Builds Another Prado in Montana

[AirheadNut]

I was reading your post and thinking, wow, it must be SO EASY to work on the TDI with it oriented lengthwise like that.... then you went and said how awful it is working on the exhaust manifold... lol.

I replaced my wife's exhaust manifold and turbo on her car. As you know, all that is behind the engine and against the firewall. What a pain that is.... just trying to put it into perspective for you!! Your setup is a dream to work on in comparison. I am impressed with how well the little 1.9 is moving about that 70 series metal box around for you as well as it is. They are indeed impressive motors for those who know how to look after them.

Yeah, accessing the turbo in a stock application is miserable. The trouble with my setup is that while it looks all out in the open, everything is packaged in such a way that it renders several fasteners completely inaccessible to any tools that would be able to provide sufficient torque. Two exhaust manifold studs are buried between the turbo and the intake manifold, one has an EGR port stud in front of it, one of the downpipe bolts is only accessible using a stubby open end wrench, and several intake manifold bolts can only be reached with an Allen wrench doing 1/6 of a turn at a time. I'm working myself up to spending a lot of money to improve the situation.

There are a couple of exhaust manifold options. SPA Performance Fox/Dasher T3 manifold:

Vanagon 1.6TD "JX" engine code manifold:

And then of course the true party piece, a GTD1752vrk. Should be good for 30psi and pretty extreme EGT's, though hopefully it will help reduce them some instead. A forward facing compressor outlet and v-band exhaust outlet will really simplify the charge piping and exhaust, I have an inquiry out to a company that offers these set up for top mount, waiting to hear back if they would do one with a flange exhaust inlet rather than welded to a manifold.

 

[AirheadNut]

No luck so far on finding an outfit that will build a top mount turbo for me. There are several on the market but they’re all welded to a manifold. I need one flange mounted, half tempted to find a used one and see about modifying it.

 

[AirheadNut]

Well, after reaching out to several turbo builders I found an outfit in Poland that is happy to build me a top mount, v-band vacuum converted turbo for me. Based on recommendations from my tuner and others I opted to go big on the turbo, got a GTD2060vz and a set of 0.260mm injectors on the way. I'll be using a Vanagon JX code manifold with an adapter for the v-band and stepping up the exhaust to 3" to let the turbo breathe.

 

[fjdiesel]

On my ALH I had 520 race nozzles, which in the end, I think they were a little rich. So the .260 may be perfect. I ran the BV43 turbo for a while and then upgraded the center section from the UK(used unit) to a BV43a. All while running a Malone tune. Not gonna lie, it was an awesome setup. A stock USA Passat exhaust manifold that the bv turbo bolts up to. It had plenty of torque and what seemed like no top end, it would just keep going. May be a more simple option rather than custom made??

I did have to buy a heavier flywheel. It was too torquey with out the heavier flywheel!!

 

[AirheadNut]

That was my original plan way back when I was first fitting a turbo, I had a complete BHW manifold and turbo but ended up running into lots of clearance issues with brake lines, steering shaft and starter. The turbo pretty much has to be top mount due to that, and to fit a turbo larger than stock I have to move it as far forward as possible to clear the brake and clutch master cylinders. Not much space on that side of the engine, unfortunately.