1999 S10 ZR2 BHW Swap

d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
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B5.5 Passat
Got an update for you guys =]

So plans have changed slightly, but in a very good way.

I found the unicorn of the S/T series trucks, a GMC Jimmy Diamond Edition!

This was basically the top of the line (besides the envoy trim before it became its own model) truck you could get. Basically it has every feature you could add to this platform including:

-Auto 4x4!!!
-Leather heated and memory seats (with a unique love it or hate it design [I love it])
-Floor shifter with tow/haul mode button (will be making good use of this stay tuned)
-Auto dimming mirror with onstar buttons (onstar is dead ion pre-2007 vehicles though)

So the plan now is to finish gutting the jimmy and finish integrating the VW engine harness with the truck harness.









Other cool things im working on for this build:

"hacking" the old onstar GPS module to use as a sensor for a raspberry pi that will have a sim card and relay GPS and other info to my home server. It will be hidden and have its own aux power source.

Building the raspberry pi or windows stick PC into the dash for android auto and other built in stuff.

Rebuilding the front differential with a cast iron housed unit (same gear ratio), and putting a one piece axle shaft in it. (removing all the crappy vacuum actuated 4x4 stuff)


Once I finish with the Jimmy ill be starting the balance shaft and timing belt work soon. Ill inspect the cam as well and order a new one if needed from idparts.
 
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d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
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B5.5 Passat
small update

Haven't made too much progress as of late, life has a way of doing that huh. Figured I'd throw some pics up since we all love pictures lol.

Almost finished with the BSM delete, just some buttoning up left/ the timing belt.



Drivetrain sittin pretty




Still chugging away at the wiring, this is all the truck body wiring. I'm stripping all the plastic loom and crap tape, as well as cleaning every wire with some goo-gone and re-wraping it all in the good tesa tape VW uses.



Also been screwing around with using a W8 cluster in the truck, I got one for my car and when I realized how easy it was to basically turn the FIS screen into a scan gauge, it got me wanting to try to fit it in the truck.

 

d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
TDI
B5.5 Passat
Got an update for you guys:

Started tearing apart the S10! got the interior gutted and the front clip removed.



I'm working on getting the cab and bed removed so I can start prepping everything for primer and "paint"

Heres all the Raptor I got =D Entire body will be blue, and underneath and all the plastics will be black.



Ive been soaking all the fasteners in krud kitter rust remover, and everything has been coming out great! Im gonna scuff everything up and give a quick coat of flat black paint to try to preserve them longer.





Also decided im gonna install a 2" body lift to prevent the oil pan from interfering with the front diff. I think the extra space will make things a lot easier in general anyways.



Ive been lucky so far that the cab only has some surface rust to deal with. The right fender is also pretty much ok. However both inner fenders have some spots rusted through and the driver fender has rust at the very bottom where it meets the cab. So I guess I have to decide if these can be repaired or if I can find replacements. They are ZR2 specific which makes finding new ones almost impossible but im gonna keep searching a bit. Either that or guess i can pick up a welder and start to learn how to weld lol.



Ive also been on the hunt for smaller mirrors for the truck similar to the street scene ones that were made back in the day with turn signals in them. The stock S10 mirrors are way larger than they need to be and with me being so short they kinda block some of my view, so I decided to try the Passat mirrors for fun and I kinda really dig the look, and its very functional. I think im gonna model up some adapters and 3D print them to mount them.

 
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d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
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B5.5 Passat
Finally got this thing stripped down to the frame!!!



Gonna start cleaning everything up this week so I can start mocking up the drivetrain hopefully sometime this weekend.

Gotta fab up motor mounts and a downpipe for the exhaust first, then itll be deciding which various tanks and plastics parts fit best from either car and making it work.
 

d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
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Connecticut
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B5.5 Passat
Some more teardown pics:





Unfortunately I found some issues with the frame. At some point there was an issue with the robot that welded a section of the lower control arm mounts for the ZR2 model trucks (since they have different mounting points) and it would be off, which would then crack over the years from use. Also have two rear cab mounts with issues =[












So now I have to figure out how to get this taken care of. I found a metal fab shop that I might have do it. I think once its fixed ill try to make a brace similar to this one:

https://www.s10forum.com/forum/f178/essential-for-zr2-owners-frame-crack-solution-825233/

So now while I wait on getting the frame fixed I guess ill focus on body work on the cab and bed.
 
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[486]

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 1, 2014
Location
MN
TDI
02 golf ALH
Don't you have a welder?

Vee them out with a die grinder, stop drill the ends of the cracks, preheat with a torch and weld them up. Even a little gasless flux core wirefeed will do fine with proper preparation.
 

d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
TDI
B5.5 Passat
Don't you have a welder?

Vee them out with a die grinder, stop drill the ends of the cracks, preheat with a torch and weld them up. Even a little gasless flux core wirefeed will do fine with proper preparation.

No I don't. I've also never welded before, I've only done electronics soldering and a bit of brazing before.

Part of me was contemplating getting a cheap Titanium welder from harbor freight and just practicing a crap ton before giving it a go. Well see, there's also the passenger cab corner that needs to be replaced, so I might just try and tackle it myself if I get the courage.
 

PickleRick

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Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
Those harbor freight flux cores suck but it was a cheap 110

I built many motor/tranny mounts with my flux core lincoln 110v.

Prep and slow controled speeds is the key. She will over heat and need to cool down on the heavy stuff. Ive also done fine stuff like oil pans. Im not a welder
 

d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
TDI
B5.5 Passat
Those harbor freight flux cores suck but it was a cheap 110

I built many motor/tranny mounts with my flux core lincoln 110v.

Prep and slow controled speeds is the key. She will over heat and need to cool down on the heavy stuff. Ive also done fine stuff like oil pans. Im not a welder

Yeah the Central branded stuff all sucks, but apparently the new Titanium's are decent home machines.

I got quoted between $400-$500 for the repair plus $100 for him to pick it up and drop it off....the Titanium 170A welder is $450 with a coupon. I could also get the 140A for $350 but it doesnt have 240V input.

Guess it makes more financial sense to get a welder and go to town fixing everything. At least then I can do the frame as well as fix all the body rust issues.

If I get a machine do I buy the cheapest decent welder that will work for now, or do I get something I can grow into?

I'm thinking get this cheap 140 for now and then in the future if I end up using it enough, get a nice miller or something.

https://www.harborfreight.com/MIG-140-Professional-Welder-with-120-Volt-Input-64804.html


I guess ya'll have the right attitude, I really shouldn't be concerned with "not being a welder", I'm also "not a mechanic" and have figured it all out up till now lol. I guess that engineering degree was worth something after all :rolleyes:
 

[486]

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 1, 2014
Location
MN
TDI
02 golf ALH
I'm leery of HF inverters, but it looks like it'll pay for itself in this one job (well, plus a helmet, angle grinder, gloves, some good gasless wire rather than the junk they ship with the machine) so go for it. If it lasts a few years, all the better.

100% recommend learning to weld. It is indespensible when doing things like this. Watch some youtube videos on any issues you encounter and you'll be able to learn plenty quick.

140 amps will easily let you weld any thickness with multipass welds, any larger and the machines start getting very bulky
 

d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
TDI
B5.5 Passat
I'm leery of HF inverters, but it looks like it'll pay for itself in this one job (well, plus a helmet, angle grinder, gloves, some good gasless wire rather than the junk they ship with the machine) so go for it. If it lasts a few years, all the better.

100% recommend learning to weld. It is indespensible when doing things like this. Watch some youtube videos on any issues you encounter and you'll be able to learn plenty quick.

140 amps will easily let you weld any thickness with multipass welds, any larger and the machines start getting very bulky

I've definitely always wanted to learn, so I guess now is the time. Good to know the 140 will be enough.
 

PickleRick

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Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
Go to your local scrap metal place and buy some small sections of 1/4 inch or so steel, work on welding some 90s before you weld on your frame. If you can weld it and hit it with a hammer without breaking you're good to go. Pretty welds come in time(and gas) but strong is what counts. Its all about penetration (thats what she said)
 

d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
TDI
B5.5 Passat
Go to your local scrap metal place and buy some small sections of 1/4 inch or so steel, work on welding some 90s before you weld on your frame. If you can weld it and hit it with a hammer without breaking you're good to go. Pretty welds come in time(and gas) but strong is what counts. Its all about penetration (thats what she said)

Yeah don't worry there will be plenty of pics of my practice welds before I even think about starting the frame. Definitely need to know that I'm penetrating deep enough :cool: haha

Luckily most of the welding coupons are out this month for HF so most of the stuff wont be too expensive.
 

d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
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Connecticut
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B5.5 Passat
Well I picked up a buzzbox from Harbor freight last night.



Gotta get some steel later and start practicing!
 

d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
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B5.5 Passat
Got another small update =]

While my welding skills take shape I've been doing electrical stuff in parallel.

I finally figured out how I'm going to feed the s10 computer the crank signal of the engine. I designed an adapter/spacer to mount the tone wheel of the s10 crank sensor to the TDI crank pulley, and 3D printed it. (note the pic is V2 and i forgot to open the middle hole on that top layer in solidworks before I printed it, the hole is there tho lol)

I'm on V3 and that version one is almost perfect, just need to take final measurements and make a drawing to have it machined.



 

d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
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B5.5 Passat
Not really an update but, for sh*ts I decided to cut out the Jimmy Sunroof roof panel. I've always wanted a sunroof in the truck since I got it, and the Jimmy happened to have one. Whats everyone's opinion on how hard it would be to replace the front half of the S10 roof panel and weld the seam in the back with the Jimmy panel?? I'm guessing you'd drill out all the spot welds, peel back/cut the S10 skin, fit the replacement in , re-weld where all the spot welds were/the seam across the back of the roof, seam-seal the sh*t out of it, and do some body work on top?? Whats your thoughts?

This is admittedly probably over my current abilities, but part of me still seems to think I can get it done lol...just an idea, here are some pics to get an idea of what I'm talking about. This would be the perfect time to do this since I have the cab stripped to nothing right now to fix all the rust.





 

ToBiN

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Joined
Feb 9, 2017
Location
Colorado
TDI
2013 Sportwagen TDI/M6; 2006 Dodge 3500 Cummins/M6 Mega Cab; 2011 Jetta TDI/M6 (sold)
re: sunroof
Id say go to a yard and get a moonroof from a jimmy, then install into your S10. Don't try and remove/scab in an entire new roof. Way more work than required.
Otherwise, buy an aftermarket moonroof and install it per their directions.

Cool swap. Years ago I did a 300ZX Turbo engine into a Nissan ext cab Hardbody, bagged & bodied mini truck using a couple Chilton's manuals with wire diagrams. I was able to send a throttle position and other sensor feeds to the automatic to get them to work together correctly. Ran 15 sec 1/4 miles on 15psi after the swap. It was fun and made a lot of people sad at the track and on the street getting beat up by a mini truck.

For your 99 S10, it probably has a 4L60e transmission. There are a ton of companies now offering stand alone computers for that transmission. If you try and use the stock GM controller, that is embedded into the ECU and probably wont work correctly, or the ECU will be totally confused that it cannot see the GM gas engine. Those stand alone transmission controllers start at about $600.

What are you doing for a bell housing adapter, flywheel, torque converter? Historically the GM transmission doesn't get the fluid pressure to fuction until 1800 rpm or so. If the TDI is building torque well before that, its possible you may burn up the transmission in time. Also, the 4L60e has a lockup converter. Hopefully those transmission controllers have that lockup built in as the converter plays an integral part of transmission cooling. But for the lockup to work in either case the controllers will need a TPS and switched power from the brake pedal (when you hit the brake, power goes away telling the converter to unlock).

Good luck. Neat swap for sure.
 

d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
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B5.5 Passat
Well I decided to go ahead with the sun roof plan. Haven't had time to fix the frame yet so I'm making the cab a priority so I can have it finished and painted ready to drop on the frame when I get going on that.

I got all the glass out, and was able to remove the front of the roof without much trouble. The Jimmy roof front fits perfectly and surprisingly the spot welds line up pretty close. Figured they would be slightly different since ones from an SUV.

Here's where I'm at now. Ill post more pics when everything is welded back in.





 
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d0u8l3m

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Location
Connecticut
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B5.5 Passat
Been dealing with some personal stuff lately, but finally managed to get my butt back into the garage to get the roof panel cut and fitted so I can get ready to weld everything. Next ill be fitting the new cab corner.



 

d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
TDI
B5.5 Passat
Slow and steady wins the race right? ��

Finally got the corner fitted as best I can for now, I might have to trim the replacement a bit more but I'll do it as it's tacked in to make it a bit easier, I just want to make sure I have enough material to keep the back seam straight. Metal work has definitely been really fun so far, just have to take your time and be patient for the most part lol. Now to clean up/bevel all the edges and finish this thing up.



 

d0u8l3m

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Location
Connecticut
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B5.5 Passat
Copied from S10Forum:

Wow, weird how things are sometimes, I was about to start a new update thinking there wasn't gonna be any other replies on here and now I see all these messages =D definitely makes me smile knowing people are interested in this. I really appreciate it guys.

Anyways sorry for the lack of updates, I've been battling some depression since my gf broke up with me a few months ago. Idk if its because I'm of an engineering/analytical type mindset but its been so hard to shut off the constant thoughts of being a screw up or trying to stop over analyzing the situation and just accept that these things happen and that I need to focus on controlling what I actually have the ability to control...myself. So besides the little things here and there with this project I've been trying to focus on my health and my future. I've been trying to eat healthier and work out more often. I'm about 5'3" but only weigh about 115lbs so I need to gain some weight (hopefully in muscle and not fat). That and I've been thinking about my job, and if its time to move on to bigger and better things. I'm an electrical engineer at a small sensors company that makes LVDTs and such, but its only about 25 people total and engineering consists of me and my boss. As much as I love what I do and how cool my boss is, I'm starting to worry that I'm going to remain stagnant there, since there's no real place to move up. That and they got me doing a ton of stuff and i feel like i should be making a bit more since we lost the other 2 engineers. I think the harder part is that i'm not sure if these are all my own thoughts of If i'm thinking that i'm beneath someone like my ex who was a process engineer at a major chemical company and constantly was working on her professional skills and doing a bunch of kick *** work like getting patents/running a young professionals group etc. So yeah...fortunately my old roommate is back and hes been helping me get my head back in the game, so ive been getting some stuff done a little at a time.

Anyways I just felt like i needed to rant, let me not bore you with my personal life and get to why were here =]

So I haven't been practicing my welding as much as I'd like. I'm getting the hang of it but definitely wanna practice some more before welding up the cab. Everything is fitted and the cab is sitting in my garage on stands just waiting for me to have the confidence to tackle it. Here are some of my first welds on the old roof panel. I cut that one up in strips and welded them back together





I've been picking away at the wiring for everything. Got all the unnecessary chevy engine connectors removed from the harness and started wrapping that up in tesa tape. A little bit every day and I should hopefully have the wiring done in a few weeks. It's definitely nice having an 11x17 printer I can use at work for the wiring diagrams.







I also got a cheap silverado 2500 diesel cluster that I decided im gonna use instead, I got the idea from here, though I think I can fit it in much nicer with some patience

S10Forum: Full-size Gauge Cluster Install

So I rebuilt it with all new aircore motors that use a silicone based oil instead of whatever the stock ones were (all mine were shot and spinning around), LED's, blue needles, and I'm waiting on a gauge face from US Speedo. I also reset the milage to zero (idk why but entering zero in the eeprom set it to 127...whatever I guess). I don't ever plan on selling this truck but on the off chance I do, ill just add whatever this says by that time to the stock s10 cluster and put that back in the truck so it will be accurate. No foul play here lol



Here you can see the pads up top for the missing eeprom chip I had to remove



I used a breakout board to stick it in a programmer and read+modify and flash the chip.



If you don't have access to rework equipment, you can also solder wires to these pads and flash the chip that way, the chip is read as a 25020 type chip.



BTW all of this information was found through Google I'm just posting it for my own documentation and process, I'm not responsible for what y'all do with it. The process is similar for the s10 cluster. Milage is only stored in that eeprom in the cluster not in the PCM at all. The BCM stores it as well but it copies whatever your cluster says.



So that's pretty much it for now, Ill try to update this more often if I finish anything interesting. Oh I did find this inter-cooler on the side of the road up the street tho! The house is for sale so I think they were just throwing out stuff they didn't wanna keep. Ill have to leak test it but not bad for free. Though it might be way too big for this project not sure yet.
 

A-man930

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Joined
Jul 29, 2014
Location
St. Louis
TDI
Planning Stages: ALH Jeep MJ
Your electronic savvy-ness is impressive; makes me want to learn that stuff even more.
Are you welding with flux-core?
 

d0u8l3m

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
TDI
B5.5 Passat
Your electronic savvy-ness is impressive; makes me want to learn that stuff even more.
Are you welding with flux-core?
Thanks :) the electrical side of these things is definitely where I excel at.

unfortunately yeah I'm using just .30 flux core with a titanium 140 (harbor freight) mig welder. I'd love to get some gas but I haven't been able to find a good deal on a tank. I might keep looking and try practicing with gas, but these welds cleaned up pretty decently, and its all gonna get marine grade body filler on top anyways so I haven't decided if its worth it.

With the nice 4 day weekend i have this week I might try to get some more practice in, and attempt the cab corner.
 

d0u8l3m

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Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
TDI
B5.5 Passat
Took most of this week off with the rest of the vacation I had at my old job. I finally took the plunge and welded in the cab corner and roof panel. Needless to say I'm no professional and I didn't expect it to come out great, but to be honest I can definitely say that I'm happy and proud of what I was able to achieve as a newbie.

Some areas aren't perfectly flat and there's some warpage, but I think I can hide most of the imperfections with body filler, or at least minimize them a decent amount. Also since the entire cab is getting raptor lined, I think that will hide them even more, so I should end up with a decent result when its all said and done.

Initial welds on the cab corner





Ended up poking a hole in it from grinding, but I was able to fill it back in





Roof top and sides, I just have the front to finish up tomorrow. There's still a bunch of the windshield glue I gotta remove.







This is the body filler I'm gonna use. I think it will be more waterproof than normal body filler and fill in the imperfections nicely. I'm also going to try to seam seal the inside as much as I can.



Hopefully I can finish up the front of the roof panel tomorrow and clean everything to get it ready for body filler. It's been super cold these past few days so hopefully that stuff doesn't stink too much so I can keep the garage door closed and open the back room to heat up the garage. If not I'll have to do it in the cold, then ill put the cab aside since I really shouldn't paint till the spring. I think then Ill either start tearing apart one of the transmissions or get the frame in the garage to be stripped and fix the frame cracks. Gotta get my dad to come fix the cracks tho since hes a pro lol.
 

PickleRick

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
Im looking forward to you getting this on the road. I still have 2 running bhw passats sitting in my yard with a bad slush box and i cuss my daily driver 5 speed bhw passat every time i need to carry a piece of equipment home.

The idea of a 4 door 4wd s10 seems very tempting as does keeping it an automatic. I like the idea that the s10 ecu doesn't realize the gasser is gone.
 

shakescreek

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Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Location
B.C. Canada
TDI
18'6" welded aluminum jetboat with pd160, gtb2056vl, and tuning by rub87, 2003 chev blazer with bhw swap, 2000 jetta alh with gtd1752 vrk, .240 injectors, 11mm pump, fmic, 6 spd manual
Looks like you're doing an awesome job, should be a pretty nice truck when you"re done. I've been daily driving my bhw blazer for about 7 months now including 3 1500 mile + road trips and absolutely love it. Much more of a redneck hack then yours, as I simply don't have the know how to integrate the electronics like you've been doing, but it's been trouble free so far and drives very nice so I'm happy with it. Keep up the good work and keep us updated on progress.

And best wishes to you and all tdi club members for a very merry Christmas and a wonderful new year.
 

d0u8l3m

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Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Location
Connecticut
TDI
B5.5 Passat
Im looking forward to you getting this on the road. I still have 2 running bhw passats sitting in my yard with a bad slush box and i cuss my daily driver 5 speed bhw passat every time i need to carry a piece of equipment home.

The idea of a 4 door 4wd s10 seems very tempting as does keeping it an automatic. I like the idea that the s10 ecu doesn't realize the gasser is gone.
Thanks! I kinda wish I had another BHW as a spare for either the truck or the Passat haha. That's the nice thing about both being the same powerplant now. Definitely gonna think hard about sourcing another one when either gets a bigger turbo than the stock vnt17. A 4 door would be cool if you need the bigger cab, I just don't like how crew cabs look personally. It not caring completely is the end goal at least, I'm sure ill have a lot of tweaking to do and code deleting to get it just right, but I think I'm on the right track so far.

Looks like you're doing an awesome job, should be a pretty nice truck when you"re done. I've been daily driving my bhw blazer for about 7 months now including 3 1500 mile + road trips and absolutely love it. Much more of a redneck hack then yours, as I simply don't have the know how to integrate the electronics like you've been doing, but it's been trouble free so far and drives very nice so I'm happy with it. Keep up the good work and keep us updated on progress.

And best wishes to you and all tdi club members for a very merry Christmas and a wonderful new year.
Thank you so much! I'd say while my electronics skills are great my welding seems a bit hacked lol good thing they make good body fillers now.

Post some pics and videos of your blazer!! I miss my blue one, it was my first car. Glad its holding up well, I'm looking to get quite a few years of service out of this guy. Not a fan of where modern cars/trucks are headed with all the extra BS they throw in em. I may design the stuff for a living but I know when to say that there's too much tech integration. That and the prices are just insane...50k+ for a zr2 diesel colorado? I get that time is money but still Ill pass.

Also a merry Christmas/happy holidays and Happy New Year to everyone as well!!!
 

shakescreek

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Location
B.C. Canada
TDI
18'6" welded aluminum jetboat with pd160, gtb2056vl, and tuning by rub87, 2003 chev blazer with bhw swap, 2000 jetta alh with gtd1752 vrk, .240 injectors, 11mm pump, fmic, 6 spd manual
To bad we didn't live close to each other, we could have helped each other out. I'm a licensed welder that spent many years in the welding and fabricating business, but pretty illiterate when it comes to electronics. I can try and add a picture of my Blazer here but even that may challenge my computer skills.

What do you know, looks like it worked. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures well I was building it. I can snap an underhood picture next time I'm up at the Blazer if I remember to bring a camera. No road access to my home so the Blazer and Jetta sit at the end of a dirt road with a 10 kilometer snowmobile ride up to them. Likely make a trip up in the next week or so to make a run into town and check the mail.
Happy new year to all.
 
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