Transverse mount mid-engine AHU diesel build thread - more pics

[leecat]

Lol - I don't know the first thing about 4-wheel steering, never even considered it as an option.

It did hurt me to cut apart a perfectly good ZF rack and use the stainless innards, but it works well using the OEM Jetta tie-rods for wheel adjustment.

I'd love a twin rad setup underneath, but not sure if I'd have the room - the solid portion of the shifter linkage between the twinned cables is large and eats up a lot of the belly on the right-hand side - plus there's the radiator and heater core lines running under there, plus the intercooler and shielding. Not much left for open space. On the plus side, no e-brake cables - electric calipers are great and a very easy mod.

And yes, I took one look at the cost of rebuilding a stock crappy 4-speed bus transmission (or buying one thrown together with the best of 30-year-old parts out of the scrap heap) and said, "No thanks". Plus after reading a ton of threads where various rebuilder warranties were as good as a steerage ticket on the Titanic, there was just no way I was going that route. I want six modern cheap transmissions in every wrecking yard I pass while travelling.

Thanks for the comments - haven't gotten to the e-brake pics, but SOON!

Oh - as an aside, to replace the engine/trans the whole back deck comes off and you have to load the engine into the side sliding door, then move the engine hoist to the rear and hook it, carry it rearward, and lower it into position. There is not enough clearance through the back hatch to put the engine through it, and of course unlike original you can't go in from underneath and raise it because of the Jetta crossmember under there.

Not too awful to do, just a side effect of the architecture of it.

[vwwestyman]

Hmm, that sounds like a pain!

I wonder if what's left of the Bus frame could be beefed up, and then you could bolt in the Jetta sub frame? They are bolted in to the car originally.
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

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

[tristessa]

[vwwestyman]

[flyboy705]

Super awesome build, Leecat !
I did a '86 Vanagon with an ALH similar to yours. Maybe we could exchange ideas and experiences to solve issues ?

[Zeitgeist 13]

This is the swap we've been looking for...

_________________
Casey--

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

[Diesel_jr]

Wowza! This was perfect that I found this when I did. I am working on a very similar project and almost gave up on transverse mounting until I found your post. I have my mk4 Jetta hacked into pieces in my garage. Today I did some additional measuring and it seemed like it wouldn’t be practical at all… but honestly the space I am losing will be under the bench seat anyway.

So we have had the Jetta for ages. I bought it over a decade ago with a 2.0 and I HATED it. The engine died and I did an ALH TDI a swap and drove it for years. The engine and transmission have about 109K on them, so loads of life left.

I also didn’t like the transmission options and wanted to be able to get parts fairly easily, so that was what led my to this swap. I have been a samba member for ages, but couldn’t remember my username and I had an old email… so here I am with the newbie stamp, lol.

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[TDCTDI]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

his commentary on every fucking swap other than VW powered is useless. ok...he hates everything non vw....fine. give it a fucking break. he goes out of his way to make some shitbag comment in every thread...subaru/bostig/etc.

you know...you work on them. VAG stopped making decent platforms in 2005 as far as i'm concerned. they are all plastic self destructing garbage.
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[TDCTDI]

[TDCTDI]

To the OP, since you have cut out the rear torsion housing & frame rails that support the body beyond the torsion housing, did you do anything to tie the structure back together or are you relying on the Jetta strut towers spot welded to the wheel tubs for this structure?
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[leecat]

Sorry to be late seeing this! Nothing is spot-welded, it's all solid weld - the major strength point though is actually the heavy tube front-end of the frame welded to the main van crossmember, essentially providing the same frame strength but in the opposite direction, if that makes sense. I used 1/2" plate steel (if memory serves) beneath both the original frame and crossmember as an additional tie-in. The Jetta strut towers being welded in are mostly cosmetic - the assembly was solid before that was complete.

Shoot - realized on looking through the photos that I don't have one that includes that frame-to-crossmember attachment point. This pic is probably the one that shows the most; at least you can see where the front of the rail attaches. The plate steel also went underneath the bottom of the frame rail, then forward under the crossmember.

A note to anyone doing something similar - while it's out, cut and relocate the coolant reservoir mounting bracket 90* back on the strut tower. The coolant bottle lid as stock sits way too close to the deck to be able to fill. Rotating it back will put it underneath the hatch.

[Ohio_Style]

I'm glad this isn't totally dead. Do you have any photos of the shift linkage setup?
_________________
Matt Johnson

Slammed Thing
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9278729#9278729
Lifted Split Bus Build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=738403

[78BusGA]

Yes I am curious about that too, as well as your dashboard/steering column set up. This is very compelling work.

Also, have you added any rear end crash strength to not have the fuel tank not be an easy victim?
_________________
Few will understand the passion and majesty, among the nuts and grease.

Tom H.

My '74 Super 1303 thread - https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764902&start=60

My '78 Kombi Bus thread - https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=769385&highlight=

'72 Superbeetle (retired), '78 Bus Kombi 2.0FI, '74 1303 Superbeetle

[leecat]

Sorry guys, I should check in here more often - I'm always over on the Vanagon forum.

Hard to get good pics under there, but that pic is the rear underbody portion of the linkage, where it connects to the rear set of shift cables (that then curve up under the powertrain to the transmission).

There are two sets of identical factory cables, one front and one rear - the assembly looks like this:

The threaded rod is necessary because the adjustments are minute to say the least - 1/4 turn of thread makes vast adjustments in the overall shifting.

The rod inserts need to be sleeved with plastic or teflon inserts or you get a ton of shifting 'clunk' from the assembly. Just an inch of insert at each end solves the issue.

The Jetta dash is almost a straight bolt-in, believe it or not. I had to trim about 1/4 inch of the curve off the front to get a good fit to the van windshield, and if I remember correctly I had to build a couple brackets to secure it.

The steering column was pretty simple and is a combo of van (lower), Saturn electric steering assembly (center), and Jetta (upper). If I had to do it again I would have used a Toyota p/s electric rig, as apparently some models have a 'fail-safe' mode that doesn't require a computer - I'm less than impressed with Saturn's computer setup, it slowly moves out of adjustment on rough roads (which ends with it whipping the steering wheel hard to the right almost out of your hands on hard bumps) and you have to disassemble the computer and adjust it with the smallest screwdriver known to man, and even with the Internet that how-to info is wicked hard to find.

I didn't add any additional reinforcement on the rear for the fuel tank, being a diesel. If it was much-more-flammable gasoline in that tank I probably would recommend it.

Hope some of that is of interest - I'll try checking in more often!

P.S.: If you're doing this, do yourself a favour and go with an automatic transmission; I think that would be about 80% less headache-inducing on the build.