Another Ranger/Mazda pick up TDi swap

I have started a new project. – Mazda B3000 (Ranger) to 2.0 TDi conversion.
I have lots of left over parts from B5 Passats I worked on and got a nice shape/dead engine truck for cheap.

This will be a budget build. I couldn’t find an adapter, so I carved one from 3/8 steel plate. The Mazda flywheel was machined for the TDi crank nose.
I am planning to run original clutch, TDi starter, and probably compounded turbos.
I am debating going M-TDi route for simplicity and cost. Have most parts to put a system together, but I also have BHW harness, computer, and dash, if decide to go that route.
I need an opinion from M-TDi guys on that. I have a tuned Passat and love the way it drives. How well does m-TDi work for you guys?

so you have b5.5 tdi parts ?.... if your planning on using the BHW engine you're pretty much stuck going the electronic route ... you can install an ALH head on the 2.0 lower and go TDi-m but since you already have the wiring why not go electronic ?

The M-TDI drives about the same as an AHU car. You press the pedal and it goes, nothing fancy. The AHU / ALH are basically mechanical engines with a bit of computer control to reduce the NOx and soot levels more than anything. VW went electronic when things like OBD-II became mandated - a mechanical engine won't throw a code if the timing is off for instance.

The bigger difference is really more around what turbo you can run. M-TDI is more suited to wastegate turbos. A small wastegate turbo like the stock AHU one will give good pedal response (low turbo lag) but has limited maximum power potential. A larger turbo will raise the power band resulting in more lag but more potential.

All that said I have a nice VNT running on my M-TDI with a stand alone turbo computer I built. Works VERY well.

If you keep the BHW electronics you will have tons of modding potential without much more than a tune - hard to argue with that. But you will also have to deal with things like limp mode and a wide array of sensors that need to be kept healthy.

i've driven my tdi-e powered tacoma almost 50k miles with zero of those miles in limp mode .... that being said i'm about to swap my aaz powered 81' westy to a 1Z and i'm using a rover pump.... i will eventually swap it to electronic for ease of cruise control and data logging as well as monitoring engine parameters via an ultragauge

Thanks Guys. I have two BHWs, both with issues, but can put one healthy together. I have most bits, exept intake and exhaust manifolds and turbo. If I can get these parts reasonably cheap, I think I will go electronic. If not, I will go ALH head and M-TDi.
What is the power potential of m-TDi. Could I get 180 -200hp out of one?
I have PES4A pump with 8mm elements. It should provide more then enough fuel for that power level. I can also get VW LT 2.8 mechanical pump.

There's no issue getting power out of a mechanical TDI. They are exactly the same as the ALH in that regard - put bigger injectors in, put an appropriately sized turbo on and hold on for the ride. The computer really doesn't do anything that adds power - the ALH or AHU is still just a mechanical VE pump, just with electronic timing control instead of hydraulic and electronic injection quantity control instead of flyweights and springs. The actual pump plunger that injects fuel is the exact same part.

I'm running an 11mm Rover pump, HFLOX Warp 7 nozzles and a GTB1756VK. I've got IE rods and a Colt stage 2 cam. It's difficult NOT to break the tires free in first or second even with my LSD. My power goal was about 200 hp.

Thanks Vanbcguy. That's good news. What about the economy, smoke?
Yes, I want everything.

My m-tdi: I have plenty of power and NO black smoke on acceleration unless I really stomp down. The engine/pump combo is very driveable with correct gearing. I'm very close to 50 mpg + AWD. The car starts more quickly in the very cold than my tuned ALH with an e-pump. Pump must be assembled by a very knowledgeable person or it could be very unsatisfying. I don't advocate m-tdi for everyone. Do your own unbiased research and read through all the builds. Good luck.

I've got mine relatively smoke free. It doesn't smoke under normal driving but it will lay down a small cloud if I floor it off idle (before the turbo has a chance to keep up). I could probably eliminate that all together through some more tuning but it isn't really a concern unless I'm trying to show off... Most tuned diesels will do likewise. It's certainly not rolling coal by any means.

Economy is fine - I haven't gotten a lot of long highway runs to really establish mileage but I have gotten around 4.9L/100km on a trip I did when this engine was only around 2,000 km old. Lately I haven't had a good tank that I haven't spent a bunch of time testing out flat-out performance as I've been tuning my VNT. Worst tank I've had would be about 7.5L/100km - that would be all city driving and trying to floor it as often as possible while logging turbo performance.

Sounds like either option would work fine. Thanks.
I managed to make an adapter plate, have the flywheel machined for TDi crank and balanced, and engine mounts made. The engine fits great just between the steering rack/crosmember and the firewall. That is using BEW oil pan. Wont have to move it forward and extend the prop shaft, as suggested somewhere on this Forum. This is two wheel drive Mazda B3000 , originally with 3.0l v6 and 5 speed.

I had an mtdi b3 I regret selling it. It was a great vehicle tons of power and much less bull**** than my b5.5 tdi. My next project will be an alh/bhw hybrid mtdi into some kind of Awd or 4x4 vehicle.

Mazda B3000 TDi Swap

OK. Quick update. Work interfered with my project but I m back at it.

I decided to go BHW/ALH hybrid route. Have an m-TDI pump from the LT 2.8. Waiting on some parts: HD clutch, BSM delete kit, timing belt kit, gaskets, ARP head bolts, other odds and ends.

I have engine to tranny adapter/flywheel and engine mounts done. Engine fits between the firewall and the cross member (2WD), so tranny at original position - no messing with the drive shaft, or shifter.

Next challenge seem to be the alternator mounting. The Jetta/Golf ALH accessories bracket mounts alternator quite low, under the PS pump. That position will interfere with the steering column. Any ideas? Is there different bracket from another application ?

On the turbo front I have VNT15(ALH). I am thinking about compounding VNT15 with something bigger (T3, HX351, K26) to take advantage of my 12mm pump. Would like to have broad torque curve (1500-5500RPM) and 35psi to the red line. Ant thoughts from the experts? Is there a single turbo able to do that and not costing a fortune? Remember , this is my leftover parts project on a budget.

Jerz

check with ryanp or one of the other euro vendors for a non AC accessory bracket ... it places the power steering pump at the bottom

If you are going with the mechanical pump then you probably don't want the VNT15 as you won't have a way to control it.

There's some really good smaller Holset wastegate turbos that would be perfect for you. Check out a user named Alcaid on vwdiesel.net.

After many work and life related delays, my Mazda B3000 TDi swap is finally running. Sort of. I have decided to go M-TDi route for simplicity and cost. The engine is 2.0 BHW block with ALH head, 12mm LT2.8 pump, race nozzles, Passat GT1749 turbo.

I am still working on controlling the turbo. Will try to use 3 Bar Racing controller. Anybody has experience with this system on VW m-TDi?
They get very positive reviews on Nissan Patrols and others.

What do you guys do about the gages? Is there a way of using Ranger cluster with TDi engine sensors somehow? What about the tach and speedo? It seems that all the Ford/Mazda instruments are wired via Powertrain Control Module. Its 2005 3.0 v6.

I use their boost valves on both my tdi's. They were simple to set up and have been trouble free. The valves are different for VNT vs wastegate turbos BTW.

Thanks Guys. I have red somewhere, that Ford started using CAN BUS sometime around 2006/7 and that would be installed with drive by wire throttle. My truck is 2005 and still uses throttle cable.

I just finished a 2005 Ranger and used the stock cluster.
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=438039
Use a digital dakota speedo box to get the speedo to work and their tach box should work for the tack using the TDI signal.
The other gauges I just used the stock Ranger sensors.

I have been driving my Mazda B3000/2.0mTDi for awhile now. Changed the axle ratio to 3.10 and that is about perfect gearing with the 5 speed Mazda tranny. Liking the little rig a lot.

Still scratching my head about the speedo. Have been using the GPS so far.
I have bought Dakota Digital speedo and tach signal converters, but have hard time making them work. My track had VSS signal modified by the PCM. Is there a way to wire the VSS via Dakota Digital box into the cluster without the PCM?

Jerz said:

I have been driving my Mazda B3000/2.0mTDi for awhile now. Changed the axle ratio to 3.10 and that is about perfect gearing with the 5 speed Mazda tranny. Liking the little rig a lot.

Still scratching my head about the speedo. Have been using the GPS so far.
I have bought Dakota Digital speedo and tach signal converters, but have hard time making them work. My track had VSS signal modified by the PCM. Is there a way to wire the VSS via Dakota Digital box into the cluster without the PCM?

Click to expand...

3.10 final drive? What RPM are you doing at 100km/h? My 2001 Ranger has 3.73 and 31x10.5 soon to be 238/85R16 and I think I am going to go to 4.10 here soon - so hopefully your 3.10 is a typo for 4.10!

Ford's speedometer is looking for a 5V square wave VSS and it needs 140Hz for 100km/h. If you had an ALH or later TDI engine in there (as they have CAN bus) then the CAN2DASH+ module we sell at http://www.fastforward.ca would be the answer for you as it has the following outputs direct from CAN bus:

- Glow Plug Light (LED or up to 5W incandescent)
- Check Engine Light (LED or up to 5W incandescent)
- Tachometer out can be set to 2p/r, 3p/r or 8p/r (4, 6 or 8 cylinder tach)
- Coolant out which can be calibrated to your gauge so 90C is right in the middle or where ever you want it to point, just turn a knob.
- Speedometer out with calibration.

Speedometer out is a bit of an oddity as it is backwards to how Volkswagen does it [transmission > speedometer > ECU], but it is necessary for TDI conversions as you now know. The path would be VSS > ECU > Speedometer. As you said, the Ford Ranger / Mazda B-Series the PCM reads the OSS from the transmission (compound sine waves) and translates that into a VSS signal (5V square wave) at about 1.4Hz|1km/h ratio. The Volkswagen ECU wants to see 1.0Hz|1km/h So even if you have a VSS setup correctly for one device, it will be incorrect for the other. For the cruise control function, it doesn't matter if you are driving 100km/h and hit "set" the ECU will keep the truck going at 100km/h even though the speed the ECU has been instructed to hold is 90km/h according to it's VSS input - it will hold what ever number it is registering at that time. The Ranger speedometer would display 40% less than what the ECU feels as being correct due to it's impulse frequency differences.

With the CAN2DASH+ there is a calibration knob you can set, so you just adjust the speedometer to read correctly from the CAN bus signal the ECU gives out. As long as the ECU is within about 50% or so of the real speed the calibration knob will do the rest.

My Ranger has three nuts welded to the drive shaft output that my Speedpuls CV reads and it directly feeds the ECU. The ECU gets three pulses per revolution of the drive shaft this way or 3.73 x 3 pulses per wheel revolution. 390 revolution per kilometer is 4300ish per kilometer. Which is right in the ball bark of being correct for the ECU. Adjust the calibration knob and the speedometer reads correctly!

Thanks Hasenwerk, but I have mTDi. Running a mechanical pump from LT2.8 No VW ECM, no Ford PCM.

Is there a way to use VSS on the tranny output via Dakota Digital converter into the speedo?

Similarly, I would like to use the VW crank position sensor signal via Dakota Digital converter into the tach.

I would like to plug into the square connector under the fuse box in the engine compartment, but my wires are different colors then in the wiring diagrams I have.

As far as final drive ratio, I had 4.10 and switched to 3.08. Tires are 235/75/15, about 29" tall.

My engine has tonnes of torque down low, but the pump starts reducing fuel around 3300, red line at 3800RPM. I would have to change cam plate to change my torque/rpm curve. May do it in the future, but enjoying the truck the way it is right now. 4.10 was revving too high on the highway, close to 3000rpm at 120km/h, or 75mph, IIRC. I should be around 2150rpm now. It even feels comfortable at 100km/h, 62mph - it should be just under 1800rpm. Then there is direct 4th gear for towing/uphill.

Changing the main governor spring to a stiffer one will raise fuel cut-off rpm. Here's an old thread that discusses it.
http://vwdiesel.net/forum/index.php/topic,12912.0.html
DA-BRT has done a lot of work on these pumps.

It's not too difficult to shim out the governor, I've done it on my mech pumps. My AHU pulls happily to about 5800 now before cutting fuel, pretty much perfect.

I'm also using the CPS for a tach signal but connected through my VNT controller. I'd imagine the Dakota Digital box should work for that.

Sent from my XT1097 using Tapatalk

Thanks guys. Yeah, I have been reading about shimming governor spring. My pump has 12mm plunger and aggressive cam plate and is not design for high rpm. I will eventually change the cam plate to lower lift and shim the governor, but one thing at the time. I only work on this project in my very limited spare time. Truck runs fine for now. Working on the gauges at this time.

I believe the LT pump has a single spring with no caged governor. Heavier spring; higher RPM. Where did you set the static timing?

Started with 1.37mm, but played a bit by feel since. I think is slightly less now to reduce nailing.