My official Mk2 GTi 8v to TDi Ahu swap thread

Well i was planning on dropping the tdi in the mk1 but since i snapped the timing belt in the 8v, and most of the nuts/bolts i needed to remove to replace the belt were stripped (thanks previous owner!) i had to pull the motor... (just to replace the belt, to get access to all of them with easy-outs)

SO... while i had the engine swap 1/4 way done i figured, well i guess i'll just do a tdi swap while im at it, since i had just recently purchased a mk3 tdi parts car for my mk1 swap.

so here we go....


Getting the engine out, the thing i hate the most are the axles, so i tackled them first... and this was a first... BOLTS? never seen bolts holding them on before, this made it extra challenging, i couldnt use my electric impact, had to turn them all by a hand wrenceh



TDI engine out....



Mk3 engine bay...


Clutch is still good so im re-using it


Shift box install....
this was ALOT easier than i had thought. I did ZERO modifications except for one hole i had to drill, which i eyeballed and lucked out on the first try. This nut you see just FWD of the shiftbox is where i drilled, and the stud from the shiftbox came through the floor, and then the nut installed. Now its holding the shift box in place where i wanted it, and i can get to the rest from under the car....


Here you can see the shiftbox is narrower than the stock one, but i used the bolts that held up the stock one and ran them through the holes, its not ideal but it worked, and that thing is held in SNUG. could have used some washers for added durability but after feeling how stiff it was i was more than happy just leaving it like this.


My parts car had driven into a ditch and had some body damage, this was the mechanical damage it had....
had to install a 3/8" helicoil in the center bolt hole for the rear trans mount bracket

and that was the final fix, drilled out the other broken bolt to a larger 3/8" bolt and nut from Lowes


Its a BABY turbo i need a man sized one on there... one day...

pulled the rain try off my mk2 and discovered this



no idea what its there for... wonder if i can find a use for it?



old digifant 2 harness and computer out



TDI sitting in a proper mk2 bay, which is how it should have came from the factory



more discovered damage from the wreck need a new PS line, i'd use my mk2 line but i had to cut it off, the nut stripped out at the pump :/

the fuel filter literally bolts right in using the same existing studs in the same spot the mk3 had.



this i where the boost valve was mounted in the mk3, look i found some holes that vw engineers thought i might need one day, thanks guys!



yup, they line up perfectly, who said vw engineers never helped anyone out?



well that was easy!



i made some modification to the mk3 firewall to get the wiring harness out easier



Now this is my last entry and my stopping point.... got the harness out, so its time for me to enter a brave new world, seperating all the mk3 crap out of it i dont need. wish i had a passat parts car.... then i wouldnt have had to buy a pedal cluster either :/



final shot of the bay....


So... TO DO list:

remove all mk3 crap from engine harness COMPLETE
reorganize and retape engine harness COMPLETE
install engine harness COMPLETE
drop mk3 fuel tank and install into mk2 1/2 COMPLETE
swap over fuel lines 1/2 COMPLETE
remove mk2 dash COMPLETE
redo heater core flaps
install gauge cluster and rest of harness
lots of other nick nacky stuff im missing
lots more stuff i cant think of
remove brake booster and stock pedals COMPLETE
install passat pedals, and hyd clutch COMPLETE
install axles (after i replace the bad one)

Subscibed

OK made an edit to my to-do list. I removed all the stuff from the mk3 harness that i did not need, and boy was that a huge pain in the ass! took me over a week of going at it a few hours a day, would have saved myself some time if i had done a better job labeling everything, but now i feel like a tdi electrics journeyman instead of apprentice, and it was all self taught, there is not very much helpful info @ the search. its mostly just people telling the people asking the questions before me to search, only to not really find anything haha plus i usually have a hard time figuring out what to use for key words

found some really great diagrams which i'll post up later for future people using the search.

and feel free to ask me a question, even if its newbish. ive been there in those shoes and i'd be more than happy to help. not that i'd consider myself an expert on anything... lol


that being said the next things on the list are brake booster/pedals, heater core box, and when all thats good do go, i can install the harness/dash

theirs probably not a whole lot of people reading this thread, but im going to be borrowing a vag com, ive never used one before so i'll have to do some reading up. is there any way i can run a test to make sure all my wiring is legit and working correctly? i mean ive shot it with a multimeter a million times, but what im asking is if there is a self diagnostic of some kind to make sure everything is 'seen' like, can the computer see the coolent temp, and is it valid, ect.