Converting gti to diesel

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rutter123
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Converting gti to diesel

Post by rutter123 »

More aimed towatds reliability and fuel consumption as this is going to be my daily driver, i intend to convert to continually troublesome gti to diesel, i have a complete XUD7TE engine and box with 80k's on it and has been fettled to produce 15/20% more power than standard so not far off the gti figures anyway. Not being an electrical wizard my concern is can i utilise the original gti loom? Certain bits of the original loom will become redundant such as fuel pump relay and injector relays and ecu etc etc, is this a viable conversion or is it more complex than that?

Things to consider, rev counter,abs,glow plug timer, would also want to keep the oil pressure/temp gauges by fitting senders and such like. I have 99% of the bits to do this inc intercooler, header tank and all ancillaries, but no rad or pipes at mo.

Your thoughts.
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Re: Converting gti to diesel

Post by Defender110 »

I would have thought it very viable and straight forward: rev counter & abs should be the same then you just need an ignition/battery feed for the glow plugs and stop solenoid. I'm assuming the gti has the same beefier driveshafts as the tdi and will obviously have the ABS sensors on so no problem there.
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Re: Converting gti to diesel

Post by Kitch »

rutter123 wrote: Your thoughts.
I would have thought it easier to fix the GTi than mess around fitting a tractor engine to it :wink:
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Re: Converting gti to diesel

Post by Kaapelimies »

Defender110 wrote:I would have thought it very viable and straight forward: rev counter & abs should be the same
No, rev counter is different, as it counts from a sensor at the flywheel (you can't count sparks on a diesel..). You need that from a diesel car. I'm not sure if it uses the same wires in the loom as it's quite a while ago. I do remember I had to do extra wiring behind the instrument panel but that maybe was to get the preheating light to work. Original wiring loom, what comes to engine loom, is the same but you need to change the connector os fit it "one step behind" as the pin numbers are not the same (petrol 8 pin and diesel 7 pin or something like that). Preheat relay comes with engine loom, feed is connected to the block connected directly to Battery+ lead. The oil pressure meter goes on another loom than engine and should stay the same, just add the sensor to the TD block (somehow, there's no place ready for it).
Fuel pump, you just disconnect the feed, it's nothing to do with the engine wiring loom. ABS is also totally different wiring you don't have to touch that.
BX is quite easy for converions as the wiring looms are modular; You have the engine wiring loom (in GTi includes ECU), engine to dash loom, extra engine to dash loom for additional meters, loom for power windows and seat heaters, loom for lightning etc.

To make things easy, I suggest the instrument panel and engine wiring loom taken from the TD. Then it's quite an easy job, couple of hours for the electrics.
And, you do have the TD downpipe from the turbo, don't you?
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Re: Converting gti to diesel

Post by Glorybx »

For heavens sake, just go buy a diesel BX, much cheaper and a lot less grief!! Why make work for yourself and fuck up a very rare motor? Sometimes i dont understand you guys!!
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Re: Converting gti to diesel

Post by Tinkley »

Kitch wrote:
rutter123 wrote: Your thoughts.
I would have thought it easier to fix the GTi than mess around fitting a tractor engine to it :wink:
Seconded, and most likely a better balanced car on the road to actually drive. I would have thought that a reasonably light right foot would obtain reasonable economy for day to day driving and of course when the mood fits.... I'd bet you could beat the official figures if you wanted, though the diesel would be more economic. However do not ignore the ongoing 'war' on the oil burners that may relatively soon see them banned from city centres. VW have only hastened this.... :wink:
It may also be possible to reprogram the fast idle warm up?, as this is where a lot of fuel is used on the petrols. You don't notice on long runs as it gets hot and lean enough, it's the short runs that show it up.
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Re: Converting gti to diesel

Post by assembled »

Glorybx wrote:For heavens sake, just go buy a diesel BX, much cheaper and a lot less grief!! Why make work for yourself and fuck up a very rare motor? Sometimes i dont understand you guys!!
Which one? GTi is the rare one? I have a GTi motor in my garage and no one wants it or anything from it...

Regarding conversion, it is doable, but not worth it, because to pull this off you would need a running diesel car to start with.

Have you considered LPG equipment to save some gas money?
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Re: Converting gti to diesel

Post by Defender110 »

assembled wrote: Regarding conversion, it is doable, but not worth it, because to pull this off you would need a running diesel car to start with.

Have you considered LPG equipment to save some gas money?
Why does he need a running diesel car when he already has a petrol car and diesel engine ready to fit?
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Re: Converting gti to diesel

Post by Defender110 »

assembled wrote: Regarding conversion, it is doable, but not worth it, because to pull this off you would need a running diesel car to start with.

Have you considered LPG equipment to save some gas money?
Why does he need a running diesel car when he already has a petrol car and diesel engine ready to fit?
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Re: Converting gti to diesel

Post by assembled »

My mistake. I have not read the first post right, so it seems. Diesel has it's perks, but if you are doing it for economy only, I'd go for LPG.

Now if you have an almost full diesel kit, it is quite straightforward. Electrics of GTi/Turbo diesel are simple enough to solve if you know how to use multimeter and are familiar with general electricity concepts. GTi most likely has more wires than diesel needs, only in different arrangement, but that is quite simple to fix. I have a list of GTi/Turbo diesel dashboard connections as I am going through installing a hybrid GTi/Turbo panel in my TZD Turbo with all the GTi sensors. If you'd need that, let me know.
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Re: Converting gti to diesel

Post by Tim Leech »

I'd just buy a TZD turbo than swop it all over.

Or buys GTi breaker and swop bits over
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Re: Converting gti to diesel

Post by KevR »

It's doable. I converted a 1988 1.6 TRS petrol estate to TD using bits from a 1991 TZD hatch. It was far from straightforward though and I ended up using the whole loom and dash from the TZD. I think it was harder because the earlier Mk2 BX had a different loom from the later one, so many, many connectors were different.
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Mike E (uk)
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Re: Converting gti to diesel

Post by Mike E (uk) »

Sounds like a lot of work to save a few pounds , as suggested, fitting an LPG kit would be more straightforward.

It would take less time to sort the GTI motor problems.

Another issue may be insurance costs. I have heard of people paying more for an engine swapped car, even though the same body/engine combination existed from the original manufacturer.

If you want to improve top gear mpg, an easy way is to swap the gearbox 5th gear cogs.

Jaba has done this on a GTI, and I and others have done it on 16Vs.
I have the suitable cog set here if you choose this route.
Also makes the car nicer to drive on the motorway.

I expect the cost of diesel will increase relative to petrol in the future.
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