It all started here;

Planning my next engine LINK

Firstly, I'm certainly NOT the first person to have done this, and it's my first engine swap of any kind, so i'm learning as I go! Questions/comments/suggestions welcome all the way!

Thanks to Pete (mud and diesel) for all the help so far!

So, I decided that the VW 1.9 turbo diesel (AAZ) would fit the bill nicely; economical, easily tuned and readily available (ish); and can be fitted with one of these;

Acme Adapters LINK

I was lucky enough to be in Portland Oregon earlier this year, and had a drive in Jeffs tracker (Yank Vit). He's a top bloke, and I was sold there and then. By chance, not long after, a 2nd hand kit came up for sale. So a few months ago, Me and SWMBO took a trip to sunny Birmingham, to meet up with NZ Racer (thanks Bud, Hope the course was worth it!)





Complete kit with 1.6 TD, and gearbox.

That was all for a while.

Then two weeks ago I picked this up nice and cheap;



It's a bit of a rusty wreck, but the engine has been well maintained, and runs sweet! Just a small oil leak from the valve cover.



It's the 1.9 TD (AAZ) version, almost no electrics, reliable, etc. Easily tunable to 130+ BHP, 35 MPG in a vit...IDEAL!

More to come...

So, I've been doing some shopping in the last few weeks;

300 TDI Radiator;



Similar size to a vit rad but WAAAAY thicker ; Also, the flanges are on the right side fro the conversion - bonus.



The AAZ engines need decent cooling, and these rads are pretty efficient - they've been used by several people in AAZ conversions (thanks Pete!).

And a nice leccy fan too;





All the brackets/plumbing/electrics will be done when the engine is in.

The kit came with a few bits of exhaust, but I though a cherry bomb might help!



Looking into the cherry bomb


The exhaust will be 2" downpipe with 2.25" all the way out the back. I'd normally expect that to deafen, but turbos (apparantly) act as a good muffler by themselves - if it's too loud, I'll stick a muffler in later.

And to keep it all in check, I've ordered one of these:



Madman Gauge LINK

EMS 2, it measures battery charge, engine hours, EGT, oil temp, water temp and pressure (either boost or oil), and low coolant level alarm. Dodgy name, but these are well thought of in landy circles, came from microlights originally, and will help when I come to tune the engine.

I've also got a Rev counter 'magic box' on the way from Acme to get the rev counter working.

Still waiting for some bits to arrive too!

So, today, the AAZ engine came out;

Unmolested;



Firstly, The bonnet came off;


Then clearing all the cables, belts, hoses and ducting away, unbolting driveshafts etc.;


Chain on, ready to lift;


Engine mounts undone, and LIFT!

NOTHING! the front of the car starts to lift but the engine doesn't move... so I undo the 3rd mount and it lifts straight out




And here she is nestled in the garage;



I've some work to do now, the engine needs new belts, and all the bracketry and custom flywheel from the 1.6 TD has to be transferred over.

I have the first week of August off to get the swap done, so it'll be a little quiet until then, but all has gone swimmingly so far!

I was AMAZED how easily the VW came to bits - not a single stripped bolt, no rounded heads, I didn't even need the Plus Gas! This is a 16 year old car! Mr Suzuki could learn a few things!

Cheers Guys!

Subscribed!
VWs are so much nicer to work on arnt they! I just took the turbocharger off my tdi motor and even with 70k on it i did them with a short spanner and without swearing

I like the look of that MadMan gauge & the look of what your upto

I'm in

Well Pete, it's mainly YOUR fault I'm doing this at all!! But yeah, the 4 bolts on the turbo downpipe looked a bit ripe, but with nothing more than a tug, all were off! Awesome.

Thanks Steven. Consider this a 'thankyou' for all your write-ups on Shaky and Snowy!

I'm excited about the madman gauge too - it's remarkably well specced. i can even run the electric fan off it at exactly the temperature I want it to come on at. I'll be measuring water temp, oil temp, volts, EGT, coolant level, and EITHER oil pressure or boost (haven't decided yet!), all in one neat gauge. Only problem, I don't think it'll be here for a while


Trying to figure out where to place it too, new style dash... any suggestions?

A package was waiting for me when I got home



Oil cooler sandwich plate, with thermostat. Opens at 80 degrees so the engine warms up quicker.

The actual cooler should be here tomorrow

MMMMMM shiny Oh and here you go And i hope jeff doesnt mind but ive included a pic from his site, When you pull your relay check it has the corresponding pins to the drawing.
Pete

Just noticed on your pic that you have two solid red wires connected to your glow plug bus bar

*EDIT* Apologies to eveyone for the next few posts - I've been taking the Golf wiring to bits tonight - trying to get the glowplug reheat circuit out - Pete is helping me figure it out!




As I feared, the relays in mine are NOTHING like that.. I'd been working off Jeffs Diagram.

The relay in position 12 (where the glowplug relay should be) has only 4 terminals... I'll have to have another look tomorrow.

The 2 wires on the busbar run into the loom, but actually splice into one larger wire. this runs straight into the fusebox wiring plugs.

weird.

Ok, damn im rusty relay 103 should have 5 terminals two small ones l/n to activate the coil two big uns in/out to the glow plugs and i presume the small one is for the dash light, Dont worry if you cant remove the plug the relay goes into, as you can use spade connectors and make your own loom. Does yours look like this?

OOoooo, possibly, it's certainly white, I could easily have mis-counted the number of terminals...

So would that relay self time/ cut off? and I assume it wouldn't need the temp sender from the block either?

Certainly simple, but too simple?

I like simple.

Right, after stripping EVERY wire, fuse and relay from the golf to sort the damn glowplug relay (relayS as it turns out...) I've decided to make the glowplug loom from scratch - it's actually easier this way. I'll buy the right glowplug relay.

Anyways, some more bits arrived today ;

16v clutch kit from Calder Clutches - £51 delivered ordered at 15.00 yesterday, here midday today!



10 row oil cooler;


More tomorrow.

Looks good so far matey.