis was a project for a long weekend, and the car was running by the end of the long weekend. When I did engine swaps, I'd start with a fresh box of quart Ziploc bags, a roll of blue mask, and a couple of sharpie markers. When bolts come off, mark the bag and put them in it. When a plug comes off, mark the mating plug or write the sensor name on it. If you're organized about it, it's not a difficult task to unplug everything, unbolt everything, and reverse the process.

Ya that looked fairly easy in those pictures. So I'm assuming everybody is on the same page of just swapping the engine over vs swapping parts. Next question can a 2002 computer plug into the 2003 car ? Or is gonna have to be a reflash on the 03s computer to get my tune.

Yes the 02 and 03 ecu's are compatible. You will have to send the 02 ecu in for immobilizer delete. Part numbers on the ecu shouldn't matter. Some members have said they must match but I have an 01 golf that I just swapped a 00 beetle ecu into and numbers did not match and it works perfectly.

where2 said:

Dweisel makes it look so easy... (of that multi-car garage, I am extremely envious!)

My engine swapping was Mk1 and Mk2 chassis stuff, but even swapping a Mk2 engine into a Mk1 chassis was a project for a long weekend, and the car was running by the end of the long weekend. When I did engine swaps, I'd start with a fresh box of quart Ziploc bags, a roll of blue mask, and a couple of sharpie markers. When bolts come off, mark the bag and put them in it. When a plug comes off, mark the mating plug or write the sensor name on it. If you're organized about it, it's not a difficult task to unplug everything, unbolt everything, and reverse the process.

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Yes, the baggies,sharpie and tape are a good idea. I've done enough that I only label harnesses that I'm going to sell. I still bag and tag bolts. It keeps it organized and speeds up reassembly.

Powerstroke9773 said:

............................ The new to me one is a 2003 TDI bone stock and it is a slug. ......................

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I can't tell if that's just cause you're used to more power or if the new one is just not running right. Can you chirp the tires out of 1st? Does it pull hard in upper RPMs? Stock it should do both. You could consider getting the 03 up to snuff then swapping in parts.

I pulled my engine out of the top. Very simple and I didn't even remove the hood.

flee said:

I pulled my engine out of the top. Very simple and I didn't even remove the hood.

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I was wondering about that also.
Mine looks like it has enough room.

For me it was easier to hoist the engine than jack the whole car up several feet.
I guess if you had a car lift that method could be easy too.

flee said:

For me it was easier to hoist the engine than jack the whole car up several feet.
I guess if you had a car lift that method could be easy too.

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On a Beetle the bottom of the front of the rocker panel only has to be 12 inchs off the floor to drop the engine out the bottom. You could probably get away with not even going that high.

So,the car doesn't have to be "jacked up several feet"

dweisel said:

On a Beetle the bottom of the front of the rocker panel only has to be 12 inchs off the floor to drop the engine out the bottom. You could probably get away with not even going that high.
So,the car doesn't have to be "jacked up several feet"

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So for that you need to disassemble the entire front end? No Thanks.

I think I could chirp coming out of first. And I'd say it drives normal for what it is. Only noticeable problem is it's slow to start. It cranks for awhile before it starts up. Other than that it drives alright just slow. And that's what I was asking whether to do a swap or swap just parts.

If your ECU has had immo delete, in theory you could just swap parts and the ECU without problems, but you are looking at a timing belt job first thing just to be safe. I guess you have to decide if not swapping the motor is worth $300.00 or so.