Frankendiesel
Veteran Member
For those who haven't caught wind of my project yet (code named Project Frankendiesel) I am swapping a '98 TDI drivetrain from a Jetta into a '98 Town & Country LXi. Some history - 2 years ago I put our Mercedes 300SD on veggie. My wife loved it. She could go all over the city on veggie and not worry about gas prices. Then we had our second child last October. Suddenly that big sedan got really small and she went back to driving the minivan. Well, 20mpg didn't impress us much, so we decided it was time to do something. A Jetta wagon was still too small for cross country trips (both parents live 13 hours away) so I decided to give an enginectomy to a highly utilitarian minivan. I found this beast at a repair shop by where I work. It sat for about 8 months before I called them up and struck a deal for $500. The 3.8L had already been pulled along with a lot of other engine bay parts so that work was already done for me!
Today I finally powered up the heart of the beast; the TDI runs! I put together a gallery of pictures, so I'll just drop that link here. (I'm still trying to figure out how to imbed pics in a post...)
It powered up and talked on the VAG-COM and only logged a few faults: Since I didn't have a dash, it told me all the indicator lights were burned out and I also don't have EGR or Wastegate solenoids yet so it flagged them as well.
What I've done to the engine so far: New timing belt, tensioner, idler, water pump, rocker cover gasket, clutch throw-out bearing, and soon new alternator V-reg/brushes and the coolant hose set on the front side of the engine.
The next step is to remove as many pieces as I can from the engine and lower it into the chassis. I'll start dreaming up engine mounts and possibly fabricate them or have a shop do it, haven't decided yet. If I do take it to a shop, I want to mount the clutch pedal ass'y first. For that, I scored an ass'y off a '83 BMW 5-series. The master cylinder is in the cabin - perfect because I don't have any firewall whatsoever to mount a master cylinder to. I also have a console ass'y from a MKIV that I'm going to put in the T&C. That should make it look pretty respectable.
That's all for now - stay tuned for further details.
Travis
Today I finally powered up the heart of the beast; the TDI runs! I put together a gallery of pictures, so I'll just drop that link here. (I'm still trying to figure out how to imbed pics in a post...)
It powered up and talked on the VAG-COM and only logged a few faults: Since I didn't have a dash, it told me all the indicator lights were burned out and I also don't have EGR or Wastegate solenoids yet so it flagged them as well.
What I've done to the engine so far: New timing belt, tensioner, idler, water pump, rocker cover gasket, clutch throw-out bearing, and soon new alternator V-reg/brushes and the coolant hose set on the front side of the engine.
The next step is to remove as many pieces as I can from the engine and lower it into the chassis. I'll start dreaming up engine mounts and possibly fabricate them or have a shop do it, haven't decided yet. If I do take it to a shop, I want to mount the clutch pedal ass'y first. For that, I scored an ass'y off a '83 BMW 5-series. The master cylinder is in the cabin - perfect because I don't have any firewall whatsoever to mount a master cylinder to. I also have a console ass'y from a MKIV that I'm going to put in the T&C. That should make it look pretty respectable.
That's all for now - stay tuned for further details.
Travis