Diesel transplant

[Bert]

VW has marketed diesels in n. America for auto use for 30+ years. These engines continually get bigger and more powerful and more computerized but there was awhile in the late 80s- early 90s that a 1.6 turbodiesel was on the market. These engines produce 59KW (one 'horse' is 740W) as compared to 40-44KW for the regular aspirated 1.6 engines. The early VW engines (pre-95?) are not computer controlled, if I understand correctly. I hate electronics!
Battery/fan and transmission on these units is on the same side as a Mazda engine and the wheel bolt pattern is same as Aspire/Rio.
Has anyone out there given any thought to, or experimented with, such a potential swap? I'd like to hear from you because I may have an option (ie relatively cheap) for a complete and running, but rusted-out 92 Jetta 5 speed with 1.6 Turbo Diesel. In his Kijiji ad the owner waxes eloquent about how the motor is made in Wolfsburg Germany as compared to all the Mexican and other off-shore engines in Golfs and Rabbits of that vintage but over the past 2 months of trying to sell that car is discovering that very few folks buy or pay serious money for cars that need structural body work.

Most of us folks go to great lengths to boost the wheels and tires, engine size, power level and performance of Festys but no one (FB71 excepted) out there appears keen to aim at 60-65 mpg.

[Ape]

Never done the swap but my main goal is obtaining the highest MPG possible so I will defiantly be watching this thread!

[Bert]

Never done the swap but my main goal is obtaining the highest MPG possible so I will defiantly be watching this thread!

I don't go off half-cocked. A stunt like this seems do-able if you have more time than money but if I get a hold of that car in advance of a possible sale it will be up on a hoist and lots of measurements and guess and by golly appraisals made. I can readily see fuel tank modifications happening and instrument panel grafts going on.
Now if somebody tells me certain VW parts (turbo for instance) are prohibitively expensive to service or replace then that will also affect any future plans.

VW also has had a 1.0 litre 3 cylinder diesel in Europe a decade ago in the Lupo models and it was claimed to get 2.9 l/100, as in almost 100mpg!

[Christ]

I'm working on it. Verrrrrry slowly.

I'm gonna pull my Red Festiva apart after I get back from GA next week and swap the trans into the Blue one, but I want to work on the lift for the chassis first before I dive into putting a new motor/trans in.

Doing the lift may require modifications to the motor mount method to avoid extreme axle angles. We're talking about 5-6 inches of lift here, maybe more.

As such, I'm half tempted to just pull the entire front sub carriage from the VW and install it on blocks for the front section lift instead of making that much more work for myself.

I'm already most likely going to have to change the rear axle assembly completely and use either a linked setup or a stick axle and leaf springs.

[Christ]

I don't go off half-cocked. A stunt like this seems do-able if you have more time than money but if I get a hold of that car in advance of a possible sale it will be up on a hoist and lots of measurements and guess and by golly appraisals made. I can readily see fuel tank modifications happening and instrument panel grafts going on.
Now if somebody tells me certain VW parts (turbo for instance) are prohibitively expensive to service or replace then that will also affect any future plans.

VW also has had a 1.0 litre 3 cylinder diesel in Europe a decade ago in the Lupo models and it was claimed to get 2.9 l/100, as in almost 100mpg!

No fuel tank mods are necessary except bypassing the in-tank fuel pump if you start with an EFI car (or installing a draw/catch tank with a primary tank return under the hood). You don't want to put pressure on the diesel's injection pump, as that changes the fuel timing. 3-5 PSI is about the max for internal pressure addition to move the timing before you start having to compensate by changing the static pump timing and then you get problems with the advance curve.

The speedo can more than likely be made to work from the stock cluster into the VW trans. I don't imagine it'll likely be too far off, as the cars are actually fairly similar.

Clutch cable will need to be modified, again no biggie.

Accelerator cable may need a new end, you can probably make the OEM part work (haven't really looked at it yet).

The biggest issue is the shift linkage. VW uses an external linkage system, and it's difficult to try and fit any other trans to a VW engine unless you get a Audi flywheel. The VW normally uses a reverse-faced clutch assembly with the flywheel on the outside. The Audi setup is "normal" and uses the external pressure plate like our cars.

One thing I will try if I use the VW trans is to weld tabs to the fork actuators on the outside of the trans and attach a cable shifter to them.

You can use the VW hubs and MK1 axles to clear the swap. The OEM LCA's will work with a spacer sleeve in the VW hubs, which are 4x100 pattern. I've yet to find a set of OTE's that will work in the VW hubs, but you may be able to use the VW steering rack in place of the OE one. Not sure about the differences in steering shaft attachment, but the VW rack is stronger and generally lasts longer than I've seen from the OE parts.

If I come up with anymore information in the mean time, I'll share.


Also, for non-racing applications, there is no problem with taking a N/A 1.6 (big bolt head) and swapping on a K03/manifold and a turbo injection pump (there are mods that make boost possible on NA pumps, but they're not as reliable or clean-burning).

[Ape]

Not going off half cocked just expecting a ton of awesome info and ideas (Like above^) from people who know way more than a person should! haha

I will probably never do a diesel swap myself but its always fun to learn something

[Christ]

I'll be perfectly honest here... the only good reason to do a diesel swap is

1) to make WAY more power than any Festiva should have.

2) If you have access to virtually free fuel, as in my case

3) Fuel economy.

If your answer is 1, that's your problem. Good luck with it.

If it's 2, use whatever you can get your hands on, like I am.

If it's 3, you'd be soooo much better off getting a Kubota 3 cylinder, any of the ~40HP yanmar clones, etc and a small turbo and setting up your own water injection system using a small carburetor on the intake.

For the cost you'll spend on swapping everything over to make it work, you could have spent that on a Kubota ($1000 or so max), the turbo ($100 or so), a few mods like an engine mount and an adapter plate/clutch setup (Maybe another $100) and use the stock transmission.

Most diesels only require 1 or 0 wires to run and will keep running until you cut the fuel supply to the injectors.

[Christ]

Also worth noting - The VW diesels ARE NOT in any way the "torque monster" that you know diesel engines to be. They are capable of revving to about 7k in stock config safely, and have a similar torque curve to our cars.

[Bert]

Quite a bit of useful information there Christ!
Were I to try this the VW tranny would stay with the motor. I would imagine gear ratios for diesels are different from gas engines. The local driveaxle rebuilder tells me he can do customs (ie from VW tranny to go through Aspire hubs) for a reasonable sum. My concern is engine mounts and is there enough room in the bay. I am not much of a shoehorn-type guy and ease of maintenance is important. The woman that owns the VW tells me the engine purrs and that everything works and the mileage is 350K kilometers, (210K miles). Pretty fancy little car with sunroof, lovely upholstery and even has A/C.

There are VW diesel swap kits available for Suzuki Samurai off-roaders and that really gives those cars considerable low end grunt and better fuel economy.

[Ape]

Guys have been swapping Jetta engines(mostly gas but a few diesels) in Vanagons for a while and more recently in the older Bay window buses and theres room in their tiny engine bays for routine maintenance so I'm sure a Festy or Aspire would have plenty of room!

[resuwrecked]

I have a 1.6, trans, turbo ip, and turbo from a 1.9tdi. Just need the time. Been thinking about this swap for a while. It all started when I bought a 300cd to swap the 5cyl turbo into the festiva, but decided to keep and drive the 300 instead.

[Christ]

I'd love a 300...

[Christ]

The ratios aren't all that different from gassers because the engine runs the same as a gasser. It doesn't really have any different torque profile than a standard 1.6 gasser would have, except slightly more area under the curve.

I'm planning out a lift and off-road treatment for the Red Festiva, so I'm not really sure if I'm going to use the VW trans or not, as I may end up going RWD with it.

I was also thinking about doing a 4x4, but the easiest way to get lift and 4x4 in a Festiva is just dropping the body on a frame that's already equipped, and then swapping engines and trans as necessary.

[getnpsi]

About diesel manual trans ratio's on small engines...is it just the drop between shifts that is different or simply a final drive thing? Most of us run slightly larger tires from stock 12's anyway to start with. The aspire trans with taller tires effectively makes it feel the same as a festy trans and so on.

[Bert]

About diesel manual trans ratio's on small engines...is it just the drop between shifts that is different or simply a final drive thing? Most of us run slightly larger tires from stock 12's anyway to start with. The aspire trans with taller tires effectively makes it feel the same as a festy trans and so on.

Gears and final drive is different between Aspire and Festy. Be curious to know what the Auzzie cars have in them since they came stock with 13s all along.