Oh no! Another Vanagon TDI swap

[dieseltdi]

Thanks for the info. I will probably just use the original TDI backing plate and maybe make something to cover the open area. I noticed that Brickworks also sells a “welded” throw out bearing arm because they claim the stock one isn’t strong enough for the TDI clutch. Have you had any problems?

[uberaudi]

The 'welded arm cross shaft' is an upgrade to the stock cross shaft which has been known to break at the inadequate factory welds. You can easily just fully weld the stock arms to the cross shaft to beef it up. One less thing to go wrong.
Weidle also sells them for around 20 bucks.
_________________
'84 Adventurewagen 1Z Tdi, '89 Tintop ABA, and a 86 Syncro tintop WBX.

[dieseltdi]

Well parts are coming together. I already have the diesel vanagon bell housing, the TDI specific shaft is on its way from Brickwerks in Germany, Weddle has shipped the new cross shaft, Go westy has shipped the cross shaft bushing kit, and the dual mass/clutch kit from Ebay ($270 with free shipping) is also on the way. Now I just need to get some good weather once it all gets here. When I originally installed everything, I installed the transmission and engine as a single unit. I helped my brother replace a clutch on his air cooled vanagon years ago with out removing the engine so I suppose that is also possible with the Diesel engine? I would support it on the transmission side from above so that it won't rotate on the engine mounts. Any suggestions or advice always appreciated. Hayden

[?Waldo?]

The diesel engine is very well balanced within the two engine mounts. Of course, some of that depends on accessories, mounting of turbo, exhaust, etc... You'll want something to keep the engine stable, but it doesn't need to be particularly beefy. It is certainly possible to pull just the trans. Replacing the clutch is a bit of work under the van, but probably still easier to pull the trans vs. pulling the engine.

[dieseltdi]

Got the clutch/flywheel assembly today. Clutch disk and pressure plate pre installed. Quite heavy. Bolts are also installed. I need to find out which star or triple square bit to use.

[dieseltdi]

Thought I would post a bit of an update. I won't be able to get to the clutch/bell housing swap until early May due to an up coming vacation that has been derailed twice by Covid. I decided to spend some time cleaning up a few things that I just didn't like. First of all, I removed excess wiring length from my wiring harness. As it came from David Marshall, many of the wires were way too long. I also added some wire covers to dress things up a bit and protect the wiring. I also ordered a new coolant bottle bracket from FAS instead of the hacked up, angle iron thing I had bodged together. I also tripled the size of the wire going from the Alternator to the starter and thus to the battery and added a ground from the starter to the frame. While doing all this work, I kept noticing a strange ringing sound when the engine was running. I discovered that the welds on one end of my straight through muffler had broken allowing the outer body and the inner tube to vibrate against each other. So, another muffler is oil the way and I intend to try and mimic the stock style hanger system by making some brackets and having them welded to the new muffler. I have been chasing down a stubborn coolant leak and realized that it was coming from the head outlet that holds the coolant sensor. I bought a new one from Brickworks that doesn't have the small vent pipe on it. I cleaned up the block and viola no more leaks. I also installed a German made one piece pop top gasket (from Vanagain). If you don't have one of these, you should get one as the fit is absolutely perfect. My sofa bed also had some problems so I ordered new hinges from Bus Depot and replaced them. Now it works just as planned. Will try to keep things up to date as I can.

[erste]

Really nice work on this build! Enjoy the vacation!!

[dieseltdi]

Thought I would update on the muffler problem. When I originally put everything together, I didn't have much time to do research on parts so I simply bought a cheap straight through muffler off eBay. No brand name. Well as you can see from the pictures, it wasn't constructed very well. The first pic is how it should be and the second is how it is! all the welds holding the outlet into the muffler body failed! I just took delivery of a Magnaflow muffler and intend to make mounts more closely to what the Diesel engine would have had although I am considering modifications to have 2 rubber mounts on each side. Will make updates as I go through the process. First a little down time in the Canyonlands area of Utah with the wife in the travel trailer.

[dieseltdi]

Well, after a nice vacation into Monument Valley, Canyonlands, Arches, the Colorado Rocky Mountains and Great Sand Dunes, I finally had the time to rework my exhaust system. I mentioned that I purchased a 21/2" Mgnaflow muffler. Anyway, the first thing was to mock it up under the van and then do some measurements and make cardboard cutouts for the braces I wanted to make. I then cut the braces from 3"x 3/16" metal bar and mounted them on the car and the muffler. I use a marker to mark the position of the two braces and then taped them securely in place. I then removed it and took it to my local muffler shop for welding. The results are in the pictures. Sounds quieter than the old set up and it is EXTREMELY steady. No vibration at all. Of course, time will tell how well it all works. Next Job? Dual Mass flywheel, TDI input shaft and diesel bell housing installation.

[valvecovergasket]

On build based on Waldo's advise we added a second mount to the inlet side, for 3 total, that really firmed it up.
He mentioned just using two - which did appear to be some sort of factory configuration - wasn't sufficient and that the mounts had a tendency of delaminating when side loaded like that which makes sense.
Anyway pics and whatnot are in my build thread but it might be worth considering before you have a failure, just next time you take it apart and have the welder nearby.
_________________
MegaSquirt resource - SpitfireEFI.com

gone, but not forgotten: '83 tdi westy - swap thread

[rmcd]

[dieseltdi]

Since I took the pictures, I have actually added a bolt that goes completely through the muffler brace, the rubber mount and the engine mounts/brackets to keep any side to side movement from delaminating the rubber mounts. I have a small flex joint already in the system just where it goes from 2 ¼" to 2 ½". The sound is much better inside the van and is actually not bad outside. I haven't had it on the road yet but just idling and doing some revs with the throttle, it seems very solid.

[dieseltdi]

Well began the process of installing the dual-mass flywheel, the diesel bell housing and the TDI splined input shaft. I work slow, mostly because I am old but also because I want it to be right the first time. I also had to order a new clutch slave cylinder as my old one ejected its plunger and destroyed its boot all in one move. I will get a new boot and keep it as a spare. Anyway, the first bit of trouble I had was removing the transmission. The adaptor plate I originally used has studs and nuts to fasten to the transmission. It was IMPOSSIBLE to move the transmission forward enough to clear the studs. So.... out came the vice grips and I simply pulled the trans far enough to clear the studs a bit and I unscrewed them from the adaptor plate.I then installed the two piece metal backing plate I got from Brickworks and installed the dual mass assembly. I had already marked it for the NEW TDC mark for the diesel bell housing. More later tonight.

[dieseltdi]

My next adventure was two pronged. First I figured out the my timing belt was off exactly one tooth on the injection pump so I had to correct that. Amazing that the thing ran as well as it did. I will retime it once I get everything back together. The second part was installing the diesel bell housing and clearancing it for the dual mass flywheel. It too me 4 grindings in the same spot to get it right but I didn't want to go to far. I also discovered that because the starter is in a different place on the diesel bell housing that the starter now interfered with my intercooler set up. I laid on my back under the van staring up at it for about 20 minutes trying to work out a solution. It turned out I had enough slack in the setup to move one side up about 2" and got the clearance I needed. I also had to buy a bunch of metric bolts to put everything together. Tomorrow, if the weather will let me, I will pull the air-cooled bell housing and input shaft from the old trans and fit the new input shaft and the diesel bell housing. Things are coming back together slowly.

[dieseltdi]

Got the transmission back in the car. (See my misadventures with the input shaft swap in another thread, boy did I feel stupid!
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=768561) It was SOOOOO much easier than getting it out. I did find a couple of issues that I had to sort out. First the diagonal brace for the slave cylinder bracket was too long so I had to cut, drill and rebend it to fit. I don't know if this is something different between the aircooled bell housing and the diesel housing or it is the result of the adaptor plate for the TDI starter but either way it was an easy fix. Second problem was that the metal line for the slave cylinder was now too long to fit. I "S" curved it a couple of times and made it work but decided to purchase the GOWESTY line that cuts out the metal line and the flex rubber line and replaces it with on long SS covered line. Should give a better feel for the clutch. I will just have to wait for it to arrive before bleeding the clutch system. Tomorrow, if the rain stops, I will reset the timing to get the car running in tip top form. I am hoping to take a two or three day trip in early June once I get everything sorted out.

[dieseltdi]

Well this whole process started weeks ago but is finally finished. The fun included a input shaft that I simply could not remove until I was given so very good advice, then it came out in minutes! Next, the injection pump I had purchased as a rebuild, simply refused to time or run the engine! I replaced it with my original pump....only to find a constant stream of diesel fuel pouring out from the front (injection pipe side) lower left corner. When I say flowing, I mean flowing leading to a constant stream of diesel down the block, down the oil pan and onto the ground! Got another pump, timed everything perfectly, primed it full of fuel and bam, started up nice!!! Set the timing about halfway between the middle line of the TDI timing graph and the top line. So it is a bit advanced for more power. I have installed one of Gowesty's stainless steel clutch slave cylinder hose and boy is it nice. Took it out for a run and everything works great. I still get an occasional drop off in power that has to be something in the tune. When it happens, I just let off on the pedal and then take off again. I will need to run this by the tune provider to see what I can do about it. I still don't like the oil temps, at speed it is steady between 240-250 degrees and that just bothers me. I have a Volvo sandwich plate and will be installing it along with the original small "oil cooler" as soon as I can get all the parts together. I also have a Provent 100 Oil seperator to install with a return to the block so that I never have to drain it or open it to the atmosphere. Once those two items are done, then it is attack the AC and finally get it hooked up properly.

[vwwestyman]

Looking at your intercooler there? Interesting!

What are intake temps like?
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[dieseltdi]

The highest I have seen on full on acceleration, 14lbs plus of boost, is an occasional 200 IAT but it rapidly falls off. I have a tube that brings air from underneath the van to the top of the cooler to provide a bit of extra air flow, the fan is set on pull to bring air through the intercooler. Max EGT seen so far at boost is about 850-900.

[dieseltdi]

BTW, I am really impressed with the quietness of my new muffler set up and the dual mass flywheel seems to have quieted things down also. There is none of the "throbbing" that was present before the clutch swap. Shifts are firm and precise although I still may have some air in the slave cylinder.

[dieseltdi]

Installed the Volvo oil cooler yesterday and was able to take it on the road today. It was 100 degrees F at 1115am when I hit the road first doing some stop and go driving to get the car license and inspection renewed and then took it out on the highway for my test run. Oil temperature never got about 230 degrees. That is a 30 plus degree drop from my previous runs. I was originally going to install the stock oil cooler/heater and then the Volvo sandwich plate but the metal pipe I had was not long enough. So it just has the Volvo sandwich plate and smallish Volvo cooler (see the picture). I mounted the cooler under the van on the passenger side. I need to make some ducting to make sure all the air goes through the cooler instead of around it. Next is a system to spray water on the intercooler to cool it off during boost. Should be able to bring IAT down a bunch. Some experimentation in the driveway seems to indicate a drop of 20-35 degrees at idle. More fun to come.