TDI into a '93 Eurovan

twentyeight

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Location
Phoenix, AZ
TDI
1Z & ALH
The swap has finally started with the arrival of rebuild parts. I'll be updating as work gets done at my website where I might have a little more room to catalog the different tasks as they go.

Feel free to critique here— I want to rely on this build for travelling with my family. This isn't my first engine build, but I'm far from an expert, so tips and advice are very much appreciated.
 

twentyeight

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Location
Phoenix, AZ
TDI
1Z & ALH
My piston protrusion is too low at 0.76mm (minimum spec is 0.91mm), so it looks like i'm going to pull out the crank again and have the block decked a bit. There's a small scratch between cylinders 2 and 3, so it's probably worthwhile anyway. At least no rods are bent.

I've seen a few threads where this is common— it really seems that new oversized Nüral pistons are made shorter specifically to account for decking the block. Everyone ends up with about 0.030" of piston projection or protrusion.

I have to take the flywheel back to the machine shop anyway because they didn't machine the step to match the wear surface, so the step height is around .585" where spec is something like 0.492-ish (12.5mm). That should be a fun conversation.
 
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twentyeight

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Location
Phoenix, AZ
TDI
1Z & ALH
Well, this is going to be on hold for a short while.

The machine shop destroyed my block and refuses to offer anything more than free machine work. I've tried their paid work; I'm not sure if I'd like their free work. Edit: they refunded some money but it was still a raw deal.

So I need to find another block and another shop.

I have an old 1Z block in my shed. I wonder if boring .5mm over would clean this up?
Scored and rusty bore #1
Scored and rusty bore #2

(For the record, the bores were fine but the deck was still a little pitted at 3-hole height)
 
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twentyeight

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Location
Phoenix, AZ
TDI
1Z & ALH
Ok, after many weeks and some setbacks I got a box of parts. For the record, the block above did clean up at .5mm over. The deck wasn't perfect, but it doesn't look like there will be any sealing problems.

I'm now just waiting for the injection pump bracket back from the machine shop and I can start to get the 5-cylinder out and the new shiny TDI and EWB gearbox installed.
 

twentyeight

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Location
Phoenix, AZ
TDI
1Z & ALH
Engine is in and most everything is hooked up. One thing I'm working on now is the fuel sender. I've seen a number of swaps where people just get the ABL sender and try to fit it to the tank, but I don't have an ABL sender and don't care to find one.
What are the functions of a diesel fuel sender for a VE motor?
  • To provide a "cup" that acts as a baffle for gel resistance on warmup and sloshing fuel on turns and hills
  • To provide a sensor for the fuel level
  • To pre-filter tank sediments

Anything else?

Removing the gasser fuel pump means the stock sender satisfies the first two items. Can I just fabricate a diesel-safe bracket to hold, say, a stainless-steel mesh for pre-filtering?

What are people doing where there are no factory items available?
 

Zed.

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 31, 2015
Location
Wales (UK)
TDI
'89 B3 T'die Passat wagon. '95 T4 van (1Z T'die converted). '87 mk2 Golf AHU tdi converted /02a etc. '92 & '95 200tdi Landrover Discovery
What are people doing where there are no factory items available?
cant you franken-build something from the existing & a golf / passat item?
I've heard it said that B4 passat sender units fit T4's but even though I've a spare B4 sender in my garage I have not looked at my (1Z tdi converted) T4's fuel tank (sorry :eek: )
have a looksee into fitment :cool:
Rich.
 

twentyeight

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Location
Phoenix, AZ
TDI
1Z & ALH
My concern there is that the B4 sender doesn't fit into the slot in the bottom of the T4 tank. I haven't matched up a B4 sender yet, but that might be my next step.
 

twentyeight

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Location
Phoenix, AZ
TDI
1Z & ALH
It runs!

No intercooler piping yet, and the exhaust is just the straight 2.5" downpipe, but oh man does it sound sweet.

The race is on to finish up the coolant system and get everything back together.

Man is that ever a good feeling.
 

twentyeight

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Location
Phoenix, AZ
TDI
1Z & ALH
I ended up using a prescreen from McMaster for the fuel pickup. I attached it to the stock sender by drilling a few holes and using a 304 stainless lock wire. This seems to work pretty well.

I also got some 028906021GL chips from an 68-pin AFN ECU to run the VNT setup. Reset my odometer to zero (the old Eurovan cluster is mechanical and will forevermore read gasser miles for easy addition).

With that, I have .3 miles on the swap! What an awesome trip around the block. Way more power than the 5-cylinder, and I always felt a bit smug about how well my gasser was running.

The only pressing thing left to handle is the manifold air-temperature sensor, which is just dangling right now since there's no place in my intercooler piping now. I assume these are RTD (resistance-based) sensors, so I need to figure out the resistance range of the sensor to find a threaded replacement. Then I can just drill and tap the intake manifold.

Oh, that and exhaust. I need to fetch the newish 2.5" catalytic converter from under the old B4 and finish up the 304 downpipe-to-cat section. Then I'll probably just drop it down to 2 1/4 to use the stock Eurovan exhaust until I figure out what to do there. There's plenty of space—*thinking 3" from the cat back.
 

twentyeight

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Location
Phoenix, AZ
TDI
1Z & ALH
Welded up the downpipe and put a few more miles on it today. I had a noisy lifter that was weighing heavy on my soul last night, but after running the engine a little closer to the proper cam break-in procedure it finally pumped up and quieted down. It sounds so sweet now; thank you to everyone (especially Whitbread) who advised me on cylinder bore tolerances.

I also adjusted the injection quantity to 5 at idle and flashed what I think is a decentish pump voltage map for 11mm and 205 injectors. I obviously have missed some limits somewhere because I'm maxing out at 41mg/s on a short wide-open-throttle pull in third. At least the low speed/idle shudder is gone now and it seems really, really drivable.

So much more power now. This heavy van is definitely stronger than my almost-stock ALH New Beetle. With a 2.5" downpipe and (currently) side-dumping straight pipe, heavy throttle over 2500rpm is just mind-blowing (ok, at least with the old 5-cylinder gasser in mind).

Definitely a worthwhile swap.
 
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