Club 80-90 Forums

I have a Sinka with an AHU tdi lump in it, that drives very nicely, but I’m getting lazy in my old age, and fancy not having to change gear any more lol

Anyone bolted a tdi to an auto before? I’m wondering if the revs they change gear at would be too high for a low rev engine

They don't fit, the auto box hasn't got a swappable bellhousing, they were only ever made to take a flat four. 
You could make it work using custom adapters etc (and IIRC an I4 diesel swap was done in period for german taxis) but the t25 autoboxes do like to make the most of the engine revs so while they got away with it on a JX,  I think you're correct in assuming that they'd struggle to pair with a tdi.
 

Ah, that’s put that idea to bed then! I was hoping they had a swappable bell housing. I don’t think I can be arsed to mess about getting custom bits made for something that’s likely not going to be ideal anyway

Thanks for the reply

Hannover did things like this in Hall B (VW's SVO dept) and I have seen genuine photos of a JX auto installation, but it may well have had special valving in the box to acheive the required shift points.
TheT3 auto box does have a very tall final drive which would actually suit a TDI so you could get it to cruise at 70 mph with revs that suit the engine, but I was told that the torque converter doesn't "lock up" until you are doing 90 mph!