Adventure Build - 1983 Westfalia TDi Restomod

[CakeDiesel]

Hello Samba!

I've decided to post my next big build thread right here on theSamba. I've taken a wealth of information out of this forum, so I would like to contribute back.

So...I've recently acquired a pretty stanky old 1983 westfalia. Mostly everything works and the little rust it has is manageable. It runs great, but the automatic is pooched. Great candidate for a swap.

Pros: Originally from California
Originally "Medium Blue" (lh5g). Now a roll-on tremclad special
~200km on odo
Runs and drives
Factory A/C
Large pile of receipts
Everythings there

Cons: Wee bit of rust
Interior is clapped
Air cooled automatic (This should be illegal)
Stanks


"The Plan"

Remove the original 2.0 air cooled and automatic drive-train. A 1.9 ALH TDi engine, set at 50 degrees, bolted to a manual transmission will then be installed using a custom engine and trans carrier. A passat 012 transmission, DVZ code, will be adapted to work with the bus and porsche 944 axles used to accommodate the increase in CV angles. A custom cable shift mechanism will be used with a Porsche boxster style linkage.

The non-existent cooling system will then be added, based around the OE liquid cooled system with maybe a custom fan. A/C system will be overhauled and put to the test.

To achieve optimal gearing, as well as increase engine ground clearance, larger tires will be installed. I will be shooting to go as large as possible at stock height, which sounds around 225/75r16 (29"). Some minor trimming will likely happen.

Camping! Shakedown! My wife and I are hoping to have this running and reliable for camping season next summer. We are located on beautiful Vancouver Island B.C. and although expensive, we have endless beautiful campsites and hikes. We are hoping to use this van to maximize our use of this.

Finally, the body and interior will be restored to showroom shape. All rust 100% removed and repainted back to original color. Camping accessories and upgrades will be added as seen fit.

Final Goal
An "expedition" ready, logging road/minor off-road capable rig with ~150HP and ~275ft-lb and 30+ US MPG. Reliability will be key as we are hoping to go out to some very remote locations. It's a lot to ask from a 35 year old toaster, but here we go. Enjoy some pics.

[/i]

[Stuartzickefoose]

SWEET!!


Exactly what I wish I was able to do these days...

Pm sent about that engine...
_________________
Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[MayorMcCheese]

Is an aircooled auto with A/C a rare combo? I've not seen many.

[CakeDiesel]

[CakeDiesel]

So I managed to track down a written off 2001 beetle with an automatic and ALH combo. This is the best combo for a swap, as the automatic comes with a larger 11mm plunger in the injection pump vs the manuals 10mm. This allows for a nice bump in HP alone.

Only 140k(87mi) on the car too!

Engine was really caked in oil and mung. I got way too excited and forgot to clean the engine before I pulled it. 0/10 do not recommend.

After a solid pressure wash it started to come back to life.

Stripped it down to the long block, let the garage therapy begin.

If you haven't heard of oven cleaner, I've found it hard to beat.
I use the "easy off" brand but any standard oven cleaner works well.
Its fine on aluminum but pretty aggressive so don't let it sit too long as it will turn dark grey.

Oh also elbow grease. Lots of elbow grease.

Almost ready for dinner

[rmcd]

Are you planning on doing and innercooler. Air to air or water?

Are you planning on sticking with the OEM turbo or upgrading?

Looking forward to your build!
_________________
VW LT40 build. Like a Vanagon but 30% larger in every direction and 40% slower even in metric.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=749359&highlight=

[leecat]

Really looking forward to the Passat manual trans install being documented - that's on my short list to do as well so I'm eager to see any and all Passat mods. Surprised more people aren't going that route because it seems delicious.

[dobryan]

_________________
Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[valvecovergasket]

In!

Really curious to see how it all goes with that transmission

[CakeDiesel]

Hey rmcd,

I have a water to air system planned out. I might try to integrate the intercooler into the manifold as I have seen on a few tdi's but it will all come down to packaging. Bell intercoolers has a nice range of core sizes for this sort of thing.

As far as the turbo goes, im shooting for ~150hp/275ft-lb which is a bit out of range for the stock vnt15. So far the vnt17 (gt1749vb) is the best candidate, but I have heard of a few conversions having issues with the engine layed over 50 degrees and the stock low mount style turbo. Apparently, some have found a light oil haze at idle from the turbo drain not draining as well when cold. Need to do some more digging into that though. If it is an issue ill go with a high mount turbo, likely a bv43 or similar.

The Passat transaxle is an awesome candidate and im excited to see how it feels. Happy to see a few of you are on the same track. No shortage of guys putting these behind v8's and gt40 style kit cars

I hummed back and fourth about using the stock 4spd bus trans for months and even reached out to a few suppliers such as weddle, rancho and AA transaxle. All great guys but I didn't get much confidence with any of the suppliers regarding putting a tuned TDi infront of the stock trans with taller tires. In all honesty, I think the community puts too much faith in the 091/094 design, especially the syncro guys. Shots fired

[Zeitgeist 13]

VW should've had Steyr-Puch modify one of the existing Quattro transmission housings when they designed the Syncro. The inherent weaknesses of the 091 design were already known at the time.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[MarkWard]

You've taken on a lot. I will be impressed if you have this done by spring. I am running an ALH from a manual NB. It is mated to a regeared 091/1 4 speed with stock CVs. Engine is stock with the exception of slightly larger nozzles. The van has proved reliable and has more power than I can use. MPG is well within your target.

It was a ton of work. Lots of custom fabrication. Plan on getting a 1/3rd of what you planned to get done in a day. Looking forward to watching your progress.
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☮️

[CakeDiesel]

Alright folks,

Sorry for the hiatus, had some perimeter drains/boring non-VW big house projects taking up my time lately. I am still 100% dedicated to see this though. So without further delay, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Since we left off, I have hammered out few outstanding items.

One of the bigger items is the motor resfreshed and ready for install. As I mentioned earlier, with only 87mi on the donor engine it was pretty well ready to go. As preventative maintenance I changed out the T-belt, camshaft, clutched alternator pulley, serp tensioner, lifters and anything made of plastic. Looking for 10-15yr trouble free service from this unit.

I found some wicked nylon bristle wire-wheel drill attachments that worked a charm taking the oxide layer off of the aluminum and giving the cast parts a nice finish. A bit of red scotchbrite and some elbow grease on the flat surfaces brought the old lump right back to its glory days.

[CakeDiesel]

I wasn't able to get to the wreckers for quite awhile, so I started picking away at the cooling system portion of the conversion. There are a few good resources on air to water cooled conversion but the overall process is pretty simple.

Heater Core Install

This is pretty straight forward. Removal of the dash on these vans is pretty honest, only tricky part is its the dash is metal and fairly large and heavy. I will be repainting the dash, so I was able to haul it out myself. You may need a hand if you want to avoid scratches. There are some funky shear bolts that hold the lower steering column to the dash. A good set of vicegrips worked on taking mine out and they were pretty seized.

Once the dash is out, remove the clips holding the heater box together and install the heater core in the lower portion of the heater box. I had quite a time sourcing a heater core and ended up paying a pretty penny for the one from GoWesty. VW cores are discontinued and the main Thermex/Behr replacements are apparently junk. I paid the premium to avoid the headaches. (Besides the ones my wife gives after seeing more Vanagon purchases!)

The GoWesty heater core seems like top quality. Definitely better than the rest of the stuff I got through them. I have to say, they have been OK at resolving my issues at least.

GoWesty Heater Core

I took this opportunity to replace my blower motor with new one and perform the Jeep airbox resistor mod. Check it out on the forums if you are doing this.

Heater Core Installed in Aircooled Heater Box.

Only a simple modification is needed to get the heater core in the box. The lower air distribution flaps are too long for the heater core to fit. These will need to be trimmed flush with the rod that holds them at the top. You can see the piece I removed below.

Lower Flaps Trimmed

The airbox has a "dummy" heater core made of plastic that needs to be removed and simply replaced with the real heater core.

The only other real challenge was the heated air return at the bottom of the heater box had to be sealed off as well. I had some scrap poly laying around that I plastic welded to the heater box inlet using an old soldering gun, it worked perfectly.

Ready to blow some heat!

[valvecovergasket]

definitely in for progress!

we bought our 83 diesel with the intent to tdi swap this fall, and i just finished chopping up a mk4 alh as well
_________________
MegaSquirt resource - SpitfireEFI.com

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

[CakeDiesel]

Alright managed to get to the wreckers to get some essential pieces

1) DVX code transmission from B5 passat ("Cheap as chips" as the UK guys say)

2) Pedal cluster from manual trans westy

The Donor (RIP)

There are a few threads on the issues with some vans ovaling out the hole in the clutch pedal where the clevis pin from the clutch master cylinder goes. This is a good time to check it and give it a clean and lube. Mine must have been from a low km van as it still a perfect circle.

Also, I nabbed the brake reservoir from the new van with the pedal cluster. I had a chance to swap that over as well. Check out the mung in the old brake reservoir! Don't forget to regularly flush that brake fluid folks.

Finally, my second favorite pedal is bolted in. Still having a hard time drinking the ATF kool-aid.

[CakeDiesel]

On another front, the adapter design has been humming.

Anyone intimate with the details of a proper engine adapter knows, the most critical detail is the alignment of the crank to trans centerline. Getting this tolerance in spec is much harder than most DIY'ers realize and I have to say -the majority of adapter plates I see (even the pretty ones) could not have the crankshaft runout within spec by design. Usually this is due to omitting the dowel pins completely OR using countersunk bolts to locate the adapter plate. The industry rule of thumb is a max bellhousing runout of 0.004 to 0.006". For reference, the average width of a human hair is 0.004"

As an interesting piece of history, early GM smallblock engine/transmissions had trouble holding this tolerance to a point that the engineers at GM decided to use eccentric dowel pins. Once the bellhousing was snugged against the block, the eccentric dowel pins could be rotated to dial in the relationship of the trans/engine centerline. Fortunately, CNC machining came in shortly after and that was that.

There are many great articles on the importance of trans alignment, one of the best I have found is from silversport transmissions. Advance adapters also has some good reference material.

https://shiftsst.com/articles/bellhousing-dial-in

Alright, class dismissed!

The adapter plate design is complete and there were some interesting challenges created by using the TDi and flipped trans together.

1) The engine layed at the factory 20 degrees created a collision with the trans dowel pins. As seen above using both dowel pins is critical for proper trans alignment. I was initially planning an upright swap, but it looks like this one is going be layed over at 50 degrees like the older diesel vans. This creates some more work down the road, but at least I should have some good engine cover clearance.

2) On the passat the starter motor bolts to the trans, which is now flipped. As the starter is now 150deg out, a small starter adapter needs to be created which will bolt to the adapter plate. Not a big deal, again just a bit more work in the design phase.

The benefits of this setup are there is no skimming of the bellhousing like some adapters require. If there was ever an issue with the transmission down the road, another could be plucked from the wrecker for a couple hundred and away we go. Hell, a 6 speed could even be slapped on if I want to change up the ratios later on or I get crazy with the tuning. Lots of guys running over 400-500hp infront of both the 5 and 6 speeds

TDi to 012 Adapter

Adapter

Adapter with Engine and Trans

Starter Attached

[CakeDiesel]

About 2 years in the build now and a long time since an update.

We had our first daughter so new posts and work on the van really slowed down for a bit. Fortunately, I was able to sneak in some time during the short parental leave I took with my wife.

Overall the build has gone really well. Only minor hangups were an incredibly frustrating turbo oil drain issue I came across. I tried to use a passat gt1749va turbo on a longitudinal manifold. Even though I had 3 or 4 inches of vertical, the oil had to travel too far horizontally to drain properly. Tried everything for weeks on this, short of a scavenge pump, and ended up just buying a brand new VNT17.

Im happy to answer and questions if there are any but this will likely just turn into a bit of picture dump thread.

Enjoy!

[CakeDiesel]

Tdi from VW beetle - VNT17, nozzles and tune soon to follow. Looking for 150hp and 300ft lb. Battery relocated to rear of bus, everything wired through stand alone fuse box behind battery.

[CakeDiesel]

Inverted passat gearbox. 930 chromoly axles with custom adapters.