Michael Ghia
October 29th 2002, 18:04
This is just a quick run through of my conversion from TD to GTi power!
I have used a Golf GTi 1988 Digifant engine which I bought from a buddy from his wrecked GTi which had covered just 100,000 for £80 complete with loom, ECU, Ignition control unit, Idle control valve, fuel pump and fuel pipes and all the other bits I would need to make it run.
I removed the engine and swapped all the diesel parts over. The sump, engine mounts, alternator brackets and alternator and pulleys. Note here that the bottom timming pulley is 10mm wider on the Diesel than on the GTi so you have to space the pulley out with washers to make it line up with the water pump pulley.
I tried to bolt up the TD exhaust manifold but it hit the inlet manifold so I binned that idea and used the GTi one.
I had to block off one water pipe which came down from the main plastic housing (bolts onto the front of the cyl head) as on the GTi it runs to the oil cooler but the water pipes are different and there's no where for it to run to on the van. Otherwise stock Diesel water pipes were used throughout.
The diesel flywheel and clutch were used and a new Spigot bearing (gearbox input shaft support bearing) was installed in the GTi crank as they don't come with one in the Golf.
Once I had it bolted to the gearbox, I found that the inlet manifold (as so many people have told me!) hit the engine bay wall at the front N/S and the chassis leg. Bummer! I got a very nice big hammer (technical bit this!) and dropped the engine out of the way and pummelled the offending metal work until it cleared.
Note... if I had to do this again, I'd cut the piece out as it's not a small amount. I will be dropping the engine again soon to clean this up and weld up the chassis leg where I've clearanced it.
Once that was in, all I had to do was mount the ECU and coil and tie back all the wiring.
The wiring for the engine comes as a seperate loom in the Golf. Only three wires connect the loom to the rest of the Main loom in the car. They are the main feed for the ECU loom (Yellow and black), the main earth for the ECU loom (brown and red) and the pulse feed for the fuel pump setup (Yellow and red).
I just put the solenoid wire (diesel pump remember) to the main feed for the ECU and earthed the other wire to the battery.
The fuel pump system in the Golf works originally with a relay and a pulse from the Dizzy which tells it to function. When the system falters on the Golf, a usual fix is to just run a constant feed to the pump so it's functioning all the time. I used the same feed for the ECU loom as for the Fuel pump so it's running all the time the ignition is on.
The fuel lines I used were from the Golf. The Diesel ones may have worked but they're weren't supposed to function at the pressure which the GTi works at.
I pulled the diesel lines out and put the Golf ones in and just connected them up as per in the Golf. The fuel pump is mounted just back from the fuel tank underneath the floor in the middle.
I'm currently getting 25MPG on a regular basis.
The exhaust was the tricky bit. I used a Passat downpipe (supplied by Central VW Audi in Liverpool for a tenner, cheers guys!) and modified it (cut it up in little pieces and welded it back together) and ran it straight into a TD exhaust box.
It sounds a bit noisey at tickover as I don't think it's producing enough backpressure but it runs well enough.
I don't have pictures as of yet but I'll be writing up an article for the website at some point soon with pictures if anyones looking for info.
Please feel free to use this information above with my name attached.
Michael Ghia
www.performanceghia.com
I have used a Golf GTi 1988 Digifant engine which I bought from a buddy from his wrecked GTi which had covered just 100,000 for £80 complete with loom, ECU, Ignition control unit, Idle control valve, fuel pump and fuel pipes and all the other bits I would need to make it run.
I removed the engine and swapped all the diesel parts over. The sump, engine mounts, alternator brackets and alternator and pulleys. Note here that the bottom timming pulley is 10mm wider on the Diesel than on the GTi so you have to space the pulley out with washers to make it line up with the water pump pulley.
I tried to bolt up the TD exhaust manifold but it hit the inlet manifold so I binned that idea and used the GTi one.
I had to block off one water pipe which came down from the main plastic housing (bolts onto the front of the cyl head) as on the GTi it runs to the oil cooler but the water pipes are different and there's no where for it to run to on the van. Otherwise stock Diesel water pipes were used throughout.
The diesel flywheel and clutch were used and a new Spigot bearing (gearbox input shaft support bearing) was installed in the GTi crank as they don't come with one in the Golf.
Once I had it bolted to the gearbox, I found that the inlet manifold (as so many people have told me!) hit the engine bay wall at the front N/S and the chassis leg. Bummer! I got a very nice big hammer (technical bit this!) and dropped the engine out of the way and pummelled the offending metal work until it cleared.
Note... if I had to do this again, I'd cut the piece out as it's not a small amount. I will be dropping the engine again soon to clean this up and weld up the chassis leg where I've clearanced it.
Once that was in, all I had to do was mount the ECU and coil and tie back all the wiring.
The wiring for the engine comes as a seperate loom in the Golf. Only three wires connect the loom to the rest of the Main loom in the car. They are the main feed for the ECU loom (Yellow and black), the main earth for the ECU loom (brown and red) and the pulse feed for the fuel pump setup (Yellow and red).
I just put the solenoid wire (diesel pump remember) to the main feed for the ECU and earthed the other wire to the battery.
The fuel pump system in the Golf works originally with a relay and a pulse from the Dizzy which tells it to function. When the system falters on the Golf, a usual fix is to just run a constant feed to the pump so it's functioning all the time. I used the same feed for the ECU loom as for the Fuel pump so it's running all the time the ignition is on.
The fuel lines I used were from the Golf. The Diesel ones may have worked but they're weren't supposed to function at the pressure which the GTi works at.
I pulled the diesel lines out and put the Golf ones in and just connected them up as per in the Golf. The fuel pump is mounted just back from the fuel tank underneath the floor in the middle.
I'm currently getting 25MPG on a regular basis.
The exhaust was the tricky bit. I used a Passat downpipe (supplied by Central VW Audi in Liverpool for a tenner, cheers guys!) and modified it (cut it up in little pieces and welded it back together) and ran it straight into a TD exhaust box.
It sounds a bit noisey at tickover as I don't think it's producing enough backpressure but it runs well enough.
I don't have pictures as of yet but I'll be writing up an article for the website at some point soon with pictures if anyones looking for info.
Please feel free to use this information above with my name attached.
Michael Ghia
www.performanceghia.com