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Tue Mar 28, 2017 6:11 pm

I have a dilemma that I was wondering if you would have any advice on. My wife and I bought an 82 Westy that currently has a diesel engine from a 90's Golf in it that is super SLOW. We live in AK right now and can't get the thing to go over 20mph going over mountain passes.

We talked with a shop here who advised us that a TDI engine would be a good replacement as we wanted to keep it diesel. We found a 2006 Jetta TDI engine that only had 88k mile on it (the rest of the Jetta is worthless) and purchased it. The shop here then informed us that the one we bought has a "BRM" engine code which apparently would require 100 hours to wire and still would run in "limp" mode. We took it to Arctic Imports here in Anchorage after being hosed by the other shop.

We ended up finding a company in Maine, Foreign Auto Supply, who claims to make a part that would essentially connect this engine to our van. They called it a VSS CanBus. It's been almost 8 months and they still haven't made the part and are horrible at communicating with us. The shop where our Jetta is currently stored is needing us to do something so it isn't just sitting there.

What we are trying to figure out is if you know anything about putting a TDI engine with a BRM engine code in this van or if you know of any other companies that make this magical part that supposedly makes it all work?

(Moderator edit: Title amended to be a bit more specific.)

Tue Mar 28, 2017 6:45 pm

Almost all modern cars have a computer system that manages the engine and transmission. To transplant the engine from one of these modern cars to an older vehicle requires that a big part of that computer system comes along with it. If you leave parts behind, like the VSS (vehicle speed sensor), it won't run correctly. These engines often have a "limp home mode" that is activated if the computer finds a missing signal from some sensor. If you find someone with a lot of knowledge about modern engine control systems, they might be able to fool the computer enough to make it work in your Vanagon, but it would probably cost more than you want to spend. Clearly, that is what the shop in Maine is trying to engineer, but is finding difficult.

Tue Mar 28, 2017 7:03 pm

Foreign Auto Supply usually gets good marks. A lot of us here on TheSamba have dealt with them with good results. I just dropped $500 in their lap last week so maybe I'll enquire about this myself.

Tue Mar 28, 2017 7:20 pm

This is a lot better resource for discussing Volkswagen engines: http://forums.tdiclub.com/forumdisplay.php?f=63

It sounds like you may need to chat with David from Fast Forward, who may or may not be the person building your CAN-bus interface. He goes by the moniker Hasenwerk on that site. As mentioned, FAS is generally well regarded for the work they do, but I have heard some folks mention that there's room for improvement in their outward communications.

Wed Mar 29, 2017 3:20 pm

Update:

The owner of Foreign Auto contacted me and we were able to get the part situation hashed out. Looks like there was some communication break downs on everyone's part. We will have a new heart in the van in no time!!!! Thanks for all the advice.

Wed Mar 29, 2017 4:47 pm

Good news. You're gonna love all that yummy torque

Thu Mar 30, 2017 4:33 am

Post when you have it running. It's a very ambitious conversion compared to other TDI options. Are you doing anything about the transaxle? Good luck.