# VR6 to TDI swap. Or gas to diesel to be accurate



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

If you are thinking about sticking a tdi into a gas car…….. don’t










Still reading??? Hmm ok well I guess I’ll add to the tex and do a proper write up of it. The car and the write up are a work in progress so updates will be added on a weekly basis until the car is running again. I have done some searches on vortex and the tdi club forums and there really isn’t a definitive write up in it more of a log of the random pitfalls. A helpful but a step by step process is needed for future texters. This write-up is both good for b4 Passat and mk3 Jetta/ golf. There really is little difference between these cars.

Back story. The car is owned by my friend. In November during an early snow storm a tree fell and crushed his car. This just a few months after I got it running properly, leaky ecm vacuum line. He had disused doing repair with a body guy he knew, but I suggested that doing a swap might be easier and safer given the extent of the damage. I also noted that “sedans’ are lame” and if we could find a wagon “with a strait body but major engine or transmission issues” that would be ideal. A glx would be perfect, he wants leather. Ten minutes and a quick search on craigslist later we found our car. A blue passat wagon vr6 tan leather in perfect condition but with a bad transmission. A week later he had the car and I was committed. 










I have found the key so far with the swap is to think big. Pull the cars apart in big components whenever possible. Example…We pulled both motors via the sub-frames. In both cases the power steering, transmission, axels, and front suspension at the knuckles are all intact. Really disassembly is the easy part and I won’t really touch on it here. I’m more concerned with are answering the following questions. 

1.	How much of the wiring will we need to pull from one car to the other to get it to run?
2.	Instrument clusters??? Glow plug light is in the cluster. 
3.	How will I solve the differences between the fuel pump and level sensors?
4.	How will going from sedan to wagon affect the build?
5.	In this build we are going from auto to manual how is that going to affect wiring and the build?
6.	The wagon has abs the sedan doesn’t and he wants to retain abs. How am I going to do that and make sure the cluster functions? I’m I going to run into serious wiring problems?
7.	Four to Five lug swap? Are the axels the same dimensions or am I going to have to use tdi Axles or a hybrid of vr6 and tdi?
8.	There are part number differences in the sub-frame but are there really any differences between the sub-frames?
9.	Fuel delivery and fuel lines? Differences in tanks from sedan to wagon and tdi from gas.
10.	Intercooler mounting piping?
11.	Ac, power steering, function and components compatibility from one car to the other?
Trough the process of the build and the write up I hope to have all these questions answered. When all these questions are answered the car will be running and ready to be inspected by the California B.A.R. East coasters you guys can cheat but since we have to go by the book in Cali hopefully this will be the write up to refer to when the job needs to be done right.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week one. Research and TDI disassembly.*

Looking at part numbers I can answer some of my questions. Being that this build has to be legal we need to get a new TDI wagon tank, fuel lines and sender/pickup. We are trying to see if one turns up in a junk yard but if all fails we will have to get one at the dealer. I have checked they are on backorder so it will have to come from Germany. 

Reading on previous swaps seems two methods are taken with the wiring. Cut and splice or complete harness swaps. I have yet to decide. Trough the research I have learned one thing. There is no comprehensive write up on doing a swap. I figured I will take on the project and solve problems as they arise. 
Actual work on car, we pulled the motor via sub-frame and most of the parts that make it an tdi.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week two. VR6 disassembly*

Did everything to the VR6 that we did to the TDI expect I was much more careful with the body components.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week Three. Further disassembly of both cars.*

After talking to a tech friend and researching I have decided to go the wiring route of swapping complete harnesses and keeping the splicing to an absolute minimum. I have separated and identified all the warring in the engine compartment. After reading I have found that there is additional wiring for the ac/heater box required to make a tdi system work. My guess is that the wiring is to make the recirculation circuit work being that the vr6 recirculation flap is vacuum actuated. FYI that vacuum line going into your firewall is for that purpose. I’m thinking that the tdi system is entirely electronic being that diesels don’t generate vacuum that well. I have yet to confirm this. I have taken the entire dash out of the VR6 much easier a task compared to pulling the dash in my Jetta. With the dash out I will start to indentify and label all wiring in the VR6 and start to pull the appropriate harnesses as assemblies. I do know from my initial inspection that life will be easier if I leave as much hooked up to the fuse block as possible. I will have pictures up of all this next week.


----------



## G60ING (Jun 27, 2000)

the hvac systems are the same. The cooling system for the motors is different. There are several good threads on the TDI club about what you are doing. If you post up in the TDIclub classifieds you might even be able to get the 25gallon B4 varient tank. There is no reason at all to purchase the lines and tank new from vw unless the price is so low that you don't mind. Worst case scenario I would run the gasser tank until the correct used tank finds its way to you. :thumbup:

The swap is fairly plug and play. Most of the wires under the hood can only go to one part within reach of the wire. Its the work under the dash that can get tricky as there are so many wires that are so closes to each other. This is where the labeling or use of colored wire ties is helpful. Also you might want to read lugnut's swap thread as he ran into a little difficluty on doing the wiring for the hvac system as there is a minor differance. 

If you pull the dash for the pedal cluster I highly recomend that you replace the heater core and foam on all of the trap doors in the hvac system. :thumbup:opcorn:


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

G60ING said:


> the hvac systems are the same. The cooling system for the motors is different. There are several good threads on the TDI club about what you are doing. If you post up in the TDIclub classifieds you might even be able to get the 25gallon B4 varient tank. There is no reason at all to purchase the lines and tank new from vw unless the price is so low that you don't mind. Worst case scenario I would run the gasser tank until the correct used tank finds its way to you. :thumbup:
> 
> The swap is fairly plug and play. Most of the wires under the hood can only go to one part within reach of the wire. Its the work under the dash that can get tricky as there are so many wires that are so closes to each other. This is where the labeling or use of colored wire ties is helpful. Also you might want to read lugnut's swap thread as he ran into a little difficluty on doing the wiring for the hvac system as there is a minor differance.
> 
> If you pull the dash for the pedal cluster I highly recomend that you replace the heater core and foam on all of the trap doors in the hvac system. :thumbup:opcorn:


Good info... Thanks. I prefer to do new lines. Price wise they aren't that bad. Tank is expensive and finding a used on would be ideal, but being that they are plastic I wonder if it would survive a trip on yellow truck. Dealing with CARB and the BAR scares me. If they find one shady thing on the car like using the old tank then they will go over the car with a fine toothed comb. With that said I will most likely still be going new on the tank. All in all its the only real expense of doing the swap. Small price to pay really.

lol your sig has all then info I need.

that wiring difference in the hvac has me worried. Makes no sense but I have read the same thing that there is a wiring difference. When I have it solved I will do a good write up in that part of the solution.

Thanks

ohh ya doing the heater core is a given, come on man I work with thies cars for a living 
we are revamping as we work. Goal is to make this old car like new


----------



## G60ING (Jun 27, 2000)

sounds good. 

The tanks on the Corrados and mk3 TDI Jettas that I've had my hands on could certainly handle all the abuse that UPS or fedex could toss at them. 

Post up on craigslist or even the TDIclub and you might get lucky on a used tank. As for the fuel lines I don't blame you. Get those while they are still available new. I know everytime I'm able to get new parts for a mk3 tdi or corrado from the dealer I feel very fortunate. Soon they will all be NLA. 

I look forward to a good detail of the HVAC wiring. If I find anything I'll post it up. Soon I'll add your thread to the swap list. 

Also I'd love your you to post up about your SMOG referee experiance as I have a friend with a 16V Golf that I might be converting to TDI, he lives in San Diego:thumbdown: here it would be soooo simple. From what I've it really boils down to the smog referee and what type of person they are. 

I know they will want the VIN of the TDI donor
will not allow an older motor into a newer car
the smog equipment for the engine has to be present and 100% operational
Then it just has to pass the typical smog check for the engine donor's car which for 1997-1998 TDIs if I'm correct is a visual and diagnostic scan and maybe a snap throttle check for smoke.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week Four day 1--- The Rats Nest*










I started the day further disassembling the TDI interior. I pulled the dash and pretty much got it to the same point of disassembly of the VR6. The wiring still remains. Then It was time to move on to the VR6 and get engine wiring out. In this part of the write up I deviate from what would be the standard wiring exchange and into the much more complex job of not only doing a tdi swap but also a sedan to wagon and manual to automatic swap. I decide to disconnect the under dash fuse and relay block entirely. If you are doing a simple tdi swap do not I repeat DO NOT do this. Simply isolate the connectors at the back of the fuse panel that deal directly with the engine harness and disconnect. This can be done with a little light and a lot of patients.

I separated the cluster harness, the column harness, the abs-airbag-break harness, center console switch pack harness, from the body harnesses and set them aside. I did this because I'm still figuring out the integration of things like abs abs and the automatic trans.


I read in a post before that there are three harnesses that need to be transferred from one car to the other. Those harnesses are as follows

1.	ECM harness
2.	Radiator Fan harness
3.	AC load reduction harness.--- this harness is pictured below. 










It plugs into the hvac and also into the radiator harness and engine harness. There is enough differences that it is absolutely necessary to change this out .
I then removed the hvac unit from the car. An relatively simple task. It is bolted into the fire wall in about six locations. It is important to note that it is bolted down in the rain tray with two 13mm bolts that are on each side of the air inlet. I did this because I wanted a clear view of the wiring and I wanted to replace the heater core because I was that deep anyway.

I finished the day by pulling the pedal cluster. It is held in by about 10 13mm nuts. The two places that really gave me trouble was the nuts that are below the carpet and the bottom of the steering column is connected to the bracket for the pedal cluster.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week Four day 2. First major obstacle*

The idea was to get the wiring out of the way. This was not to be. I stared on the tdi and pulled the pedal cluster. An easier job when I don’t care about the column being in the way. The real issue was the clip that holds the cutch rod into the pedal is a total pain in the ass. After bending the pedal and a good strong tug the cluster was free. When I went to get the slave I realized that it is attached to a bracket that is attached to the break booster. 









Half hour later and after I pulled the booster with the abs pump attached I had the bracket swapped and was ready to reinstall the pedals. 








A husk of a car
Fifteen minutes later









And I am officially in the going back together phase of the project. A huge mental triumph.

Though it was short lived. I was cleaning up the fire wall plugging holes that needed plugs and prepping for the clutch master install. I moved to get rid of the automatic transmission harness which I cut in week two when I stopped to think. At first I was like hmm that is a lot of wires just to run the transmission. Then I went to the VR6 Trans and when I looked at the neutral safety switch my heart sank. I realized that the reverse lights controlled buy that switch. That harness goes to the back of the car. That signal passes through the TCM and goes to a relay that inhibits the starter. 175 relay. The body harnesses is intrinsically different because of it being an automatic. Now I’m stuck.

The new vortex search function is terrible. I need to figure out how to eliminate the TCM from the car entirely. I can’t remember what wire plugs into the reverse switch on the TDI. I’m not sure if it was the engine harness or the fan harness. I have read and one method is to jumper a couple wires in for the range switch connector. I don’t want to go that route because I don’t want the tcm to back feed into the ecm and make the car limp. I can’t have a check engine light if I want to pass smog. Another method is to rewire the reverse light switch and jumper it into the 175 relay. If all fails and I don’t have a concrete solution that is what I am going to do. As far as the body wiring goes I still need to indentify and separate all the wiring so I can ascertain which connector that goes into the back of the fuse panel deals with the transmission. 

I moved on and removed all the wiring from the tdi. Pics below are of the tdi fuse block being unplugged layer by layer. 










































I separated the wiring and found compared it to the vr6 harnesses that I removed. The ABS indicator light harness was different. The instrument cluster harness were obviously different. Column harness was different due to mfi and rear wiper. I kept that harness. 

Any help with the automatic trans delete wiring end will be very helpful.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Pre Week Five---- picking up the pieces*

Spent the week juggling my job duties and scouring the Internet for answers to my questions. I found a wite-up that is for Mk4 with a 01m and dealing with there 175 relay. In that one they hard wire the backup light switch and put a 53 relay to work as the started relay. I talked to "VW-TDI" a dude in Vancouver about his experience with dealing with the automatic transmission wiring. He told me that he bypasses it completely. I looked at ETKA's picture of the harness and it in-fact is a totally stand alone harness, so I should be able to eliminate it entirely. I believe that the reverse light switch is piggy backed on the radiator fan harness. I have to confirm this. If that is the case wiring the revers-lights will be a snap. 

I was doing the research this morning on how to get the cluster mfa to function. I found a picture of the back of the fuse panel. One google search led to another and I found this on the Bentley wed site. 


















here is the source for the above pictures 

immensely helpful information for those trying to sort out what all the plugs do in the back of that mess. I'm thrilled that I'm able to post it here. I have the complete wiring diagram and I'm ready to tame that bitch. I will be prepping the car for mfa and keyless entry during the process. I hope to have the car ready for engine install by sun down on Sunday. A write-up and pics of my progress on Monday. 

Thanks to 

VW-TDI for your help and thanks to Big Richard for fumbling his way through is build like I am.


----------



## G60ING (Jun 27, 2000)

I would think that you could pull the entire automatic transmission harness out. 

Installing the the MFA cluster is fairly straight forward and its been outlined several times: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=101455 

This guy has done many conversions of VR6 clusters with MFA to TDI clusters with MFA and the correct milage and a power supply cap : http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=268798


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

G60ING said:


> I would think that you could pull the entire automatic transmission harness out.
> 
> Installing the the MFA cluster is fairly straight forward and its been outlined several times: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=101455
> 
> This guy has done many conversions of VR6 clusters with MFA to TDI clusters with MFA and the correct milage and a power supply cap : http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=268798


 Cool thanks........the GLX cluster has a third lcd screen. Any idea what it is for???


----------



## kda33 (Jan 27, 2005)

watching this, good read


----------



## G60ING (Jun 27, 2000)

the 3rd screen is for the automatic's P RND32


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week Five day 1--- FU auto*

I needed a week away from even thinking about this car. Last Saturday was a relatively nice day but chilly. Armed with information that I got from VW-TDI a good dude on the tdi club forums, I set forth on isolating and eliminating the Automatic harness from the car. The harness is in fact a totally standalone harness that is connected to the chassis harness in only a few spots. The automatic trans harness doesn’t connect to the back of the fuse block though there are a couple jumper connections. The harness communicates with the ecm via an eight pin connector that is connected directly to the engine wiring in the rats nest behind the fuse block. The 175 relay does interrupt the starter circuit, when you remove this harness you need to find a jumper on the donor car that is attached to the thick black and red wires that are behind the driver kick panel. Pic below









The other connectors that you have to really worry about are some green and black wired ones. Not sure what they do, revise lights maybe. It’s pretty simple to figure out at any rate.

I traced the trans harness down the side channel then it goes under the driver seat. Why??? I assume because Volkswagen hates me. I wasn’t about to pull the carpeting so snip snip and now the car is a stick









Here are pictures of the reverse lights circuit

Connector to the reverse lights on the engine wiring harness









Engine harness to the back of the fuse panel









Out of the fuse panel out to the body









Weather was closing in. As it got colder I started moving slower. I didn’t want to start the under dash wiring just to run out of time mid way. So I decided to get the engine bay wiring ran and secured. That was more time consuming that I thought. I finished the day mounting the abs pump and hooked up the clutch master. Bolted it all up called the pedals totally done. Stuck a fork in the day.


Side note. Dieder out did himself with the clutch pedal. There is a white nylon bushing that keeps the rod for the clutch master attached to the pedal. I "mongoed" it out during disassembly. Bent the crap out of the pedal, ugly ugly ugly. I struggled like an idiot trying to get it back together before I started to think like a German and figured out the trick. When servicing that bushing

First press cutch pedal to the floor and notice that angle of the rod is such that it is now out of the way

Second pinch stupid ass nylon thingy together

Third keep in mind that the bushing is engineered by the same people that are responsible for lederhosen and the holocaust, with said hate bushing pinched raise pedal up and, presto it is free.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week five Day 2---- Taming the Rats nest.*

Started the day with a laundry list of “need to do’s” to get out of the way. I wanted to finish the day ready for engine install. As fate would have it, this was not to be for a few reasons. Firstly getting all that wiring back together is an imposable task on the quick unless you have done it many times. I spent the day trying to think like an assembly line man keeping the process as simple as possible. Even then it is an complex jumble of wires and I have a few connections that I’m just not sure on. I made two failed attempts at getting the fuse panel wired. Sometimes I would get it wired half way then I found that connectors wouldn’t reach or that inter-connecting wires would block off the larger connectors for the cluster or ecm or whatever. And then when I finally got it all sorted out there are a few orphan connectors that I don’t know what to do with. Not to mention the jumpers. Ohh god the jumpers. Some with one color connectors but different color wires, some with blue connectors but plug into white jumpers. I am not comfortable with those at all. I have a Audi tech fried and wiring guru that has needed a running vr6 for quite some time. I’m going to trade to him that to sort out the rest of the wiring. As it is I’d say it’s about 90% right. What I thought would take a couple hours ended up taking all day. An I’m no where near ready to get the motor in. No matter because as of writing this, the clutch has still not showed up but the fuel tank from Germany has.










So here is a tentative thumbs up to the fuse panel technically it is in.










The menu for this weekend consists of getting the donor car back on its wheels. With the fuel tank here I guess I will pull the sedan tank and swap over hoses and crap to prep the wagon tank for install. I still have to get the intercooler mounted and get the shifter box swapped. Get all that done, then I can watch the Super Bowl and get drunk.

Side note. I hate you dieder for coming up with the A3/B4 wiring. I imagine that the poor sob that had to put that crap together on the assembly line day in and day out lasted for a maximum of three months. After that it was either a long trip to the funny farm or a short trip to slit wrists.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week Six day 1--- preparing the Black Passat for its’ last mile*

Beautiful weather this weekend and I spent it in a tee shirt and worked up a sweat. Saturday and Sunday both where in the low 70s with no wind. The sun was warm with a kiss of spring and I was more focused and moved to get as much done while the weather held out. My goal for the day was to strip the sedan of its final offerings and prep it to be moved to its final resting place. First on the menu was the shifter box. The front heat shield has to be removed past that the shifter box is held in with two 13mm bolts from the bottom and one 13mm nut on the inside. Zip zip clunk, and it was out. Few minutes later I had it bolted into its new home.










Next I had to get the intercooler swapped. In the frame horn there is a plate that is welded where the top of the cooler comes through the sheet metal. Not to worry it is tack welded in two spots. A couple good hits with the butt of a screw driver and it broke away from the car. The cooler is easy enough to mount. As with everything else the holes are all there it’s just a matter of swapping a few bits. 

There is a square hole pictured below. That is the bottom mount. 

















Swap the grommet and the nut. The top of the cooler is bolted to the bumper retaining bracket. I removed the cooler with the ducting and mounting brackets intact and put it back together as such. Easy job










Then I had to strip the sedan sub frame of everything but the essentials. Kinda heavy and I was working alone. I bolted it up to the chassis. Got the knuckle bolts hand tight, then got the wheels back on. With that done the sedan is back to being a rolling chassis. Moved to the rear and ripped and tarred the rear apart exposing the bolts that hold the tank in. There really wasn’t a part of pulling the tank that was complicated. There is two 10mm bolts that holt the filler neck to the body. Aside from that I just let gravity do all the work. What sucked was the old tank was full of fuel but I guess there is no convenient way to plan for your car to be crushed by a tree. I had to transfer over a aux tank and some lines. I got a new rollover valve.

Here is the uber new tank ready for install. Really the only real expense to this whole project.









With the tank out the car is ready to be towed out and put in the back yard. Side note at this point my friend is perilously close to being the punch-line to a ******* joke. 

The last picture of a very cluttered garage.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week Six day 2--- Getting ready for the big install*

Goal for the day must get heap of a car out of garage and be totally prepped for install of TDI motor. Little bit of towing and bruit strength we had the car out of the garage and laid to rest in the back yard. Though it is outside there are a few bits that we need off it, interior trim. After that we hauled the VR6 back into the garage and started the task of breaking it away from the sub-frame.

With that done It was a matter of getting the hvac unit bolted back up and the AC lines bolted back up. Fuel filter is in. Radiator is replaced and ready for install. As of writing this clutch just showed up. So next weekend we are ready to rock. Goal by 6pm Sunday I want to be ready to fire it up.

A VR6 and a pile of broken bits









A TDI waiting for 








This










One last pic of the Wagon torn apart and a now roomy garage


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week Seven day 1---- Four Bolts and In*

It was about when I pulled the tierods off the VR6 rack that I realized that I was working much slower than I needed to. I started the day prepping the subframe for the TDI. I wanted to get the tierods and replace the boots. They were ohh so exposed. I didn’t have a wrench big enough for the tierods so I had to make a trip to the parts store for a adjustable wrench or as I like to call it a “Mexican Wrench Set”. After I got the tierods on I moved to get the clutch on and transmission bolted up. Decidedly lame job trying to line up the flywheel bolt holes lying on your side. After a few minutes the ring gear tends to dig into the skin. Overall the clutch was easy but time consuming. Then I had to figure out where all the bolts went and how the front motor mount was attached. Mad easier by having my car nearby to compare. Once the engine and trans was together I mounted to up to the frame. Not an easy task but with the help so floor jacks everything bolted up. I was pleased to find that the axels bolted up nicely. 

This is what i ment by "think big"









Then it was just a matter of getting the whole affair into its new home. The cherry pickers wheels are kind of bad. The enormous weight of the assembly effected the cherry picker in such a way that it wouldn’t roll forward as much as it would jerk and lurch. This made for a couple tense moments when trying to align the motor that it lurch spastically and would hit the car almost hard enough to knock it off the stands. After a little bit of patience and a whole lot of muscle I rolled in the four main bolts for the sub frame and was able to call it a day. 









Car is now a TDI Variant


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week Seven day 2---- “That’s an odd looking bracket. I wonder what it’s for?”*

With the motor in the first order of the day was to get the cherry picker out of my life. I bolted up the cat, much easier given the angle of the motor. Then I mounted up the front cross member and just like that the cherry picker was a thing of the past. With it out of the way I set to the task of setting up the fuel system and intake system. I didn’t take the passenger side apart. The tree did most of that, what wasn’t obliterated my friend pulled apart. With that said there was a lot of scratching my head and puzzle solving. It wasn’t too bad thankfully we took the fuel system out in chunks. With the right side situated I moved on to the more complicated left side. 

I guess you could say I built the car back up in layers. I stared with the shift cable bracket and clutch slave and worked my way up. Everything was going together simply until I came across this bracket. 








I didn’t remember what it was for or where it mounted. I began mounting the intercooler pipes and speculated the bracket was used to secure them. This proved to be right.

The holes in the body for that bracket









The nutserts out of the old car for that bracket. 









Not really much to say. The wiring wasn’t difficult to deal with. The clutch line needed a bit of an adjustment due to the abs pump. The cooling system spring clips made me question the validity of life. The vacuum lines almost found their own routing. I had a lot to do and the process was taking longer than I anticipated. I wanted to get the bumper and headlights on but, night was closing in. I was in a race with light and because I spent the day figuring out which bolts went where I was losing the race. The weather had taken a turn for the worse. I got the radiator in but I in for shuffle I lost the bolts. I had spent the day looking for bolts and with those missing exaustion and frustration was at a all time hight so I called it a day. 

Ya this pic was more of an afterthought


----------



## [email protected] USA (May 17, 2007)

Awesome swap!

Different states will vary but much of the requirements come down to Federal so it all sort of would be the same to everyone just how much your state requires you to go through will be what matters.

For the most part rule one will be no older engine in newer car. If you have a 95 and you put a 94 engine in it generally a no go unless that engine was the same emissions wise in say 95 the you can usually get it through.

Must be same class of vehicle, no light duty truck engines in a passenger car and no offroad/heavy duty truck engines in a light duty truck etc, you could go opposite though in most cases.

Yes Cali you will have to deal with a more stringent review in some cases but the review is also readily available vs many of the east coast states. North east states for example have all of the same requirements but getting the info on where you even have to go can be like pulling teeth. Here in GA some of our requires are even more strict but we luck out and most working for the tag offices are just tax collectors and don't know the details. We even told them the details before starting and they were like no that isn't required just prove you did it and you are fine. 

My swap is pretty much completely illegal on a federal level but the state of GA said its cool and retitled it as a diesel simply by showing them an invoice for buying the engine, they didn't even want to go out side and check it out. To the letter of the law it was supposed to be inspected they just didn't care. 

This is a cummins from an off-road/heavy duty truck application into a jeep wrangler so swapping that into an emissions controlled vehicle is wrong on many levels legally, but oh so right for so many more reason 

Since you are swapping it into a like vehicle as long as they are same year or engine is newer you shouldn't have a problem. Part of what i was supposed to document in GA was proof of where the engine came from including proof that vehicle was destroyed or at the very least legally obtained. So i would suggest making sure you have proof of how you got the donor etc. In all honestly they probably won't notice the details of the fuel tank etc as long as all the proper emissions equipment functions and everything is legit.

Good luck.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

[email protected] said:


> wrong on many levels legally, but oh so right for so many more reason


That hold true for most great things in life.

The swap is 96 to 96 so we are golden there.

I have a good friend that does 1.8T vanagon syncro conversions. Although he does it for a shop that wanted to get CARB numbers so they can make a bussiness out of it.

He told me that upon inpection of there first job one of the many things that the inpector scrutinized was the leak dection system and it's funtion. Though the inspector didn't understand properly how it functions I was suprised that he knew enough to know to question how it worked. That is why I have chosen to make every effort to make sure this job is legit. Hence I'm holding off on doing the cluster mod and replacing the fuel system to the filter till after we get the car's seal of aproval. 


Thanks for the imput


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week Eight day 1 ----- What’s white and fluffy and makes for miserable driving?*

Friday afternoon I got the call. “It’s snowing, there is already a foot on the ground and I doesn’t look like it’s not going to stop.” With that I resigned to call the weekend off and get some rest. Ran some errands, got a good breakfast and just settled into some cod. It was Nazi zombie killing time. Just when I started to settle into a grove I got a call that the roads were clear and it looked like the storm was mostly over. Duty calls and I headed up the hill

About as close as my car wants to be to snow









I was a man possessed. Goals for the day. Get the bumper and radiator support on. Get gas tank out and get fuel lines out. Get diesel lines and tank in.

The front end went together smoothly. Easier than the front end of my Jetta. Whit that together it was time to raise the rear of the car and put it on jack stands. Gas tank was out in maybe ten minutes. It really is a simple task to pull the tanks. I ended up cutting the fuel lines out in an effort to save the clips that hold them under the car. The fuel lines were fussy to reroute but overall not difficult. Putting the fuel tank back in is a different matter. It was ohh my god hard. Made harder by working on my back with numb hands. The reason it is difficult is that the tank has curvature to it so that when it is strapped in there is bokoo tension that holds the tank in place. We had to use a floor jack to compress the tank just to get the bolts started for the straps. I estimate the force needed was well over three hundred lbs. When we used the jack to compress the tank the back end of the car was lifted off the jack stands. We were perilously close to dumping the car. I did have the forethought to put a jack stand under the front motor mount just in case. With a ton of muscle and an equal amount of expletives the tank was in and it was time for me to go to work

Wee fuel lines


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week Eight day 2 ---- Sometimes you have to roll the dice*

The plan was to scavenge the VR6 fuel pump and use it to do the fuel transfer from the full diesel tank to the empty one that is now in the car. Three hours later having broken the fuel pump nozzle I was no closer to getting the fuel transferred. It’s funny the lengths a person will go to make something work. This was supposed to be happening in the back ground while I started to put some of the interior back together. Instead I was dicking around with JB weld that didn’t hold. I packed up and went to home depot looking for brass connectors. No luck but I did find a water fountain pump. Went to the parts store and found a hand “transfer pump” for ten buck I got it as a backup plan. Put the water fountain pump in the tank gave it a half hour just to see what it would do. Came back to find that it had totally blown apart and was now several pieces at the bottom of the tank. Lessoned learned diesel is thicker than water. 
Four hours down no progress. I was now hand pumping. The pump that I got for 10 bucks is all kinds of retarded. First it has two hoses that connect to it. Periodically they will come loose from the pump and when you are in a rhythm it is impossible to not spray diesel all over. Second the lines were coiled in the packaging well given my work area was in the thirties getting those lines strait wasn’t happening. Thirdly and the most aggravating part of the process. In order to use the pump for transferring you have to hold it upside down. This causes two fun things. One the pump leaks like a siv all over your hands. Two you have to use you arms to do the work rather than getting your body to do the work. An hour later and soaking in diesel the fuel was transferred and I hated everything. Twenty min after that and I had the fuel system primed. 

With such a lack luster day I decided to see what would happen if I hooked the battery up. Nervously I installed the battery and gave the car some juice. No pops or buzzing. So far so good. Then I plugged in the cluster and the ignition switch. Switched the car to on and omg the glow plug light went on then off. Cool that works. Then I went to turn it over and nothing. No click no nothing. Hmmm heart sinking looking at the wiring and I realized that I left the alarm module unplugged. Got it off the dash plugged it in and turned the key. Click Click Click ugg dead battery. Got the battery our of the sedan and said a quick prayer something about not torturing spiders with my heart pounding and eight weeks of work and unanswered questions all came to a head. Tentatively but purposefully I turned the key and it fired up like it was running a few hours ago. No check engine light. No abs light. Airbag light goes on off then on like it should. And I have a break light like I should. The only problem I have notice is that the tach seems to be back feeding into the spedo or the car is in gear I don’t know. It runs and I had my celebratory beer.


----------



## bobt2382 (Jul 29, 2009)

nothingman said:


> With such a lack luster day I decided to see what would happen if I hooked the battery up. ....Tentatively but purposefully I turned the key and it fired up like it was running a few hours ago. No check engine light. No abs light. Airbag light goes on off then on like it should. And I have a break light like I should. The only problem I have notice is that the tach seems to be back feeding into the spedo or the car is in gear I don’t know. It runs and I had my celebratory beer.


 
:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: *nothingman* You are the MAN!!:beer::beer::beer: 

Good Luck with CARB. Keep us posted.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

bobt2382 said:


> :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: *nothingman* You are the MAN!!:beer::beer::beer:
> 
> Good Luck with CARB. Keep us posted.



Thanks....
I'm not done with the write up. There are still plenty of parts that need to go back onto the car. Interiour is pretty much like I left it a few weeks ago. I got it started but I have no fluids in it so I didn't have a chance to let it warm up. So I have to do that just to make sure the fans are funtioning. I still have to plug all the switches in and make sure all that stuff works. 

As far a car. I have beed dilligent to make sure that everything is totally legit. I will be there for the inspection just incase there are any questions that need to be answered. 

I sill have to write up the answers to my origanl questions I posed when I first started this thread.

So ya I will keep anyone that is interested posted.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*Week nine one day------ Ok let’s see what doesn’t work*

Late last week a storm rolled in and dumped a couple feet of snow. Saturday the roads were still covered in snow and the ones that weren’t were full of ice. The day was a loss. I headed up later than usual Sunday to get done what I could. First on the agenda was to get fluids in the engine and start it up and run it. I needed to verify that the fans came on and just generally see how it sustained running. With the car running I pulled some odds and ends from the donor that was buried in snow. I needed some trim that didn’t survive the wrath of me and the driver’s seat belt was frayed so I swapped that out. I had the car off when I was away gathering parts. When I was back I started it back up and started working on getting the belt in. I was checking to see if the temp was up, I needed to get the thermostat to open when I noticed that I had a blinking glow plug light. A quick search on my phone netted some answers nothing good. I have no vag com where I’m working so until I have the car at the shop the problem had to be put on the back burner. When the car finally warmed up I found that I have a leaky lower radiator hose. That will get replaced when I have the car at the shop.
I started plugging in all the switches and testing the body functions of the car. Surprisingly everything seems to be working. I went to swap out the alarm module to a keyless entry setup. I was able to answer a question that has been asked but never answered. Part of the process to wiring in the keyless is to wire in a jumper between the yellow/red wire off the module and a grey wire that comes out of the door. Apparently there are two grey wires??? The question is which grey wine do you tap. I found out the hard way that taping the wrong one will blow a fuse. In typical Volkswagen fashion the grey wire that you need to tap is the one that is distinctly harder to get to. If anyone reads this that is doing the swap will know immediately which one I’m talking about when they look under the dash. I had the dash out and I had a difficult time with it. Cool thing is the system works, yaaa keyless. Driver side of the interior is sorted out. Need to get the passenger side ready then I will get the dash in. Then the car will be ready to got towed to my shop. From there I have to get the suspension done then I need to qc it for a week or so.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

Update

Google I love you. After using different search terms I came up with some good results. I was most likely getting a flashing glow plug light due to having the break switch plugged in and installed but having the “cruise blue break switch” dangling. This gave the ecm two different break signals causing “implausibility” and creating a flashing glow plug. 

What I have also learned is that the break light wireing is black/red. I have an unconnected black/red wire that is part of the abs/airbag/break indicator light harness. That harness was different from one car to the other. I was worried that that connector left unplugged was going to give me issues. I need to spend more time sorting that wire out. Sigh….all I want to do is get the dash in.

edit: every time I run into some random issue it seems to be "Lug Nut" or "G60ing" that have insightful and very helpful info..... Thanks guys


----------



## G60ING (Jun 27, 2000)

No problem, Thank you for mastering google:thumbup:

Looks like you are in the final stretch. How much longer before it visits DMV?


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

G60ING said:


> No problem, Thank you for mastering google:thumbup:
> 
> Looks like you are in the final stretch. How much longer before it visits DMV?


This weekend interior, dash and the some final odds and ends. Tow it down to work next weekend. That weekend all I have to do is the suspension. After that I need to drive it around for a week and fix whatever problems I encounter. Then the when the car is solid it is time to go to the dmv. Tentative about 4 weeks


----------



## itskmill06 (Dec 23, 2005)

just stumbled upon this. How's it going now?


----------



## bobarooney (Feb 22, 2010)

Great write up! Please let us know how it goes with the Smog Referee. I'm interested in doing a similar swap.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*back from the dead*

Update. I have been fighting with the suspension. Due to trying to not only lower the car but too also get the best ride I have been using a hybrid of Jetta and Passat suspension components. Essentially I wanted the comfort and lowering properties of neuspeed softsports but neuspeed doesn’t make them for Passats anymore so I went with Jetta springs. All was going well until I went to do the rear suspension. The springs were too short so I have to bring the spring seat all the way up to the top of the shock. Long story short I got it sorted out last weekend and am now driving the car. 

At the beginning of this write up I seeked to answer elevn questions, I purposed that after those questions were answered that the car would be running and ready to be inspected by the B.A.R. Thus follows the answers to those questions

*1. How much of the wiring will we need to pull from one car to the other to get it to run?*

To do the wiring I have found that the best way is to leave everything at the fuse block plugged in when working under the dash. If I had to do it over again I would find and isolate the engine harness as it comes into the fire wall and disconnect individual connections as I see fit. Leaving the vast majority plugged in. I do strongly suggest pulling the dash for a couple reasons. First reason is that the wiring is made so much easier when you have a clear view of the harnesses and the fuse block. Secondly the car is going to be down for a good while during the swap. I imagine anyone that is willing to do a swap is planning on making the car a keeper. With that said why wouldn’t you replace the heater core? We all know it is a ticking time bomb. Labor wise pulling the dash is ridiculously easy compared to some that I have done in the past. I will add about 6 to 8 hours time to the swap depending on how fast you are. As far as what harnesses you need to worry about. For the basic swap you will need three harnesses
1.	Main engine harness
2.	AC/fan harness that goes out to the engine compartment
3.	Hvac harness that includes the load reduction relay
Top Tip: pay close attention to how the cables for the hvac head are routed. I didn’t to my great dismay. To this day the blend door doesn’t quite feel right. 

*2. Instrument clusters??? Glow plug light is in the cluster.*

Since I pre wired the car for MFI, in the future I will be hybriding the original VR6 cluster. For the purpose of this write up use the original TDI cluster. This question is kind of a sub question to the above. To get the light to function you have to transfer the applicable relays from the donor fuse block to the recipient. If you miss this step the car will not run!!!

*3. How will I solve the differences between the fuel pump and level sensors?*

Refer to the answer for question 9. Note: keep in mind that I have to make the car legal.

*4. How will going from sedan to wagon affect the build?*

Not too much in fact. The fuel tanks are different as well are the lines. The only other difference was in the wiper stalk wiring was different due to the rear wiper function. Also the switch was different. 

*5. In this build we are going from auto to manual how is that going to affect wiring and the build?*

Ok this was complicated. The wiring for the automatic transmission is standalone. There is a eight pin connector that connects to the engine harness behind the dash. That is how the ecm and tcm communicate. There is also some connections for that tie into the starter interrupt system and reverse lights. Once you eliminate the wiring you have to make some fairly simple interconnections. I remember dealing with some black/green wires. There is also a jumper plug that you will have to grab off the donor car that eliminates the starter interrupt. Pictured in the tread. You will need the manual shift box. Remove the shift interlock cable if you wish. You will have to swap the pedal cluster. Also the bracket that holds break master/abs pump to the car must be changed over. The clutch slave is attached to that bracket.

Top Tip: I cut out the wiring it goes under the carpet towards the shifter. I wasn’t about to pull the carpet for that stupid harness. The driver side seat belt light is wired in that harness. Isolate that bit of wiring before you make your cut.

*6. The wagon has abs the sedan doesn’t and he wants to retain abs. How am I going to do that and make sure the cluster functions? I’m I going to run into serious wiring problems?*

Ode to Volkswagen and the way they set up their cars. Keeping the abs intact was almost a non issue and by far the easiest part of the project. The wiring is all standalone. The module is all standalone. If doesn’t communicate with another part of the car. The only difference I found was in the wiring that went out to the warning light that is mounted in the dash. The cluster isn’t affected by the existence of abs.

*7. Four to Five lug swap? Are the axels the same dimensions or am I going to have to use tdi Axles or a hybrid of vr6 and tdi?*

Wanting to keep abs dictated keeping the five lug set up. Good thing too, I wasn’t a fan of the old wheels on the car. I read that all the vw axels are dimensionally very similar if not the same. Through this build I have found that to be true. Though there are spline differences at the outer joints the overall lengths are very near the same. Bolting up the axes to the manual trans was piece of cake. 

*8. There are part number differences in the sub-frame but are there really any differences between the sub-frames?*

None that I could see.

*9. Fuel delivery and fuel lines? Differences in tanks from sedan to wagon and tdi from gas.*

What I did for my swap was to replace the entire fuel system with new parts. I did this because I figured that it would be the best way to get past the B.A.R. on the first attempt. Here is what I have learned about the fuel system. The fuel tanks from sedan to wagon are shaped completely different. The opening for the fuel pump in a gas tank is quite a bit bigger than the opening for the sender/pickup in a diesel tank. With that said I don’t know if the factory fuel pump will work as a “lift” pump. I assume it will. In my case I got a new tank from Germany and spliced in a new connector for the level sender. There are three fuel lines in a gas system, feed, return, and vapor. In a diesel system there is only feed and return. The connection in the engine compartment are different but I’m sure that they could be modified to make them work.

Top Tip: If you decied to reuse the old “gas” lines do the modification needed to make them work. When the engine is in that corner of the car is extremely difficult to work in. 

*10. Intercooler mounting piping?*

On the frame rail there is a knock out plate where the upper intercooler lead goes. All the holes have been pre-cut from the factory. All you need to do is make sure you grab the hardware off the donor car. Pictured in the tread

*11. Ac, power steering, function and components compatibility from one car to the other?*

Ahh the accessories. If you gathered parts correctly this is a the easy stuff. One thing that I failed to mention in this post and I have never read in any other post was my need to swap the battery cables. Absolutely necessary due to length differences. The condenser and radiator are the same. The cooling fans are different between vr6 and 4cyl. The ac lines were appeared to be the same. The power steering system is mostly the same. You do have to transfer over the power steering pressure line because it has a different bend due to the intercooler piping. 

Do all that and the car should be up and running. Ohh I almost forgot the most important part. 

You can’t do a proper tdi with out this


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

itskmill06 said:


> just stumbled upon this. How's it going now?


Driving the car around. Doing an extensive Q/C on it before I turn it over to the owner. So far so good. Runs great. One issue that has come up is that when I depress the clutch the stearing colum moves slightly with the pedal. That and ohh ya the f-ing new trowout bearing that I used when I did the clutch is noisy.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

*DONE*

Car is done 

During the weeks driving the car I also sorted out many little bugs that popped up as I started to get to know it. One of the things I did was get the car back to a one key system. I had to change out all the tumblers in the lock cylinders to match the ignition key. Once I did this I had to also replace the rear hatch lock assembly because I found that it was keeping the keyless entry I installed from functioning correctly. The throw out bearing noise sorted it’s self out. Over time it got quieter until it finally went away. Chased some squeaks in the suspension, I did lower control arm bushings but I didn’t use R32 bushings. There is still a clunk under the right driving conditions so I will be installing R32 bushing in the near future. One of the more difficult tasks was to get the check engine light to function. With help of a friend we narrowed it down to a bad cluster. When I took the cluster to the owner’s son, a close friend of mine we found that the led lead had broke off. I found this as I disassembled the cluster. I was going to use the original VR6 cluster for the MFA anyway so he was tasked with the circuit board work while I wired in the tach signal converter. After some adjusting we got it to work. As a final test of my work we took the car up the coast to Humboldt. The car is a real driver and what gas mileage. Though I turned it over to the owner last week the car like any good project is never done. I’m sure I will be wrenching on it again, probably sooner than I think. 














































We have to still get the car smogged but it should be a non issue. 

Final thoughts. People have asked me if I would do it again. I would say yes. Though the working conditions were pretty difficult the seeing the owners faces when I turned over the keys is what it was all about. 

If in the future anyone needs advise on the particulars of a TDI swap, feel free to ask.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

Smog was an non issue.

In Cali if the car is older than a 98 you can do pretty much what ever you want.

It's offical the car is done and so is this write-up


----------



## G60ING (Jun 27, 2000)

very cool:thumbup::beer:

Did they ask what year car the TDI engine was from or did they just asking about the year of the shell and then say ok? I'm trying to figure out what troubles somebody with a 1990 corrado with a 1998 tdi engine would have.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

they didn’t ask a thing..... started the car to confirm it was in fact a tdi and gave the car a stamp of approval. My understanding is that a chassis 98 and newer you have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get it legal. Chassis 97 and older you can stuff a power stroke dodge in it and they wouldn't care.

Maybe it was where we went, maybe that laws have recently changed or maybe it was because the engine was a 98..,,, IDK


----------



## hazzmatt (Mar 6, 2010)

*Im attempting the same thing and have a few ?s*

working on this swap and have some ?s. let me know if you can help. 1st off there is a vaccum part that is located in the forward drivers fender. both cars have the part and both have a vac line that goes through the firewall near the heater core lines. the vr6 has a second line that follows the fender towards the passenger compartment. on the tdi it goes to the vac pump. how should i deal with this? second there is a vac line that goes from the gas or break pedal to through the fire wall and into a vw part # 357 907 325. can this just be deleted? Ive swapped in the 135 relay for the ac cut off. In the VR6 there is the vw part # 5ga 004 397 11. this appears to be for the vr6 cruise control. am i correct in thinking that the cc for the tdi is in the module and should vw part # 5ga 004 397 11 be deleted as well?


----------



## hazzmatt (Mar 6, 2010)

*and there is this*

there is a main harness that goes from the auto trans to the passenger compartment. it passes through the firewall on the passenger side just below where the ecm is. did you just yank this as well?


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

hazzmatt said:


> working on this swap and have some ?s. let me know if you can help.


I hope you read my post word for word because alot of questions were answered but admittedly not all.



hazzmatt said:


> 1st off there is a vacuum part that is located in the forward drivers fender. both cars have the part and both have a vac line that goes through the firewall near the heater core lines. the vr6 has a second line that follows the fender towards the passenger compartment. on the tdi it goes to the vac pump. how should i deal with this?


That part is a solenoid. It controls they AC recirculation flap actuator. Use the one from the TDI and copy the way the vacuum lines are hooked up from the donor car to its new home. The second line that is going to the fender on the VR6 is for a vacuum reservoir and you will not need that anymore. 



hazzmatt said:


> second there is a vac line that goes from the gas or break pedal to through the fire wall and into a vw part # 357 907 325. can this just be deleted?


357 907 325 is the cruise control vacuum pump. You will not need this. DUDE you need to pull the pedal cluster from the TDI at any rate. Your accelerator pedal has a position sensor. It’s all electronically controlled without it the injection pump has no idea what to do. I guess you could pull the pedals out of the bracket individually but that would be ridiculously hard and a waste of time. I really hope you pulled the dash on both cars as it makes the job so much easier. Cruise on a VR6 is a standalone system with its own wiring and control module. Cruise on a TDI entirely different. The ECM controls the system. There are two clutch pedal switches and two brake pedal switches. You need all four to get the car driving properly. I don’t remember the exact combo but is one switch reads on and the others read off it can cause the car to go into limp mode. 



hazzmatt said:


> Ive swapped in the 135 relay for the ac cut off. In the VR6 there is the vw part # 5ga 004 397 11. this appears to be for the vr6 cruise control. am i correct in thinking that the cc for the tdi is in the module and should vw part # 5ga 004 397 11 be deleted as well?


Here is where you are making more work for yourself. Again pull the dash. I listed the AC load reduction relay harness as a “must” swap harness for a reason. You cant simply swap the relays and expect the system to work because there are wiring differences between the two harnesses. Hence you need to pull the dash. Don’t mess around with trying to find an “easy” way around the swap, especially with the wiring. Because there is none. As far as the relays. If your wiring is solid all you need to do is copy the relay locations from the donor car onto the recipient. I don’t remember where the cruise relay is located its been several months. 





hazzmatt said:


> there is a main harness that goes from the auto trans to the passenger compartment. it passes through the firewall on the passenger side just below where the ecm is. did you just yank this as well?


I cut that harness at the passenger foot well and got the plug off the donor to cover the whole on the firewall. IF you have done your work correctly you will not need to worry about the 175 relay at all. 175 relay is for the auto trans system. 

Good luck


----------



## hazzmatt (Mar 6, 2010)

Thanks for you input. I have pulled the pedal clusters as well as the hvac system. this will be my car and I want to do as much to this now as it is apart as I can. I am doing timing belt water pump oil pump seal heater core filters trans oil and more that isnt coming immediately to mind. I can add that if the seas are removed along with the hvac the tcm harness and 175 relay can be removed completely. the carpet is two piece and with seats out and popping the hvac tubes that run to the rear seating area it all can come out with no cutting. the tcm has a single wire in it that runs to the tail lights and powers the top red light in the rear lights. i pulled this wire and removed the rest of the harness. this wire was brown and white and plugs singularly into the passenger side outer tail light. i did read your post several times but i am a more visual person and wanted to clarify what my understanding was of what you had written. I didnt want to be deleting any of the added systems of the GLX that I dont have on the tdi sedan. thanks for your response and blazing this trail for me. while I cant ensure Ive done my work right Im doing what I can and am hoping to find guidance when things start to get fuzzy. I have swapped the engine harness that was in the engine bay. this included the ecm connections, and main round engine plug along with the radiator harness that has the rad fan connections and taken both of these and plugged them in where they fit into fuse box as this was my understanding of what should be done.


----------



## nothingman (Sep 2, 2004)

hazzmatt said:


> Thanks for you input. I have pulled the pedal clusters as well as the hvac system. this will be my car and I want to do as much to this now as it is apart as I can. I am doing timing belt water pump oil pump seal heater core filters trans oil and more that isnt coming immediately to mind. I can add that if the seas are removed along with the hvac the tcm harness and 175 relay can be removed completely. the carpet is two piece and with seats out and popping the hvac tubes that run to the rear seating area it all can come out with no cutting. the tcm has a single wire in it that runs to the tail lights and powers the top red light in the rear lights. i pulled this wire and removed the rest of the harness. this wire was brown and white and plugs singularly into the passenger side outer tail light. i did read your post several times but i am a more visual person and wanted to clarify what my understanding was of what you had written. I didnt want to be deleting any of the added systems of the GLX that I dont have on the tdi sedan. thanks for your response and blazing this trail for me. while I cant ensure Ive done my work right Im doing what I can and am hoping to find guidance when things start to get fuzzy. I have swapped the engine harness that was in the engine bay. this included the ecm connections, and main round engine plug along with the radiator harness that has the rad fan connections and taken both of these and plugged them in where they fit into fuse box as this was my understanding of what should be done.


In my swap I didn’t bother with removing the whole trans harness. That brown/ white wire is most likely a “ground switch” wire for the tcm, it’s purpose I couldn’t say. I can say that once the swap is done from my experience that wire is a non issue. Be aware that the drivers seatbelt indicator light wires are piggybacked onto the 175 relay harness. The cool thing about that passat as opposed to let’s say the jetta of the same year, is that all the systems are all stand alone. When they need to communicate they do it through jumpers. They all have their own separate harnesses. On a jetta all the wiring is taped together in the same loom. So retaining the systems are almost a non issue. Make sure you use the TDI fans and the TDI fan harness. As I remember it the fan harness was attached to the main engine harness. As I was remembering some of the issues that arose from wiring I do remember that one small harness is different from one car to the other. I didn’t include it because it has more to do with retaining ABS than doing a swap. That harness is the Airbag/Parkingbrake/ABS indicator lamp. You will need to make sure you use the one out of the GLX. If you intend on retaining MFI you will need to use the column wiring harness out of the GLX and find and use a 4pin connector that goes into the main fuse block. It’s green and you need it. Also you will need the oil temp sensor off the oil filter housing on the VR6. It TDI harness is already pre wired for MFI. I’m not sure what stage you are in but I recommend wiring the car and completing the fuel system before you put the engine in. The start it up. When it runs with no codes then and only then would I put the interior back together. I managed to get my swap running perfectly well almost, I somehow forgot to tighten the battery ground on the bell housing. That crates some weird problems let me tell you. Life is made much easier when you have the car running like a top then put the dash together. Sounds like you are on your way though.


----------



## rollinondubdubs (Nov 28, 2009)

this scares me.


----------



## TDIJIM (May 11, 2010)

*B4 to VR6 Conversion*

I will be converting my totaled 1996 B4V to a 1997 VR6, so appreciate what you have written up. I would like to chat with you about the project if that is ok. My phone is 443.465.4848, thanks.


----------



## G60ING (Jun 27, 2000)

TDIJIM said:


> I will be converting my totaled 1996 B4V to a 1997 VR6, so appreciate what you have written up. I would like to chat with you about the project if that is ok. My phone is 443.465.4848, thanks.


So you are dropping a TDI from your 1996 Passat wagon into a 1997 Passat VR6 Sedan? This is a pretty straight forward swap with there only being 2 issues in my mind,

-First the wagon and sedan fuel tanks are different so got get a TDI sedan tank and sending unit
-Second Emissions, depending on where you live emissions for the 1997 could be challenging. Most states are pretty easy on the conversion and on emissions for diesels but there are a few that are very strict. Where will you be registering the swap?


----------

