'86 2WD Toyota, 1.6TD to AHU

Hey guys, thought I would start a build thread. Years ago I put a 1.6TD into a 2wd Toyota Pickup, it was a project to tinker with at the end of a failing marriage. A distraction. Things are much better now, I have a great girlfriend and work has been good. I have renewed motivation to build the truck the way I should have built it, so out comes the 1.6TD. Here are some specs of whats going in:
-AHU, rebuilt short block with ASV pistons and those EBay forged rods.
-Frank06 head with his Stage II cam, ported. ARP studs.
-11mm IP from an ALH.
-Titan P502 injectors, balanced.
-99.5 ALH electronics and ECU with Stage 5 tune.
-GTB 1756 turbo
Its going into this:

I know, the 2wd's are ugly and the flat bed isnt helping, but I wanted light weight and economy and this was better suited for the 100 mile daily commute I was doing at the time. Here are some pics of the engine build:

The truck currently has a W56 transmission and 3.73 rearend, this puts me at 2800RPM @ 70MPH. I have a spare axle with 3.07 gears, this puts me at 2300RPM @ 70MPH. That's a good cruising RPM for an AHU?

The lower the rpms there, the better. You're going to have Plenty of power to push it. Dear god that thing is going to be fast!

I think the truck looks great! Fun build . Keep up the pics and updates--

Andrew

Which ebay forged rods ? Got a link ? Thanks.

ninedee_golf_tdi said:

Which ebay forged rods ? Got a link ? Thanks.

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They are the Maxspeedingrods Rosten knockoffs, they were on sale for like $220 back when I got them.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/180879072155

annieneff said:

The lower the rpms there, the better. You're going to have Plenty of power to push it. Dear god that thing is going to be fast!
I think the truck looks great! Fun build . Keep up the pics and updates--
Andrew

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It's not going to lug, at say 60MPH? Not too sluggish off the line? There is a 3.42 gear available, right in between the two.

Subscribed, I will be doing an early 90's toyota 2wd with an alh. Looking forward to your progress!

Rockwell said:

It's not going to lug, at say 60MPH? Not too sluggish off the line? There is a 3.42 gear available, right in between the two.

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Andy Bees and the like will have a better answer than me on gear ratios, but with a truck that light with that much torque I can't imagine it lugging at 2000 rpm's. 60mph should be around 2000rpm's +\-? 2000rpm's us a pretty darn sweet spot for these tdi's. You're going to have well over 200 ft lbs of torque. The truck might weigh 3k lbs? I don't think it'll take off like a shot at 60 mph with the lowest ratio, but I don't think you'll ever have to downshift either.


Andrew

3000 pounds sounds about right, it's about the same weight of the Jetta the engine came out of. Maybe a little more now with the flat bed

I had to notch the pan pretty good to clear the steering linkage, I added the aluminum spacer to compensate for most of the volume that was lost. I also eliminated the AC and power steering.

Got an instrument cluster from an SR5 so I can have a tach. I readjusted the redline and added a glow plug light. I zeroed the odometer since the only original moving parts will be the front wheel bearings.

Using a Passat manifold with the GTB1756. Sticks out there more then I like, but I was worried about starter clearance with it hung closer to the block.

sounds cool,
I have a 80 pickup with a DFW,much the same as a ACN. 3.67 final, first is way to low & could use another gear on top, I run at 85mph+ no problem.Another gear probably 110/120mph which would be perfect, Acts like a 2 stroke. 12mm IP, 205mm injectors, otherwise stock and rebuilt. 175/70/13" tires, I will probably rerim my wheels to 15" when i wear out the tires for the extra ratio, although I am toying with the idea of an 200r4 automatic. Mark
http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/VW_020_transmission.shtml
http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/VW_020_transmission.shtml#5-Speed

Very nice build! Similar to mine...

Rockwell said:

The truck currently has a W56 transmission and 3.73 rearend, this puts me at 2800RPM @ 70MPH. I have a spare axle with 3.07 gears, this puts me at 2300RPM @ 70MPH. That's a good cruising RPM for an AHU?

Click to expand...

If all you are going to do with the truck is commute than the tall gears should be fine. If you plan to tow then see if there are other options but honestly the 2300rpm is plenty high. With my TDI Ranger I put in a 3.08 rear end which puts my 70mph rpms at 2000. I have no issues running 55-60mph in top gear. I can always drop to 4th if needed.

There are some 3.42 gears available, that's right in the middle, about 2500RPM @ 70MPH. Maybe that's the way to go

Got the harness thinned out, this is what I have left for wiring. Im working on the glow plug relays and fuses and will add them to engine compartment harness.

I will be mounting the ECU in the cabin where the toyota one was, behind the passenger kick panel, perfect fit and easy to access. I'm going to use a quick disconnect Cannon plug to get the wires into the engine compartment.

This is the relay harness that's being mounted in the cabin with the ECU. I think the interior harness is complete, just have to double check everything before I tape it up and install it.

I researched getting the tach to work but haven't found any solid answers. Can I use the signal from the ECU to drive the Dakota converter? I'd like to get the required wires in my harness before I tape it up.

The early alh didn't need the Dakota digital converter to work the tach. I just booked mine up to my tach and it worked. Not sure on your yoga if you'll have a scaling issue.

You have a crank pickup on the lower left on the block, I'll be using mine some day for the tack if I can make it work. Mark

That's the signal going to the ECU, hopefully between the two signals one of them will drive the Toyota tach.

Got the engine sitting in the engine bay. I have a couple clearance issues, the oil filter is close to the frame so I got a slightly shorter one. The bottom of the oil pan is very close to the frame crossmember that goes under it, it will be easy enough to notch the crossmember. Long term goal is to replace the passenger side mount with a hydraulic one, then I can raise the engine a bit.

Starting to fabricate the exhaust, it will go behind the head and above the transmission, then down the drivers side. Couldnt find a clean way to get it down the passenger side. There is plenty of room with the engine moved forward, hard to tell in the pic.

What are you Toyota guys using for a sensor for the temp gauge? I made this out of the air conditioner kick-off switch in the upper radiator hose, but might want to use the original VW sensor if the gauge will indicate correctly on the cluster.

How's everyone mounting the 'gas pedal'? The E-brake is right in the middle of that area. I have an idea but was wondering what everyone did. It's an ALH style, not AHU

Rockwell said:

How's everyone mounting the 'gas pedal'? The E-brake is right in the middle of that area. I have an idea but was wondering what everyone did. It's an ALH style, not AHU

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tacoma but similar... i cut down the stock alh bracket and welded tabs to it

I did the same but welded the bracket straight to the firewall. In hindsight probably better bolt-in like Jim did.

I don't have that bracket, is the firewall not flat enough to bolt it directly to it?

I bolted mine straight to the floor. I just stacked washers under two of the three bolts between the plastic and the floor. You need the bracket or something to get the correct angle on the pedal. Mine is too close to the floor making the pedal feel tall and uncomfortable. This will probably be the first thing I change after I'm done. And the parking brake is in the way.

Thanks for the pics, it didn't look like that would fit up there with the parking brake in the way. I mounted it directly to the firewall, was able to use one the Toyota pedal bolt holes. I wanted to keep the Toyota look and pedal position. I removed the steel insert from the VW pedal and welded it to the Toyota pedal after I bent it into shape.