The Rabbit TDI Project
Part 2: Intalling the Engine 1
Or: Mounting a 2002 ALH TDI engine block into a 1982 Rabbit can't be that hard, can it?
VW is really good with their cars. Essentially they are German Lego. Everything fits togeather.
Up to the engines in the A3 cars, all of the engines had the mounting bosses for the previous generations of cars.
I have an ABA in my 1984 GLI. Installation was simple: bolt on the passenger side engine mount, and you're done.
The new A4 bodied engines are different beasts. The water pump is internal, there is no hole to mount a distributor(gas) or vacuum pump (diesel), a completely different engine mount system, and on and on and on.
Hmmm....
Well, there are guys mounting the A4 style 1.8T engines into Rabbits, what are they doing?
Three of the four engine mounts in a Rabbit are bolted to the transmission, so there should only be one mount to worry about. I took a look at my new engine, and fabbed a mount to make it fit where it should.
I used the passenger side mount from an A1 gas engine as a starting point.
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The bolt holes on the new engine only line up with one of the stock holes in the mount, and there is a waterpump in the way of where the mount is supposed to go. Looking at the last picture, the middle hole is from the stock mount, everything else is new.
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Some of the plastic guard was trimmed to fit the new mount. The mount slides in behind the plastic guard.
The center hole on the left of the block is the only hole that is common with the old engines (at least wrt this engine mount)
The guard before clearancing the plastic.
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Here is the mount on long bolts for a fittament check.
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With the engine in the car, the slot that the passenger side mount sits in was rubbing the idler pulley on the timing belt. I had to change the tensioner pulley with a larger pulley and remove the little idler pulley. This picture is looking down at the passenger side engine mount.
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The plastic strip was being used so wouldn't score the idler pulley. It ended up being jammed in there anyway.
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I can't seem to find any pictures of the new tensioner pulley.
I believe I used the pulley from a 16V, and I had to replace the bolt as well.
When I put the engine in, I ran into clearance problems with the tensioner for the serpentine belt. A block of wood and a good motivator (read: 2lb sledge) cleared the frame rail for everything to fit.
summary: new passenger side mount, different timing belt tensioner, clearance for serpentine belt.
Stay tuned...
-Dave
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Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Installing the Engine
Part 3: Transmission
Part 4: Wiring 1
Part 5: Speedometer and Cluster
Part 6: ImmobilizerIII
Part 7: Drive By Wire
Part 8: Intercooler
Part 9: Intake and Exhaust
part 10: MFA and Cruise Control
Part 11: The Dash
Part 12: The Little Things
Part 13: The End (for now)
Part 14: 6spd transmission and brake upgrades
One Year Later
Dyno results
Who Needs a VR6
TDI Rabbit
Part 2: Intalling the Engine 1
Or: Mounting a 2002 ALH TDI engine block into a 1982 Rabbit can't be that hard, can it?
VW is really good with their cars. Essentially they are German Lego. Everything fits togeather.
Up to the engines in the A3 cars, all of the engines had the mounting bosses for the previous generations of cars.
I have an ABA in my 1984 GLI. Installation was simple: bolt on the passenger side engine mount, and you're done.
The new A4 bodied engines are different beasts. The water pump is internal, there is no hole to mount a distributor(gas) or vacuum pump (diesel), a completely different engine mount system, and on and on and on.
Hmmm....
Well, there are guys mounting the A4 style 1.8T engines into Rabbits, what are they doing?
Three of the four engine mounts in a Rabbit are bolted to the transmission, so there should only be one mount to worry about. I took a look at my new engine, and fabbed a mount to make it fit where it should.
I used the passenger side mount from an A1 gas engine as a starting point.
The bolt holes on the new engine only line up with one of the stock holes in the mount, and there is a waterpump in the way of where the mount is supposed to go. Looking at the last picture, the middle hole is from the stock mount, everything else is new.
Some of the plastic guard was trimmed to fit the new mount. The mount slides in behind the plastic guard.
The center hole on the left of the block is the only hole that is common with the old engines (at least wrt this engine mount)
The guard before clearancing the plastic.
Here is the mount on long bolts for a fittament check.
With the engine in the car, the slot that the passenger side mount sits in was rubbing the idler pulley on the timing belt. I had to change the tensioner pulley with a larger pulley and remove the little idler pulley. This picture is looking down at the passenger side engine mount.
The plastic strip was being used so wouldn't score the idler pulley. It ended up being jammed in there anyway.
I can't seem to find any pictures of the new tensioner pulley.
I believe I used the pulley from a 16V, and I had to replace the bolt as well.
When I put the engine in, I ran into clearance problems with the tensioner for the serpentine belt. A block of wood and a good motivator (read: 2lb sledge) cleared the frame rail for everything to fit.
summary: new passenger side mount, different timing belt tensioner, clearance for serpentine belt.
Stay tuned...
-Dave
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Installing the Engine
Part 3: Transmission
Part 4: Wiring 1
Part 5: Speedometer and Cluster
Part 6: ImmobilizerIII
Part 7: Drive By Wire
Part 8: Intercooler
Part 9: Intake and Exhaust
part 10: MFA and Cruise Control
Part 11: The Dash
Part 12: The Little Things
Part 13: The End (for now)
Part 14: 6spd transmission and brake upgrades
One Year Later
Dyno results
Who Needs a VR6
TDI Rabbit
