Engine swapping non-pd engine to ARL 150 or PD130

Odeak

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2023
Location
Ireland
TDI
1.9tdi
Hello, this is my first time posting.
I’m thinking of buying a VW Bora (2002) but it’s a non pd engine (1.9tdi)
I am thinking of swapping it to a pd130 or ARL 150(preferably the 150)
Doe anyone have any experiences or tips regarding this. Such as dimensions or what I’ll need to buy and look into.
This is my first time doing this so preferably explain beginner friendly :)
 

arazvan2002

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2010
Location
Romania
TDI
Audi A4 B6 1.9TDI AVF quattro
Regarding the engine, you should take the entire engine with harness and ecu. Then you thibk aboit which gearbox you want to use, better take it with the engine and axles.
Also take airbox with maf, intake pipe and all that is related to air. From what I know the fmic from arl is not plug and play to the others, yiu might have to change some more parts. Keep in mint that also map sensor is different on asz and arl. Search for an online parts catalogue like catcars.info or 7zap to check.
 

Odeak

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2023
Location
Ireland
TDI
1.9tdi
What about the engine mounts ? Are the dimensions the same? Theoretically if I bought a vw bora pd130 engine wohld the mounts be the same if I brought that engine to a non pd bora ?
 

PakProtector

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Location
AnnArbor, MI
TDI
Mk.4's and the Cummins
What about the engine mounts ? Are the dimensions the same? Theoretically if I bought a vw bora pd130 engine wohld the mounts be the same if I brought that engine to a non pd bora ?
Yes, they will 'bolt up' and hang from the mounts. Engine management system is different; you will need the ARL's wiring harness and ECU if you wish it to graduate from paperweight status.

Douglas
 

Seatman

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 23, 2010
Location
Scotland
TDI
2014 Skoda rapid elegance 1.6 cr tdi
If you can get a complete PD car then swap everything over including the clocks and key immo chip. That way it should just start and run like normal. I'd take the 6spd box and axles too. You'll want the engine bay wiring harness, it all plugs up right hand side in the scuttle tray area.
 

adamss24

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2005
Location
Great Britain
TDI
audi a4 2.5 tdi 98 quatrro 6speed
You better sell your car and buy the one with the engine you like ! Much, much cheaper !!! But where’s the fun in that ?
 

Lamantin001

New member
Joined
Jun 22, 2023
Location
Hungary
TDI
Audi A4 B6 avant, 1.9TDI (avf)
If you can get a complete PD car then swap everything over including the clocks and key immo chip. That way it should just start and run like normal. I'd take the 6spd box and axles too. You'll want the engine bay wiring harness, it all plugs up right hand side in the scuttle tray area.
I'm planning a similar engine swap. I have a 2004 Audi A4 with AVF engine. Spent a **** ton of money on chassis, suspension and brakes already. Before that, I paid quite some money to a local "mechanic" to renovate the engine, after my pistons melted. He sort of did it, new pistons, camshaft, cylinder head levelled etc.. However, the main engine block, and PD injectors were, and still are in a horrible condition. At this point, it's financially a nightmare to trash the whole project, as the other parts of the car that me and my friends renovated are perfect. So is a complete engine renovation, as most parts of it are either trash or questionable. So now I'm considering building an ARL block from scratch to it. I currently have a 6 speed manual on, that's also in a good state, dual-mass flywheel and clutch is recently renovated incl. bearings. Would that fit the ARL? Also, what 6 speed manuals fit the ARL block, and what are the differences between them? Any recommendations? Which is the strongest? Which one would possibly stand a solid 180hp build?
Thanks! :)
 

adamss24

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2005
Location
Great Britain
TDI
audi a4 2.5 tdi 98 quatrro 6speed
Start with your AVF engine, add a set of max speeding rods or keep the originals(they are plenty strong), get AL injectors and a turbo of your choice ! Many favours hybrid based turbos but I prefer stock turbos modified to fit !
I personally used bv43a cartridge inside bv43 turbo housings from the 2.0 pd tdi 170bhp as it’s plug and play on the longitudinal engines ! With software to take into consideration your mods it should just about get to your power target !
I just done a BPW 2.0 tdi and it goes really well, the car should benefit from a set of pd150 (ASZ/ARL) injectors as they will support fueling for 250bhp with reasonable durations. Stock clutch should be able to handle the torque if you keep it under 500nm !
 

arazvan2002

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2010
Location
Romania
TDI
Audi A4 B6 1.9TDI AVF quattro
I'm planning a similar engine swap. I have a 2004 Audi A4 with AVF engine. Spent a **** ton of money on chassis, suspension and brakes already. Before that, I paid quite some money to a local "mechanic" to renovate the engine, after my pistons melted. He sort of did it, new pistons, camshaft, cylinder head levelled etc.. However, the main engine block, and PD injectors were, and still are in a horrible condition. At this point, it's financially a nightmare to trash the whole project, as the other parts of the car that me and my friends renovated are perfect. So is a complete engine renovation, as most parts of it are either trash or questionable. So now I'm considering building an ARL block from scratch to it. I currently have a 6 speed manual on, that's also in a good state, dual-mass flywheel and clutch is recently renovated incl. bearings. Would that fit the ARL? Also, what 6 speed manuals fit the ARL block, and what are the differences between them? Any recommendations? Which is the strongest? Which one would possibly stand a solid 180hp build?
Thanks! :)
As adamss24 says, a good shape AVF engine + BV43 turbo with BV43a CHRA, decat (or good catalyst), good shape AVF, ARL, BPW,BUK injectors, second SMIC from BRD on the right side, and you have a 200HP/420-440Nm car with good spool and reliability. We did a few of these, including the mentioned BPW last week :)
There is a second option for turbo, a little fabrication needed, it's GTC1549VZ. I helped a user, @Ricsi168 from Hungary with it's build which included this great turbo and it's a mechanic.
When the engine is ready, you can PM me for software.
 

Ricsi168

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 23, 2013
Location
Hungary
TDI
2.5 V6 TDI; 1.9PDTDI AVF
Yes arazvan helped me a lot!
I have a gtc1549 on my avf if you need any help let me know btw im from hungary!
 

adamss24

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2005
Location
Great Britain
TDI
audi a4 2.5 tdi 98 quatrro 6speed
Yep, for everything tuning wise in Eastern Europe please get in touch with aRazvan, his files are really good and no turbo/engine blew to date so his tunes are well safe.
 

Lamantin001

New member
Joined
Jun 22, 2023
Location
Hungary
TDI
Audi A4 B6 avant, 1.9TDI (avf)
As adamss24 says, a good shape AVF engine + BV43 turbo with BV43a CHRA, decat (or good catalyst), good shape AVF, ARL, BPW,BUK injectors, second SMIC from BRD on the right side, and you have a 200HP/420-440Nm car with good spool and reliability. We did a few of these, including the mentioned BPW last week :)
There is a second option for turbo, a little fabrication needed, it's GTC1549VZ. I helped a user, @Ricsi168 from Hungary with it's build which included this great turbo and it's a mechanic.
When the engine is ready, you can PM me for software.
Thanks so much for the replies guys! @arazvan2002 @Ricsi168 @adamss24
I have plan updates for now. There's not gonna be a completely new ARL build for now, but instead, I'll buy an ARL engine from a working car, that's being taken apart, I'm already looking for donors in Seat Leon-Toledo, VW golf/bora and Sharan/Alhambra/Galaxy clubs.
My plan is to testdrive and diagnose an ARL engine, buy it as it is, I currently have a candidate with AL injectors, and then just do a 1:1 engine swap as it is, plugging my 1 year old Garrett gtd2060vz on the ARL, with a very solid 170hp build. I don't want that much power as I have now in the AVF, 200-210hp, I want reliability, and a stronger ARL with AL injectors and a 2060, running on 170hp will give me that imo.
Of course, I would do a timing change, belts, runners, etc., as well as all filters, and oil, and maybe just take the valve cover off and inspect the hydros and camshaft, I don't want to pull the head off, but do all the diags, easy changes that can be done without that to make sure as efficiently as possible that I don't install a faulty engine. I also have an endoscope actually, could be nice to maybe after testdriving the car, also take the valve cover off there, and plug the endoscope in through the valves maybe if possible, get a better picture of the pistons/cylinder status without having to take the head off. I've tried endoscoping mine through the glow plugs, but the angle is very ****, I can only see like 100 degrees of the cylinder wall, so like less than 1/3 of it, and maybe the very edge of the pistons...

I heard and read that ARL is kinda plug n play to AVF engine cars, even though AVF is longitudinal engine, and ARL is sideways. Any important things that will need to be considered for the swap?
Also, if the valve cover is off, and I see a **** camshaft, is the camshaft from AVF plug n play to ARL? Cuz I got a good quality "new" camshaft like 2-3 years ago, I don't think that has any damages in my current engine, but I'll check of course before swapping it into the ARL.
My longitudinal AVF manual 6 transmission is plug n play to the ARL right? I know that the bolts are at the same place, but is there anything else to consider?

So if you guys could help me with some important things that's rare knowledge and good to know, I'd love to hear. Arazvan, could you add me on fb/whatsapp to discuss?

Thank you guys!

EDIT:
I don't want to keep anything else from my AVF. My injectors are trash, probably my cylinder head too, and certainly my cylinder walls. The local mechanic fitted a stock size piston after honing the cylinders, I've been having oil burning issues eversince that "engine fix". Since it was the **** injectors that caused the piston melt at the first place, I can only wonder how the new pistons and the cylinder wall looks like now. Probably the socket of the injectors is also very bad. I have been having starting issues, and wobbling idle, smoking while wobbling, also PD correction values stuck on 2.99/-2.99 when it's wobbling on idle, like stopped at a red light, but goes back to normal, between 1 and -1 after running for a bit. Also when the car is stopped for more than a day, is barely starts up, sometimes only with a cold-start spray, which ****s up my valves on the long run. It also matters if I park nose up or nose-down. Though that it's a fuel line leak, added one-way valves on both the fuel in and fuel out lines from the fuel pump behind the engine, replaced old, cracked looking fuel lines, issue's still there. That points me to the injector sockets being widened from vibrations. Probably replacing the original electric engine mounts with normal ones from s4 b5 also doesn't necessarily help that. I've also been having this issue, that the whole car starts vibrating heavily in 5th and 6th gear, when doing a pull (eg.overtake) from low rpm (like anything until~2500rpm). It goes away once I let off the throttle, comes back after 1-2 seconds of accelerating harder (anything that goes above around 13L/100km actual consumption in 5th, and above around 10L/100km in 6th). Could that be in connection with any of the issues mentioned above or can it be something else? I had a similar issue before, then it was worse, even in 3rd and 4th, then replacing both driveshafts solved the issue. Now I thought it's the same, replaced both again after a year in the other ones, but vibrating issue is still there in 5th and 6th, so it's not the inner cv joints... Also wheel bearings have been replaced, so not that either.
 
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arazvan2002

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2010
Location
Romania
TDI
Audi A4 B6 1.9TDI AVF quattro
Install good engine, tune the ECU, OEM engine mounts (anything else give vibrations) and that's all. Because all of that engine problems you have bad mileage.
 
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