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TDI Ranger Build


greengeeker

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Hello Everyone. First thread here on TRS. I've owned a few Rangers over the years so I'm not necessarily a stranger but I don't know them as intimately as I do diesel VW's. I've been disappointed for years that the big three think there is no market for a small diesel pickup and have decided not to wait for them to offer one. :D I've been doing my homework for the better part of a year planning all the details of my swap but also developing my own adapter. More on the latter in another thread.

I'm starting with a 2000 Ford Ranger:
2.5L, 5pd, 2wd, 199k miles.



And the previous owner decided he wanted to attempt a no-timing belt record:




I suppose it isn't all that bad since I got a surprisingly rust-free (99% ) Ranger for my swap that's lived in MN its whole life. I rescued the Ranger from the field mice with a buddy's truck and trailer (a helluva guy who's let me use this combo to haul many a vw's). I think the next picture is pretty comical. If you can't read the sticker in the Ranger's back window it says "At least it's not a Dodge."



So I'll combine this truck with a 2000 New Beetle that I purchased from a fellow tdiclub member. It was in a front end accident a year prior and also thought it would be a good idea to provide a home to some field mice - I did not have a fun time removing the nest out of the dash to get at the wiring and ecu. I think I removed 3 full grocery store bags worth of carcasses, nest, feces...yuck. I unfortunately do not have a shot of the car in its natural habitat but it was stored up in the pines on the back 40acres of a friend of a friend.

Here it is during the drivetrain removal:



The front end accident did a number to the car destroying the header panel, radiator, fans, condensor, power steering pump, accessory bracket, passenger motor mount. Because of this last one it actually shoved the engine into the firewall so hard that it snapped off the intake and of course the little mount ear off the back of the block. No big deal as I'm not using that for my mounts. The car also donated a number of parts to the Passat sitting next to it.


The plan of course is to drop the vw diesel into the Ranger but the kicker is I need to have it ready for a car show at work where we are commemorating the closing of the St Paul assembly plant. The race is on to get this truck together by Aug 31st.

Once together I intend to do some serious testing of the truck with several stages of performance modifications that will take this truck beyond the stock power levels of any of the original Ford engines.

Stay tuned.
 


RangerSVT

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Subscribed. What was the mpg's of the bug with TDI? Bug's weight? Expected mpg's you plan to hit, and stock power from the TDI? How much power you planning to get/attempt to get out of that TDI?

SVT
 

greengeeker

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Subscribed. What was the mpg's of the bug with TDI? Bug's weight? Expected mpg's you plan to hit, and stock power from the TDI? How much power you planning to get/attempt to get out of that TDI?
MPG of a manual TDI really depends on how fast you drive and your mix of city/highway. With my Jetta with the same drivetrain, slightly heavier, slightly better aero I've averaged just north of 50mpg over 160k miles. I'll just say 50mpg. :D

Beetle/Golf/Jetta all weigh in 3000-3300 lbs which is about what my Ranger weighs correct?

My goal MPG is 45mpg 100% highway. I'll do a bunch of testing with the Ranger once completed to figure out unloaded MPG, loaded, towing, commuting, etc. I'm sure I'll have to swap out my 3.73 rearend for a 3.08 to get there among other things.

Stock power level on this tdi (same engine 1999.5-2003) is 90whp and 155ftlb. My first power stage will match the 2.5L power level but will have a ton more torque ~235ft lbs. Top power level will basically be at the limit of the stock bottom end or about 230bhp. I may go beyond that but haven't decided if I'm going to go that far and upgrade rods, lower CR, etc. In the case of TDI's doubling the stock power levels is pretty straight forward and not too expensive but going beyond that you are starting to push the limits of all the systems: lower end, head flow, and reliable fuel supply. There have been a couple recent developments on the last one so that might make it easier. :D What's nice about the TDI is you don't pay a fuel economy (FE) penalty for having that power level...only if you use that power level will it affect your FE. Often times the power mods increase your FE at low loads. :icon_thumby:
 

brinker88

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'Scribed for sure. I love it when somebody tries something new. Keep us updated!.
 

adsm08

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I've heard rumors of guys doing this but have never seen it done before. Should be interesting.
 

RICO9

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I'm on board!
 

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Subscribed. I hope your diesel swap goes quicker then mine.
 

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I was thinking it was around 48ish. The ranger is about 500 lbs heavier, so your goal of 45mpg is easily reachable. I was looking at doing the same idea you are, but using a 4bt. Using a TDI could be an alternative. This is a great build! And BTW, look at a stock mustang rear axle in the junkyard, some of them have 273 r&p! Keep us updated with plenty of detailed pics and info :icon_thumby:

SVT
 
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greengeeker

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I was thinking it was around 48ish. The ranger is about 500 lbs heavier, so your goal of 45mpg is easily reachable. I was looking at doing the same idea you are, but using a 4bt. Using a TDI could be an alternative. This is a great build! Keep us updated with plenty of detailed pics and info :icon_thumby:
Yeah the 4BT was considered since I have a couple ve-pumped motors sitting at work (my paycheck has a big C on it :icon_thumby:) but decided to go with the TDI for a few reasons:
1) half the weight
2) MUCH better NVH
3) electronic control of injection quantity and advance
4) better mileage
5) better hp/torque ratio out of the box
6) smaller package size

Of course there are drawbacks
1) more complicated swap if electronic pump control is maintained (you can retrofit an older mechanical pump from a 1.6TD)
2) more expensive
3) less robust block...lower power capability. Period.

Please don't take this as a VW tdi is better than 4BT post. I honestly don't think that. They are two very different motors and are both perfect for use in a Ranger.
 
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greengeeker

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And BTW, look at a stock mustang rear axle in the junkyard, some of them have 273 r&p!
Interesting. What year/motor combo did this come with?

By my calculations the 3.08 puts me at just under 2000rpm at 70mph which is right around the torque peak. My goal in the gearing is to get the rpm's low enough that I can do a reasonable rpm in 4th while towing. I'm sure the motor will have enough power to tow in 5th but I'm a little worried about EGT's and 5th gear durability.
 

greengeeker

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Newbie question: how do you become a member of a group?
 

RangerSVT

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I like the electronics, but I'm not looking to make 1000 lb fts of torque either. Max for my intended use would be around 400 torque. I'm mainly after 40+ mpg for an all highway state to state parts getter. I even have ideas of mounting a transfercase backwards to give me an extra 0.5 to 1 ratio...

SVT
 

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You can find 2.73s in v8 Fox body 'stangs. That was the base vehicle ratio, anything else was ordered that way or swapped after it left the factory.
 

greengeeker

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Thanks sno. I'll do some research and see what this would entail.
 

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