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Shiny things you no longer want / 1993 Eurovan Westy with TDI swap

« on: November 30, 2020, 02:47:43 pm »

I bought this 1993 Eurovan (EV) Westfalia in ~April 2014, which originally came with a 5-cyl gasoline engine and the (problematic) auto trans, from a couple in Oceanside, CA after they bought it back from the insurance company. They rear-ended the car in front and the car behind ran into them; apparently it was a typical SoCal pile-up. Thus, the van has a salvage title, and had 110k miles on it when I bought it. If now has about 141,700 miles on the chassis, and over 30k on the TDI swap.

I replaced the front bumper cover and rear bumper (factory 3 pieces; the colors do not match) from a manual-equipped EV parts van that I subsequently purchased, and from some junkyard pieces. The replacement front hood is light blue; I picked it up at a local junkyard. I also picked up a white single-piece later-model rear bumper at a local junkyard; it is a common aesthetic upgrade that I haven't taken the time to install. The rear hatch still has some bent metal from the rear-end collision, but it doesn't leak and you really can't tell from ~20 feet.

Once I got the EV chassis back up to snuff, I bought a 1997 Passat TDI in August 2014 for the AHU engine, the ECU, the engine wiring harness, the accelerator pedal/potentiometer, and the gauge cluster (it bolts right in the EV dash!). I had the cluster reprogrammed to show the correct MPH due to the taller EV tires, and to match the total miles on the van. Even though the Passat had ~200k, the engine had great compression before I removed it and it came with a 3-ring binder full of maintenance records from the original owner (he commuted between San Rafael and SoSF). So I didn't pull the head. I replaced every gasket and seal possible, including everything inside the high-pressure injection pump (it had zero signs of wear or damage). I also upgraded the oil cooler to the VR6 system (common upgrade), as well as installed a full timing belt kit, and replaced the entire cooling system (radiator, hoses, coolant bottle, etc.). Europarts of San Diego is a great source for EV parts, as is GoWesty here in Los Osos where I live.

I sourced the factory VW swap parts from Frans at Dutch Auto Parts in The Netherlands (well-known source for swapping TDIs into EVs), including the EWB-geared transaxle, oil pan/pick-up, oil dipstick & tube, motor mount arms, and fuel tank pick-up.

I did all of the engine upgrades through Kerma TDI, including a Stage 1 chipset and blueprinted new DLC1019 injector nozzles. Kerma also supplied the South Bend Stage 1 clutch setup to handle the extra power; it feels like a stock clutch in terms of efforts -- highly recommended. In 2019, I replaced the stock turbo with a new Kerma-sourced K03/K04 hybrid turbo (all new gaskets and feed lines, too), and he supplied an updated Stage 2 chipset. That, along with a larger intercooler, lowered the EGTs by about 150 degrees when hammering on it and gave it even more oomph. I have a correctly-mounted EGT sensor in the exhaust manifold, with an alarm in the Auber dash-mounted gauge in case it rises above 1,450 degrees (only when fully-loaded and I REALLY hammer it for a prolonged period on a steep grade!). It typically runs between 650 to 700 degrees on the freeway. Kerma believes that my setup has about 150 horsepower and 300 ft/lbs of torque (stock is 90/149). The engine runs cool no matter if I'm flat-towing my Porsche 914 or if I'm stuck in traffic.

Ever since I did the swap, I get a check engine light about 20 seconds after starting for coolant glow plugs (using VCDS/Ross-Tech software). I talked with Paul -- the brains at Kerma -- about it, and he told me not to worry about it. The VCDS software loaded onto the Ross-Tech USB cable and the 3-volume Bentley manuals will come with the van, as well as a spare TDI engine (with a blown head gasket, but including wiring harness and extra ECU) bolted onto a custom skid. The spare AHU engine fell into my lap; my next door neighbor gave me his 1998 Jetta after he blew the head gasket from a failed coolant hose. He thought he shut it off in time...

The van has a few quarter-sized rust spots (not fully perforated) at the bottom of a fixed window on the driver side rear. There are also some rust spots here-n-there from rock chips. I cut out a metal piece from my parts EV that I will provide with the sale along with the side glass in case the repair "blooms" as you dig deeper. There's also some "parking lot" dents in the passenger door and the front passenger side fender (they appear to be unrelated). It really is a great candidate for a re-spray to make it perfect.

I upgraded the van to 16" alloys from a later-model EV; the 15' tires in the correct load rating are getting hard to find. The BF Goodrich tires now have about 25k on them, and have plenty of life left. I also replaced all the brakes (new rotors, bearings, flexible brake lines, rebuilt the calipers in front and replaced the shoes in the rear), and I rebuilt the suspension (Europarts SD sourced German ball-joints, tie-rods and bushings, new Bilsteins on all four corners, and new axles/CVs). Two sets of factory axles/CVs will come with the van -- I originally planned to rebuild the factory ones while temporarily using the aftermarket axles, but they've been great for 30k miles so far!

In 2018, I fixed the common no-heat problem in EVs by removing the entire dash and repairing the flap doors that allow heat to come through. While I was in there, I replaced all vacuum hoses and the heater core. That was NOT a fun job...

I've owned a range of VW vans -- from 60s split windows to bay windows to Vanagons. The EV is by far the best in terms of everyday use, even though it doesn't (yet) have the panache of the older units. The A/C actually works well, it has good heat/defrost, CC/PW/PB all work reliably, the seats are comfortable, you can hear the person sitting next to you and the stereo, etc. I upgraded the speakers (Polk front, Pioneer rear) when I installed the Alpine stereo head unit, and it has pretty good sound. I installed a ShadyBoy awning that is great for extra shade while enjoyed a cold one, and it comes with all factory window shades and mosquito netting. I'll even throw in the mattress pad we lay over the factory laydown bed when camping. The poptop canvas is hole-free and fully intact.

Nancy and I have camped in "Rudy" on trips up the coast on a trip to Oregon and then Washington, several trips to see our old neighbors in Tahoe City, one trip to Nevada and then Idaho, and used it for countless trips between the Central Coast and San Francisco when my mother was battling cancer in 2018/19. I regularly get 30 mpg whether on the freeway or around town, and I would not hesitate to take it across the country tomorrow. It even gets almost 20 mpg when flat-towing my Porsche 914. The only reason I am considering selling it is because we bought a Class A motorhome in February, and I'd like to help finance other car projects. I am asking $16k for it. It is legally registered as a diesel in CA, so no need for smog checks (ever!).

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Diesel Swap Tech and FAQ / 15k miles on AHU swap into '93 Weekender

« on: June 01, 2017, 12:00:31 pm »

I thought I'd give an update on my swap, since I just logged 15k miles since I completed it. I never started a build thread, but I've posted a couple of times in others' topics.

To summarize, I melded two 1993 Eurovans and one 1997 Passat TDI. I started with a San Diego Craigslist-sourced white poptop Weekender; it has a salvage title because it rear-ended a car and then was punched in the rear in a big SoCal pileup. It originally came with an automatic but only had 110k miles and was otherwise pretty clean. Not bad for $3500, although it was a 12-hour day to pick up the van using a friend's truck and a U-Haul trailer. I then bought a local 1993 EV that was terribly abused and had a blown headgasket for $500 -- but it had a manual transaxle. After removing all manual trans-related parts, as well as the parts to fix the crash damage on the Weekender, I sold off the remaining parts and came out about even. I then bought a San Francisco Craigslist-sourced '97 Passat TDI with 200k miles on it for $2200 to use as the donor. I drove it for several weeks to make sure everything worked, then I began the teardown. I grabbed the engine, harness, dash, etc. and sold off about $1000 in unneeded parts.

I used a Kerma Stage 1 chipset and blueprinted DLC1019 nozzles, but the engine is otherwise stock -- even the turbo. I replaced all engine seals/gaskets (including resealing the injection pump), hoses, installed a full timing belt kit, upgraded to a VR6 oil cooler/filter mount, and mounted the stock Passat intercooler behind the front bumper with holes cut to flow cool air (also welded up a "box" to direct air through it rather than around it). I sourced the correct oil pan/pickup, dipstick, fuel tank pickup, motor mount arm, and various other parts from Frans (info@dutchautoparts.com) in the Netherlands. I run an Auber Instruments digital EGT display in the dash (probe mounted correctly in a drilled/tapped hole in the exhaust manifold) with an alarm set at 1450 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as an Auber digital boost gauge and a GM 3-bar MAP boost sensor. The EGTs typically run at 650 to 700 degrees while cruising, and 1100-1200 going up hills or entering a freeway. But I can set off the alarm going up mountain passes if I'm too aggressive; it'll instantly cool back down by pulling my foot out of it a bit. Kerma says to install a Colt cam to bring down the EGTs if I desire, or possibly a bigger turbo and larger intercooler. I'll wait for the stock turbo to die then I'll take the plunge for a Kerma-sourced S7 turbo and related parts. I'll probably also do an EGR-delete at the same time, since Kerma will provide a free updated chip when you buy upgraded parts from him. I sourced a used PD150 intake manifold from Ebay UK in anticipation of those future upgrades. Paul (the main dude at Kerma) may seem a bit grumpy to some folks, but I found him and his staff to be damn knowledgeable and helpful. Can't say enough about Kerma...

I also used a South Bend Stage I clutch setup to handle the purported 150 hp and 300 ft/lbs torque, and the clutch pedal feels like a stock unit. I started out swapping the 0.756 fifth gear from the Passat transaxle into my 02B CHP trans, but it was still way too low -- I had to shift to second gear just to make it through an intersection, and it revved at ~3300 rpm at 70 mph. After about 3k miles, I ended up getting an EWB-geared trans from Frans shipped to my door for ~$1400, and it is now perfect. It revs about 3k rpm at ~78 mph on 215/55-16 tires on stock alloy EV wheels. I ended up selling my original CHP transaxle for $350 on Craigslist.

I mounted the chipped-ECU in the engine compartment where the old gasser ECU was mounted. This required me to extend a few wires. Because I am in CA, I used all stock Passat pieces to the extent possible in anticipation for a refereed smog inspection (no sniff for pre-1998 diesels; another reason to use an AHU!). This required me to weld-in mounts to use the stock intake airbox, which meant I had to mount a windshield washer bag/pump since the stock EV washer bottle would no longer fit. I grabbed the bag from the rear of a mid-90s Isuzu Trooper (was used for its rear window wash system) at a local Pick-n-Pull. I also used the Passat turn signal / cruise control stalk. I concocted/welded a mount for the throttle potentiometer, and welded the lower portion of the EV throttle pedal to the upper Passat portion -- it came out great. A local hydraulic hose guy built me a custom high-pressure line for the power steering system, essentially mating up the Passat pump end and the EV rack end. I also enlarged out the mounting holes for the EV A/C compressor in order to mount it to the AHU brackets, since the Passat compressor uses larger mounting bolts.

Challenges:

*  I had a heck of a time getting my cruise control to work consistently, and my VCDS didn't show any faults. I finally realized that my brake light switch was uber-sensitive -- like, hit a bump on the freeway and the cruise control would go off. I replaced the brake switch and it now works flawlessly.
*  I have a CEL fault for the coolant glow-plugs that I'm still chasing down. It doesn't seem to affect performance, but I'm getting tired of the light staring at me.
*  Because I had to get my vehicle through CA smog inspection (once only to register!), I cut/clocked/welded the stock cat/downtube to clear the firewall but also tried to make it look entirely stock. It turns out the guys at the local DMV just looked at the Passat emissions sticker (still on the plastic piece that I literally bolted onto the EV radiator support!) and he punched it into the computer as a diesel -- so my EV is now registered in their system as a diesel!
*  My van puts out virtually no heat, so I'll pull the dash in the coming months to fix the flapper plates and replace the heat exchanger while I'm in there. I'll also try to add some insulation on top of the firewall, since it is relatively noisy from the engine bay. I'm also constantly on the lookout for the stock under-hood insulation.

We just got back from a music festival in Napa and the van was LOADED with four adults and all of our camping stuff (the other couple had a big tent and a queen-size blow-up mattress), and four bikes on the rear hitch-mounted carrier. I cruised at 70-80mph with the A/C blasting, and I even passed cars on the two mountain passes between SLO and Napa. But I still got 29.5 mpg. I get almost 31 mpg around town, but seem to average 30 mpg in mixed driving. I use 2 oz. of Stanadyne Lubricity Formula at each fuel fill, at Kerma's recommendation.

I love my van, though it still needs some bodywork and paint to make it perfect. It is mostly our weekend getaway rig, but it has been my daily driver for the past five months because my other car ('96 BMW 318ti) has been getting a complete respray. You could say I've got a swap addiction, since I swapped an M3 engine into my 318ti and I've got a 1973 Porsche 914 that I swapped-in a Subaru WRX engine and transaxle (converted to 2WD). Past swaps include Subaru EJ22 engine into 1986 Westy Syncro (completed in 2001), Golf GTI engine into 1981 diesel Westy (in 1998), and Sidekick engine into 1987 Suzuki Samurai (in 1996) . It helps to have a two-post lift, a bunch of tools, some hard-earned knowledge, and -- most importantly -- an understanding wife!