A "what if" as it were.
The exhaust ports on a TDi head and an ABA look very similar. A TDi from from that era makes about 8-10 pounds of boost. And a TDi engine is pretty much all done by 3500 rpm. So the boost is down low in the RPM range. The ABA is in a daily driven Jetta, not a race car. On paper it seems like an easy swap for a little bit of boost. Oil piping and air intake piping could be worked out. What am I missing? This sounds way too easy. And I do know about the USRT manifold kit to put a MkIV turbo on a MkIII and am still sad I did not buy one.
It all bolts up but you're right the turbo is very very small for a 2.0 gas. A rough rule of thumb for running diesel turbos on gas engines is you want twice as much displacement on the diesel.
If you want to do it using vw parts to back to a 1.6td turbo if possible . They were significantly larger (t3 or k24) than the tdi turbos even though they are smaller displacement motors. Either way you'll run out of breath pretty quick.
The real question is what do you plan to do with timing and fuel? On low boost you could probably sneak by with an fmu, but that's pretty archaic stuff now.
As someone who had a turbo aba I would just find a cheap log manifold with a t3 flange then run any number of cheaper and bigger t3 turbos.
84FSP
UltraDork
9/20/21 7:52 a.m.
The 1.8t swap is really cheap by comparison considering the rest of what you need. A buddy did a low buck swap like what you are discussing that ended up being more than a 1.8t and overall being more hassle.
A china manifold and a T3 or gt25/28 clone would be a better match. The diesel turbo is pretty small, makes the k03 look like a big one. For a budget setup at low boost 30lb injectors and some off the shelf software work well.
Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) said:
A china manifold and a T3 or gt25/28 clone would be a better match. The diesel turbo is pretty small, makes the k03 look like a big one. For a budget setup at low boost 30lb injectors and some off the shelf software work well.
I ran obd2 chip tune with 30lbs injectors and a Volvo turbo. . The car was quick (not fast) but I really couldn't complain about the UM software.
