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TDI Ranger Build


I'm also disgusted that none of the big three feel it is important to offer these trucks to the public.

I'm looking to offer a kit.
Sorry for bringing up such and old post, but did you ever decide to offer an adapter kit/ find a vendor to sell them? I've got the 2.3L in my ranger, and I've got a donor Jetta sitting in my back yard ready to go. I've not found anywhere that offers the 2.3 pattern adapters

Bret
 
theres 3.0 and cologne v6 2.8/2.9/4.0 adapters around.

real easy to sell your 2.3 trans and get one of the other units. minor cost difference...may even be cheaper if you trade right.


i am sure you have come across this sight.

http://gastodiesel.tdconversions.com/adapter/


pretty reasonable setups. swapping a v6 unit in place of your current unit changes nothing save for allowing you to easily adapt the tdi.
 
theres 3.0 and cologne v6 2.8/2.9/4.0 adapters around.

real easy to sell your 2.3 trans and get one of the other units. minor cost difference...may even be cheaper if you trade right.


i am sure you have come across this sight.

http://gastodiesel.tdconversions.com/adapter/


pretty reasonable setups. swapping a v6 unit in place of your current unit changes nothing save for allowing you to easily adapt the tdi.

I've seen these, just mainly thought I'd try to support the guy that put the info out there to swap. Started looking about a month ago for a decent 5 speed that was either behind a 3l or 4l. So far I mainly see the 2.3 5 speeds, and the ones I do find for the bigger engines are at a 400+ dollar price point. Didn't figure it hurt to ask


Bret
 
GG, time for a bump, and my latest ideas. Got an 03\2000 auto beetle. Broke timing belt and bent a valve or 6. Head was pulled, repaired, and 6 new valves. So ive been looking at doing twin turbos with this one, going auto into a 90 bronco 2 with full width 44\8.8 axles, 4.56 gears and 37s.
On the fuel side, since i have the auto and 11mm IP, what injectors\nozzles would you recommend?
On the twins, ive been reading a 45mm is a good popular choice. I have a baby H1C from a 4bt, which happens to be a 45mm. I was initially going to use a stock turbo from a 91 DT466 as i have one thats a new zero mile unit.
My power level goals would be just shy of upgrading internals. Im already planning ARP studs, i need to do more reasearch as to what head gasket i need (1, 2, 3 hole) as i dont know the differences. I'm still learning about it, and what ill actually need from the donor for the swap. Thanks for any info you can pass my way.

SVT
 
GG, time for a bump, and my latest ideas. Got an 03\2000 auto beetle. Broke timing belt and bent a valve or 6. Head was pulled, repaired, and 6 new valves. So ive been looking at doing twin turbos with this one, going auto into a 90 bronco 2 with full width 44\8.8 axles, 4.56 gears and 37s.
On the fuel side, since i have the auto and 11mm IP, what injectors\nozzles would you recommend?
On the twins, ive been reading a 45mm is a good popular choice. I have a baby H1C from a 4bt, which happens to be a 45mm. I was initially going to use a stock turbo from a 91 DT466 as i have one thats a new zero mile unit.
My power level goals would be just shy of upgrading internals. Im already planning ARP studs, i need to do more reasearch as to what head gasket i need (1, 2, 3 hole) as i dont know the differences. I'm still learning about it, and what ill actually need from the donor for the swap. Thanks for any info you can pass my way.

SVT

Might as well go all the way to .320/.360 nozzles with the 11mm and compounds. You'll have to go to European vendors for those sizes. One of the big power guys over on tdiclub worked out a few suggestions for compounds on a 1.9 and a gt2052 (37mm) and a 10 or 12?cm hx35 (56mm?) were one of the combinations. The small housing on the hx was key. I'd bet a hy35 or maybe even a he351 would be even better with the smaller housing. Not sure what housing cummins put on a baby h1c, hopefully its not massive like the 18 or 21cm on the 1stgens. The head gasket depends on the piston protrusion. You can find a chart for finding which you need.
 
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So I found the Baby H1C (4bt) came with 8cm and 12cm turbine housings, and H1s came with 44mm, 46mm, 50mm, and 56mm compressor side. I never measured which one I have. I'm guessing the baby H1C got the 44mm and 46mm housings. I'll try to measure mine this weekend. It's nice to know I can step up compressor sizes if I run out of air..
I'm planning a 4R70W trans, and my power goals are 200-250hp, about 400 tq. I can tune for the trans shifting, which is why I'm leaning to go with that trans...

SVT
 
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:

Rangertdiassembly2.png


Rangertdiassembly.png


Rangertdiassemblycrosssection.png


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.

IMG_258.jpg


Slip on the transmission for good measure:

IMG_259.jpg


And away we go. The hard part is done. :icon_bounceblue:
I know I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but how did you make the new starter position fit with the Ranger transmission, since it's not located where the stock Ranger starter pocket is anymore?
I'm working to make my own adapter for my 4.0 Ranger and everything is working out fine except I'm running into starter location issues. Knowing what you did to solve the starter location issue would help me immensely.
Thanks!
 
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:

IMG_133.jpg


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

IMG_144.jpg


And here's the sending unit:

IMG_143.jpg


IMG_142.jpg


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).

IMG_172.jpg


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

IMG_158.jpg


And here they are on the sending unit:

IMG_173.jpg


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.

IMG_193.jpg


IMG_192.jpg
It appears there is the normal stock pickup tube with the sock, but then there are two other lines in addition to it. What are they both for? One has to be a return line. But what is the other one's purpose? I'm trying to figure out for my own TDi ranger build.
Thanks
 
Any sort of updates on your swap with all this extra time from social distancing? I'm looking into doing this swap for my 4wd b4000 at some point so I'm excited to learn more!
 
Hey guys, sorry for the time away.

RangerSVT - I would highly recommend updating the rods if you want to go that far down the rabbit hole. As stated, head gasket is simply determined by piston protrusion.

Not much to report with the truck. Just some recent PM items: new front bearings, pads, rotors. Bumped mileage up a bit to a new record: 41.5mpg! (755.1miles/18.185gal = 41.5 ) Based on this, an 800 mile tank is out of the question unless I really slow down. I'm just not that comfortable pushing the tank that low. I've run my Jetta empty several times on my quest for a 900mile tank (16.5gal capacity) so I'm no stranger to running a TDI out of fuel. :)
 
Hi Greengeeker, thanks for all the useful information on this swap. I am about to start a TDI swap on an Explorer Sport Trac and this post is so helpful. I know you have been asked so many times but did you get the adaptors ready to sell? Thanks again.
 

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