Commonrail swap?

How difficult would it be to swap a commonrail and replace my BRM engine?

Same chassis, and the engines are really cheap right now. Local yard has a CJAA with 90k miles on it for $500 minus the turbo. ordering a new ecu and wiring harness, should be all that bad.


Curious about what everyone thinks.

Chris

*I've never done anything like an engine swap...but...from what I can tell from working on my 2010 CJAA and my dad's 06 BRM, most of the stuff looks the same.
Off the top of my head, maybe different engine mounts?
CJAA came with either DSG or 6M, are you pairing up with 5M? Don't know how much of a difference that would make. If you swap out tranny too, might have to swap axels accordingly.

But if you're thinking of swapping an engine, you probably wouldn't have a problem with any of that stuff anyway.

The engine will bolt in, but getting it running standalone is not as simple. There is much harness modifications and other things to be done.

pdq import repair said:

The engine will bolt in, but getting it running standalone is not as simple. There is much harness modifications and other things to be done.

Click to expand...

harness change chassis wise? If I get a complete harness and ecu, wouldnt it be plug and play?

Yes, it would be. Of course some minor adjustments will be needed.
You might need some extra brackets for DPF sensors plugs mounting, etc.
Also, if possible I'd suggest getting the Instruments cluster from the donor too.

Does the CRTDI have similar fuel plumbing to the BRM? Similar lift pump and fuel recirculation?

tdiatlast said:

Does the CRTDI have similar fuel plumbing to the BRM? Similar lift pump and fuel recirculation?

Click to expand...

With regards to the fuel filter housing: Similar, yes.
How similar depends on the production date of your BRM.

If you are asking about the fuel pump: CR engines like the CJAA have a HPFP which you probably want to go with a CP3 rather than the stock grenade one.

If you ARE asking about the fuel filter/housing, continue reading - otherwise you can disregard the rest of this post.

Some BRMs have same fuel filter/housing as ALH & BEW. This fuel filter used in the ALH & BEW was used in some of the BRMs, but never in the CR engines.

Some BRMs have same fuel filter/housing as CBEA (and I think CJAA) depending on production date of the vehicle. This fuel filter has the blue 5ring o-ring.

The fuel filter used in my CJAA (with single port at the top) is shared amongst the CR engines.

Now...does any of this matter?
All of them have 2 lines coming to the fuel filter housing from the rear, 1 line that goes TO the fuel pump (HPFP in CR engines) and 1 return line FROM the fuel pump back to the fuel filter housing.

D-Cup said:

Some BRMs have same fuel filter/housing as ALH & BEW. This fuel filter used in the ALH & BEW was used in some of the BRMs, but never in the CR engines.

Click to expand...

Incorrect. MKIV TDIs (ALH/BEW) all have complete filters, not cartridges. The BRM and early CBEA/CJJA TDIs might have one of two versions of the filter cartridge and different canisters. But those cartridges and canisters were not used prior to MY 2005.5 MKV cars.

Fuel filter location and lines to and from are the same regardless of canister and cartridge used.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

Incorrect. MKIV TDIs (ALH/BEW) all have complete filters, not cartridges. The BRM and early CBEA/CJJA TDIs might have one of two versions of the filter cartridge and different canisters. But those cartridges and canisters were not used prior to MY 2005.5 MKV cars.

Fuel filter location and lines to and from are the same regardless of canister and cartridge used.

Click to expand...

Wow, I had a total brain fart, started talking about oil filters in place of fuel filters....*facepalm*

My sincere apologies. Forget what I said.

Iam in the process of doing this swap. Biggest problem is wiring. I have it in and running but in limp mode. Since trying to fix that. Have other projects can't spend alot of time on it. I put a 6sp manual in place of the DSG. And have CP3 IP on it.

Man are 2009s and 2010s that hard to find with all this work already done?

Yes at a reasonable price. Seems like only ones left for sale are at dealers(used). I bought 3 MK5 TDI for $1600 ea. all needed some work. 09-10 engines $600-1000. 09-10 cars now $6000-up

'03 wagon with 200k, $5k. Reasonable.
'10 sedan with 110k, $6k. Unreasonable. Haha! It's funny how we look at different things through different lenses. Please don't take offense, I'm laughing at myself too.

We've got a CJAA running in a 2008 gasser Golf. No limp mode, runs fine. It is not a stock engine with cp3, 2260, etc and we were working out the finer points of the modififcation related tuning when the owner got deployed overseas.

It's basically all in the tuning, and there are a few things that are not obvious unless you have good documentation for the ecu.

Kerma never thought to ask you guys for help on this swap. Mine is not stock either. As to D-cup I wish I could get 5K for my 03 wagons.

Well, if you want, send me an autoscan showing all the codes which will help nail it down

Then if you can return to stock tune (I know, I know) and run the engine for a minute or so, or at least turn on the key and get me that autoscan, too. Ideally you would be at operating temp.

I need the 2nd one because there are probably lots of codes "turned off" in your present tune so they won't show in memory. While is "kind of" a "delete" in a sense, really it just hides the codes so the user blithely thinks all is honkey dorey. "Kind of" works for "normal" situations where the dude doesn't know any better or considered/tried anything but delete delete delete mindset. But for custom stuff like this, many times the fault code condition will trip the replacement action (eg limp mode is one of these replacement actions) but no fault will register in memory on a scan because the DFP classification now says to not store the code. Great for not having a CEL but not so great for troubleshooting.

My approach is a quite a bit different than the conventional delete everything you can and then delete some more delete delete delete delete delete approach

Get me both scans and send them to my e-mail, I will review and let you know if I think I can help.

I will Thanks!

GreenLantern_TDI said:

Man are 2009s and 2010s that hard to find with all this work already done?

Click to expand...

My 06 BRM is paid off, but the BRM is the bane of my existence. I am thinking about a CJAA to keep the car around a bit longer. I have found multiple CJAA for about $500 and that is cheaper than injectors. If not, I will end up parting our this car and move on to the next diesel.

Chris

Chris I like the CJAA engine better than the PD. Hope to get mine squared away I want to go racing with it