2002 VW ALH tdi into 88 pickup
01-12-2018, 07:04 AM
#1
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2002 VW ALH tdi into 88 pickup
I know the ALH swap isn't really a new thing, but it looked like a pretty cool package, so I went ahead and did it. I looked at the available kits (and I'm not knocking anyones stuff here) but the one thing I didn't see was the use of the OEM alignment dowels and locations for trans and adapter mounting. And I didn't want to drill holes in the flywheel. I work at a machine shop that makes a lot of this kinda thing, so we decided to just dimension the trans and back of the engine and the stack, and make everything (it is available now as a kit).
Well, let me back up a bit, and say that what really got the project going was my lack of maintaining the truck, the timing chain-- which to be fair, gave me lots of warning-- machined it's way through the front cover and filled the pan with coolant. While it was running. I could've just fixed t, but the whole tdi thing had been stewing for a while, so that was what really made the decision to go ahead with it.
I didn't have a donor VW so all my stuff came in pieces for salvage yards, Craigslist, Ebay, etc.... Engine was easy to source, (car-part.com), found it at Tuscarora in (I think) Ohio. Engine wiring harness however, I got from ebay and it wasn't complete, so more salvage yard shopping for the missing connectors. I took the chunks of harness and stripped em down and just built one on the bench.
Well, let me back up a bit, and say that what really got the project going was my lack of maintaining the truck, the timing chain-- which to be fair, gave me lots of warning-- machined it's way through the front cover and filled the pan with coolant. While it was running. I could've just fixed t, but the whole tdi thing had been stewing for a while, so that was what really made the decision to go ahead with it.
I didn't have a donor VW so all my stuff came in pieces for salvage yards, Craigslist, Ebay, etc.... Engine was easy to source, (car-part.com), found it at Tuscarora in (I think) Ohio. Engine wiring harness however, I got from ebay and it wasn't complete, so more salvage yard shopping for the missing connectors. I took the chunks of harness and stripped em down and just built one on the bench.
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SomedayJ (02-11-2019)
01-12-2018, 07:14 AM
#2
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The kit has an adapter for the OEM Toyota flywheel, and uses the factory bearing. Bolts are longer than the stock ones--from ARP. The adapter plate has the dowels included for the plate to engine and the trans-to plate. There is a spacer that goes between the Toyota starter and the adapter plate to put the starter at the same location it was in the truck. It's just stock replacement flywheel from Napa, or Autozone, or Advanced--one them chain stores. My clutch wasn't really that old, so it went back in.
01-17-2018, 05:58 AM
#3
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Started on the motor mounts. I wanted to keep the OEM Toyota mounts and I wanted to use the bolt bosses on the side of the TDI motor--but it looks like they aren't used for anything when the engine is in the car, so, ran a bottom tap through the holes. Base plate for the driver side looked pretty straightforward, just flat plate, then a an angled span down to the Toyota mount. Dimensioned the hole spacing, and 3D printed a test piece. The bolt bosses aren't on the same plane, so there are little spacers built in. Passenger side was a different, the bolt boss planes are very different, so the base plate had to be formed, then an angle span down.
01-17-2018, 06:18 AM
#4
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This is the basic package for the engine side. Dr side on the right, pass side on the left. Now just gotta put it in the truck and get the frame halves done.
01-19-2018, 10:03 AM
#5
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So, some fitment issues. Moved the engine trans forward about 2 inches to leave room to be able to service the vac pump at the back of the head, and get coolant lines off and on. Had to do a little clearance grinding on the edge of the A/C pump bracket, and then trimmed some off he frame side mounting pad. The driver side frame mount had to go back a few inches, so the mounting plate has a leg welded on, and one hole drilled in the frame to get a second bolt in there.
01-25-2018, 08:54 AM
#6
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With the engine moved far enough ahead to make room to get the vac pump off the back of the engine, and low enough to shut the hood, the oil pan now doesn't clear the front diff. I'm not a fan of adding lift, but the only only one I could find that relocates the IFS diff down, is the 4.5 inch kit from Rough Country. With it's installed it does clear the pan---lots of room-- the steering is close, but nothing touches. There is a bracket to relocate the steering stab down into one of the abandoned IFS mount holes. The drive shaft needed a 1.75" spacer (from Summit)
02-08-2018, 06:20 AM
#7
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Next. Since the engine trans package is moved forward couple inches, the next thing was to add the little trans mount adapter plate to the cross member. It's a weld-in part. The plate is the template for the new holes and the section that gets cut out. Once it's all fit it can be welded into place.
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04-05-2018, 05:52 PM
#8
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In another thread in this forum, a guy is installing at 2.8 Cummins crate Engine in a similar truck. It is fun to watch, but it is way beyond my budget. What you are doing here makes way more sense to me. The Cummins cost $9000 and puts out 161 hp and 267 lb-ft. It comes with a wiring harness, ECU and maybe even an alternator and a power steering pump, and is emissions legal. Just down the street from me, a wrecking yard has a used Volkswagen BHW, four cylinder, 2.0 L diesel engine out of a Passat. I can buy the whole package for around $800. For another $500 I can throw a tune on it and get it to produce 180 hp and 305 ft lb. It’s clear which direction I need to go. I was going to rebuild my 3.0 or swap in a 3.4 or even a 4.0 1UZFE V8, but all that is behind me now. 180 hp, 305 ft lbs, 30+ mpg and 500,000 mile engine life for around $2000 seems to me to be an unbeatable combo.
Last edited by wrenchtech; 04-05-2018 at 06:03 PM.
04-06-2018, 06:05 AM
#9
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I actually work at a shop that does R2.8 conversions, but I totally get the budget/result perspective. I went the same route, $600.00 salvage yard tdi and started building from there. The whole package is actually done, and all the parts are available as a kit (bare bones or comprehensive) i've just been pretty terrible lately about updating things. I have a 3.0 truck in the shop right now, and it looks like it can be done with no lift if the pan is modified (or build a steel pan) to go around that front diff.
In the 88 I'm running a Malone Stage 2 tune, stock turbo, stock everything really. I did get the Flashzilla though with a Stage 3 for the next phase of the project. Got it up and running and then took it all back apart to do a RUF straight axle swap and 63 inch Chev rears (total no-budget build once again). I have a 2 piece manifold and turbo from an Audi and nozzles from Dynomite Diesel plus the bigger 11mm pump, so once the suspension is all back under the truck I'll get everything on the engine and see how it works. There should be a pic of the truck finished. The other pic the tdi is in the 3.0 truck. It will sit in there so the oil pickup is level (it's a little crooked in the pic), and it looks like there's plenty of room to just mod the pan and it'll work. At least that's what I'm gonna try. The 3.0 adapter is a bit more of a challenge. It's an 8 bolt flywheel to 6 bolt tdi crank. I have it all drawn in Solidworks, now I just have to make the time to make it and try it out. I also got Clutch Masters to help me sort out an internal slave to buy some space, the down pipe, starter and clutch slave are all in basically the same spot, so I'm gonna try the internal slave and see if it gets me enough room to get that down pipe through there a little cleaner. It's been a fun project, I just wish it hadn't taken me 20 months to get it all figured out. PM me, or post any questions, or anything you wanna see.
In the 88 I'm running a Malone Stage 2 tune, stock turbo, stock everything really. I did get the Flashzilla though with a Stage 3 for the next phase of the project. Got it up and running and then took it all back apart to do a RUF straight axle swap and 63 inch Chev rears (total no-budget build once again). I have a 2 piece manifold and turbo from an Audi and nozzles from Dynomite Diesel plus the bigger 11mm pump, so once the suspension is all back under the truck I'll get everything on the engine and see how it works. There should be a pic of the truck finished. The other pic the tdi is in the 3.0 truck. It will sit in there so the oil pickup is level (it's a little crooked in the pic), and it looks like there's plenty of room to just mod the pan and it'll work. At least that's what I'm gonna try. The 3.0 adapter is a bit more of a challenge. It's an 8 bolt flywheel to 6 bolt tdi crank. I have it all drawn in Solidworks, now I just have to make the time to make it and try it out. I also got Clutch Masters to help me sort out an internal slave to buy some space, the down pipe, starter and clutch slave are all in basically the same spot, so I'm gonna try the internal slave and see if it gets me enough room to get that down pipe through there a little cleaner. It's been a fun project, I just wish it hadn't taken me 20 months to get it all figured out. PM me, or post any questions, or anything you wanna see.
04-27-2018, 10:08 AM
#10
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Your work is impressive! Hats off to you for creating a quality kit. If I was going to do a stock TDI installation in my Toyota I would definitely consider it. Thankfully though, certain TDI engines, like the 2.0 engine out of the 2004-2005 Passat, are so easy to modify for significantly more power that nobody really needs to have a TDI with stock power. So the swap only makes sense to me if it can be done with the beefier R150 transmission that came with the Toyota V6. The transmissions that came with the Toyota 4 cylinder trucks might be alright for stock TDI engines but they were not designed to handle the power that a modified TDI can make.
TD Conversions, an outfit in British Columbia, Canada, sells a TDI adapter package for Jeep vehicles that originally came with the 4.0 inline six and the AX15, 5 speed transmission. It mates the Jeep AX15 bellhousing to the TDI engine and uses an adapter on the crankshaft to accept the 4.0 flywheel. From what I've seen and some brief emails exchanged with the owner, it appears to be well thought out and well made.
This is good news for Toyota owners. The AX15 and the Toyota R series trans are basically the same transmission. An input shaft from an AX15 Jeep transmission can be installed in the Toyota transmission. Likewise, a Jeep 4.0 bellhousing bolts directly to the Toyota transmission without any adapters. The kit also uses the Jeep flywheel, which bolts on to the TDI crankshaft with a small hub adapter. Together, these parts will let you run a Volkswagen TDI Diesel engine in your Toyota using a proper transmission. The one thing that causes me a little bit of concern is the fact that this set-up requires some kind of third-party starter. If I find out that it's something that is readily available then it won't be a big deal, but if it is some kind of specialty item that's hard to get, that would be a concern.
Anyway, I think this is what you need to run a TDI with big power in your Toyota. And remember, the 2.0 L TDI out of the 2004 - 2005 Passat will make 175 hp and 305 ft lbs with just an ECU tune and a freer flowing exhaust. And I believe, it can make 245 hp and somewhere north of 400 foot-pounds of torque with upgrades like head porting, cams, injectors and ARP rod bolts. Expect to pay $$$ to play at that level though.
For those who can wait, the owner of the business says he will have a kit specifically for Toyotas with the R series transmission soon, but for people with a skill set is good enough to do a diesel swap in the first place, it should be pretty easy for you to make the Jeep parts work.
TD Conversions, an outfit in British Columbia, Canada, sells a TDI adapter package for Jeep vehicles that originally came with the 4.0 inline six and the AX15, 5 speed transmission. It mates the Jeep AX15 bellhousing to the TDI engine and uses an adapter on the crankshaft to accept the 4.0 flywheel. From what I've seen and some brief emails exchanged with the owner, it appears to be well thought out and well made.
This is good news for Toyota owners. The AX15 and the Toyota R series trans are basically the same transmission. An input shaft from an AX15 Jeep transmission can be installed in the Toyota transmission. Likewise, a Jeep 4.0 bellhousing bolts directly to the Toyota transmission without any adapters. The kit also uses the Jeep flywheel, which bolts on to the TDI crankshaft with a small hub adapter. Together, these parts will let you run a Volkswagen TDI Diesel engine in your Toyota using a proper transmission. The one thing that causes me a little bit of concern is the fact that this set-up requires some kind of third-party starter. If I find out that it's something that is readily available then it won't be a big deal, but if it is some kind of specialty item that's hard to get, that would be a concern.
Anyway, I think this is what you need to run a TDI with big power in your Toyota. And remember, the 2.0 L TDI out of the 2004 - 2005 Passat will make 175 hp and 305 ft lbs with just an ECU tune and a freer flowing exhaust. And I believe, it can make 245 hp and somewhere north of 400 foot-pounds of torque with upgrades like head porting, cams, injectors and ARP rod bolts. Expect to pay $$$ to play at that level though.
For those who can wait, the owner of the business says he will have a kit specifically for Toyotas with the R series transmission soon, but for people with a skill set is good enough to do a diesel swap in the first place, it should be pretty easy for you to make the Jeep parts work.
Last edited by wrenchtech; 04-27-2018 at 04:16 PM.
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coopster (12-25-2018)
05-01-2018, 10:55 AM
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I have 99% of the R150 to 1.9/2.0 tdi done, and I'm planning to keep everything Toyota--unless there is some physical reason not to. OEM Toyota clutch, fly, bell and starter. We were basically constrained to all Toyota stuff since we're doing an A340 automatic to tdi conversion at the same time. We used all Jeep parts for the Cummins R2.8 NV3550 swap though.
05-15-2018, 09:43 AM
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How are you adapting the 1.9 to the A340? I'm about to start this project myself. The 1.9 was a 5 spd MT. I'm thinking of modifying the toyota flex plate to the 1.9 crank. Do you know of any off the shelf adapters or kits that will work? I have a couple of bell housings to play with. One from an Aristo and the stock A340.
I'm assuming the kit you have is for the R150 transmission?
Edit:
I'm also curious how you're controlling the A340 after the swap. I'm looking at using a Microsquirt. It is 4x4 though so I'm not sure if I can use it to engage the front transfer case solenoid using the stock shifter/4wd button.
I'm assuming the kit you have is for the R150 transmission?
Edit:
I'm also curious how you're controlling the A340 after the swap. I'm looking at using a Microsquirt. It is 4x4 though so I'm not sure if I can use it to engage the front transfer case solenoid using the stock shifter/4wd button.
Last edited by benster; 05-18-2018 at 08:32 AM. Reason: Doh
05-23-2018, 09:40 AM
#13
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I have an A340 here, and Compushift does make a controller (but I have not had an opportunity to try it out) We'll use the same adapter system as the manual trans to adapt the flex, that way everything is off-the-shelf parts. Current kit is for a w56. R series is in the shop right now.
08-08-2018, 10:49 PM
#14
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Im very much looking forward for a 3.0 V6 / r150f Conversion kit. V6 models seem a lot more reasonably priced even with the 5 speed Manual Trans. would make a much better conversion than a 5vz. Please keep us updated.
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eimkeith (11-14-2023)
09-29-2018, 06:28 AM
#15
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With this configuration, the engine/trans is moved forward to clear the vac pump. We had been using a cheesy weld-in plate that move the trans mount forward, and I just din't much care for it. So we drew up a one-piece bolt-in replacement cross member. it also makes access to the drain plug and flange bolts easier.
09-29-2018, 06:34 AM
#16
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I looked at bunch of different radiator ideas, and ended up just keeping the oem Toyota rad and manufacturing a fan shroud to mount a Spal fan
09-29-2018, 06:37 AM
#17
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I should have the beta version of the 3.0 R150 adapter plate and flywheel adapter finished this week (10/01/18) too. It'll keep the OEM flywheel, clutch and starter from the Toyota V6 so pretty much every serviceable item will be off-the-shelf.
09-29-2018, 06:46 AM
#18
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And of course--the wiring. It's a Malone tune, just a stage one with EGR delete. We do the wiring right here in-house. I kept some extra stuff, like fan controller, cruise wires, and MLS.
09-29-2018, 07:25 AM
#19
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V6 with r150
subscribed and your work and progress is awesome. Finished up a 3.4 conversion and prepping another one for your kit. Thank you for the update.
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hollingsworth67 (09-29-2018)
10-21-2018, 09:20 PM
#20
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I just wrote the best reply ever in the history of Yotatech when all of a sudden the page refreshed itself and my brilliant composition was lost, so I will just say this, I have a 1993 extra cab sitting around with an empty engine bay. I will be looking closely at your kit for the 3.0-liter application. If it turns out as good as it sounds I will probably have to find myself a third-generation 4runner so that I can TDI swap it and thereby create one of the best all-around vehicles imaginable.
