1981 MK1 Caddy 1Z Swap

Its been a long time coming but I'm going to post my Caddy Tdi swap. I spent a long while looking at other swaps and deciding which direction I wanted to do with mine. I decided that it will have a complete CE2 conversion out of necessity. I wanted to do something about the horrid **** box conversions that people do to their Mk1's so I decided to cut the floor and put a partial MK4 exhaust tunnel in to house a newer style shift box. I also decided to use an 02J Transmission with a taller .658 fifth gear. The reason for this is I plan on lifting my truck and running 195-75-r14 BFG All-Terrian TAKO tires. I used a late Cabriolet Pedal Bracket Modified so I could use a MK4 DBW. As far as the engine mods are concerned, I decided to use a tune from Mike at TDtuning. The tune is based off an AFN coding with a EGR and Mass Air Flow delete. I decided to go with a VNT-15 Turbo because it was cheap and Titan .205 Nozzles. The inter-cooler is still up in the air, but I purchased a Callaway inter-cooler which has yet to be installed. Im sure im forgetting stuff but please feel free to comment and ask questions so I can explain some of the goodies.

Also the down pipe was made by frankenbuilt and engine mounts are WRD with a mechanical clutch cable conversion. I went with this because I have not found a way I like to do the hydraulic conversion.

Picture time....

more pics

morrrrreeee pics

Here are a few more upgrades I have made recently too. First off are the Polo 6N disc brakes with unit bearings. I wanted to replace the old crappy tapered bearings that VW used forever so I finally tracked down a set of spindles and purchased new bearing/hub units. Also here is a picture of me test fitting my BFG tires.

I saw where you used a clutch cable I used the mk4 Hyd clutch and it works flawlessly

Do you have any pictures oh how you mounted it? I would be interested to see them.

Don't take this personally but i hate you, lol

I really want to build a Rabbit truck and run it on that rubber, always wanted to, looks like you are doing a hell of a job, good work

I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks!

you can look at my build under My 1Z rabbit truck conversion ill look to see if i have anymore pics in sure i have some more

I have seen your thread a bunch of times. It's a really nice build, in fact I was originally going to do the hvac swap like yours. The pics of your pedals are hard to make out. Did you use the existing A1 pedal cluster? More pictures are always appreciated.

I wanted to post a pic of where I located my ecu. I haven't seen it before in a mk1 swap. I thought it was clever, let me know if you think otherwise.

I used the mk1 pedal cluster, I took off the clutch side I used the brake pedal but I cut off the pedal piece and welded the mk4 pedal to it, I mounted the mk4 pedal cluster to the other side of the steering column bolted it to the firewall and made a mount from the steering column mount over to the clutch pedal I'll try and find more pics, also my ecu will be mounted inside under the dash as I have room to do so I'm gonna tuck all my wires in the engine bay as I do my turbo upgrade and airbox

RE: vw_nut

I would love to see more pictures of your swap, especially the pedals and more importantly the clutch

illl get some up for ya

What size BF Goodrich tires are those and do they clear the fender wells? I am guessing you have raised or will raise the truck up some. They look really good on it.

They are 195 75 r14 BFG All-Terrain TA KO tires. I haven't made the room in the fenders yet. The picture was for a test fit. I need to modify my suspension too. I'll post pics of that as I do it. Right now I'm using my truck as my daly so there isn't much time for tinkering. I want to finish the lift in the next week or so.

Ok so I have finally gotten around to actually doing some suspension work. I started my strut tube mods for the lift on my caddy. The basic goal was to update my suspension, so that meant I wanted to use mk2 nuckles and shock, spring combo with custom aluminum top hats so I can run seat cupra r top mounts and mk4 style strut bearings.

After modifying several parts I sent them off to powder coat. It is safe to say that everything looks way better in semi gloss powder.



You can see the difference between what I pulled off the truck and what I'm installing.

I also ran into a little bit of a issue with excessive travel on the passenger side. The shock combo now droops out of the truck so much it his the cv joint and the axle actually will rest on the a-arm mount. After measuring I have discovered that I have 1/2" too much travel . Either I have to find a way to get a really skinny axle or I'll have to swap my Bilstein HD shocks for Bilstein Sports. The 1" difference in shock length will save me from serious issues during driving.

So I decided to bolt it all up anyway to see what it looks like.

Must...resist...powdercoating...urge

Nice work Ben!