To: Martin Jagersand, for posting if you wish
Diesel Westfalia Page
March 30, 1998
From: G. Lee        glee@ultralink.com 

TURBOCHARGING A 1982 VW VAN WITH PARTS FROM A 1986 JETTA,
North America.

To follow are some of my experiences with turbocharging a 1982 VW diesel Westfalia van, the good and the bad. Because the whole thing was more or less an experiment, I did not expect long term durability from this instalation.
VW turbodiesel engines from 1985 and up Jettas are fairly easy to get around here (western Canada). I purchased a turbo, intake manifold, exhaust manifold and turbo injection pump from a 1986 TD Jetta for $100 USD. It would seem that if given a couple months I could easily find the same for between $100 - $400. I ended up using Jetta parts because diesel Quantum/Passats were not imported to Canada. The engine I turbocharged was in bad shape to begin with, the bores were worn out, lots of piston slap. The engine was in fact rebuilt three times by the time it had 95,000 miles on it, twice by VW Dealers in Southern California. The last time they put the pistons in backward, (marks pointing the wrong way). After turbocharging I drove the van another 15,000 miles.

INSTALLATION DETAILS
Using the original block, I exchanged the intake and exhaust manifolds. I had a muffler shop make a "U" shaped exhaust pipe to connect to the original muffler. I made a flange on a metal lath to couple with the turbo and welded this to the "U" shaped exhaust pipe. I drilled a hole in the original oil pan and installed a fitting to receive the oil return line, (hydraulic hose). The oil feed line was simply the one that came off a Jetta. I used the Jetta oil filter casting as well.

I started with the non-turbo injection pump and later installed a turbo pump. Even without boost enrichment it seemed worthwhile to have the turbo. My 1982 has a metal engine compartment cover and I was able to cut out a couple of the ribs on the cover to accommodate the larger turbo pump. The cover fit flat and nothing touched underneath.

Using a Jetta exhaust manifold means the turbo charger will interfere with an engine mount. I ended up removing the waste gate entirely and also cutting away a small part of the engine mount. This did not prove to be a problem as the engine mount never broke. Next time however I would fabricate a new engine mount to clear the wastegate.

As the stock air cleaner will no longer fit, I went to the junkyard and found an air cleaner canister from some other car which I could adapt and mount (some kind of Renault). There is considerable induction noise to deal with as well.
I installed a boost gauge and an oil temperature gauge. Oil temp. gauge and sender from a junk yard Scirroco. The whole project took about 3 days and was fairly simple as I did not have to fabricate manifolds as you do with most turbo instalations.

THE PROBLEMS
Without a wastegate you have to watch boost pressures, this did not turn out to be such a problem as it became easy to sense when you where approaching the point where you should back off.
The non-turbo head from 1982 was not all that good to begin with; turbo charging made things worse because of the heat generated. I had a hard time getting the head gasket to seal. I don't think you can install the stronger TD head on the 1982 block.
The van was not able to cool adequately, oil and water. In summer on long highway hills in CA and NV the oil temp. would get to high very quickly, even at 3 - 4 psi. Another oil cooler should probably be fitted.
Although still very underpowered by 1998 standards, the increase in power made the van more driveable.
Considering the availability and low cost of used Jetta TD engines, next time I would exchange the whole engine.
 

glee@ultralink.com
 

  From: KGFaison@aol.com
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  Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 21:06:57 EDT
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  Hi Pete,
  
  I did this swap using a 1.6L TD from a Jetta.  On the oil return line I first
  made a line that ran from the end of the original Jetta line, going under the
  crank pully, then up to the oil filter side of the pan where it connected to a
  fitting installed about two inches below the gasket flange.   This approach
  may not have been the best idea since the turbo blew after 2k miles or so.  It
  was suggested to me that the oil return line needed to be a gravity feed back
  to the pan so no oil may collect in the line (essentially zero resistance in
  the return).  My second approach was to install a 90 degree 3/8 inch brass
  fitting into the pan a couple on inches above the oil drain bolt.  I took down
  the pan to do this and made sure my entry point was high enough to be above
  the normal oil level by observing the dip stick notches (easy to see with the
  dip stick installed into the removed oil pan).    I used 1/2 inch copper
  tubing soldered to a 3/8 fitting to run the line under the crank pully.  I
  tried to maintain a slight downhill grade in doing this so the oil would run
  naturally into the pan.  Once safely past the crank pully, I used some high
  quality hose designed for oil cooler applications to make the connection from
  the copper tube to the original jetta return line.   I sawed off the original
  fitting on the Jetta line to do this.  I soldered some compression nipples to
  the ends of the lines to insure an oil tight seal with the clamped rubber
  hose.  I also used locktite on the fitting threads as a sealer.  This setup
  seems to be working fine although it has only been a couple of hundred miles.
  
  On the exhaust I graphed the flanged end of a rabbit header pipe to the
  vanagon pipe.  The Jetta turbo manifold uses the flange arrangement with the
  spring clips.  The pipe runs under the motor mount which I also fabricated due
  to interference between the waste gate and the original engine mount.  This
  setup has worked well with no problems.
  
  The overall result has been a significant boost in power with good fuel
  milelage.  Hopfully the new oil return line setup will give me good
  reliability as well.  I plan to drive it for awhile and if things go well will
  swap in a higher ratio trans.  This is a Westy by the way so it really needed
  the extra power.
  
  Best of luck with your swap. I would be interested in hearing about your
  progress.
  
  Kevin Faison