TDI 1Z to 93 Eurovan (budget build)

[Josh_WA]

Poor man’s 93 Eurovan MV TDI conversion
Here we go again. I previously converted a 93 MV weekender for my use via this thread.
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=443865/

My goal on that build was to spend about $2k for the conversion. I think I ended up spending about $2300. This time my goal was to again spend around $2k, but to also include the van.

Earlier this summer I can across a great deal on a rear wrecked B4 Passat that somehow couldn’t pass up. I pulled the car apart and saved up the conversion parts I need for another VW Eurovan (T4a) conversion. I’ve sold enough parts to net a free 1z engine and parts needed. The Passat had the timing belt changed about 10k miles prior to the rear ending, so I’m forgoing changing belts and rollers if they appear good. I’ll do some inspection on the rotating items as I clean up the engine. The turbo unfortunately needs to be replaced. The whole backside of the engine has a nice coating of oil. The nice thing about going with the 1z from a Passat, is that the gauge cluster is physically the same as the Eurovan cluster. Also, the wiring harness for the 1z is not integrated with the lighting harness of the car, so the wiring is a little cleaner to begin with. I have more parts to sell, but as of now I’m at +$150 with the wrecked Passat purchase.

Passat parts needed for the conversion:
Engine
Engine accessories, including turbo
Coolant hoses and reservoir
Engine wiring harness
Matched ECU
Gauge cluster
Fuel lines

Eurovan tdi #2 by x Holmes, on Flickr

Just recently a van came on the market that would be an ideal candidate for my budget build. There are usually plenty of inexpensive manual transmission GL models that come up, but I was waiting for a manual MV. This one was going for cheap because it’s only running on 4 out of 5 cylinders. $500 later, I’m sweating home on 4 cylinders, to avoid a tow. I’m again going with a stock manual transmission. This one being a CHP this time, but will changing out 5th gear for the .756 in the Passat transmission. Stock 5th is .8xx. With, the van, I’ll be pulling out what is saved from above, to be replaced. The van itself is in fair shape aside from the slider door that I will be replacing. The inside needs a trim piece and just a general cleaning, but is not too bad. I can get those pieces from a local guy. That brings my van price to about 650.

Eurovan tdi #2 by x Holmes, on Flickr

The 3rd part of this puzzle of course are the European parts to make this bolt right in. The 1z and AHU engines are of the same block build as the ABL na diesel that is available in Europe. Frans will be supplying these parts again. Costing about $600.

4cyl transmission carrier 02B409905K
lower timming belt cover 028109127H
Oil dip Stick/housing 028115629E, N90461401, 044115611F, N 028 224 01
Oil filler neck and cap 044115308A/070115319
Sump (oil pan) 044103601D
Transmission upper cover plate 044103647B
right-side engine mount 028199207E.
lift pump (fuel tank pump) 701919813B

So far I’m at $1150 in cost. Additional $s to be spent mostly on the turbo, clutch package, and exhaust welding.

 

[Josh_WA]

Last time this took me a good 6 months to complete. Started with an easy task of drill and tapping the bolt holes for the European passenger side engine mount.

These 3


Drilled out with 5/16 bit


Bottom tapped with m10 x 1.5. The stock size running through the mount.

 

[Bobob729]

I always told my self if I ever get a van this will be what I do. Awesome to see others are doing this as well

 

[therabbittree]

Awesome! Looking for a clean 2000 so wiring and cluster matches my 1z. 96 passat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Josh_WA]

Looking for a clean 2000 so wiring and cluster matches my 1z. 96 passat.

You'll need a 93 cluster trim to fit the 96 Passat cluster to a 97-03 eurovan. Or use an mk4 tdi cluster.

 

[therabbittree]

From what ive seen the 93-2000 eurovans have the b4 passat style cluster. The 2001-2003 eurovans have the different dash and have mk4 style clusters. Thats one of the benefits of Using the 2000 older eurovan vs a 2001-2003 . The 01-03 do have better brakes and suspension etc


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[mogly]

Cool project. Budget builds are always fun.

2000 was a transitional year for the T4. I've seen some with the early middle 2 person bench with the corduroy upholstery and others with '01-03 upholstery and separate buckets.

 

[VW-TDI]

From what ive seen the 93-2000 eurovans have the b4 passat style cluster. The 2001-2003 eurovans have the different dash and have mk4 style clusters. Thats one of the benefits of Using the 2000 older eurovan vs a 2001-2003 . The 01-03 do have better brakes and suspension etc

There was a "split" 08/98 - 09/98, so if the van was manufactured in September 1998 or later - it has a new style cluster. If production date before 9/98 - then the van come with older style (like on B4) cluster.
And that means of course all 2000 Eurovans come with newer style cluster, even some 1999's (built after 9/98) with new style clusters.

 

[mogly]

Thanks for the clarification Slavic.

 

[Josh_WA]

Received some parts from Dutchautoparts.

on Flickr

installed the ABL lower timing cover and test fitted the passenger side engine support with the new 10mm tapped holes. Bolts on great.

on Flickr

Drilled a pilot hole for the dipstick as well. There's a flat at the back of the engine block intended for the rear dipstick on a forward tilted engine. Just drill perpendicular to the flat.

on Flickr

And hopefully you hit the flat on the underside.

on Flickr

 

[Josh_WA]

Finished up that rear dip stick. 13/32 drilled all the way through. Step drill it down about 3/8 with a 9/16 bit.



Here's the dipstick now installed. Bolts to the coolant heater plug flange, but under the round engine harness plug bracket. Like my first van, had to extend the bottom bracket hole of the dipstick housing to reach the stock bot position. Its in there good and tight.

 

[Josh_WA]

The van has assumed the position. This is all the room you need in a minimalist work area situation.



Once into position, time to pull the front end apart. No pressure in the AC lines, so those came right off. Drain the coolant and power steering fluid. Disconnect the lines and pull the hing pins from the radiator assembly and remove it. i opted to pull the lights although they could be left in place. have to remove at least the drivers side cover under the light to disconnect the radiator fan resistors.



4 bolts up top and 6 around the bumper and it can be removed. Make sure to unclip all the wiring and hoses from the backside of the bumper.



To get the engine out. Pull the wiring back towards the battery side. Engine doesn't come out without the transmission. Disconnect: power steering lines, power steering brackets, power steering pressures sensor, inner axle bolts, AC lines, ground wires, coolant hoses to the body, intake hose, fuel lines, shift linkage, speedo cable, and slave cylinder(the part i forgot). Inch it out. The engine tends to bind up on the axles. You could complete remove the axles if you want, but I like to fight them.



I've separated the transmission from the engine now and waiting for my new clutch to arrive. Also have gotten the ABL oil pickup and pan on the engine and accessories remounted. Haven't modified the AC compressor yet. I'm working towards firing up the engine first.

 

[Josh_WA]

While I've been waiting on the clutch, went to modifying the fuel tank. I went with the ABL diesel fuel sender. I drop the tank to modify the fuel nozzle opening to 1" as well. First up is to disconnect the gas pump power and sender signal. That wire won't stretch to the floor if you just drop the tank.



Had a full tank of gas, so I put 12v to the pump to get the rest out.





Pull out the ring and take out the rubber surround.



One bolt that can keep you from dropping the tank.



Pry the 3 tabs to separate the metal cap and funnel from the tank neck.





Using a very small screwdriver you can pry out the tab holding this splash plate in.



No picture of the end product, but carefully used a 1" bit in a drill press to open up the funnel hole. Reassemble.

I dropped the tank by removing the rear 3 bolts from the straps holding it up. In hind sight probably jacking up a board or two underneath may help getting it down. But Gravity. Pull out the gas pump and sender by unscrewing the retaining ring. I needed to reuse the ring and rubber washer. There is a ring at the base of the tank that the gas sender attaches to. This ring will be in the way of the diesel sender. It's only necessary to remove half the ring. It's a plastic covered copper ring that was a bit of an effort to remove on both tanks i've modified. It's the passenger side of the ring that needs to come out. There will be a nub of plastic remaining, but the diesel sender will go right over top of it.



I pulled the original fuel lines and filter out. I ran a section of the donor vehicle fuel lines to the diesel filter in the stock location ahead of the battery. Normally there is a plate riveted on there that the coil sits atop of.



I attached the fuel lines to the tank before hiking it back up with the help of a jack this time. Fuel support is now complete.

 

[Josh_WA]

Using the Passat wiring harness seems so much easier than the Jetta harness on my first van. Nothing to pull apart. Pushed the inside connectors through the firewall and plugged the hole with the donor plug. All the inside plugs reach everything they need to go to. Again using these T4forum wire references, and additionally Andrews wiring information.

http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=61313
http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=63539
http://andrewclink.com/projects/thebus/wiring



This time I modified the passat potentiometer bracket for the throttle. Again using most of the bottom of the original gas pedal and the top of the passat pedal for adjustment. I think I've got it where I want. Just need to weld the pedal pieces together.

 

[archemitis]

What are you doing to the fuel sender?
I just got mine running and just bypassed the gas pump by letting two hoses dangle down to the bottom of the tank, still using the gas level sending unit. What did the ABL have?
Ya got me nervous, I really dont wanna drop that big ole plastic tank again.

 

[Josh_WA]

What you have should be fine. I’ve seen a few variations of modding the gas sender to work. The diesel sender hasn’t been much more to add on when I’ve got my parts, so I’ve added it in for both. Just showing the details of how I’m making the stock diesel sender work into the originally gas tank.

How are you keeping the hoses to the bottom? Good to have some sort of strainer in there also to keep any large debri going into the hoses

 

[archemitis]

Whew. The question of "should I have a lift pump?" always floats around in my head.
I put two big hose barb connectors on the ends of the feed and return to weight them down. I also put an inline fuel filter on the suction side so I can catch big stuff before it gets up to the main filter.
I cut my filler neck up and made it completely open so I can use jerry cans and the big semi diesel fuel isles at truck stops.

Thats a brave man drilling a new dipstick hole. Good job! Lookin like your gettin cose!

 

[Josh_WA]

Yeah, the stock ABL fuel sender is just that. I should have took picture of it. It does not have a lift pump in it. Just a spring loaded assembly to keep it pressed to the bottom once it is tightened down. I forgot to mention then that I depinned the 4 pin connector, taped of the power and ground, then pushed the fuel level signal pins into a 2 pin connector to fit the lift pump.

Luckily I've aimed correctly and hit the flat just right for the dipstick, but yes, not sure what I would do to fix it if I screwed up.

Just got my clutch in the mail, so tomorrow I'll be able to get it attached to the engine, then mate the transmission and hopefully set it all into the engine compartment. If all my wiring is right, I should at least be able to get a test fire. My remaining bits to finish off after that:

coolant plumbing(easy)
power steering plumbing (may need a couple small parts)
AC pump modification to attach the EV lines (easy)
intake plumbing to include intercooler (going to try and use the stock passat intercooler between the engine and hood in the stock location)
downpipe (I can figure the angles, but will need to go to the welder)
have someone weld my go pedal together.

 

[Josh_WA]

Got my clutch in the mail. Reinstalled the fly wheel with the Dutch auto parts mating tin in place. Conveniently had an extra set of new fly wheel bolts from my last build. New throw out bearing as well.



Once the clutch was on, lowered it down to the my transmission and mated those. 3 bolts to hold it together aside from the locating nubs. Probably the biggest pain is getting the transmission back into place. In hindsight, I should have installed the transmission, then brought the engine in to mate up. There's plenty of space to move around with the little 4 cylinder. Either way, it's in place now.



I've reconnected everything i needed to get a test start but ran out of motivation to run to the nearest diesel pump to put fuel in my fuel can. The starter turned over the engine though.

 

[Josh_WA]

It lives. Got my test start yesterday. Just let it run for about 30 secs, but I know it operates. I had a head scratcher before I got it to start though. Everything was wired and connected to get a start, but it would just turn over, no start. Relay 109 would constantly click as well. Rechecked I was getting power in right places and was. So basically wasn’t getting power to the ecu. Checked my two extra relay 109s in my working van and they worked fine. Found a thread on the internet about this and realized that the ecu case needs to be grounded. Didn’t know this. On my first van, I had put the ecu in the stock location, which grounded it to the body. With this Passat wiring, it was more convenient to put it on the other side under the stock air filter, but not bolted to the body. Ran a separate ground wire to the ecu body and it fired right up.

Left to complete list:

Downpipe
Power steering plumbing
Modify ac compressor to accept EV lines
Reassemble dash
Weld go pedal

 

[Hasenwerk]

The ECU case does not need to be grounded.

 

[Josh_WA]

If I take the ground from my case, relay 109 will constantly click and no start. Grounded the case and it immediately started. Not disputing, but in my case, I needed to.

 

[1.9ZOOK]

^Mine does the same thing.^
Also If I stall mine it will crank normally but not start,I have to remove the 109,plug it
back in and all is good.(new 109)

 

[jimbote]

If I take the ground from my case, relay 109 will constantly click and no start. Grounded the case and it immediately started. Not disputing, but in my case, I needed to.

there is something amiss in your wiring or ecu

^Mine does the same thing.^
Also If I stall mine it will crank normally but not start,I have to remove the 109,plug it
back in and all is good.(new 109)

that's normal operation.... turn the key all the way back to the off position next time you stall it, instead of pulling r109

 

[jimbote]

The ECU case does not need to be grounded.

this ^^^

 

[Josh_WA]

there is something amiss in your wiring or ecu

Thanks, this got me to thinking. There was a ground wire not tied down I was thinking was for the glow plug circuit. I’ve got it grounded now. That could have been it. I’ll try pulling my case ground to see if it the relay doesn’t constantly click.

 

[Josh_WA]

Worked on the AC compressor. The Eurovan AC high and low side hoses are too large to fit in the donor Passat AC compressor inputs. Both need to be enlarged to at least 5/8 approximately to fit my hoses. There is a notch in the existing holes, which threw off my center on the D opening. Should still work fine. Here's a shot of the openings enlarged to 5/8.

 

[Josh_WA]

Got a friend to weld up the top of the passat pedal to the bottom of the EV pedal.

Also, put the cap back onto the AC compressor and loosely connected the hoses. Still need to get some replacement o-rings, then charge up the system. There's a small locator pin so that the cap is on in a particular position. As far as I can tell, there nothing that appears to be affected by the orientation of that cap. Anyone removed that locator pin and rotated the end cap before without any issue. It would help with a little hose binding. Reaches ok as is, but a little extra freedom wouldn't hurt.

 

[Josh_WA]

Finished up the exhaust down pipe. Here it is just tacked together and compared with my first vans pipe routing template. Worked out well and was able to use the original flange at the end.

And my friend finishing the welds.

Managed to rework some of the original intercooler pipework to situate the Passat intercooler atop the engine. Some crude brackets that hold well. Totally functional in place, but cannot add oil without having to remove the intercooler. I'll leave it to whomever buys this one to experiment with other intercooler routing.

Took it for a good test drive and it drives great, until you get on the highway. I haven't changed out the 5th gear yet. Running 3krpm at 60mph. Not a great way to roll down the road with the tdi. I have a .756 5th gear from the B4 that i may to try and see how well it cuts into the rpm. I'll otherwise try to get ahold of something between .717 and 6.58. Those would definately be a great improvement.

Other that that, there are plenty of superficial items that need to be adjusted or taken care of. the interior is very dirty. Really could use about 4 inches more on the lower coolant line. Which presently keeps the radiator from being put into maintenace mode. Sounds like the one of the rear brakes is dragging in reverse. And the coolant needs to be charged. I'm currently still below my $2k budget for everything all together with a couple hundred to spare. I'm sure it is overall close to 3K spent, but I've sold about 1k worth of used parts.

 

[Josh_WA]

These came into stock, and were ordered and received. This is a must if you are keeping the CHP 02b.

https://flic.kr/p/DJZzFT