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Thu Apr 25, 2013 6:18 am

I’ve just finished modifying the engine on my bus and thought it was time to show what I’ve done to date.

First some history on what we’ve done to the body. The main body is a from a 1973 Westfalia. It had decent steel, but a lousy interior. We found a 1977 Westfalia with a great interior, good roof but a rotten body. So we stripped down the bus, fixed the body, moved the roof from 77 to the 73 and transplanted the interior from one to the other. Since neither air-cooled engine was worth recovering, we elected to install a gas engine with mechanical controls. We selected a 1985 1.8L liquid cooled CIS MZ engine, primarily because it was cheap and relatively easy to install. We also rebuilt/upgraded the transmission ourselves after the main bearing failed. A few other things like modernizing the electrical system, installing a liquid to air cabin heater and upgrading the suspension were also done.

We have been running the gas engine for a few years. Just recently we removed the engine and everything associated with it. We have just completed installing a VW TDI ALH diesel engine. We approached the installation with the following rules:
- no major modifications to the body of the bus with two exceptions
- drilling small holes for screws and hoses.
- removing a flange for the air-cooled engine cowling under the engine bay door (it had to be removed to repair the sheet metal anyway)
- all components that could fail for any reason had to be easily available (ie VW dealer, NAPA, etc).
- The engine, turbo, air filter, electrical components and sensors had to be stock, again for ease of availability in case of repairs. This meant retaining the EGR system which is important for the engine to run efficiently.
- It had to be clean and simple. Engine and other components had to be easily installed/removed .

The end result is impressive. It pulls like freight train, minimal vibrations, and even without any sound proofing in the engine bay, the engine noise is acceptable. I’ll get fuel economy numbers in time. The project isn’t done yet since I need to finish technical drawings for all the fabricated parts and a complete electrical schematic. Anyway, we have been at it on and off for four months and here are some pictures of the end result.

Picture 1) 1973 with 1977 roof and 2001 tdi.

Picture 2) Visible in this view is the exhaust.

Picture 3) View showing the tdi engine and radiator.

Picture 4) View showing the tdi engine and intercooler. The gauge on the lower left is part of the compressed air system.

Picture 5) View from inside the engine compartment looking to the left and aft. Shown is the intercooler, base for the air filter box and ecu.

Picture 6) View from inside the engine compartment looking to the right and aft. Shown is the radiator and electrical plugs for the engine components.

Picture 7) LH side of engine and transaxle assembly prior to installation.

Picture 8) Starter adapter plate to accommodate VW VR6 starter.

Picture 9) View showing VW VR6 starter installed.

Picture 10) View of battery box, main fuse panel and fuse & relay box located underneath rear seat. Also installed is an inverter.

Picture 11) View of drivers side. Note the additional gauges and the throttle pedal.

Picture 12) View of throttle pedal installation.

Thu Apr 25, 2013 8:10 am

Is there a hole in the panel behind the radiator and intercooler so that the hot air can get out of the engine compartment?

Thu Apr 25, 2013 8:18 am

wompninja wrote: Is there a hole in the panel behind the radiator and intercooler so that the hot air can get out of the engine compartment?

Other way around. The radiator and intercooler draw air from the scoops behind the side windows, and I'm guessing it leaves under the car.

Thu Apr 25, 2013 12:09 pm

Looks great! I'm very interested to see the electrical schematics and such. I love how you didn't alter the body of the bus really.

Thu Apr 25, 2013 2:26 pm

The rad and intercooler draw air from the side scoops and eject the air into the engine bay. Since there is no cowling around the engine, the air simply goes down around the engine and out.

I'll post electrical schematics once I have made them presentable, and revised them to match what I done. I managed to avoid altering the body by fabricating adapters that positioned the engine back and down. As a result, I had to extend the gear shift tube, but that was a minor modification.

Thu Apr 25, 2013 8:04 pm

How did you address cabin heat? Did you run coolant lines up front for a heat exchanger, or did you put an exchanger in the rear that ties into your existing heat ducts?

Great looking project!

Fri Apr 26, 2013 9:50 am

ZestyNora wrote: How did you address cabin heat? Did you run coolant lines up front for a heat exchanger, or did you put an exchanger in the rear that ties into your existing heat ducts?

Great looking project!

I ran coolant lines from the engine to the front where I mounted a heat exchanger below the vertical duct. Due to space restrictions I used a marine blower to move the air. I have no problem getting heat or defrosting the windscreen.

Sat Apr 27, 2013 5:09 am

Hey Richard - Very impressive. Been dreaming of such a conversion for my Westfalia... How does the horsepower curve of the ALH diesel line up with your transmission gearing choices? Would you do anything different a second time?

By the way, do you miss the lulling "clickety-tick" of the original air-cooled motor?

Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:55 am

Simon72 wrote: Hey Richard - Very impressive. Been dreaming of such a conversion for my Westfalia... How does the horsepower curve of the ALH diesel line up with your transmission gearing choices? Would you do anything different a second time?

By the way, do you miss the lulling "clickety-tick" of the original air-cooled motor?

Simon - It took a little digging, but I found some old data. I made a graph showing the horsepower/torque/speed as a function of rpm. The horsepower and torque are from graphs that I found online that I approximated. They should be close enough to reality. I would consider using taller gears for the third and fourth gears to get lower rpms at highway speeds. I'm enjoying the sound of the whoosh of the turbo so I can't say that I miss the air-cooled.

Tue Apr 30, 2013 6:03 am

That is a very nice install you did there. You do first rate work my friend.

Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:07 am

Ditto as to what Little Henry said, Excellent !!!! You should be proud.

Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:58 am

Beautiful...I really want to do this to a Beetle, but there's so little room under the lid...I mean, really any diesel in the type 1 would work, just gotta keep searching

Tue Apr 30, 2013 8:59 pm

ALH is the perfect motor. What did you do to defeat the immobolizer?

Wed May 01, 2013 10:17 am

levi20AE wrote: ALH is the perfect motor. What did you do to defeat the immobolizer?

Thanks for everyone's compliments. I am rather proud of the bus, but I'm even happier that this latest project is finished.

75smith, I'm not familiar with beetles, but from my experience with this bus, the ALH tdi can fit easily fore/aft and sideways in any space that was occupied by the aircooled engine. Vertical space is a little trickier. Even for the bus I had to fabricate adapters for the transmission mounts to move the whole engine/transaxle assembly down and aft.

levi20AE - I contemplated learning how to do it by experimenting on the ecu. I came to my senses and sent the ecu to Malone Tuning to perform the immo defeat. I had a great experience with them. They answered all my questions and were very quick with the turn-around on the work. I didn't have to use the Jetta instrument cluster or key. As a result the vag-com shows fault codes for a missing instrument cluster, ABS and I think immo, but I can live with that.

Thu May 02, 2013 8:37 am

Wow! what a nice clean conversion! I've dreamed of a conversion like this for years. Nice Job!

Sun May 05, 2013 5:29 pm

Indeed, very beautiful work. I have seen several past projects of Richard and family and this one is as thorough and as well thought out as the others. I was a bit skeptical it would fire up and drive as well as it did, but shame on me, no major issues.
What advice would you offer to those of us considering this sort of conversion? Would any bit of minor body modification have made the conversion much simpler?

Sun May 12, 2013 5:56 pm

Simon72 wrote: Indeed, very beautiful work. I have seen several past projects of Richard and family and this one is as thorough and as well thought out as the others. I was a bit skeptical it would fire up and drive as well as it did, but shame on me, no major issues.
What advice would you offer to those of us considering this sort of conversion? Would any bit of minor body modification have made the conversion much simpler?

Since the body modifications were very minor in nature, the only advice I would have to offer would be that the time should be taken to clean up the body of rusted/rotten steel while the engine bay is stripped of all the parts. It is of particular importance for the main beams since I used the bumper attach points for a beam that acted as a trailer hitch/engine mount support structure. I'd also advise to upgrade the transmission and clutch/flywheel. The old components are likely to fail under the torque applied by the tdi. Also, while doing the wiring for the engine, in my opinion it would only make sense to upgrade the rest of the wiring. In my case, I installed an upgraded fuse and relay panel, as well as modernizing the electrical system so that all the circuits are fully protected by fuses.

Tue May 21, 2013 7:29 am

What a sweet conversion, Im so glad you posted all those nice pics. Do you have any pics of the moustache bar and engine mounts? Great work!

Tue May 21, 2013 10:18 pm

Very Nice

I know this may have been asked already but I have a 1978 Westfalia and a TD AAZ motor I want to swap in.. No Computer thank god. What is needed to do this correctly and who should I get parts from?

Overall you have done some amazing work and I would like to pick your brain a bit when you get the time to reply.

I'm mostly concerned with what is required to make it easiest and use as many original VW parts as possible.

Cheers

Eric

Tue May 21, 2013 10:34 pm

Very nice can't wait to hear what fuel mileage your getting.