1989 MK2 Golf TDI - Dirty Diesel

zipitie.nz

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Sep 27, 2019
Location
New Zealand
TDI
MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
Hi all, Long time Lurker, not much of a poster, However I thought I would share my TDI converted MK2 I have had for a few years.

It has had a few iterations over the years.

July 2015
The specs.
- 3 Door, no sunroof.
- 1.6 Litre Diesel manual
- 240,000km on the body.
- The body itself was pretty mint, but the paint is ****



- Initial Goals were
- Make her a bit tidier, faster etc.
- Install Low Milage 1.9TDI Engine from a 2003 Golf TDI
- 5 Speed Transmission
- Quaife Limited Slip Differential.
- Wide track suspension with 5 Stud, Bigger brakes, Coilovers etc

Engine Bay as it was

PD100 ATD




February 2016
The ATD Installed

How it looked after the Paint Job and back on the Road


How it Ran on the Track -
:ROFLMAO:
 

zipitie.nz

Active member
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Sep 27, 2019
Location
New Zealand
TDI
MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
March 2016
The Engine came back out as it was pretty slow/gutless,
Firad 80% Injectors & 2260VK Turbo were ordered,

The Engine Bay got re-painted


And I started fabricating a manifold out of heavy walled stainless pipe and mounted the turbo low, but ultimately it didn't fit well.
 

zipitie.nz

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Sep 27, 2019
Location
New Zealand
TDI
MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
June 2016
The manifold has been cut and rotated to mount the turbo up higher and more centred.


Got the engine in, Swaged some pipes and away she went

Mounted a Intercooler and Made a 2.5" Downpipe.


A Video of it Running at the Strip 13.7s down the Quarter Mile -



the Fastest I got it down the quarter mile was 13.2 very hard to keep traction

I daily drove the car for a while enjoyed it
I then sold the car and bought it back 2 years later, and decided to improve it some more, queue Covid, a rock damaged gearbox and a few other annoyances and I finally have started on the "improvements"
 

zipitie.nz

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Joined
Sep 27, 2019
Location
New Zealand
TDI
MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
Jan 2020

I decided I wanted to make cruise control work.

At the time I purchased the MK4 Stalk and tried to retrofit the guts of that in to a MK2 stalk, I made a complete mess of it and ended up throwing the stalk out and just getting a normal stalk again. The MK2 indicator stalk just didn't have enough "volume" to it to fit the switch gear/circuit board in it like the MK4 Stalk.

I did some research and found a MK2 CC Stalk on fleabay, however they wanted Moon money for it and for this old girl it wasn't worth throwing 1200NZD at a Novelty.

After hunting fruitlessly for a Wiring diagram for the MK4 Switch (there are plenty of diagrams of where the plug from the switch goes, but none of the inner workings of the switch unfortunately,
I plotted it out and made my own Wiring diagram so I could make my own switch using a combination of junk from Jaycar and a MK2 Switch Blank

The result was passable
The Red Switch is Cruise Control On/Off
the rocker switch is

"I" - Set
"II" - "Resume


and on Paper it worked, under VCDS it was showing all the correct functions and actions, but Cruise control did not work when driving

Now you are probably asking yourself, Why Cruise control in a Dirty Diesel MK2, well main reason was why not, but the secondary reason is I wanted to make use of on the Fly Map-switching as I had 3 Tunes for Various uses on the MK2

1. Stock / Street Rain (Low/No Smoke)
2. Track / Drag (+ Lots of Smoke)
3. Track / Drag with Popcorn. (Also lots of smoke!)

Unfortunately even with a LSD and Pilot Sports this car could become nigh underivable in the Wet, on the freeway in 5th gear with some moisture on the road she would spin up with ease. not so much the case when changing to the placid map

Up until this Time I was having to reflash the ECU with MPPS every time I wanted to change the tune. This was a 20 Minute muck around every time.

Found a fella who could customise your Map to allow for using inbuilt map switching on the ECU, using a combination of Clutch Pedal switch and Cruise control Stalk. This guy wrote it so that the RPM counter would register what map had been selected before reverting back to actual RPM - 1000rpm = Map 1 - 2000rpm = Map 2 etc etc.

How this works is when you depress your clutch pedal if you put the "Set" Button twice it will switch Maps and indicate on the RPM counter. Push it again it will advance to the next map etc after the clutch is released it switches back to normal operation and the RPM continues, this however does not work the same on the MK2 as I am using the original Clocks with no Canbus signal controlling the Tach. So in the end I changed the Base RPM for each Map to help indicate that in cabin

Map 1 - 900rpm
Map 2 - 950rpm
Map 3 - 1000rpm

Video of how it works here - Please ignore the cabin in pieces and hairy legs.

While this worked, Cruise control itself would not, I was going out of my head trying to figure out why it was not working, 2-3 weeks of racking my brain why it wasn't working, It had met all conditions, clutch Switch added, brake light switch upgraded, cruise control switch working.

However, I looked out the window one evening and noticed the faintest glow from the tail lights, The Car had some pretty awful LED Tail lights, Wondering what was up I started going over the electrics with a fine tooth comb wondering what the f was causing this.

In the end it turned out, The MK4 ECU Expects Incandescent bulbs. and when you first turn the Car on the ECU pulses the brake lights to see if there is resistance on the Load line, because it thought there was no bulb in place it was leaving a slight 3v signal on the line in the case a bulb gets connected or something?.

I bodged in a incandescent bulb with the help of some spade connecters on the back of the MK2 Tail light housing and voila, Cruise worked, and the Low voltage signal had gone and everything was right in the world again.

So yeah, 2-Wins with this pain in the arse saga, I can now Mapswitch from Placid to Savage while on the Road driving.
 
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zipitie.nz

Active member
Joined
Sep 27, 2019
Location
New Zealand
TDI
MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
In 2020 I bought a 2260VKLR and decided I wanted to get Airconditioning working in the car so the engine came out.

I also at this swapped the ATD (PD100) for a ASZ (PD130) Block - The logic behind this escapes me now, but I think it was to do with thinking I had ruined the ATD as it had a knocking sound which turned out to be the water pump bearing failing. I am still running the ATD Electrics and Accessory Bracket but now have the nice slim form factor of the ASZ Compact oil filter housing and big juicy oil cooler!


So as it stands I am currently making up a Aircon System with a Fusion of MK2/3/4 Golf Parts, fingers crossed it will all work out.

MK2 Heater Box, MK3 Condenser, MK3/4 Lines, MK3 AC Electrics.



As for the New Turbo before the engine came out I was trying to figure out a nice way to mount the 2260VKLR So I held the turbo in a few places around the engine bay trying to work out how it would work or fit, I ended up hanging the turbo with some rope (sombre I know) in a rough sidewinder position, I thought it looked kinda cool and would work. I mean hell If you can mount a turbocharger in place of a rear muffler and it work, there is no reason you can't mount it off to the side, even if the manifold is a basic run of Steel Pipe .



I am also aiming to keep the Electronic actuator on the turbo, which apparently in this case it should not be to difficult to do so.

Started Making a new Manifold (out of Steel this time) my Welding skills are awful at best, so If you are wondering why I didn't do fancy spaghetti headers... that's why.


July 2021
I ordered a horrifically overpriced oil water flange, installed that. - then left the car alone for a very long time.


March 2023
I found some motivation to stop hating the paperweight in the corner of my garage.

I installed the manifolds and bolted up the turbo and the lube/cooling connections these may change slightly but as an an initial mockup test run this will be fine for now.
I need to make some better "up stands" or connection points so they can actually be changed with the turbo in place, I hate things not being "Serviceable"

Also "modified" the shift tower to give some more clearance, very technical modification. Carefully machined off with a angle grinder



I then ordered a new radiator off eBay as the Large Standard MK2 Radiator I had just purchased recently proved it was not going to fit.
 
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zipitie.nz

Active member
Joined
Sep 27, 2019
Location
New Zealand
TDI
MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
Cheers guys

Mid April 2023
I found the motivation to make a new downpipe
It's also worth noting Mocking up exhausts in a driveway f*king sucks balls, especially with an Old back and sore knees.

I had recently had this exhaust coated in High Temp powder coat to tidy it up.

I re-installed and clamped up the 2.5" exhaust back where it belonged and then set the tunnel height with the car jack. to make sure there was clearance between the top of the tunnel and the steering rack when the Vband clamp is in place.


I recycled parts of my old pipe and fabricated a new one


Queue some big ugly Migwelds


Added a lick of High Temp Exhaust paint / BBQ paint as this section is going to be heat wrapped to protect pipes and hoses in nearby vicinity.
 

CasaEd

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2017
Location
Portugal
TDI
VW Passat TDi B4, VW Passat TDi B4 GL, VW Passat B3 PD AWX Conversion
Thats a good build. Where I work we have used 2260's in mk2 golfs and managed to fit them behind the engine, it's a squeeze and the down pipe is difficult to make, but it is doable. Unfortunately I no longer have the pictures.
 

zipitie.nz

Active member
Joined
Sep 27, 2019
Location
New Zealand
TDI
MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
The Heatwrap arrived was subsequently installed on the pipe


Also Wrapped a small section of the Log manifold where the Speedo cable and the Heater core hoses are close by


The downpipe is now bolted up and connected to the rest of the exhaust
 

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
Curious as which electronic actuator you will be using on the turbo ?
 

zipitie.nz

Active member
Joined
Sep 27, 2019
Location
New Zealand
TDI
MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
Thats a good build. Where I work we have used 2260's in mk2 golfs and managed to fit them behind the engine, it's a squeeze and the down pipe is difficult to make, but it is doable. Unfortunately I no longer have the pictures.
Hey, yeah that's how I had the original 2260VK, the VKLR has the inlet and outlet on the same plane and I didn't like the notion of getting the Cast Iron cut and welded, and I also wanted to try something different hence the Placement Route I went :)


Curious as which electronic actuator you will be using on the turbo ?
It is the Hella Garret Actuator that was already on the turbo, Some one on this forum sometime ago said it was compatible with some adjustment to the ECU Coding. (PWM Freq change from 300 -> 140hz)

The Part number is 6NW 009 543
 

CasaEd

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VW Passat TDi B4, VW Passat TDi B4 GL, VW Passat B3 PD AWX Conversion
I'm planning on using an electronic actuator on my 1Z. Pretty sure the one you listed I have tested and for me it did not work. What I have now is the top from a Mercedes Benz actuator, and the bottom is VW, tested and working at 140hz. I heard a certain BMW actuator is plug and play at original 300hz. I only have the top part of one as the bottom was destroyed, not managed to get that working yet. Only tried at 300hz.
 

zipitie.nz

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Sep 27, 2019
Location
New Zealand
TDI
MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
This brings me to last week

I discovered I will need to remove the stupid Rubber "Dampner" off the MK3 driveshaft as it interferes with the Oil Drain fitting, either that or get a 90Deg Fitting for the oil Drain which Im a little dubious about.

The New Aftermarket Corrado VR6 Radiator and Shroud arrived this week...

The Shroud itself is for a "DC2 Integra" but its dimensions were pretty close to that of the new Rad I sourced for the Car so I will make it work.
It was also very cheap and came with the fans.


I am a little dubious about a aftermarket radiator, but hey nothing ventured nothing....

I faffed about on Friday slowly trimming and modifying the Radiator shroud, using a mixture of high precision tooling (Hacksaw, Crescent, Wood clamps)

Trimmed and Folded out tabs to use the existing bolting points on the Radiators, this worked for one side, the other I had to make some hidden mounting tabs and recessed around where Rad Hose goes on.



Also Started to get the MK4 AC condenser in place, it's a pretty close fit with some trimming/bending required +creative hole drilling on the mounting tabs. All sandwiched together it looks pretty smart. and fits quite well in the car

It all fits quite well in the car giving me more realestate to fit the AC compressor,

This has come at the expense of the original placement of my nice big intercooler. so I will need to see how I can make this fit in the next short while, or make a decision if I change to a Water2Air Intercooler setup (which I don't want to do)
 

zipitie.nz

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Sep 27, 2019
Location
New Zealand
TDI
MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
Little bit of Modification today to the front end with the view of planning out the intercooler placement.

I Committed to cutting the bottom support out and will work the new intercooler in to become part of the support.


And made a mounting point for the Cooling cluster with a Bolt, RivNut and some Rubber Hose it has done the trick.
 
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zipitie.nz

Active member
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Sep 27, 2019
Location
New Zealand
TDI
MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
Well after trying to get the actuator to work on the bench.

i quickly jerry rigged the wiring in the car

the actuator seems to be working!


Just not sure if it needs the singal inverted yet…
 

adamss24

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Nov 2, 2005
Location
Great Britain
TDI
audi a4 2.5 tdi 98 quatrro 6speed
Very nice ! Youre making fast progress...you're still keeping the firad 80% injectors ? What power you're expecting from the setup ? I have a similar setup in a mk2 golf with hybrid vk turbo 2569 (AMG 3.0tdi turbine wheel and 69mm billet compressor), firad 120%, forged engine and a lot more, would love to use a vklr hybrid i have for years but i have to work the electronic part of the actuator.
 

zipitie.nz

Active member
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Sep 27, 2019
Location
New Zealand
TDI
MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
Slow progress recently as I have been at the other end of the country.

For now I will be keeping the Firad 80%, they made good power before 13.2seconds for 1/4 Mile Sprint with Laggy 2260VK

Maybe in the future better injectors.

We are about to move house so I have had to rush to get some things fitted so the car can be driven.

Anyway

Intercooling options have now become limited due to the lack of space running the Radiator on the Traditional Mk2 Angle
I have been looking at Water to Air, Smaller Air to Air. I have wanted to avoid cutting any steel on the Small Bumper to create clearance for the existing big FMIC I had previously.
So Options currently are looking like I will need to Carefully trim the lower Apron and some Brackets to make Space for the IC to Fit in.

Not exactly what I want but Big bumper setups are hard to find and these days in New Zealand at least & I am a tight arse..

Any who, Got the Rad Hoses made up need to source more spring clamps to get rid of the sleuth of Worm Clamps Ran the car for around 30 minutes at idle in the drive way with the intake not plumbed up.

Then proceeded to drive it around in my Driveway under its own power for the first time in a couple of years so that was pretty exciting for me.



I think I will also need to put some Bleed points in the cooling system because jeepers it has been a mission to get coolant in to it. took hoses off and manually filled the radiator/heater core etc.
 

zipitie.nz

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Location
New Zealand
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MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
The push has been on to get it going good enough to drive it to Storage while we figure out where we are going to live next.

So in-between packing the house and moving out, I have been bodging together an intake tract of sorts and mounting the intercooler.


Excuse the Spaghetti across the top of the engine, Juryrigged to get it driving, at the moment the waste gate actuator is working in opposite to how it should however its good enough to drive for the mean time. I will need to do data logging and get a new remap written for it in the mean time.

Then I will need to get the Map rewritten for this new Turbo and better tuned for these injectors. At the same time get the N75 Pwm Signal inverted.



Also Added in some Overflow Joints from a MK4, Top Rad Hose, One Heater Core Hose and then T'd off that to pass water thru the new turbo. The System now bleeds up properly now and seems to pass warm water around the place more efficiently than before.
 
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zipitie.nz

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Location
New Zealand
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MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
Took a better photo of the finished intake tract with a nice K&N Pod Filter



Also if you don't have access to a Swaging tool, this ugly lump of crap works a treat and gives your hand and wrist a good work out.
 

adamss24

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Nov 2, 2005
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Great Britain
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audi a4 2.5 tdi 98 quatrro 6speed
Very nice, you’re making progress ! I love how you put the turbo remotely like that but I hope you made some sort of turbo support as they like to break exhaust manifolds if spaced too far. It’s a big lump swinging and the rocking motion of the engine amplifies the pendulum effect which will fatigue the metal along with the fusing of the welds.
I used a darkside flange manifold adapter and mounted the turbo the same way as you had it before, there is plenty of room above the driveshaft in my case !
I have trouble breaking the inner cage of the cv joint with too aggressive launches !
I also forged my engine as I had to whip the head off due to headlift! Max speeding rods were installed, Victor Reinz 3 hole head gaskets and ARP head bolts !
I really like your build, a bit different than mine but nevertheless very rewarding at the same time !
Nice project you have there !
 

zipitie.nz

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New Zealand
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MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
Thank you!

The Turbo remote mounted was only for the pure reason I didn't want to go down the path of getting the Cast Iron welded to a factory manifold or going down the complicated path of hybridising it with a a non Ball bearing exhaust housing.

I know what you mean about the turbo support, however I haven't bothered with a Turbo support this time around, I have made the Manifold from Heavy Wall SCH40 Steel Pipe, On the old manifold I made from SCH40 Stainless Steel, I never bothered with the support on that either It only ever broke after I made a turbo support.

so for the Time being I will be Leaving it as is, If It breaks oh well.

Never broken any CVs, The car has been fine with the Standard 100mm 6 Ball CVs.

Sounds like you have a decent build going on, would love to do internals, but in all honestly the Car was already a handful to drive on the old 2260VK turbo,
 

GTiTDi

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'91 GTI CJAA swap,'02 Jetta wagon ALH swap, '03 GTI 1.8T rally car, '03 Sprinter 3500
so for the Time being I will be Leaving it as is, If It breaks oh well.
You will be putting a lot of stress on the exhaust manifold studs and will have a hell of a time keeping the fasteners tight. Add a support off any point of the engine or transaxle, if using an 02J style trans the upper bolt holes would be a good place to start a bracket from.
 

CasaEd

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VW Passat TDi B4, VW Passat TDi B4 GL, VW Passat B3 PD AWX Conversion
Had a lot of grief with my electronic actuator, first tried using a BMW top, but it was moving the lever too far and was unable to adjust the end stops.
In the end I used the MB top, which worked perfectly for my installation, it moved the lever in the opposite direction, still had to invert the signal and slot the mounting holes to get the minimum adjustment set right, but was worth the hassle, now have no negative or positive pressure deviations that I was getting with the BMW top. Just need to figure out a FMIC as running a stock intercooler (well B3 one, B4 was leaking).
 

zipitie.nz

Active member
Joined
Sep 27, 2019
Location
New Zealand
TDI
MK2 Golf 1.9TDI Firad 80% 2260VKLR
Had a lot of grief with my electronic actuator, first tried using a BMW top, but it was moving the lever too far and was unable to adjust the end stops.
In the end I used the MB top, which worked perfectly for my installation, it moved the lever in the opposite direction, still had to invert the signal and slot the mounting holes to get the minimum adjustment set right, but was worth the hassle, now have no negative or positive pressure deviations that I was getting with the BMW top. Just need to figure out a FMIC as running a stock intercooler (well B3 one, B4 was leaking).
The Electronic actuators seem to be the point of some highly kept secrets especially when trying to research and learn via Tuning Forums, Some people will help often at a cost which is fair enough.

I am writing a small article on steps I have taken to get it working.

The Actuator I have used was what my turbo used from factory so I am under the assumption there will be no swapping halves, slotting holes etc etc. Mercedes Benz 2260VKLR
 

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
Unfortunately the Volvo turbo I purchased came without the hella actuator so I had to make the bracket, the first one put the actuator too close to the bulk head, so i had to fast change it to suit, I was working on a tight time frame as I was leaving the garage I was working for, so far from Ideal, the other problem was trying to stay with the BMW top because it worked on the same frequency as the original VW N75, bad mistake on my part because I knew how to alter the frequency, and also found out how to invert the signal, had to work that out on my own with a lot of flashing, the MB one was much better because it moved the lever through less of an arc, and in the right direction, i had to slot the holes because the vanes were fully closed and I just could not adjust them In the software.( EDC16 you can) I looked at trying to buy a tool to reprogram electronic N75 actuators, to alter the end stops but at 1500€+ I decided not to, for me it's just for myself, if i could make money from buying one then I would of course. Will look forward to reading your article, but on and off it's taken me over 3 years to finally get mine working, only working on the project occasionally, but put more time in to get the car to inspection so I could leave my old job. I spent 2 weeks with the vanes either fully closed or fully open before I finally got it how it is now. When I have a chance I will run some logs, but as I'm not running much boost due to stock intercooler it's a bit pointless till I upgrade the intercooler. The car is usable at the moment and with the EDC15VM+ ecu I can flash over OBD, so happy days !
 

adamss24

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Nov 2, 2005
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Great Britain
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audi a4 2.5 tdi 98 quatrro 6speed
That’s a bummer you can’t use the electronic actuator as intended, I prefer things simpler and I converted mine to vacuum just for that reason !
 

CasaEd

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2017
Location
Portugal
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VW Passat TDi B4, VW Passat TDi B4 GL, VW Passat B3 PD AWX Conversion
Electronic is far superior, i got there in the end and it was worth the effort in the end
 
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