1.9 ALH In a boat

Roost

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Mar 4, 2019
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BC
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1.9 alh
Ive been tossing around the idea to convert this thing to M-tdi.


I have acquired this mechanical IP pump off what is said to be "Out of a 93 Passat 1.9L TDI". I'm not certain if this pump could work or not, from what I can tell it's 9mm plunger?


As far as the project as a whole no real progress. I'll have time this winter to get things rolling. Also pleased to find out "tdconversions" adapters is a hour drive away from me.



 

Roost

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1.9 alh
Looks like I have some cleaning to do.. Wont miss the egr system.

I went ahead and bought one of those cheap mini lathes. It ends up being cheaper then buying a adapter and Ill be able to use it for other parts of the project. Dial indicating engine plate madness to come..


As for the AAZ pump I have I will either attempt to convert it or send it to Giles.





 

Roost

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Mar 4, 2019
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BC
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1.9 alh
Little bit of progress. Turning a piece of steel this size on a china mini lathe didn't exactly go well, burnt up the motor controller and later the motor..

Just need to drill the holes now. Everything is hub centric.


web ho


web ho


web ho
 

PickleRick

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Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
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05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
That's a sweet build.

Ive found newer marine tdi factory mercruiser parts. Used is rare. They made the new tdi 3.0 and 4.2 in marine versions after the cummins marriage with Mercury fell apart. I have a cummins bagded 4.2 inline 6 that is a VM diesel. Italian designed Belgium built. The small 1.7 that came pared to the alpha was an isuzu but i cannot remember if it was badged cummins or VW.


The 3.0 and 4.2 packages start around 30 to 40k.
 

Roost

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1.9 alh
4.2 would be a nice package. When I was young my dad had a i6 volvo penta with dual prop, no problem at all pushing a heavy welded aluminum out of the water.
The 1.7 ive heard have a bad rep, at 120hp I guess they wern't built tough enough for constant load.
 

PickleRick

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05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
I dont know much about the 1.7s other than they netted good fuel savings.

120 hp is good so long as its in a boat small enough that the motor can still reach max rpm when loaded down with peoele/food/drinks/gear.

Diesels have torque that gassers need much more displacement to match.

But not many diesels like max throttle for hours on end.
 

Roost

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1.9 alh
Yeah I think it's one thing for a jet boat to have a laggy setup, jets don't bite the water like a prop. I'm wanting to maintain decent bottom end the for when the boat is loaded with people/fishing gear so it still gets out of the hole. Realistically 120hp is enough for this boat.
 

Roost

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1.9 alh
I'm still leaning towards mtdi. I have all the electronics and engine harness but this is a ocean boat, a failed senor could leave me in a bad position. I would like to maintain a vgt turbo depending if I can reliably control it. Still more research to do in that rearguard.
 

PickleRick

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05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
The tune on the ecu will get rid of many sensors. The relays/sensors you would need spares of could fit in a tackle box.
 

Roost

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1.9 alh
I don't doubt reliability could obtained with the e setup. Diagnosing and changing sensors in weather wouldn't be something I would want to do, things go bad at the worst time it seems. I always have a kicker but that wouldn't saftly get me back across the Georgia straight.

Still undecided however most my vehicles mechanical, I just prefer it that way.
 

PickleRick

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05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
I work on quite a few diesels, many times the obd system makes diagnosing issues a little quicker than mechanical.

I also find electric controlled diesels smoother and often more economical.

That being said, if m-tdi is easier for you it makes no sense to keep electronic. Ive yet to find a boat break down convenient. Even if just a leaky water faucet.
 

Theterror

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Oct 8, 2020
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Manitoba Canada
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2001 automatic
What did you figure out with the cooled exhaust side? I just got a 01 Alh I wanna put into a alpha one drive, but I'm looking at doing it on an aluminum boat.
 

PickleRick

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05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
Does the aluminum boat have an enclosed engine hatch or is it open? If open you won't need to worry about cooled exhaust,
 

PickleRick

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05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
Enough ventilation could take care of it. It will be trial and error but that's the set up I've been brain storming. I was thinking big turbo with lots of boost to keep egts down.

There was a gap in time lines when vw/mercruiser and cummins/mercruiser both provided marine diesels, they did have some 120 to 170 hp inline 4 cyl motors attached to alpha 1

As far as I know those were rebadged isuzu motors with less than stellar reputations. Many people ran these motors wot everywhere which probably had a hand in. building that reputation. The rebadging is no new concept, they marketed my VM as a cummins....a cummins it 100% is not. I have 3 independent cylinder heads on this inline 6. I think vm produced a 4 cyl either 3.0 or 2.5 or both engine as well.

If anyone has any more into on 4 cyl vw diesels begin used between the late 90s to today in factory marine applications that could give us a good deal of info and possibly access to n.o.s. inventory.

I searched part numbers for the v6 and v8 tdi motors used in recent years by mercruiser, some of the part numbers to the marine manifold, cross over tubes, exhaust pipes and turbos are now listed as OBS or NLA.

Some of what i found suggested dieselgate pushed VW to bail on the marine division.
 
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CasaEd

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Mar 18, 2017
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VW Passat TDi B4, VW Passat TDi B4 GL, VW Passat B3 PD AWX Conversion
If you're thinking of going M-Tdi I'd throw that 1.9 TD pump in the bin and source yourself a Landrover 200 or 300 tdi injector pump, comes as standard with an 11mm head , more or less plug and play.
 

Theterror

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I have found a boat, it's aluminum, and a old mc1 drive (very similar to the alpha one) as far as adapting the motor is easy, the old engine was a Chevy bolt pattern (lots of adapters for those),

Also the motor is a 1.9 Alh from and auto, 11mm pump

my biggest thing now is to try and find a turbo and injectors that I wanna use, I'm looking for around 160-170hp (needs to be reliable and run cool) want to make a water cooled exhaust manifold, I feel like that's my best option for safety reasons, was kinda looking at gtb2056vl because there water cooled (get as much heat out as possible). Anyone run one of these good bad? Would need to spool reasonably quick but I want to stay mostly stock with the remainder of the engine.

Would really need to keep my egts down during plane, around 2500-3500rpm, was thinking of uping the oil pressure just for reliability sake

Any thoughts?
 

dukku

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Jan 22, 2008
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Romania
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1.9 PD-TDI AJM
I have found a boat, it's aluminum, and a old mc1 drive (very similar to the alpha one) as far as adapting the motor is easy, the old engine was a Chevy bolt pattern (lots of adapters for those),

Also the motor is a 1.9 Alh from and auto, 11mm pump

my biggest thing now is to try and find a turbo and injectors that I wanna use, I'm looking for around 160-170hp (needs to be reliable and run cool) want to make a water cooled exhaust manifold, I feel like that's my best option for safety reasons, was kinda looking at gtb2056vl because there water cooled (get as much heat out as possible). Anyone run one of these good bad? Would need to spool reasonably quick but I want to stay mostly stock with the remainder of the engine.

Would really need to keep my egts down during plane, around 2500-3500rpm, was thinking of uping the oil pressure just for reliability sake

Any thoughts?
I wouldn't mount a turbo bigger than GT17xx. You need to spool it at lower rpm hence the GTB2260VKLR or similar you intent to use on that 1.9tdi would start to boost at higher rpm. Consider that the 4cyl engine make 2 explosion every turn while the 6cyl 3.0tdi shoots 3 bursts of gas to the turbine.
On my boat I run a 1.9tdi turbo on a 2.0tdi engine and last summer I pulled 2 skiers out of water simultaneously.

Another concern would be how to pull out of reverse with engine running. I solved it partially lowering the idle to about 700 rpm but the boat shakes like hell.
 

TDIMeister

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There's no real need for a watercooled turbo center section in the TDI as oil-cooled has already shown to be perfectly fine and reliable. Doubly so if you employ a wet exhaust manifold where EGTs will drop a couple hundred degrees. On the latter point, cooling the exhaust gases will have adverse effects on boost spool-up, which will be magnified with a larger turbo. You might be lucky to find a Pathfinder wet manifold for the 1.6D that will bolt up, or if you have an unlimited budget, there are original VW Marine ones asking for nearly 3 grand for used examples more than a decade old (!!!). I don't have a boat but have been very interested in obtaining a water cooled exhaust manifold for my TDI; considering their scarcity and cost, I was thinking that I'd design one myself and have a small run manufactured with the flexibility to use a variety of connection flanges on the turbine and downpipe outlets.

As for the turbo, with the gearing and such you'll likely never exceed 3500 RPM on the engine, and any GTx20 turbo will be far off from operating at the optimal efficiency point. I recommend the GTD1752VRK.

Stock oil pressure is also more than adequate; just make sure that the oil pan always guarantees a sufficient level at the oil pickup at any planing inclination + acceleration. After all, it does you absolutely no good if you jack up the nominal oil pressure but you're picking up nothing in the first place! I figure a stock transverse oil pan or its internal baffling will not be sufficient.

Edit: By the way - the PN for the VW Marine watercooled exhaust manifold is 064121201.

 
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PickleRick

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05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
Make sure you use a turbo that isnt too laggy. It would suck to only be able to run the boat wot. I spend lots of time cruising around 3200 rpms in my boat (in a bhw if want to be closer to 2800 to 3000) . having to run 4k to get on plane would make for a loud motor that wont live long. Kind of like a drug running cigar boats that go from Miami to the Bahamas...all throtte all the time.
 

shakescreek

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Oct 14, 2005
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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
I've had the gtb2056vl on the 1.9 in my boat for around 10 or 12 years and about 2500 hours on it. I feel it's a good choice, good throttle response and keeps the egt's in check quite well, definitely not laggy. Mines a jetdrive though, so doesn't load the engine as much at lower rpm's as a prop would. You probably don't need the water cooled housing for turbo longevity, but it will help with keeping engine compartment temperatures in check. Might be able to get away with a dry exhaust with a water cooled turbo by insulating the exhaust and adding some ventilation to your engine compartment.
That said I agree with meister about the gtd1752vrk. I have that turbo on the alh in my jetta and it has incredibly quick response. If I was buying a new turbo for my boat now I would probably go with the gtd.
 
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