Syncro JX to AFN mTDi swap
Posted: 21 Sep 2015, 19:22
Hi
As some of you may know I had an unfortunate luck of blowing the head gasket on my JX engine on the way to Busfest. A little embarrassing turning up to the show on the back of a breakdown truck, but at least we still managed to enjoy the weekend.
This helped accelerate my priorities to upgrade the engine in the Syncro. I'd always intended doing this anyway and already purchased the donor, a 1 owner AFN engined Passat with 125k miles on the clock and full service history. I didn't have the heart to tell the 80 year old seller I was going to rip the engine out.
So after Busfest it was time to get the engine out:
Engine out I set about getting rid of all the auxiliaries, down to almost the bare engine. Luckily I have a good friend and expert on hand in Andy (crazy-for-a-syncro) to help guide me as this will be the biggest mechanical job I've tackled so far. Luckily Andy also has JX spares knocking around his workshop so I can start rebuilding the engine prior to taking the engine out of my Syncro. We'll also try to build a test bed out of the van to check the timing etc.
1st jobs tackled - replaced AFN oil pickup for JX pickup
Replaced AFN sump with JX sump, including new gasket
Replaced crank oil seal while sump off
Replaced water pump
I'm going down the mTDi route in the hope this will get me up and running quicker. Later on I'll probably go the full TDi route and I've already taken the engine and dash loom out of the Passat in preparation. A quick Google and the Land Rover 300tdi pump seems to be a popular choice and luckily I managed to find one cheap on eBay.
Before progressing further I need to get the pump bracket machined out to take the new pump. I believe it needs a 68mm hole. I'm trying to find somewhere local to do this.
So watch this space. I'm pretty sure I've finalised the route I want to go, but I'd welcome feedback along the way. Especially if someone's done the same swap.
Tim at Ultimate is building an engine mount ready for the swap and my intention is to reuse the turbo etc. off the JX to get me up and running ASAP. Saying that I do have a day job and other commitments over the next few weekends so progress may not be particularly quick.
I'll be at the Adventure Overland show Saturday and would appreciate looking into engine bays of anyone else who's done a TDi swap. It'll be good to hear what people have done re mechanical pumps, intercoolers, ECU locations etc.
All being well I'll also be at Brighton Breeze if anyone there would be kind enough to share experiences.
Thought I'd start a log of the swap in case it helps someone else + to give a central point to ask questions.
Wish me luck
Thanks
Nick
As some of you may know I had an unfortunate luck of blowing the head gasket on my JX engine on the way to Busfest. A little embarrassing turning up to the show on the back of a breakdown truck, but at least we still managed to enjoy the weekend.
This helped accelerate my priorities to upgrade the engine in the Syncro. I'd always intended doing this anyway and already purchased the donor, a 1 owner AFN engined Passat with 125k miles on the clock and full service history. I didn't have the heart to tell the 80 year old seller I was going to rip the engine out.
So after Busfest it was time to get the engine out:
Engine out I set about getting rid of all the auxiliaries, down to almost the bare engine. Luckily I have a good friend and expert on hand in Andy (crazy-for-a-syncro) to help guide me as this will be the biggest mechanical job I've tackled so far. Luckily Andy also has JX spares knocking around his workshop so I can start rebuilding the engine prior to taking the engine out of my Syncro. We'll also try to build a test bed out of the van to check the timing etc.
1st jobs tackled - replaced AFN oil pickup for JX pickup
Replaced AFN sump with JX sump, including new gasket
Replaced crank oil seal while sump off
Replaced water pump
I'm going down the mTDi route in the hope this will get me up and running quicker. Later on I'll probably go the full TDi route and I've already taken the engine and dash loom out of the Passat in preparation. A quick Google and the Land Rover 300tdi pump seems to be a popular choice and luckily I managed to find one cheap on eBay.
Before progressing further I need to get the pump bracket machined out to take the new pump. I believe it needs a 68mm hole. I'm trying to find somewhere local to do this.
So watch this space. I'm pretty sure I've finalised the route I want to go, but I'd welcome feedback along the way. Especially if someone's done the same swap.
Tim at Ultimate is building an engine mount ready for the swap and my intention is to reuse the turbo etc. off the JX to get me up and running ASAP. Saying that I do have a day job and other commitments over the next few weekends so progress may not be particularly quick.
I'll be at the Adventure Overland show Saturday and would appreciate looking into engine bays of anyone else who's done a TDi swap. It'll be good to hear what people have done re mechanical pumps, intercoolers, ECU locations etc.
All being well I'll also be at Brighton Breeze if anyone there would be kind enough to share experiences.
Thought I'd start a log of the swap in case it helps someone else + to give a central point to ask questions.
Wish me luck
Thanks
Nick