Club 80-90 Forums

Hey Guys,

As part of a major update on my Syncro I want to gain more power. My van currently has a 1.6TD JX engine, which is in good condition, its ok but feels underpowered and if not a pleasure to drive. After doing loads of research on 80-90 and the Brick-Yard I think a gearbox upgrade and a TDI or mTDI should give me what I am looking for, which is good performance, reliability and ok fuel consumption.

My main question is TDI or mTDI? I have ok knowledge of mechanics but it is not something I could undertake myself, but will want to do all the servicing in the future. From what I know the mTDI might cost more? But then I don't have huge amount of electrics, ECU etc to worry about. SO if you were going to pay someone else to do a conversion which way would you go and why?

I know this sort of question has been asked before but I can not find a definitive answer and still feel confused ...

Cheers

Joe

Personally if i had a complete donor car beside be and the right amount of time i would go electronic. If one or the other thing wasn't , i'd go mTDI.

I'd go mTDI if i could afford to pay someone to setup a pump. Specially in a syncro. ECU's dont like water.

Ringo

Joe, come and have a go in my 1.9TD, its ok you know!! Jake has a MTDI and if you want to pay the extra 4k for one of those compared to thoe AAZ i am sure he will let you have a bash in his too, just to try it like

jed

have a 1z mtdi complete apart from alternator for sale if your interested

Nah pug power for me in the future.

jed the spread wrote:Joe, come and have a go in my 1.9TD, its ok you know!! Jake has a MTDI and if you want to pay the extra 4k for one of those compared to thoe AAZ i am sure he will let you have a bash in his too, just to try it like

jed

Hey mate,

Would love to take you up on that offer, plus a quick sneak at your propex as I have one on order. Not sure when I will be able to get up to see you as I have a 8 day old baby son and he has turned our lives op side down

With the mTDI conversion is the only difference the pump? If so what pumps do people use? I have seen that various people sell or fit mTDI pumps for but this is where my basic knowledge of diesel mechanics runs out, what have they done to them? Sorry if this has been answered before but If it has I can not find much info about it.

Thanks for all the help

The trouble with that question is that a lot of peoples investment has gone into working that out and they dont want to give that information away for free (and i cant blame them).

I've heard the pump of the land rover defender 200 TDI is a good choice - but its not something i have really looked into and may be talking complete bollox.

AAZ's keep it simple

Ringo

For mine I'm using a pump off an LT, it bolts straight on but needs a bit of fettling to make it work properly. Good few hundred quid but its a brand new pump so should last longer than the van!

Other major expense is getting a gearbox which suits the engine - TDi makes its power much lower down rev range. I've got an AAP box (the rare expensive one) rebuilt with a .70 top gear - probs a grand invested in that.

Add charge cooling etc and its an expensive job - I've dropped probs about £4k in the conversion start to finish, but its mainly new parts, not much hasn't been replaced, and it should last! Its ace to drive as well!

AAZ is a cheaper conversion, but you can spend at least as much if you get gearbox done for this (which does make a nicer drive)

All boils down to budget - doesn't everything!

I've a 1.9 PD diesel in my truck which is fully electronic and no pump. The ECU is positioned out of harms way and the only 'problem' I've had is the outside temperature sensor does funny things after wading (under the front bumper), and the oil level sensor (bottom of the sump) malfunctioned once, again after wading.
Personally I don't know what all the fuss is about with 'electronics', they have been fitted to vehicles for years and have a proven record of reliability and enable many more 'toys' to be incorporated into the vehicle.
With the use of diagnostic software - VAG-COM - identifying problems is a whole lot easier.
Doug

The TDI electronics is generally very reliable. Its is the same in a van if fitted correctly.
I have owned built and fitted both setup many times in my syncros.
If you fit the electronics proply with ALL the sensors and USE the coded key as your ignition key(and can be used for doors etc.) then the cost will be very similar to a
Mtdi due to labour of fitting everything and parts.
The advantage of the MTDI is simplicity but the pump is also its downfall as if it goes wrong who fixes it.
An eTDI can be diagnosed by anyone with vagcom and repaired.
As to water on an eTDI this depends on how well it has been fitted. I have never had a problem with this.
Russel

Russel at Syncro-Nutz wrote:The TDI electronics is generally very reliable. Its is the same in a van if fitted correctly.
I have owned built and fitted both setup many times in my syncros.
If you fit the electronics proply with ALL the sensors and USE the coded key as your ignition key(and can be used for doors etc.) then the cost will be very similar to a
Mtdi due to labour of fitting everything and parts.
The advantage of the MTDI is simplicity but the pump is also its downfall as if it goes wrong who fixes it.
An eTDI can be diagnosed by anyone with vagcom and repaired.
As to water on an eTDI this depends on how well it has been fitted. I have never had a problem with this.
Russel

thanks for that info. I did email you guys (Syncro-Nutz) yesterday about doing the conversion but I am sure you have emails backed up from the holidays... Looking forward to hearing from you. You cleared a few things up with the above. Thanks.

ringo wrote:The trouble with that question is that a lot of peoples investment has gone into working that out and they dont want to give that information away for free (and i cant blame them).

I've heard the pump of the land rover defender 200 TDI is a good choice - but its not something i have really looked into and may be talking complete bollox.

AAZ's keep it simple

Ringo

I really did not realise how much has gone into a mTDI pump I understand people not wanting to say how they done it if they think they can make money from it.

It seems everyone has there own idea and theory which is great and really helpful as ideas I what i needed.

Cheers for the help so far.

Joe

Hi, I have now had my mTDI in and running for nearly 4 years and done over 55,000 trouble free miles........

Its a 1987 Caravelle now running a 1.9 TDI AHU engine(mk 3 Golf Estate) with AAZ pump and Sharan intercooler set up.
The pump is stock except for boost pin and very careful set up with the fuel metering.
It works and works well.........

GaV