Rough day in the shop--93 EV TDI conversion commencement & blood letting

Ouch! goes the mechanic hoping the pain dance across the driveway cussing foul words. The good news is nothing is broken.  The resilience of the human body and titanium eye-wear is amazing.

This is our latest TDI conversion project: 93 EV weekender on the lift for engine removal.  I shed a lot of blood for you today despite your color.

Drain fluids, remove driveshafts, disconnect all electrical connections, hang up AC comp., remove rear trans mount, build a mobile pallet pyre and then lower the eng & van down on that, disconnect all engine/trans mounts and raise rig up to the ceiling.  Piece of cake right?

  

Engine from below ready to drop out.

  And here it sits at the end of the day.  Anyone need a good running 2.5l AAF engine?

TDI installation + 13 days: final polishing and a very happy customer

 Now that's what I like to see: A happy customer next to his new TDI Syncro Vanagon.

 Ready for action and HWY miles: this van is heading down to San Francisco from our shop in Corvallis, OR.

TDI front badge--a fringe benefit of our conversions.

 89 Syncro Westy w/fully electronic stage II TDI conversion--Life is good.

Rear TDI badge--fringe benefit #2.








All in all this was a tight whirlwind of a project and after the 4 TDI conversions we just completed in 9-wks,  we need a week off for the holidays--but no rest for the weary: We're right back into a TDI Eurovan conversion by the end of the week and following up that with a 99 Eurovan TDI conversion starting on Jan. 3.  Feb. is our month to take it easy.  I just hope I can keep the schedule free and clear that month!

TDI installation + 12 days: Shipping out tomorrow

Today was spent putting the finishing touches on this conversion.  Lots of little tinkering and tweaking and making this conversion a polished piece of craftsmanship.  It's tough to appreciate what went into this EGT gauge mounting, but lets just say it took most of the day.  The goal was low impact on dash, high visibility and flawless in function.  Goal achieved.  I expect a very happy customer to drive this van away tomorrow afternoon.

TDI engine installation + 11 days: Completion in view, oh the joy!

Today was shake down/badge day.  It's officially a GW TDI Vanagon now!  We logged 207 miles on the van over to the coast and flushed out a few small bugs that we fixed and acouple more we will sort out tomorrow.  Overall it's been flawless: No codes, no limp mode, just scoots and purrs down the road like a tuned TDI Vanagon should.

 Newport Bridge in the far distance.  This pic is right outside my favorite restaurant in Newport on the bay front: Local Ocean. 

 *Mostly* final pic of engine bay.  Still need to put the T-belt change sticker on the cover, but this is basically how it will ship off on Sun.

This is a pic of the fishing fleet dock in Newport, OR, with our spiffy TDI Syncro paying homage.

TDI engine installation + 9 days: ticking off the miles

This morning was our maiden voyage in the newly TDI powered Syncro.   For our first drive we took it over to the local exhaust shop and had a short and sweet exhaust bent/welded up, to CARB specs I hope.  Now we're in ultra shake down mode: We have until Sat to iron out any wrinkles, polish the edges and put our iconic TDI badges on.

During the few hrs it was at the exhaust shop, we kept our selves busy by jumping on a side project that's been hounding us: pulling a Syncro trans that had suffered some major catastrophic damage.  This was pulled and shipped of to German Transaxle for some attention.

Carnage in the case of a Syncro trans.

TDI engine installation + 6 days: Purring like a kitten

Well, it's been a big push to get to this point today but we finally had everything in final format and gave the starter some juice to get it fired up.  And now we have a sweet running TDI engine purring away in another Syncro Vanagon.

Engine bay almost 100% buttoned up.

Airbox in close foreground

GW! IC system tucked in the TL cubby.

Air intake plumbing.

TDI engine installation + 2 days: ECU communication

Today was a great day in the shop and always a big moment: initial communication with VCDS (VAG-COM).  This means that the TDI engine wiring is properly interfaced with the Vanagon wiring, and it also means we're getting really close to having a running engine.   Just a few more mechanical systems to finish up and then we're filling fluids and firing it up.

Junction box area cleaning up real nice.

New K03 turbo and our custom mount.

TDI engine installation + 1 day: Early conversion pics

Conversion progress pics from the day.  Hope to have it running by the weekend.

Lots more to connect & tidy.

 Yep, that medusa head of wires will all be cleaned up and fit snuggly in the junction box.

Custom silicone hose set sure is pretty.

Pushing 4 TDI conversions in 8 wks

Not that anyone really cares, but this must be pushing a record of some sort.  Today we installed yet another TDI AHU engine in a Syncro Vanagon.  Here are some pics of the last week in the shop building the motor, prepping it for mating with trans, and finally mating and installation today:

All VW diesel, all the time.

AHU block bored 0,50mm over, loaded with new ASV pistons with improved oil porting under crowns.  Hell yeah!

Prepping engine for mating.

Engine 99% built and ready for mating.

 Rebuilt syncro trans w/1.08 3rd, .70 4th in the foreground; Rebuilt AHU TDI engine in the background.  Top-tier VW mechanic in the middle.

TDI hanging in engine bay.

Installation complete, engine hanging.  Now we just need to hook everything up and tidy it up to factory GW standards.

Another angle on the initial install with our proto-IC peaking out.  This will all be looking clean and tidy once we get everything connected and put our magic into it.















Once this one ships out next week, we've got one more conversion to finish before the new year (93 Eurovan) but in the mean time we find some holiday joy by checking out this sweet tricked out Euro-spec Jetta at the local VW dealer's lot:

Jetta TDI Cup Edition