ECOdiesel swap into 1981 Mk1 Diesel Rabbit L Need advice
Son wants to put an ECOdiesel into 1981 Mk1 Diesel Rabbit L. Basically swap Mk2 (Jetta?) guts into Mk1 body.
Requesting any advice, additional info, suggestions, success stories, comments, corrections, etc.
Original 1.6L diesel NA timing belt failed and destroyed the head.
Swapped in a 1.5L with a 4-speed from a '79 or '80 rabbit to get it home.
The 1.5L had bad blow-by / low compression and eventually refused to start.
Have the blown 1.6L with 5-speed trans, and have 1.5L with 4-speed trans for parts or what ever.
Son saw an ad for a "1.6L Turbo diesel engine and trans. complete." He wanted a Turbo for more power. Turns out that it's an ECOdiesel - better on emissions, not sure about more power.
Son bought the ('91 or '92? not sure I haven’t got to look at it yet) ECOdiesel engine with 5-speed trans. It did NOT come with the AC compressor, PS, or 90 Amp ALT. I will try to get to it to look at it and get numbers off the head, engine, and transmission.
Will this go into the Mk1 Rabbit? How easy or difficult, or is it even possible?
After reading many forums, many issues seem to be apparent.
Most of the threads about ECOdiesel into an Mk1 are about swapping ECOdiesel parts onto a 1.6L to make a franken-motor with a sometimes successful (?) end result after various tricks/adaptations; including but not limited to having to modify or customize exhaust connections and shift linkage parts.
I haven't found threads about swapping an ECOdiesel into a Mk1 Rabbit saying "this is how I did it," like other swap/build threads usually do. They start with, "Hey, that's what I'm planning to do," and then there are no success / Hey, it worked -This is what I had to do, kind of stories.
ECOdiesel came Standard WITH PS, AC, larger ALT, larger radiator?, 3-speed fan switch, Cruise control, and various other peculiarities specific to it.
ECOdiesel V/drive belts for AC, PS, ALT, Water pump; apparently the components mounting, tensioning, and drive belt arrangements make it difficult if not impossible to do an AC and PS delete and still be able to drive the ALT and water pump. The water pump on the ECOdiesel allegedly had a freewheeling/clutched pulley. The ALT was a 90 AMP because of AC and had a larger housing and mounting boss.
From what I understand, if a component was an option then there were some without that option. This gives the possibility of doing deletes by using the brackets or whatnot from a car/unit without the option. Kind of skipping over the fact that some engine or head castings for with options are probably different from without.
If options were as standard equipment and no option not to have it, then there isn't a readily available method to do a delete in some cases. I found this out looking for ECOdiesel AC delete and PS delete – not a very fruitful search result.
Another issue is that not very many of the '91-'92 Jetta ECOdiesel exist, so junkyard, Pick-N-Pull, and sourcing additional parts is more than a challenge than finding Diesel Rabbit parts - and those are hard enough to find. I would also guess that replacement parts from parts houses are hard to find and expensive.
I get this feeling that a bunch of stuff may not be compatible or do-able.
Engine and transmission mounts
I've seen a couple of things that say the engine mounts are different due to Yr/Mdl difference and because of the Turbo. On one thread I found that specifically the rear engine mount has a provision for the oil line to go through it. We don’t have that mount (that I know of) and I doubt it would fit an Mk1 body.
Other ponderings:
Transmission; shift linkage; in one thread the exhaust interferes with the shift linkage and had to be modified in several paces; one piece shortened and welded back together, another piece bent some way, and a home-made bracket for something else – sheesh.
Transmission reverse light switch
Axle flanges size 90mm vs 100mm?
Probably have to relocate fuel filter
Turbo & manifold clearance to firewall may be an issue
Heat shields- 2; 1 at firewall (don't have), and the other (don't have) between intake and turbo???
Exhaust down pipe (toilet bowl?) lower on ECO than Mk1. Diameter piping - unknown.
Oil cooling / Intercooler?
V-belt pulleys and related parts that we need to work; ALT (60AMP from one of the other Rabbit guts), water pump.
Swap ALT mount from 1.6 to ECO?
Am I forgetting something here?
Anything else?
Sorry for the long-windedness and noobish post. I’d like to do the homework / research before we get into an insolvable project that might turn into nightmare. Maybe I’m over thinking this.
