Nissan Hardbody TDI Swap

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
Alright, next up was the power steering. First a little mock up with some hose and the fittings that I cut and welded from the nissan and vw parts to make what I needed.



Got a hydraulic hose made and some more fittings that needed to be welded onto the metal ends.



Turns out the nissan power steering pump uses the same size banjo fitting as the vw, which I guess did not matter because I was cutting and welding all the parts anyway.



And the view from above with the hose installed.



Air filter to turbo pipe tacked together.



All welded up!



Then cleaned up with scotch bright and installed in the truck.







 

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
So I needed a heat exchanger for the air/water intercooler. Turns out we got a Toyota Sienna in a work that got hit in the back corner where the rear ac/heat unit is located.



And it had a couple if good options inside.



I chose the AC unit because it was double pass.





Had to do a little massaging of the grill to make it fit.



Mounted to the truck.



Added two little pipe ends on so that I could hook hoses up.



Painted it black and put the grill on. If you didn't know what you were looking for you would never know its there lol.

 

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
Alright guys, sorry for the delay I've been a little busy lately, but aren't we all. Anyway next for the build was a catch can. This was my first attempt at making one and after testing it during last winter I can say that it didn't exactly work.

It caught some oil and water but oil did still make it the the front of the turbo. Luckily the oil got warmed up by the turbo and turned into a goo in the boost pipe before it could make it into the water to air intercooler.





This is normal steel wool. I should have used stainless wool, but I didn't realize how much water vapor would condense in the can.



Stuffed some in the bottom.



Then on the sides.



And welded it up tight. I should have made it so the top or bottom could come off.





Mounted in the engine bay next to the brake booster.

 

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
Trying to make sure everything is getting power that needs it and tidy the wiring up. I will probably go back and make it better one day, but everybody says that and never does, until it breaks haha.

Nissan 4 cyl oil pressure switch on the left and vw on the right. I thought the vw one was going to work but it turns out that the nissan one provides ground for the dash light when there is not enough oil pressure, and then removes the ground once oil pressure is realized and turns off the dash light. VW works opposite and was giving me issues. turns out the thread is the same and the nissan switch screwed right into the alh oil filter housing.

Here is the finished pillar pod for the boost and egt gauges. I got it painted at work to match the factory a-pillar trim.



And here came a really scary part of the build. I had filled the all the fluids and cranked the engine a few times. The next evening I went to crank it again and the engine would not turn over. I put a ratchet on the crank and was able to turn the engine over very slowly by hand. It turns out that used water to air intercooler core that I was using had a hairline crack in one of the internal passages. It had leaked enough water/coolant into the engine over the night to pretty much hydro lock the engine. This was confirmed when I took the cap off the resivoir and saw that the level was lower than where I had left it.

I had to take the intercooler off and cut it apart to look for the leak. Hooked up some hoses and added compressed air. The leak was loud but really hard to spot.

I circled it here in a close up pic

It was tricky but I got a bead of weld on there with the TIG


You guys have probably noticed that the cores are not exactly straight. I think the intercooler had some water freeze inside it from the previous owner. I was told that it was only used on a couple of dyno pulls and then they switched to a different setup. So it probably sat somewhere unheated with a little water in it before I bought it. Lucky for me the starter was not strong enough to spin the hydro locked engine so no damage occurred.
 

[486]

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 1, 2014
Location
MN
TDI
02 golf ALH
careful, thread ain't the same, it is m10x1.0 on the VW sender, like a glow plug, where the nissan one is 1/8" tapered pipe (probably BSP knowing the japanese)

however, it will probably hold, I mean I've used that trick to do compression testing on glowplug holes.
 

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
careful, thread ain't the same, it is m10x1.0 on the VW sender, like a glow plug, where the nissan one is 1/8" tapered pipe (probably BSP knowing the japanese)
however, it will probably hold, I mean I've used that trick to do compression testing on glowplug holes.
I think you are correct. Now that I look back at the pics I remember that the switch was a little funny going in, but it did tighten up. The truck has now completed two winter driving seasons. I was looking around the engine bay the other day because I am planning to do some mods this summer and I noticed that there was a little oil residue on the housing below the switch. I think I am just going to pull it and put some teflon tape on there and tighten it back down.:D
 

PickleRick

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
I can vouch the teflon tape works, I've used the similar yet different threaded sensors on several engine swaps and/or aftermarket gauge sensor installs.
 

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
Alright, so while I had the intercooler out to fix the leak I decided to change the angle on it as well. Just to give me some more room to get my hands in between the intake and the turbo.


All welded up!

So now we fast forward through the first driving season. the truck first moved under it's own power Christmas 2017 and I drove it till the spring 2018. There were a bunch of hiccups along the way (which was to be expected) and now we pick up the story with a list of things to modify over the summer of 2018.

First up is the exhaust tips. Apparently I lost one over the winter. They were only the clamp on type and the little diesel must have shook it right off.

I wasn't really liking the dual tips anyway. Time to try a more Duramax style of tip.



It's almost round, but who's going to get down there and check anyway, right.

Much better!

 

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
Over the first driving season I had a few issues with the turbo manifold. I know, some of you probably saw it coming, but hey it was my first manifold and now it is time for round two.

First I got the dimensions of the pieces I was going to use and made paper templates so I could mock it up and know how much to order. I cut the old manifold apart to reuse the flange.

After a little waiting the pieces show up from Ace race parts. I am using 321 Stainless weld els and straights. 321 can handle some serious heat. I think they use it in jet engines. Anyway more than enough for the ALH.

Let the cutting and fitting begin!






Ready to be welded together
 

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
Welded up and into the engine bay it goes! I like this shot because it shows how the exhaust flows out of the head and through the turbo really well. In this pic you can also see the egt probe bung location, right before the turbo. I have seen some people install the probes in the downpipe after the turbo out of convenience, but that can give false readings by a couple of hundred degrees F.

Hmmm, looks like the downpipe will need a little rework as well.

I added a turbo/manifold support brace for this second go around. It may not be necessary but it helps me sleep at night lol. It is made of a bolt and some tube. By putting a nut in the middle I can put a bit of upward tension on the turbo after it is installed to help hold up the weight.

A couple pics of how the inner fender got chopped. This new opening allows me to tighten the bolts for the manifold and intercooler so much easier.


Turbo together and ready for the intercooler, but it looks like that will have to be modified too, what's new haha.
 

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
So the intercooler got modified to stand straight up allowing for good access to the turbo from above. It still clears the hood too, but only just.





Now a new charge pipe was needed. And by new I mean that I only had to change the orientation of the silicon elbows and add a couple on inches of length to the pipe between them.




Moving the turbo meant that the intake needed to be lengthened also.





And the downpipe needed a new kink.



Here's a couple of shots of the engine bay with the changes complete.



 

A-man930

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2014
Location
St. Louis
TDI
Planning Stages: ALH Jeep MJ
How in the world do you get anything done and still keep that white clean? I'd spend 40% of any one work session cleaning
 

sriner

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 19, 2012
Location
Virginia
TDI
96 Passat TDI
For your air to water intercooler pump, how did you do the wiring? Does it run off of a sensor, switch, or all the time?

Right now I have mine off of the battery with a switch in the cab. Future I will add a fuse and relay that will trigger off of an ignition source. Have thought about a sensor, but haven't found a good solution.
 

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
How in the world do you get anything done and still keep that white clean? I'd spend 40% of any one work session cleaning
Its actually not that bad. The engine doesn't have any leaks since I re gasketed the whole thing before it went into the truck. I just recently re sprayed the valve cover because it got chipped during the install and was annoying me. Honestly the pics kind of hide how dirty it is as well.
 

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
For your air to water intercooler pump, how did you do the wiring? Does it run off of a sensor, switch, or all the time?

Right now I have mine off of the battery with a switch in the cab. Future I will add a fuse and relay that will trigger off of an ignition source. Have thought about a sensor, but haven't found a good solution.
I thought a sensor might be good also, but I didn't know how I wanted to activate it, whether it be temp or maybe boost pressure based. That all seemed complicated so I just have it wired to come on with all the other accessories. It runs constantly when the vehicle is on. With it on all the time I thought there might be a problem in the winter with it getting too cold and something possibly icing up, but that has not happened so I think I am just going to leave it alone.
 

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
Can anyone guess what this is going to be?





The truck has always had a problem with axle wrap in the winter. It was mainly noticeable when I had to go through deep slush or down somebody's driveway that was not plowed very well. I could get into a situation where it would start bucking, but I needed to apply more power and was unable to for fear off destroying the u-joints. This was also only a problem in 2wd but since the truck has an LSD I like to drive around as much as possible without having to go into 4x4. I saw this solution on some off roading fourms and decided to try it myself.





There is no binding whatsoever and the truck still has full articulation. The top tube is a slip joint with a smaller tube and it runs down the center line of the vehicle. There are 3 pins, one on the cross piece connected to the frame and two on the differential. It works really well. The only noticable noise happens sometimes during the 1-2 gear shift. But I think I almost completely cured that recently by adding some metal to the smaller tube in the slip joint so that it has a snugger fit.



 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Nice antiwrap bar. If you can put a grease nipple in the slip joint it would probably do wonders for longevity of it. Most people use a shackle but im liking this better.
 

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
Nice antiwrap bar. If you can put a grease nipple in the slip joint it would probably do wonders for longevity of it. Most people use a shackle but im liking this better.
Thanks! I agree that a grease nipple would be a good idea. Maybe a few of them spaced along the length of the top tube. I did grease the pipe as I slid it into the other one and that seems to work. Next time I pull it apart I think I will add some grease fittings though.

I looked around at a few different off road websites and people had shackles and rod ends and bushings and all kinds of things going on. Then I saw this type of design and decided it was good for me because of its simplicity.
 

J.Klassen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Location
Enderby, B.C. Canada
TDI
TDI Nissan Hardbody project, 01 Jetta donor car
After doing all those mods I decided that I needed to do a little shake down trip before winter showed up and I would have to start driving it everyday.

I went up some local forest service roads (lots of shaking) to the snowmobile club chalet. On a good year the snow is right up to the deck, and that is compacted where everyone stops and the groomer goes.



A little higher up past the chalet is a ministry of transport beacon for airplanes. It looks like something alien haha.



When I got back I pulled the valve cover, just to see how things were doing. This is after a couple winters of use. I change the oil for each new driving season with Rotella T6 5w40. I probably only end up putting on 5000 km or less per season.

Looks clean as a whistle. The Colt stage 2 cam even stills has the speckles on lobes. I don't know what they are but they haven't rubbed off.



 
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