Front Engine Rear Drive TDI???

piper106

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 7, 2002
Location
Grosse Ile MI
TDI
2001 New Beetle Blue
Is there/has there been a front engine rear wheel drive 1.9 TDI vehicle?? Or any other rear drive VW group vehicle that used an engine with the same clutch/transmission bolt pattern as the 1.9 TDI engine??

I am in the planning stage for a project to put a small automotive diesel engine into a light weight 'American traditional' (i.e. rear drive) car. The VW 1.9 TDI engine fits the bill for an engine I would need. Before I run off and start planning my own adapter to hook a TDI to a rear drive transmission, I thought I would ask what might be available from the VW part bins. I know my knowledge of VW's here in America is less than complete, and my knowledge of VW's European models is next to zero.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Well, I am not sure there is a whole lot in the parts bin to use.
But, there is some information I can give you. First, Volkswagen/Audi supplied the inline six cylinders to Volvo for the 240 and 740 diesel cars (the latter having a turbocharger). They were used in Europe in the older LT fullsize, rear drive vans. These engines, however, share the same architecture as the inline 5 cylinders, so the bolt pattern is not the same as the fours. As far as swept volume, the 2.4L six was like a 1.6L 4 with 2 extra cylinders. They share the same pistons, valves, rods, etc. Volkswagen also sold a 2.0L gas four cylinder, also from the LT (and Audi 100LS) to AMC, of all people. It was used in the Gremlins or Pacers, as well as a whole bunch of US Postal Jeeps, and was also used in the early Porsche 924! And some 924s were turbocharged, too. Talk about a universal engine.
However, I do not know what bolt pattern that engine used. But, they did (probably still do) sell the inline 6 in Europe in TDI trim, I believe. Hope this helps some!
 

tjl

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 19, 2001
Location
California, USA
TDI
2001 Golf GLS
Originally posted by piper106:
Is there/has there been a front engine rear wheel drive 1.9 TDI vehicle?? Or any other rear drive VW group vehicle that used an engine with the same clutch/transmission bolt pattern as the 1.9 TDI engine??
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There is a remote possibility that a Volvo 2xx or 7xx can accept an a3 TDI engine, since these cars had the option of a 2.4L diesel engine that was essentially a VW 1.6L diesel engine with two more cylinders. The engine bay in the Volvo 2xx is large enough to accept a Ford or Chevy V8 (conversion kits for such things do exist), so physical size is probably ok.

Other than that, there were diesel Vanagons, but that isn't exactly a "traditional" front engine, rear drive car.

Of course, AWD is both FWD and RWD, so maybe that can be a possibility?
 
Top