What kind of life are you expecting out of the unknown junkyard rescue at this power level? 200 whp and 400 wtq is the expectation correct?
in a truck application towing cars around... the belt keeps me shy of them. but there are a few guys making power reliably.
The bottom end will hold the power just fine for another 100+kmi, that's why I specifically used a 04-05 passat motor as they're the strongest built 4 cyl tdi ever sold in the US. Keep good oil in it and don't exceed reasonable egts/coolant temp/oil temp and I'm not remotely worried about the motor long term. I'm more worried about the ranger input shaft than anything else. If I snap it, I'll switch to a gm or jeep adapter and run a nv3550 or even an nv4500 if it would fit.
Yes, I've built enough tdi's that with the current fuel and boost levels, it's right about 200whp/380-400wtq. I can slip the 435tq rated clutch below 2200rpm in 4th or 5th if I push the boost needle past 40psi
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The belt is nothing to be afraid of. It's a massive belt on the 04-06 motors. Very simple setup that takes literally 35 mins to change. Interval is 100kmi and kit is only $180. So even if you do it every 60-70kmi, its still not expensive. In 10+ years of professionally working on euro diesels, the only belts I've ever seen fail are ones with over 150+kmi on a 12+ year old car that has never been changed. Even then, I've only seen two that failed in those circumstances. I've never seen a properly installed belt fail before the specified interval.
Got the bumper on this morning, looks much better! I have a used mile marker 10k hydraulic winch on the way, should be here next week sometime.