VW Diesel

[BlownMGB-V8]

Matthew has claimed the '74-1/2 roadster and wants to swap in a VW Turbodiesel. So we need some help sorting out the issues. Apparently this engine is a popular swap into Samurai and Toyotas but I've heard the later ones have an anti theft system that is impossible to circumvent.

He will be ready to pull the old engine by Monday and then we will be ready to go junkyarding, so we could really use some help figuring out what donor vehicles to look for.

His goals are fuel mileage and a modest performance improvement. At this stage he is not concerned with appearance or handling but I think it would be wise not to compromise possible future upgrades. The axle will remain stock for now so a tall overdrive ratio in the tranny should be an advantage.

The second most crucial bit of information we need right now (after donor info) deals with transmission choice, including what adapters might be needed and who sells them, as well as the cost. I would much prefer not to make a custom adapter this time around. He prefers a standard but will consider automatic if there is a particularly good choice.

Thanks in advance for the help. I'll see if I can get him registered on this site and participate in this thread.

Jim

Incidentally, Dave, my older son, is also interested in building a car, starting after he pays off his auto loan in about a year. So we will be in the market for a solid roller at a good price at some point. I do not know what direction he will take on the build however, so engine choice and such is an unknown.

[mgb260]

Jim, I have a current thread on MGExperience board with all the info you need to make your own 22R Toyota adapter. Do a search and you will find the older original thread. ACME has adapters for the Toyota and Samurai trans.Samurai trans is more suited to low power versions.

[Dan B]

So he's actually working on the car!!! Cool. That's got to be exciting for you.

[BlownMGB-V8]

Indeed! In fact we actually pulled the engine today, and the real big surprise was that it had an overdrive! So Matthew is very excited about that. Just out of curiosity has anyone tried mating that tyranny to the VW engine? I know there are probably better choices, and perhaps it would even be possible to sell and buy the other and come out ahead but right now we just need information.

Jim, I don't go to MGE very much anymore, but Matthew may want to check out that link. What I'm mostly interested in at this point is what cars are good donors. We will try to make a junkyard run next week sometime.

Jim

[Dan B]

http://tdiclub.com/

[Scott Costanzo]

A good friend and former co-worker has a Golf TDI, I think a 2001-2002 model. It was amazingly quick. Matthew will be surprising a lot of people with it. My friend had a tune done which he said made a big difference. He beats on it and still averages over 45 mpg!

[mgb260]

94-98 1.9 TDI in Golf,Jetta,Passat have much simpler wiring, Newer ones you should take key and instument cluster wiring due to Immobilizer. The MGExperience  thread has cad drawings,pilot bearing dimensions,flywheel mods,starter info etc. Also a dyno chart with 300+ HP and 500+ Torque. All of that info is from a FourRunner swap. Some 84-88 Toyota 22RE 2WD pickups had the W55 tranny(small Toyota pattern) that had a better first gear.The R150 (Large Toyota pattern like R154,Solstice/Colorado truck)has a truck granny first. Samurai/Sidekick 5 speed would be good for mild build TDI. You can get the Acme kit (Toyota or Suzuki)for $500-800. TDI club board has lots of info http://forums.tdiclub.com/forumdisplay.php?f=63

[MGB-TDI]

Hello all pleased to meet you on the forums. I am excited about this build and would appreciate any help you could offer. I'm four days in and ive already got the motor out so things seem to be going smoothly. I will be cleaning the car out next and am getting closer to the point where i need to find an engine. While i am doing my own research on what car to get it out of i would greatly appreciate any additional information as i undoubltedly will miss something. Thank you for taking the time to read this forum on my B and i hope you can leave me with some help.

-Matt

[mgb260]

Matthew, Sounds like a great father/son project. You guys can document it here on the project page. Checkout my TDI thread on MGExperience. You and your dad can make that simple adapter.

[Moderator]

It's great to see you here Matthew! Welcome.

When you get a little further along, I hope you'll start a thread in the Project Journal section. (Have you checked it out yet? Lots of inspiration can be found there.)  With your VW conversion you'll be breaking new ground. I'm sure we'll all be interested excited to follow your progress.

[MGB-TDI]

Just thought that it would be a good idea to post a picture or two of the car so you can all see how much work i have to go. Thank you for making me feel welcome that is kind of you. Also note that although the TDI engine is fwd this will be a rwd vehicle as a fwd MGB is just WRONG. I'm not doing a full restoration on this car and my goal is simply to get this on the road. Then i can later finish restoring it. Currently i am in the process of cleaning up the car and then pressurewashing it, and will have another photo of it clean, although i am suprised at how good condition it is in terms of the minimal bodywork i will need to do. The car is mostly straight and the rust is all surface rust except for one the floor panels and a spot behind the rear wheel on the passenger side, both of which i have replacement parts for. (The previous owner was in the process of restoring it so i have almost all of the parts i need to repair the body already.) I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the photos, my camera's resolution is negative 0 and im not the best photographer. Also i will try to get a photo of the entire car instead of simply parts of it, but i wasnt thinking at the time. The first picture is the engine and transmission, the second is the empty engine compartment, and the third is a picture of a corner of the car, my work area, and the sheer amount of parts i have pulled out so far. Note that the parts underneath the bench were mostly cut off. Thank you for reading this incredibly long message, and im glad i can type fast.

-Matt

[BlownMGB-V8]

Jim, Matthew said he'd seen your thread in his research so after a fair bit of digging I found it. The plate looks pretty simple and with your dimensions should be easy to lay out and drill. Aluminum plate should be just fine I think, and much easier to cut the circular section.

I gather that anything later than mid 90's will require a hack. Any idea how much those guys charge? I sort of agree with Bill S. (As hard as it is to admit to agreeing with him about anything ;-) that newer is better.

We also have the possible option of trading Dan B for his TR-7 5speed, but of course that will mean using the TR bellhousing. But if the T-5 uses the same pattern that might be a better way to go anyway. I am not at all familiar with the Toyota manual gearboxes.

Jim

[mgb260]

Glad to be of help! You have to get Matthew a good camera to document the progress. The engine can be found in new Beetle's also. All the info I have is for the proven Toyota swap. You would be on your own with the TR7 5 speed. The biggest problem is starter interference with the low mount turbo. There is an aftermarket gear reduction one you can clock. There is a Stage 2 chip flash for the ECU that adds 60 HP and 100Ftlbs Torque. Check the vendors on TCI club board. Mark(RockyMountainMGB) on the other board is doing a 2004 swap and plans a chip upgrade. If looking for the right bellhousing out of Toyota pickup, you need the one for a 4 cylinder 22R. The Turbo version has the large R pattern,the NA has the small W pattern. Best small pattern transmission is W58 out of Celica Supra,W55 is more common and found in a few pickups also. Large pattern R154 is found in 90's Supra. Large pattern MA5 is in Solstice(shifter about 3-4" too far back) Colorado/Canyon(shifter about 3-4" too far forward). There is an article on the web showing how to move the shifter back(Supra) on the Colorado. Those tranny's use same input length and splines as GM T5 and TH350 output yoke. Looks like you could shorten the mount on the Solstice to move it forward also.

[mgb260]

Jim, On aluminum for the adapter, a few have tried and went to steel as it is only 3/8" thick.

[mgb260]

New option, VW to GM T5 for $599. Says to use internal throwout bearing but you could cut a window,make a pivot and use T5 mounted aftermarket slave. Also Passat intake moves Turbo forward for more starter clearance.

http://www.jegs.com/i/Quick+Time+BellHousing/698/RM-4082/10002/-1

[MGB-TDI]

First of all i would like to thank all of you for the flood of options i have been given, and also the recommendation to use steel for the adapter, as i was worried about how structurally sound it would have been with aluminum.  I'll be pressurewashing the car today, a couple of days behind schedule, but we had a couple of conflicts so not much could be done about that. I still need to take off the door to the glovebox, which the DPO took the latch out of for no real apparent reason... ?, and the valence, which is heavily damaged. Then i can finally get the pressurewasher out and hope i dont kill anything/anyone.

-Matt

P.S.- I will try to have before and after photos of the car in the evening.

[Dan B]

Hey Matt,

When you post those new pics, why don't you start a new thread over on the MG forum, so all the MG enthusiasts will see what you are up to.  Then when you have discussions and questions specifically about the power train, bring that up over here.  This forum tends to be more technical in nature, and as such does not get as much reader traffic as the main MG forum does.  I think a lot of people will be interested.

; )

Dan B

[MGB-TDI]

I'll set up a new forum soon for the less technical details of the car on the general MG forums. I went to the junkyard and looked at all of their VWs, and nothing. Not a single TDI. Simply means that i must peruse a few other junkyards on the internet until i run across one, or find a TDI engine at a reasonable price elsewhere. Apparently the TDI in the states is much less popular than the gasoline, or the TDIs dont end up in the junkyards because they are of a higher value. (The TDI engine adds significanly to the cost of the car, being the most expensive option to my knowledge available on VWs.) Well, hopefully i can do some research and get some luck. A full picture of the car will be posted on the new thread as soon as I get to making it.

-Matt

[ex-tyke]

Matthew, try an engine search on this wrecking yard site....
 http://car-part.com/

[74ls1tr6]

Welcome Matthew,

 It was great to meet you in person at the Palestine TX meet. Let me know the engine you truly want. I will ask my brother who is a VW bus nut. He has tons of connections all over the world as he ships VW buses over to Ireland all the time. If I have an idea of what engine you are looking for, maybe he can locate one through his vast amount of contacts.

I do remember talking to you about this at the meet. Engine of choise? TDI? I will shoot my brother an email to get some answers of where to look and good price!

Calvin

[Bill Young]

Great to see that you are joining us Matthew. I find that Craigslist and the Pick-N-Pull sites are very helpful in looking for a donor engine or trans.
http://www.picknpull.com/check_inventory.aspx
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/
Also Search Tempest will search craigslist all over the country in one search, neat tool.
http://www.searchtempest.com/

[MGB-TDI]

I would like to clarify to everyone that the VW diesel i am going to use is the TDI engine. This is due to the fact that it combines good horsepower, torque and mpg. Also, my mom would kill me if i got a V8, but lets not get into that . My budget is low, so money is very definitely a concern. If you do find anything Calvin, I would be quite greatful, as finding a TDI engine is not easy in the states. Looked through 20+ newer model VWs in the junkyard and every one of them was gasoline. I'm starting a new thread in the general MG forum right after this post. Internet research has turned up a few TDIs, but I'm still trying to find the best deal. Wish me luck .

-Matt

[MGB-TDI]

Thanks for the search engines Bill, I've been looking to find a broader way to browse Craigslist and Pick-N-Pull. Going to each individual Pick-N-Pull's site takes serious time xD.

-Matt

[mgb260]

Matthew, car-part.com and picnpull.com have lots if you look at Golf,Beetle,Passat and Jetta 1.9 Turbo Diesel. Look for 94 and up, good runner or under 100,000 miles. Not cheap though at $1500-2500 for most. Did you know the block is aluminum and the entire engine only weighs 280 lb!

[danmas]

Also, my mom would kill me if i got a V8, but lets not get into that

Mathew,

Funny you should mention that. I'm going to give my V8 to my grandson (you remember Nico), but both his mom and his grandma said they'd kill me if I gave it to him before he's 25. Your mom would probably not kill you, but I'm sure she'd kill your dad (and your uncle too)!