TDI Ranger Build

[greengeeker]

Any updates?

Yup. Been working hard on the truck and other peoples' TDI's.

 

[greengeeker]

Fuel System, Part 1

The Ranger of course was fuel injected which meant it's in-tank fuel pump was putting out around ~60psi of fuel pressure which is way more than the 4-7 psi I need for the tdi. So I need to drop the tank to get at the fuel pressure regulator which is also mounted to the sending unit which is convenient since I also need to drain 1/2 of tank of 6 yo gasoline.

Out comes the tank, my fuel pump used to de-fuel mis-fueled tdi's and my spare battery:

Out comes the sending unit so I can get every last bit of gas out:

And here's the sending unit:

In the above pictures you can see the fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator and some sort of EVAP check valve. I'm going to remove the last two and reuse the connectors on the sending unit for return lines (more on that in Part 2).

Here are the connectors as they are installed on the Ford lines. I simply cut a slit to remove them from the lines.

And here they are on the sending unit:

I wasn't too crazy about the return lines the way they were on the top of the sending unit - I figured they would aerate the fuel when the fuel level was below 3/4 tank. To remedy this I went to the bone yard and picked up a sending unit from a diesel superduty for the stainless lines. Don't laugh, this was my first attempt at TIG welding stainless.

 

[greengeeker]

Fuel Tank Mod

Diesel Vw's are left with the fuel tank portion of the EVAP system from the gas cars. A common mod is to eliminate this system to gain more fuel capacity and therefore longer range...for my Jetta this increased my capacity from 14.5 to 16.5 and my range to around 850 miles.

I of course no longer have a need for the EVAP system and will be deleting every part and using the EVAP line as a fuel return line.

Here is the tank with the hump to the left of the fuel sending unit hole:

I took some measurements and calculated this volume to be worth 1.7 gallons. That plus the volume in the lines should make it at least 2 additional gallons.

In this picture I posted earlier you can see another EVAP check valve on the top of the hump that relieves any built up vapor in the tank to the EVAP charcoal canister located above the spare tire:

I'm going to use this fitting and tee into the main vent line that goes up to the fuel fill neck with some hardware store bling.

Here it is all ready to go back in the truck:

 

[greengeeker]

I should have included this earlier to the fuel tank mod:



Before:

After:

You MUST do this while the tank it out. As you gusy know the Ranger has a mesh screen (anti-siphon measure?) that will catch all the debris from this removal that you need to clean out. I basically back-flushed the fill tube with compressed air at the tank end and my shopvac at the fill end. This worked very well getting every last bit of plastic out of there.

 

[greengeeker]

Intercooler Mounting, Cont'd

I finally got around to cutting the intercooler inlet/outlets but it doesn't seem like I have a good picture of the modification. I posted this picture earlier that basically shows how much I trimmed off the intercooler and the elbow:

I haven't welded them yet as I may angle the lower inlet up to eliminate a bend in the hose or tubing.

As mentioned previously I modified the Ranger condenser mounting brackets which meant removing material to clear the intercooler. I probably would not have needed to add any more material but I wanted to shift the FMIC a little toward the driver's side. I fab'd up some small brackets to which I welded some weldnuts.

And here is the completed cooling system from the engine side. Radiator connections on one side, intercooler connections on the other.

 

[4.0B2]

subscribed.

 

[bobbywalter]

looking good.

 

[greengeeker]

Adapter Development

It's been a long time coming but I finally have something to show for the last year of research, design, prototyping, etc.

The basic process started with several gutted and cleaned transmissions which were brought in and measured with a CMM. Repeat the process with VW flywheels, Ford flywheels, starters...you name it and get to modeling:

At this point I had a prototype or two lasered out of 14gauge sheetmetal to see how things were shaping up. I'm glad I took this intermediate step as I would have wasted two plates with simple but important revisions.

I decided I was far enough along that I wanted to cut up a plate on my third rev. I held my breath when I slipped it on the first time and she fit like a glove.

Slip on the transmission for good measure:

And away we go. The hard part is done.

 

[greengeeker]

Here's the stock 2.5L flywheel....almost perfect on the weight when compared to the 22lb TDI flywheel. On these diesels you really don't want to go with a light weight FW as it makes your torque reversals VERY audible and probably not that great for your transmission. Anyway, do you guys know if the 2.3L flywheel is the same weight? or is it lighter?

and bolted in place using the new bolt pattern

I also needed to add this little feature into the back of the Ranger flywheel:

TDI timing belt replacement requires you to be very precisely at TDC because the cam sprocket is NOT keyed like most OHC engines. During the change you remove the sprocket, lock the cam down along with the injection pump and line up this mark on the flywheel.

 

[greengeeker]

As soon as I had the engine bolted to the transmission I threw the combination into the truck to see how things were shaping up for firewall clearance and mounts. I've heard from previous swappers that firewall clearance can be a deal breaker and should be adjusted to avoid complications down the road.

Here is where everything sits with the transmission bolted to its mount:

And as you may have guessed it is sitting too close to the firewall even without the vacuum pump installed. I probably could have pulled out the coolant nipple and put a 90 in there but I really didn't want to go down the road of sourcing a vacuum pump and fabbing a delete plate.

To get an idea how far forward I needed to shift the eng/tranny I simply slid the head forward on the block until I was happy with the clearance between the vacuum pump and the firewall. The picture shown below is 2" foward.

The 2" looks like the ticket but it really started to shine when I looked closer at the mounts and accessory clearance to the steering rack:

On to mount fabrication.

 

[greengeeker]

Mount Fabrication

I first needed to mock up the engine with all the components on the engine to find out which bosses on the block I could use for my mounts. I knew I wanted to use the ones closest to the existing ranger mounts but I needed to verify the mounts wouldn't interfer with any component on the engine.

Passenger side mount looks like I have a bunch of options.

From my picture posted earlier of the driver's side it seems my options are pretty slim. Looks like I have to use the only three available.

Pull out the used Cheerios boxes and go to town... (I don't seem to have pictures of the passenger mount in place but you get the idea)

I took my paper templates and flatened them out to trace onto some 6 gauge steel (.180") and with some help from a buddy at work on the press break I now have something to work with. Driver's side on the left, passenger on the right. I really wanted to make these one piece but I didn't have an accurate mating of the two paper templates.

Here are the two separate parts of the mounts...

Upper part bolted just to the block:

Lower part bolted to the mount and the block:

And here they are both bolted on so I can mark a cut line on the lower mount portion:

Cut and tacked together:

I had to ditch my original mount design for the driver's side due to bolt access. I could have made it work but I would have needed to shorten the bolts significantly just to get them in place. Even then tool access would have sucked. Here is what I ended up doing:

And here's the end result. I was so pumped to get the mounts completed! Clearance to the steering rack is perfect. I could have dropped the engine by 1.5" but I really wanted to avoid notching the oil pan. Even if I did notch it I bet I could only gain another 1/2" due to the oil pump being right there. Any of you swap guys ever had driveline vibrations due to angling the engine/tranny too much?

 

[westy]

I am LOVING this conversion. I joined mostly to see how it turns out!

 

[greengeeker]

I am LOVING this conversion. I joined mostly to see how it turns out!

Thanks!

 

[bobbywalter]

awesome work!!!


i hope this works as good as it looks for you

 

[greengeeker]

awesome work!!!


i hope this works as good as it looks for you

Thanks! Cannot believe you shoehorned a 6.5 into a Ranger. Now I know what to do with 6.2L Redblock I have in the corner of the garage.