Advise Me On A Swap

I have a 1997 Jetta Tdi which I bought three years ago with the intent of swapping the engine. I am looking to have a winter commute 4WD vehicle that has reasonable off-road capabilities. I just bought a F250 truck which will help me haul in the recipient vehicle as well as provide backup transportation while the swap is in progress. My Tdi is almost brand new under the hood -- the engine is a crate from Germany with low miles and I have a new OEM head, rebuilt injectors, and a new OEM turbo. However, the rest of the car is approaching 400K miles, the electrical has not functioned properly since I bought it, the struts are worn and I'm not sure how much longer it will hold together.

I keep seeing these threads that go on and on about swaps. I am hoping to do something that moves fairly quickly (assuming I have all of the parts together). I am planning to buy a custom wiring harness and an adapter kit from ACME.

Originally, I was thinking about a Tracker or Samurai, but the realities of regular driving are swaying my decision. I'm not sure if I want a tiny two seat vehicle with no storage, no A/C, and no insulation for long-range driving. Plus, most of the ads I see are beat to crap and seem to have a lot of needs.

It would appear my best options would be a Suzuki Sidekick or a Toyota 4-Runner. Basically, I would be looking to buy a complete one with a straight body and decent interior but blown engine and then tow it in with the truck. One large limitation is there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of Sidekicks and 4Runners available, so I may be limited to whatever I can scrounge up.

I think the 4Runner would be about 2000 pounds heavier than the Sidekick, so it would probably be more gutless and get worse fuel economy. I think Toyota probably has better parts support, although both have a lot of aftermarket options. It seems like a lot of Sidekicks had automatic transmissions, which I don't want.

Aside from the ACME kit and custom wiring harness, I am planning to buy a new radiator and starter motor. What else should I plan to get started?

h.ubk

The first gen Toyota Rav4 is a great vehicle for a TDI swap, and has a locking center diff... Jeep wranglers and Samurais have kits you can buy for the swap.


If you're not looking for a major engineering project there's plenty of nice diesel SUVs on the market in the USA. The 80s Isuzu Trooper is great, but very slow... modern look at the Touareg, ML350 BlueTec, and Jeep Grand Cherokee WK w/ Mercedes diesel. I love my '09 Touareg TDI, and it was much cheaper than a DIY TDI swap into an SUV would have been.

Thanks, I am not interested in a new SUV. I'm not looking for cheap, I am looking for durable and something I can wrench on myself. I believe most of the newer diesel vehicles are going to be junk as soon as the dealers withdraw their support. I am part of Mercedes clubs and have seen some of the issues with new diesels. There are major cost timebombs built into the designs. I would not want to own one of them. I realize this may also be blasphemy on this forum, but after having worked on this vehicle and seen how they do things, I would never, ever buy a car from VAG.

h.ubk

If you go Toyota keep in mind the acme kit requires the transmission moved forward and driveshafts modified for the vacuum pump to clear the firewall.

89-95 generation Toyota 4Runner or an extended-cab pickup from the same generation would probably be a good choice for what you're looking for. Easy to find in good shape with a bad engine, as the 3.0L V6 used during those years was problematic. They are heavier than a Suzuki but can get acceptable performance even with a TDI that is tuned conservatively for reliability, won't burn the tires off but no problems climbing a mountain pass at the speed limit, similar performance to the stock 22RE that was available. And they are large and substantial enough vehicles to drive decently on the highway.

The V6 trucks/Runners are good ones to start with also since they already a stronger transmission, can accept a larger clutch, already have the starter motor you need, etc.

Common swap that many have done successfully, you'll find a variety of builds if you look around. Only real downside is a major weakness for rust in the Toyotas, but if you take your time and watch on the west coast you can find a clean one to start with.

Runninwild said:

If you go Toyota keep in mind the acme kit requires the transmission moved forward and driveshafts modified for the vacuum pump to clear the firewall.

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With the AHU engine the OP has, vac pump is in the block rather than back of the head. You can swap on an older style short coolant outlet at the rear of the head to eliminate the cooling system glow plugs and then firewall clearance with the AHU/1Z type is not an issue. I have an AHU in my '93 pickup running stock trans location with ACME's adapter. Some of the other adapter kits on the market (evguy's being one example, DCS kit perhaps too) also put more distance between the motor and trans and give you even more room to work with at the firewall. Moving the trans and hacking up the floor of the cab for a different shifter location is something to avoid IMO, and you can get around doing it if you're careful.

With the AHU engine the OP has, vac pump is in the block rather than back of the head. You can swap on an older style short coolant outlet at the rear of the head to eliminate the cooling system glow plugs and then firewall clearance with the AHU/1Z type is not an issue. I have an AHU in my '93 pickup running stock trans location with ACME's adapter. Some of the other adapter kits on the market (evguy's being one example, DCS kit perhaps too) also put more distance between the motor and trans and give you even more room to work with at the firewall. Moving the trans and hacking up the floor of the cab for a different shifter location is something to avoid IMO, and you can get around doing it if you're careful.

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That would be good. I saw a build thread about moving the transmission and changing the driveshaft on a Toyota that concerned me. It looked like there was also a lot of redneck-engineering going on.

I had heard also that EGTs would get pretty high on hills with the extra Toyota weight. Will this be a problem?

h.ubk

I moved my tranny forward as I had to make transmissions mounts and new driveshafts anyways in my Tacoma. Didn't need to cut the opening bigger for the shifters but I did need to make a custom shift sheet\boot mount.

With my aaz I didn't have too bad egts pulling hills but I was 5.29 gears on 35s and was running a Giles pump with a holset he220wg at 27psi. Currently upgrading to a bhw with a stage 2 tune

h.ubk said:

I had heard also that EGTs would get pretty high on hills with the extra Toyota weight. Will this be a problem?

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That all depends on the state of tune of the engine, not so much the vehicle choice. If you try to tune it for 200hp and ask it to put out that kind of power for more than a handful of seconds at a time, yeah, EGT, oil temp, etc will be a serious problem no matter what kind of vehicle it's in. With a conservative tune close to the stock 90hp, you will be able to run all day with the pedal down. Won't be fast but won't hurt itself either. It's counterintuitive to many folks but when you swap one of these engines into a larger and heavier vehicle, it's critical to NOT overdo it with the tune, injectors, turbo etc. You can't try to make it do the job of a larger engine and also expect longevity; folks who want it to "match" the 3.4L DOHC gas V6 they took out, or the Dodge V8, etc, end up hurting the hardware or have to back out of the pedal on hills. No point in having power you can't reliably use.

But if you understand the limitations of a small engine in a large vehicle and don't expect a free lunch in terms of the balance of performance, economy, and longevity, you'll be fine.

d24tdi said:

That all depends on the state of tune of the engine, not so much the vehicle choice. If you try to tune it for 200hp and ask it to put out that kind of power for more than a handful of seconds at a time, yeah, EGT, oil temp, etc will be a serious problem no matter what kind of vehicle it's in. With a conservative tune close to the stock 90hp, you will be able to run all day with the pedal down. Won't be fast but won't hurt itself either. It's counterintuitive to many folks but when you swap one of these engines into a larger and heavier vehicle, it's critical to NOT overdo it with the tune, injectors, turbo etc. You can't try to make it do the job of a larger engine and also expect longevity; folks who want it to "match" the 3.4L DOHC gas V6 they took out, or the Dodge V8, etc, end up hurting the hardware or have to back out of the pedal on hills. No point in having power you can't reliably use.

But if you understand the limitations of a small engine in a large vehicle and don't expect a free lunch in terms of the balance of performance, economy, and longevity, you'll be fine.

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I don't necessarily agree with that. When setup right high power and acceptable egs are attainable. The main thing people don't consider is gearing. With 35s and 5.29 gears my truck is putting less strain on the engine then it is in a Passat. My tacoma weighs about 600lbs more then a 05 Passat and I have quite a bit more mechanical leverage. The main factors are more wind resistance and rolling resistance. My aaz and holset he220wg with no intercooler could pull hills at 120kmh in my Tacoma without egt getting too crazy. They were definitely getting hot but it wasn't like I was forced to use 1\2 throttle to create the hill. With that setup I was limited by over fueling in the low end. Didn't have enough adjustment with the LDA to be able to maximise my topend without my low end being obviously black lol. Speeding up hills was the only time I could get the egt above 1200f. Every other situation it barely got above 1000f. Highly recommend an egt gauge so you can push the truck sensibly.

d24tdi said:

With a conservative tune close to the stock 90hp, you will be able to run all day with the pedal down. Won't be fast but won't hurt itself either.

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I don't have firsthand experience with this, but I've heard from the Vanagon guys that the 1.6 IDI Vanagons had really short motor life, from a motor that lasts forever in the Rabbit. I wouldn't be surprised if running at 100% power output on the freeway in a big car didn't kill an ALH TDI quicker than running at the ~20% it takes to push an MKIV.


Although, it's possible that I'm wrong about the Vanagons, or that it's something specific to those engines. I could imagine rings freezing up on an N/A diesel running long hours at WOT, but not on a turbo diesel that doesn't produce so much carbon.

Have you considered an XJ Jeep swap? There's a lot going for those as with the Yotas. And it shouldn't be tough to find a good XJ swap candidate.

Good afternoon, I too am looking for information on a TDI swap in a1996 Toyota RAV4. I understand the swap appears too not be very common. has it been done? There any adapter parts available? Does anyone know if the Toyota A241 transmission bellhousing is the same as any of the rear wheel drive Toyota transmissions? If so that opens up a lot of options for adapter plates. Any information is much appreciated