.:R32 to .:R-TDI Build Thread

[danielhf]

CAUTION: This thread is loaded with pictures. Dialup internet beware!

Before I get into the meat of this post, I would like to give thanks to those who have helped make this whole thing happen. This swap would not have been at all possible without the help from these fine people:

Matt Whitbread (Whitbread) for all of the initial work on my PD motor, constantly supplying custom parts, and for countless hours of discussion/help.

Charlie T (CharlieT) for a significant amount of wiring guidance and some useful charts he made.

Ryan P (ryanp) for the beautiful fabrication, custom 4motion downpipe, and excellent service.

Mike L. (vwmikel) for amazing tunes, wiring help, guidance/troubleshooting, and moral support as I fumbled my way through this swap.

Brian A. (JettaGetUpandGo) for spending tens of hours of his time making wiring charts with me and coming down to hash out residual electrical issues.

Jory (scirockin16v on VWvortex) for so many hours of physically putting this thing together, troubleshooting, and sourcing parts.

Nick (ntq on VWvortex) for putting in weeks of his time and laboring away to get this car on the road. We also used his shop space.



.:R32 converted to TDI

I know this has been a frequently discussed swap, largely due to the fact that it should be relatively simple. When going from a MKIV chassis to another MKIV chassis, one would assume that the swap shouldn’t be that difficult. There are two VR6 Jetta Wagons that I have seen successfully swapped on TDI Club, with what seems to be little trouble (although I was not there for are of the swearing that inevitably commenced during those projects).

The R32 has always been a sought after swap for most on TDI Club because it is the only VW MKIV sold in the US with a factory AWD system, not to mention nearly every interior, exterior/body, and electronic (notably Climatronic) upgrade comes on the car from the factory. The MKI Audi TT also happens to be on the same platform as the MKIV VW, which is why some have chosen to go with this vehicle for a TDI swap. CharlieT was able to put together an Audi TT Quattro TDI in a few weeks (with months of planning). The TTq seems to be an overall better choice, as they are less expensive to obtain than the R32 and come with a suitable gearbox to disassemble (more on this later). I went with an R32 because the hatchback made a slightly more suitable daily driver compared to the TTq coupe in terms of space. I also liked the styling better.

One thing that many of you may be wondering is why I didn’t just convert an existing MKIV TDI to AWD. The reason that I didn’t go with this option is that it involves drilling/cutting the rear floor pan from a wrecked R32, removing the TDI’s floor pan and re-installing (welding, aligning) the R32 pan. It is a very large job, and requires skills that I can only dream to possess. I was actually planning to do this to my MKIV Jetta wagon, but the wagon was involved in an accident. I took the opportunity (insurance money) to build an R32 to TDI conversion.

So, assuming that I have a complete 2002 MKIV TDI wagon to pull parts from, what parts and actions are actually required to get turn an R32 into a TDI? Here’s a short list:

• Obtain R32
• Transfer TDI wiring harness that runs from rain tray connectors to ECU
• Transfer TDI ECU (immobilizer defeated) and engine wiring harness
• Remove R32 motor and replace with TDI motor, retaining all TDI coolant lines, A/C lines, PS lines, and anything else that might be connected to motor
• Transfer TDI intercooler and piping setup.
• Transfer TDI fuel filter, delete under-car gas fuel filter
•Replace high-pressure in-tank R32 gas pump with TDI pump (more on this later)
• Install 4motion 02M 6-speed transmission that has proper TDI gear ratios and 4 cylinder bell housing (more on this later)
• Replace 6-cylinder motor mounts with 4-cylinder motor mounts
• Replace R32 instrument cluster with TDI instrument cluster (more on this later)
• Swap immobilizer chips from TDI keys to R32 keys
• Wire J317 (relay 109), glow plug, and lift pump relays
• Swap accelerator pedal from R32 unit to TDI unit
• Any other minor wiring or issues that may be present

There may be a couple of small things missing, but overall, this is pretty close to a complete list. As you can see, as far as swaps go, this isn’t too bad. It required no fabrication, and minimal wiring changes.

Here is the R32 I bought. It had slightly over 100k miles on it and was in somewhat rough physical shape. As with most Tornado Red R32s, much of the clear coat was peeling. At some point, the car was involved in a front-end collision that resulted in replacing the front bumper and side skirts (painted very poorly, the red is peeling and exposing the original reflex silver paint – at least I know it’s OEM). In disassembling the car, I found the front end to be slightly “tweaked” in a way that misaligns the headlights. While this is not the best, this was the most proximal R32 I could find that I had any faith in purchasing. For a car of this kind of rarity and cost, I was not prepared to purchase something without seeing it, nor was I willing to take large amounts of time off work and fly all over the country searching for a suitable R32. That would have increased the price to a point that would not have been feasible, as well as the fact that my job would not permit me to take that kind of time off.

Either way, choosing this particular car put me at a price point that I was very happy with. The motor was in great shape, and I had a local buyer already lined up to drop it into a MKII Jetta. At some point, I plan on replacing the front bumper cover and repainting the whole car.

It was a very odd feeling to be purchasing a rare car with the express intention of tearing it apart. Fortunately, I’m not too sentimental.

I think the R32 is scared. Looks like a regular VW chop shop.

 

[danielhf]

Wiring/Electrical

Wiring/Electrical

There was only one way to know for sure how hairy the electrical work was going to be; create a comprehensive map of all electrical systems that affect engine management and that may be affected by ECU/motor/cluster changes. This is a HUGE task.

I consulted CharlieT about how he sorted the electrical, and he was able to provide me with an excellent Excel spreadsheet that illustrated how the all of the different 10-pin connectors in the raintray compared between his Audi TT and the BEW TDI motor he used.

If I had understood more about VW MKIV wiring, I would have stopped worrying, and started physical work on the car upon seeing this spreadsheet. Charlie’s spreadsheet implied that very few of the actual electrical connections differed between the two cars post-receiving side of the 10-pin rain tray connectors.

Since Charlie’s swap was to a TTq of a similar model year to the TDI motor and electronics he was swapping in, it made some sense that the wiring was so close. My motor was from a 2002 European Golf (EDC15+) going into a 2004 US R32. The comparable TDI motors from US 2004 TDIs were EDC16, which made me think that the electrical portion might not be as “plug & play.”

The only way to know for sure that everything would work out was to entirely map out all ECU pin connections for both TDI and R32 ECUs, then map out each motor’s pinouts for the 10-pin connectors in the rain tray. For those of you who have ever looked at the electrical flow diagrams in a Bentley manual, you know that this is much easier said than done. Bentleys don’t just show pinouts, they have flow diagrams that show exactly where a connection is routed through; they show all of the components that a connection passes through in a specific form with wire colors. To devise a complete pinout like this is a large task that requires many hours and error checking. I was lead to a local guy, Brian (JettaGetUpandGo), who was just finishing up converting his GLI from manual HVAC controls to Climatronic. Brian is one of those guys who loves his OEM+ mods and really understands VW electrical to a degree that I only wish I could.

We sat down for two straight days and mapped out both ECUs and both cars’ rain tray connections. Like Charlie, we used an Excel spread sheet. We eventually printed them out on 11x17 (kudos to Brian for owning an 11x17 printer) and hand-wrote many of our final findings. He had the idea to label ECU pin number, component that connection terminated at, Bentley reference row (for error checking), wire color, description of component and location, and if it was a connection that could be deleted for this motor swap. For the rain tray connectors, we used a very similar setup to what Charlie had done.

In the end, we found that most of the wiring remained the same if we used the section of wiring from the TDI that went from the ECU to the 10 pin connectors. The fact that my wagon started out as an automatic changed a few things (cruise control, starter, and reverse light wires). All have been addressed (outside of the cruise control, which will take a bit more work). We also had to manually wire relay 109, glow plugs, and lift pump. I could have used the factory lift pump wiring from the R32, but since I already had this wired manually in my wagon, I just transferred for simplicity.

So, in a nutshell, if you were to take and install the section of harness (of a manual transmission car) that goes from the larger connector on the ECU to the 10-pin connectors in the rain tray from the TDI, swap motor, transmission, etc. and attempt to start the R32, it would actually start. You will have some error codes in VCDS that will have to be resolved (relay 109, etc.), but it will just work. It’s phenomenal.

Even though the immobilizer was defeated on my ECU, the cluster actually communicates with the immobilizer chips located in they key FOB. The immobilizer chips are removable and I was able to transfer the immobilizer chips from my wagon’s key FOBs to my R32 keys. After doing this, VCDS found no immobilizer errors.

If you are looking to ever do this, this site goes over the parts of they key very well: http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/a5/key-replacement-mk5-Jetta.htm. Sometimes the immobilizer chips are epoxied into place. In that case, you can either swap plastic housings that retain the immobilizer chip (and transfer key blades) or use some sort of solvent to attempt to dissolve the epoxy. The immobilizer chips are encased in glass, and prying them out will likely break them.

If you happen to do a swap like this and fail to swap immobilizer chips, your car will start, but die within a couple of seconds, after which your glow plug light will flash along with the immobilizer icon in the cluster. The above will remedy this.

One problem that came up that I have still yet to resolve has to do with the OBD II port. I had Mike L. send me a new tune to flash (using one of his loaders), but when I attempted to flash it, the ECU did not take the tune and was unable to be read or flashed afterwards. VCDS would not see it and the car would not start. I had to send the ECU out to be fixed on the bench by Mike. There is some communication problem in the K-line going from the OBD II connector to the ECU. I have yet to fully figure the issue out, not that I have given it much time at this point. For now, I will just rely on mail and bench flashes.

Brain (JettaGetUpandGo) had recently performed a manual HVAC to Climatronic swap on his 2004/5 GLI. He had warned me that I may have some major issues getting my Climatronic to work properly. There are two different versions of MKIV Climatronic, early and late. I assume the difference between the two has to do with a correlation of more CAN integration in later MKIVs, thus an updated mid MKIV Climatronic that utilizes CAN protocol more heavily. I have no real idea, this is just a guess.

Each version of Climatronic requires different wiring. What worried me was that I had a car with pre-installed late Climatronic (the R32), but I was installing an ECU and motor that would have shipped with early Climatronic. From the looks of the wiring diagrams that I had made, it seemed that this was going to be difficult. Surprisingly, without any modigification to the existing wiring on TDI ECU-side or R32 body side, my Climatronic just works. That was a very exciting find.

As I mentioned above, because my ALH wagon started out as a manual, reverse lights, cruise control, and starter wires had to be redone. From looking at my R32 harness, when the car starts out with a manual transmission, these items are a part of the harness. It is only when the car starts out with an automatic transmission that these elements get grouped into a separate harness along with all of the wiring for the automatic Transmission Control Module. Prior to the R32, my wagon had been converted to 5 speed, then swapped to a 6 speed manual.

JasonTDI originally did the auto to 5 speed swap. The automatic TCM was still in the car and cut right near the starter. I used this opportunity to finally rid myself of all of the automatic-specific wiring. It was only at the point in which I wanted to start the car where I realized that these wires had been cut (and were also not a part of the standard ALH engine harness that I had) and were still in the wagon.

At this point, I had to examine the R32 harness to see where these connections existed (at the connector near the transmission and at the connector at the rain tray) and add them back to the TDI. I addressed the starter and the reverse lights, but have yet to address cruise control. That will take some digging in the Bentley and in my diagrams.

 

[danielhf]

Instrument Cluster

Instrument Cluster

In my wagon, I had a German FIS TDI instrument cluster (flashed to a UK firmware for MPH and MPG) as well as OEM MFD navigation. The FIS cluster is the one with the full-height digital display (much like and Audi cluster). If properly interfaced with the OEM navigation unit, navigation directions and radio information will show up in the instrument cluster. To interface them, it requires specific wiring as well as a “TMC” box. The TMC box is used in Europe for receiving traffic conditions and transmitting that information to the navigation unit. There is also a particular TMC box that doubles as a traffic info reader and a converter for the MFD navigation data to pass to the instrument cluster. It took many months of searching, but I ended up finding one a few years ago, and I really liked the setup in the wagon, so I figured I might as well transfer it to the R-TDI.

One issue I had with this is that I really like the way that R32 gauge faces look.

This is how my TDI FIS looks:

You might think that I could simply transfer the gauge faces from the R32 cluster and install them on the TDI FIS, but you would be incorrect. The R32 tachometer reads to 7500 RPM (TDI reads to 5500 RPM) and the speedometer reads to 180 MPH (the TDI one reads to 160). This would make the scaling incorrect and the cluster would be useless. Fortunately, I found a pretty good solution.

Some while back, I found an FS thread with B5.5 passat TDI gauge faces that came with a “.:RTDI” decal. The B5.5 Passat gauge faces actually look just like an R32. The only issue is that there are these circles around the fuel level and coolant temperature which fit into the Passat cluster housing, but will not look right in a MKIV cluster housing.

I ended up using the Passat tachometer face (with .:RTDI decal) as is. I then cut the portion of the R32 gauge face with coolant temperature and fuel level, cut this section from the Passat gauge faces, and super glued them together. It turned out great!

And here it is with the navigation interfaced:

Many thanks to Brian, he’s a guru of this OEM+ MKIV wiring!

 

[danielhf]

TDI Motor and Performance

TDI Motor and Performance

The motor that came out of my wagon was a PD150 that I obtained from an English wreck and had shipped to me. Matt Whitbread and I took 6 days to install this into my wagon in March of 2010 (http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=279538). As I was intending to convert the wagon to AWD, I built a transmission that would support AWD at the time of the motor swap. Pictures are in the above-mentioned thread, but I’ll quickly re-explain how this transmission was assembled.

First, it must be known that there are two different 02M (VAG MKIV transverse 6-speed manual transmissions) bell housings. One for all 4 cylinder motors and one for VR5/6 motors. This is one of the two reasons that the R32 4motion 02M will not work for the TDI application. The other issue is that the TDI motor requires taller gear ratios for the limited RPM range of the diesel. So what is needed is a 4motion 02M with a 4-cylinder bell housing and diesel gear ratios.

What makes a 4motion 02M different than a FWD 02M are the oil passages and internal “ramps” that allow oil to flow to a transfer case. I believe there may be some threaded mount points that allow the 4motion 02Ms to accept the transfer case as well. Because of this, one cannot simply bolt a transfer case up to a FWD TDI 02M.

Importing a 4motion TDI 02M to the United States happens to be a difficult and expensive endeavor, so I did the next best thing; I built my own. We took and Audi TTq 225 4motion 6 speed 02M and swapped the gearing with FWD TDI 02M (came with my PD150 motor) gear stacks. While I was in there, Matt installed an R32 Peloquin LSD and strengthened the shift forks by welding bolts where the factory rivets were.

In addition to the transmission, my PD150 was converted to a US-spec BEW timing belt setup. The motor was fitted with a BMW GT2260V w/tubular manifold and 2.5” downpipe, made by Matt. A Colt stage II cam was installed along with R783 injectors at a local GTG soon after this. The motor ran fine, but the GT2260V seemed a bit laggy and was only efficient up until about 26 PSI. I would have gone with a GTB2260VK, but this turbo did not exist at the time when I had initially purchased my GT2260V. The GT2260V was by no means a bad turbo, but it would not be my first choice on an 8V TDI aiming for high power figures (although TheoSweden did a pretty good job with his).

Like many others on this board, I chose to go with a GTB2260VK setup. This is an amazing turbo for a single-turbo setup on a daily driver. There are definitely larger options and compound setups, but for drivability and simplicity, I decided that the GTB2260VK would make a great turbo for my R-TDI.

I purchased a kit from Ryan P. without a downpipe (the transfer case will not allow Ryan’s standard GTB downpipe to clear). Initially, I was going to have a friend make the downpipe, but as I looked further into it, the task became more foreboding. Getting the vacuum actuator, downpipe, and oil return line to clear on a 4motion setup is quite tricky. Ryan was able to have a 4motion downpipe built that worked perfectly with his existing kit.

As you can see, it’s really tight, but does fit! Here are some more pictures of Ryan’s kit. It’s REALLY REALLY nice. The downpipe is 2.5”, as making a 3” with the turbo mounted as such would not have been possible. Charlie’s setup can afford a 3” downpipe because his turbo is mounted above the manifold, which turns out to work very well for AWD.

Tuning for this setup is being done by TD Tuning (vwmikel). Compared to the GT2260V, the GTB2260VK will be up a couple of PSI and have slightly increased fueling to start with. This setup will also have a 4bar MAP sensor to allow room for growth. I don’t imagine that the boost will go up much until I have a ported head and rods, but the time for that is not now. I also have a set of ARP 8740 head studs. Matt was able to turn down the nuts and washers for me, as well as making a thinner-wall socket that will clear for installing them. I will probably wait on installing these until I have a ported head to put on at the same time.

 

[danielhf]

Lift Pump

Lift Pump

In my above list of things that need to be done for this swap, one of them involves swapping the R32 high-pressure gas lift pump with the PD unit. There is a large issue with just “swapping them out;” the R32 4motion fuel tank is split so that the tank can go over the prop shaft. There is a section that connects the two halves of the fuel tank, but once the fuel level goes below 2/3 of a tank, the halves of tank are unable to share fuel.

The way that the pump pulls fuel from the other side is actually pretty clever. There is a second sending unit (without a lift pump) on the driver’s side of the car. It has a fuel level sensor and a pickup built into it, much like the unit on an ALH TDI (no pump, just a sending unit). There is a tube that goes from this sending unit to the other side of the tank, where it connects to a teed off line from the fuel pump pickup. Along with this tube, there is connector with the two wires from the fuel level sensor that plug into the lift pump. The way this works is that the two level sensors (resistors) are wired in series and the instrument cluster sees the combined resistance and determines the fuel level through this.

This turned out to be a pretty easy adaptation. I already had a PD lift pump with the Left Coast Resident mod, so I knew what line and tees to use (thanks Al). Here are the two pumps side-by-side before I did any work.

Notice the extra wires and pickup tube as well as the longer float. The float is easily transferred. The pickup tube is a bit more difficult, as the VW tubes are not easily removed and reused. Here are some closer pictures of the R32 pump:

So I just mimicked the same hose connections using the ¼” green Viton line that LCR originally used for the lift pump bypass mod. It stretches nicely and can be used on both the smaller and large nipples on the pump as well as with the larger nylon tees. Here’s what I made:

As far as the wiring for the fuel level sensor, I just transferred the connector from the R32 pump which required de-pinning the one connection near the float level sensor on each pump and de-soldering one connection on each pump, then reconnecting. It turned out pretty nicely. I was having some issues with accurate fuel level on the R32 prior to this, which was not resolved after doing this, so I feel that there is likely an issue with the driver’s-side fuel sender and/or the way the cluster sees the fuel level connection. It’s something that is not a high priority on my list, as I have a pretty good idea of when to fill up before running out of fuel (had to run out once to learn that the 4motion tank seems to take only about 11 gallons or so).

Another thing to note is that the R32 fuel filling hole is too small for any diesel pump nozzle. I simply widened the opening using an X-Acto knife. Worked perfectly. It’s not the prettiest thing in the world, but I really don’t care that much.

 

[danielhf]

Installation

Installation

This part is actually the most straight forward piece of this swap. R32/02M comes out, TDI/02M goes in. In a nutshell, it’s almost that simple.

I retained al ARL coolant hoses, just as I did when swapping into my automatic ALH wagon. I had to change the power steering low-pressure lines (used standard fuel line) and remove the auxiliary power steering cooler. I used BEW A/C lines. I installed the TDI fuel filter and used the R32 fuel lines from the tank. I left the evaporator lines intact for the moment, as I was running short on time to remove them (I will remove them next time I’m doing a major project on the car). I used the hard plastic connectors from the ends of the evaporator lines and a short section of Viton line to make a bypass for the under-car gas fuel filter (thanks Charlie for the excellent idea). I installed the TDI battery tray, airbox, and wiring harnesses.

 

[danielhf]

Installation Contd.

Installation Contd.

I installed Black Forest Industries stage 1 motor, transmission, and dogbone mounts. The existing VR6 mounts are slightly different and would not have worked. I would have done mounts either way though, as these are very excellent TDI mounts and I would recommend them to anyone.

I reverted to the R32 short shifter and stopped using the Diselgeek Sigma 6. Honestly, the stock R32 short shifter with a stiffer dogbone mount feels much better than the Sigma 6. The Sigma 6 is an excellent product but the side-to-side throw is just too short for my taste. I also have never liked how first engaged with it and no amount of adjustment seemed to fix it. I have been very happy with the R32 stock short shifter.

As previously stated, I transferred the TDI motor setup as it sat from my wagon. The only modification was adapting Ryan’s GTB2260VK kit to fit my existing setup. All in all, very little was required to make this work. Matt had built a FMIC setup that I was intending to reuse when putting the R-TDI together. The only task that was required to make this work was adapt the compressor outlet to existing piping.

Initially, this was performed with two silicone elbows and a section of 2” steel exhaust pipe. After a week of driving on this, it had a hole worn in my 45º elbow due to rubbing on the axle. I was visiting Mike L. (vwmikel) to take care of some of the residual issues and he was able to help me fix the issue with a 2” steel joiner (I’m now a proud owner of CUSTOM TD Tuning hardware, hehe), a piece of existing silicone elbow, and a silicone coupler. I’m pretty happy with the fix. Everything seems to be holding boost and keeping clear of the axle.

Initial setup:

Take #2:

 

[danielhf]

Current Bugs That Need to be Worked Out

Current Bugs That Need to be Worked Out

I physically started this swap this past August. On the first day of this swap I encountered some pretty serious issues with my other daily driver and opted not to disassemble the R32. Because of this, the only work done in August dealt with disassembly of the TDI, wiring preparation, and logistical strategizing. Once the issues were sorted with my daily driver, disassembly on the R32 began (early November). The day after the R32 motor was out of the car, I was offered a position in the San Francisco Bay. My start day was scheduled for November 30th. The timing really couldn’t have been worse.

Because of this, I had to get my swap finished before November 20th, as that was the day I was intending to leave Wisconsin and drive to California. This is why many corners were cut on this swap. I had the swap running on November 15th, put 500 miles on it with very few issues, and then drove it 2,300 miles. To my surprise, the car made it with just a boost leak.

Here is the short list of residual issues post-swap that I would like to resolve. There is no rush on any of this, as the car perfectly serves its purpose as a daily driver.

• High RPM boost issue. After resolving two different boost leaks with Mike, we went for some logs before dynoing the swap. What we found was that at about 3600 RPM at WOT, the car loses all boost. With less than 45% throttle, this issue did not seem to occur. We swapped N75s, measured vacuum to actuator during runs, change actuator length, swapped ECUs, and checked tunes. We were unable to resolve the issue. I don’t believe there is a rip in the actuator diaphragm because I tested it with a Mighty Vac when initially installing this turbo. We also tested vacuum between N75 and actuator. The ECU looks to be requesting boost, but vacuum drops between the N75 and actuator. I know it is not a rip in the vacuum line because the turbo is happy to hold 27-28 psi of boost pre 3600 RPM. The next steps are monitoring power to the N75 during runs to see if the issue is an electrical command/problem or if it is a mechanical issue with the actuator/turbo (extremely unlikely). While this is a problem that will majorly limit my peak power and stopped me from dynoing the R-TDI, this doesn’t really present an issue with everyday driving. I desperately want to solve this so that I can get a baseline dyno, but it will have to wait until I have time/resources to start fixing this. I have a deep suspicion that the issue has to do with an intermittent relay 109 code that occasionally shows up when scanning the ECU. If that is the case, this may take some serious work to solve. The issue could likely be a short in the ALH wiring harness as well. I am not sure yet, but I have some good places to start looking. All ideas welcome (thanks Matt [FixUntilBroke] and Mike L. for the ideas thus far).

• Recharge A/C.

• The rear defrost has never worked on this R32 since first purchase. I would love to get this working properly.

• There are some major issues with my McNally gauge (50 psi/EGT). It had lost an LCD segment, had inaccurate boost readings below 10 psi, and would incorrectly show EGT under any load prior to swapping motors. The EGT issue is likely the probe, but all other issues are most likely with the gauge itself. I was also unable to get it to power it on after the swap. My wiring is good and transmits power properly, so I will definitely have to send the gauge in. Because so many things have failed, I may just order a brand new complete kit and have a spare gauge once this is solved (I’m going to need a new EGT probe, and it would be nice to have new wiring/connector).

• Fix incorrect fuel level. Because the R32 had two fuel level indicators that add resistance together to provide fuel level between both sides of the fuel tank, either the resistor on the physical pump housing needs to be swapped out, the driver’s side sending unit needs to be replaced (the car was having incorrect fuel level issues before swap), or the cluster has to be calibrated to properly interpret a double fuel level resistance load). It could also be a combination of these things, I don’t really know. Any suggestions would be very appreciated.

• K-line issue that corrupts ECUs during flash writes (most likely will just run a second K-line to the ECU and make a second OBD II port).

Future Plans

• Girdle to stiffen bottom end

• A ported head, possibly with larger valves if at all possible. O. C. TDI saw high torque gains with a ported head and likely faster spoolup.

• Rosten H-beam rods for piece of mind

• Firad +100% PD injectors and a DBW setup to go with

• New front bumper/paint to address cracking and paint issue. At this point I would probably repaint the whole car since the clear coat is bubbling and peeling.

• Coilovers. Not only does the car handle poorly and feel too high, the front is higher than the back, as the 3.2L VR6 was significantly heavier than the TDI.

I posted this conversion not only as a “Look at me! Look what I did!” but also as information for other looking to do this swap. I tried to include as many of the specifics as possible so that those looking to make and R32 to TDI conversion happen have a good place to start. Thanks for reading this far down!

 

[greengeeker]

I knew it! Subscribed.

 

[CharlieT]

Hey, nice swap !! Glad the wiring sheet helped out some, although your ECD15+ setup was a bit different to my EDC16

Need a video of it running, else it didn't happen !!

 

[tditaylor]

Awesome, can't wait to see the finishe product!

 

[danielhf]

Awesome, can't wait to see the finishe product!

Now all of the posts should be in place.

 

[danielhf]

Hey, nice swap !! Glad the wiring sheet helped out some, although your ECD15+ setup was a bit different to my EDC16

Need a video of it running, else it didn't happen !!

It works!

It has 4WD!

It's a diesel!

 

[Whitbread]

Glad to see all the pics posted up Dan .

Now if only Lanman's W8 to TDI swap goes as easily wiring wise .

 

[danielhf]

Glad to see all the pics posted up Dan .
Now if only Lanman's W8 to TDI swap goes as easily wiring wise .

Thanks Matt! I have a feeling that the wiring may be much more difficult. I think Louis will have good ideas though. He seems well practiced in Audi longitudinal TDI swaps, the W8 couldn't be that different.

 

[runonbeer]

Nice car!

I suffered some wiring anxiety on my vr6 to Tdi swap also. Turns out I was done with the wiring before I even realized it. I even got that same spreadsheet from charlieT to see what he had done about T14a/10. Turns out it is completely unnecessary
I was going auto to manual the other way (recipient car was an auto) so I had some of the same challenges but backwards. For instance the start interlock relay grounds in the TCU harness. That was a head scratcher.

I'm actually headed up to Colorado on Thursday to go skiing with aNUT. Gonna wire up his TTQTDI while I'm there. I'm guessing it will take less than a day to scan/check each plenum pin and actually wire it.

We also get to throw his brand new BHW bottom end on the drill press & punch some holes in it! Weeeeeeee!

 

[Boztdi]

Great swap

 

[runonbeer]

My climatronic seems to work too except no heat. 2 codes
01271 positioning motor (V68) faulty
01274 air flow positioning flap motor (V71) faulty

I'm assuming this is an actual bad part(s) and not a wiring fault. I ordered the parts. Just need to put them in.

 

[danielhf]

Nice car!

I suffered some wiring anxiety on my vr6 to Tdi swap also. Turns out I was done with the wiring before I even realized it. I even got that same spreadsheet from charlieT to see what he had done about T14a/10. Turns out it is completely unnecessary
I was going auto to manual the other way (recipient car was an auto) so I had some of the same challenges but backwards. For instance the start interlock relay grounds in the TCU harness. That was a head scratcher.

I'm actually headed up to Colorado on Thursday to go skiing with aNUT. Gonna wire up his TTQTDI while I'm there. I'm guessing it will take less than a day to scan/check each plenum pin and actually wire it.

We also get to throw his brand new BHW bottom end on the drill press & punch some holes in it! Weeeeeeee!

aNUT's car sounds like it will be a great ride! That's impressive that you were able to find that ground for the start interlock relay... it would have driven me up the wall. Fortunately, wiring on this car wasn't too bad, but as you saw, there are still a couple of electrical gremlins to sort. It's a really fun daily driver though!

 

[danielhf]

My climatronic seems to work too except no heat. 2 codes
01271 positioning motor (V68) faulty
01274 air flow positioning flap motor (V71) faulty

I'm assuming this is an actual bad part(s) and not a wiring fault. I ordered the parts. Just need to put them in.

I think you are right. I had no Climatronic faults after I cleared codes post-swap. I have a bunch of comfort module codes though. I think they were there already before the swap.

 

[Fix_Until_Broke]

Good work Dan - Impressive project and glad that you made it to SF ok. I wish I could have been able to take a ride before you left Milwaukee, but we'll meet up sometime.

Let me know what you find on the boost control issue.

 

[danielhf]

Good work Dan - Impressive project and glad that you made it to SF ok. I wish I could have been able to take a ride before you left Milwaukee, but we'll meet up sometime.

Let me know what you find on the boost control issue.

Thanks Matt! We will meet up at some point soon, I'm sure about it.

I'll let you know what happens with the boost issue, it's pretty strange.

 

[runonbeer]

aNUT's car sounds like it will be a great ride! That's impressive that you were able to find that ground for the start interlock relay... it would have driven me up the wall. Fortunately, wiring on this car wasn't too bad, but as you saw, there are still a couple of electrical gremlins to sort. It's a really fun daily driver though!

He told me he's going for 270hp. He's nuts. aNUTs

about the ground, I was just assuming I had a good ground. Checked everything else, jumpered the clutch switch, drank a beer and then smacked myself in the forehead when I realized I never actually continuity tested that ground. I had a lot of fun doing that conversion. I don't even get to drive it. It's the girlfriend's car.

It took 2 weeks. 1 dedicated week and 1 work week. Most of that time was spent flipping pages in the bentley and scribbling notes out. It'll be faster next time around.

Word of caution about that LCR mod. I had a car tow in last week because one of the viton hoses had just broken off. No fuel getting out of the pump. Be advised.

 

[danielhf]

Word of caution about that LCR mod. I had a car tow in last week because one of the viton hoses had just broken off. No fuel getting out of the pump. Be advised.

Thats good to know. I put 45k on that pump as you see it in my old car, and about 4k on it in the .:R. So far it's been pretty good.

 

[greengeeker]

Current Bugs That Need to be Worked Out
• High RPM boost issue. After resolving two different boost leaks with Mike, we went for some logs before dynoing the swap. What we found was that at about 3600 RPM at WOT, the car loses all boost. With less than 45% throttle, this issue did not seem to occur. We swapped N75s, measured vacuum to actuator during runs, change actuator length, swapped ECUs, and checked tunes. We were unable to resolve the issue. I don’t believe there is a rip in the actuator diaphragm because I tested it with a Mighty Vac when initially installing this turbo. We also tested vacuum between N75 and actuator. The ECU looks to be requesting boost, but vacuum drops between the N75 and actuator. I know it is not a rip in the vacuum line because the turbo is happy to hold 27-28 psi of boost pre 3600 RPM. The next steps are monitoring power to the N75 during runs to see if the issue is an electrical command/problem or if it is a mechanical issue with the actuator/turbo (extremely unlikely). While this is a problem that will majorly limit my peak power and stopped me from dynoing the R-TDI, this doesn’t really present an issue with everyday driving. I desperately want to solve this so that I can get a baseline dyno, but it will have to wait until I have time/resources to start fixing this. I have a deep suspicion that the issue has to do with an intermittent relay 109 code that occasionally shows up when scanning the ECU. If that is the case, this may take some serious work to solve. The issue could likely be a short in the ALH wiring harness as well. I am not sure yet, but I have some good places to start looking. All ideas welcome.

How about the vacuum supply? Did you monitor the supply to the N75 and see if that drops off?

 

[danielhf]

How about the vacuum supply? Did you monitor the supply to the N75 and see if that drops off?

This is a good idea, but we have already tried this.

We tested this with a Mity Vac connected with a tee and found no drop in vacuum supply during the time when boost dropped off.

We did see vacuum drop off between the N75 and actuator though. Swapping ECUs and N75s did not resolve. Mike couldn't find any issues with the tune either. This is a real head scratcher.


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[GTiTDi]

This is an awesome swap! Time to look for an R32 with a blown engine!

 

[Growler]

We did see vacuum drop off between the N75 and actuator though.

the only thing between the N75 and the actuator is a piece of vacuum line, right? nothing else?

any chance that this line has a pinhole that opens under higher vacuum?

that is def a head scratcher.

 

[ryanp]

I need a little Help on my 4-Motion (basically a US VR6 engine but R32 running gear) TDi project, if anyone can drop me an email with some help they will be rewarded!

I have the pinouts on a spreadsheet and have a rough idea what to do but dont want to start chopping and make a mess.

Wiring is not my strong point!! The car runs but has niggles!!

Thanks

 

[danielhf]

the only thing between the N75 and the actuator is a piece of vacuum line, right? nothing else?

any chance that this line has a pinhole that opens under higher vacuum?

that is def a head scratcher.

I was thinking about that. It seems very unlikely because we are talking about maybe a 5% increase in vacuum over where the car is at when at WOT at sub 3600 RPM (and at WOT pre 3600 RPM, the car is fine). Also the line is thick silicone vacuum line. Do you really think this is a possibility? I had totally dismissed it, but never say never...


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