A1 turbo diesel engine swap troubles

[mk1vdub]

Hello I am in the process of fitting an A2 turbo diesel engine into my rabbit which was origionally a 1.6 N/A diesel, but have come to a bit of a problem. The turbo exhaust outlet to down pipe (the part circled in red in the picture) is too close to the gear linkage and inner CV joint



ideally I would like to get hold of an origional A1 turbo diesel part which moves the join to the down pipe away from the bulk head and towards the middle of the engine thus solving the clearence issues. so if any one has one which they would be prepared to send to the UK (I have been looking for one in the UK but its is proving exteemly hard to track down) I would be very grateful!
alternative suggestions on how else to solve the problem would also be gratefully received.
many thanks
Paul

[Mark(The Miser)UK]

I take it youve tried scrap yards and dismantlers...

I see its got intercooler fittings  :twisted:
Is it going to have an intercooler?
Something I was looking for for my '88 Passat/QuantumTD
Hens teeth more common :cry:

[mk1vdub]

wow quick reply, and from a fellow brit!!

yeah I've tried a few scrappys but I really don't hold out much hope of finding one in the UK as N/A deisel mk1s are rare enough let alone a turbo one! - I've never actually seen or heard of one in the UK and I like to think I'm fairly into my mk1s!

yes it will be running an intercooler, probably the origional one that came with it but not in the same postion as I don't have any of the plastic surround and i doubt it would fit anyway.
I think I will try and front mount it somewhere which will probably involve moving the rad and other things around and I haven't really looked into it too deeply yet.

Something I was looking for for my '88 Passat/QuantumTD
Hens teeth more common :cry:

I take it you're refering to a factory intercooler set up? as yes they are pretty hard to come by, I reckon you'd be better off front mounting one, try ebay for quite a few cheap intercoolers in various sizes and fitting to try and find one you could make work.

[mk1vdub]

fitting an A2 turbo diesel engine into my rabbit

And that is exactly what the problem is. The turbo downpipe on the A2 is angled differently than that of the A1. You'll either need to find an A1 replacement or have something custom made, which would give you better performance anyway. The stock cast iron downpipe is the one bottleneck in the path to a low restriction exhaust system.

yeah I understand that and knew it might be a problem before I started, but until I trial fitted the engine whcih I only did the other day I didn't know how much of a problem it would be and thought I may be able to overcome it easier with out having to change too much.
basically it is kind of a wanted ad for an origional A1 part as to find one in the UK I think I'd have to be pretty lucky!
I just wondered how other people had got round the problem - assuming someone has done the same swap as me
getting something custom made is an potion I had thought of I just wanted to see if ther were other (cheaper!!) options out there.

[Mark(The Miser)UK]

I'm wondering if the first piece of the Quantum TD downpipe would fit. Unlike the Rabbity springy crappy junction it would bolt straight on and head along towards the gearbox before starting t oduck down... sawn off and welded suitably to a piece of bent pipe might reroute successfully...
MAYBE :shock:

[Patrick]

I just went the other way and put an 84 Jetta (A1) TD in a 92 Jetta. I didn't check casting numbers, but the part you refer to looked the same on both engines. Did have a bit of a clearance problem with the exhaust pipe and the steering rack, just warmed it up an bent it a little. Maybe the pipe is different?

[caddywompus]

I recently put an A2 TD engine (out of a 91 Jetta ECO) in my 81 Caddy and the only mod I had to do was to cut off a small piece of the downpipe flange, right at the union with the "toilet bowl".  The issue I was having before I made this mod was the shift linkage was hitting the flange and not fully engaging into 3rd gear (I think it was 3rd, but maybe 4th...).   Once I got a sawzall in there (only tool available at the time) and took off a small non-functional part of the flange everything worked fine.

Justin

[MayorDJQ]

I don't think a Quantum manifold would work.  I have one in the cellar that I could take some pics of.  The quantum engines were mounted longitudinally, so the exhaustbasically just dumps out of the "exit" side of the turbo into a regular exhaust pipe.  When I was doing my TD transplant into an A1 Rabbit, I bolted the quantum manifold on and tried to drop the eninge in, but the exhaust was very close to the brake booster and the differential.

I ended up buying a complete non-running A2 Jetta TD and swapped the turbo/exhaust manifold onto the quantum engine, to go into the Rabbit.  I drove it for a few days with the exhaust open, before getting to the exhaust shop.  The guy cut the downpipe off just above where it turned under the car, and hooked of the toilet bowl.  He then cut out the extra and welded the shortened downpipe back together.

I still have the longblock TD if anyone is interested.

[therabbittree]

I would make one up from some mandrel bends... the stock down pipe is REALLY restrictive......I ve made a couple of them...not to bad to do in a afternoon...if you really insist on choking the engine with the stock down pipe..i think i can dig one up...i normally rip the cast one off and toss it..let me look for ya.
thanks
Deo
\x/ hillfolk!

[ejust]

anybody have pics of both a larger downpipe for an A2 and for the spring mod (govenor mod) and how badly does the govener mod kill fuel milage?

[veeman]

When making your own downpipe, did you find a source for the turbo-side flange?  Are the readily available somewhere?  What diameter tubing did you end up using?

I think I'll end up doing the same for an upcoming TD conversion...anyone have any pics of a custom downpipe they've made?

Thanks!

[therabbittree]

i just took some thick steel plate and torched out a copy of the correct turbo flange from the stock one, i then used a grinder and hand files to finish teh shape and then used 2" or 2 1/4" mandrel bent tubing to finish the down pipe..i sold my first one to a guy on here in ct i forgot his screen name ..etc..i have another one started but not finished..i can take pics of the started on if you'd like
thanks
deo
\x/ hillfolk!

[veeman]

Thanks for the reply.. A pic would be great! Sounds like a nice project...  Did you make the end of the dowpipe a slip/clamp fit with the rest of the exhaust or did you make a flange there as well?

[fspGTD]

Deo, I would be interested in seeing what you've been cooking up in this department as well.  

veeman -
Here's a flange that looks like it would work:


source:
http://www.atpturbo.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ATP-FLS-032&Category_Code=FLS

Other related threads to this topic:
http://www.vwdiesel.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=63
http://www.vwdiesel.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=259
http://www.vwdiesel.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=888
http://www.vwdiesel.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1022

And a relevant thread on found on this topic from the old forum:
http://www.hostboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=4037&t=239

[veeman]

Thanks, Jake!

I'm new to this forum (you were the one that sent me the link the other day) and so I've got a lot of reading and searching to do.  Great info!

Elliott