vw 2.4 5 cilinder diesel

[marcel.w]

Hello,

quick question.
i'm thinking about maybe putting a 2.4 5 cilinder diesel into my t25.
but these are non turbo engines and lack a bunch of power.could i just put a turbo on one of these without over stressing it to make a bunch more power?
i know of the audi 2 liter 5 cilinder turbo,but these are a lot harder to find.
greetz Marcel

[libbydiesel]

There is a LOT more support for the 4-cyl turbo-diesels and TDI engines.  The 1.9TDI's can be easily tuned to enough torque to fairly quickly turn your transaxle into a pile of shrapnel.  Unless you are also planning a trans swap to a much more robust unit, then go with one of the 4-cyl options.  Even if going with a trans swap also, I'd still go with a 4-cyl TDI. 

[rabbid79]

A 2.4 diesel can easily be converted to TD, I've done it.  There are tons of parts available for doing turbo swaps.  Some things like manifolds you can get from the Volvo TDI 5-cylinder engines sold in Europe.  Other things like injection pumps you can get from an Audi 2.0 TD engine.  The 2.4s even have oil squirters and whatnot.

But, as has been mentioned, it will be a lot more work than swapping in a 4-cylinder.  Depending on the transmission, you won't need a new one, but you will need a different bellhousing to mate to the 5-cyl.  The motor carrier bars aren't that expensive.  ZSI has a bunch of them.  But the alternator/PS pump/AC pump/clutch and whatnot, I think, would be the real turn off.  VW put 5 cylinder engines the their South African transporters, so if you could get all of those parts, it probably wouldn't be too bad.

There's also lots of thread on thesamba.com about doing diesel swaps and/or 5-cylinder swaps into these vehicles.  IIRC Audi V6 and V8 swaps are even possible.  (Gotta have that bellhousing though.)

[libbydiesel]

ZSI, yipes!  I personally know several people severely scammed by them.  They've been having a 'going out of business sale' for more than a decade.  Outright lying is part of their MO.  Be forewarned. 

I would reiterate that unless you're installing a Porsche trans or the like to handle ungodly amounts of torque and plan on tuning for it, there is no upside to the 5-cylinder (or 6 or over the 4 and plenty of downsides.

[marcel.w]

Ok,i alredy thouhgt it would be a lot of extra work without any gains.
i wil build up the low milige AFN TDI that i have lying about.
its just that the 5 cilinder has that nice sound to it
that build up with a franken pump or 300tdi pump and flipt audi gearbox wil work.
in my old t25 i run a AFN etdi with flipt box,that workt fine but i hated the wiring.

greetz marcel