Building a diesel powered RHD TJ Wrangler (Picture Heavy)

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

The tdi may be dbw but you still have a gas pedal with physical motion.

To me it seems simple to find out what the range of motion the aw4 cable uses and attach some kind of lever to the throttle pedal arm with the appropriate length to get your correct throw?

problem is the cable isn't long enough to reach the throttle pedal on my Right Hand Drive and it would basically lay across the down pipe from my turbo as well. If my TJ was a Left Hand Drive, that wouldn't be an issue at all.

 

[Wildman]

problem is the cable isn't long enough to reach the throttle pedal on my Right Hand Drive and it would basically lay across the down pipe from my turbo as well. If my TJ was a Left Hand Drive, that wouldn't be an issue at all.

Could you use a different TV cable? It's been years since I have worked on a AW4 so I don't remember what it looks like. But I can measure the one for my rig if they are the same brackets.

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Could you use a different TV cable? It's been years since I have worked on a AW4 so I don't remember what it looks like. But I can measure the one for my rig if they are the same brackets.

I appreciate that, but because I have the valve body from the 07 Tacoma in my AW4, I don't need it and honestly if this doesn't work I'm going to slap a TH350 in it with a reverse manual valve body with a doubler and an all aluminum Dana 300 and call the build done at that point!

 

[Wildman]

I appreciate that, but because I have the valve body from the 07 Tacoma in my AW4, I don't need it and honestly if this doesn't work I'm going to slap a TH350 in it with a reverse manual valve body with a doubler and an all aluminum Dana 300 and call the build done at that point!

While I like the option of the TH350 and doubler I truly hope that this works for you and you don't have to do anything else.
But a TH350 and the Midnight D300 is totally KEWL too. Fingers crossed for ya.

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Hey TJers,

This is one of those fun live and learn moments. All my adapters I had custom made. When I was installing my Ford 6r80 I specifically asked for an adapter plate that had a 10° and 15° tilt though I ended up using the 10° tilt on my build. I didn't think to tell my guy that when I asked if he could make me a transmission plate for my AW4 transmission. Turns out there is an issue with using the stock starter on a 10° tilt with this setup.

It's amazing how much you can learn from making mistakes. This one in the grand scheme of things wasn't that big of mistake but it has cost me at least two months before it will get resolved. Long story short, I forgot to tell me adapter guy that I was going with a 10° tilt on my engine, so when I asked about getting a transmission plate made for the AW4, he checked his CAD drawing and a 15° tilt would clear with a stock starter, unfortunately I'm running at 10° tilt instead.

SO I looked at modifying my adapter plate OR modifying my motor mounts, exhaust, cooling and charge piping to make this adapter work. Unfortunately the steering on my Right Hand Drive just keeps getting in the way. I came to the conclusion that getting another adapter that would allow me to retain the 10° tilt was my best option to get my project done as quick as possible without having to fight clearance issues with my steering components.

I ended going with the Jeep 4.0l adapter from TDConversions. It's a two-plate adapter design like what I was using however they custom mount the starter on the adapter plate instead of the transmission which will allow me to retain my 10° tilt setup I already have. The downside is that it's a 6 ~ 8 week wait for adapters to be made and shipped. With Christmas right around the corner I'm guessing it will be February before I have the adapter in hand.

Here is the video if you'd like to watch:

Thanks
Grant

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Hey TJers,

I'm going to be tackling some upgrades and other odds and ends on my TDI diesel swap RHD TJ Wrangler while I wait for my new adapter to come in. When I first bought my TJ, I replaced the factory headlights with the cheapest DOT legal LED headlights from Amazon. You get what you pay for and I learned very quickly that these headlights not only blind oncoming vehicles, but in bad conditions they could be blinding to me as well from how the light would reflect of the fog and rain. I decided to finally fix that issue by replacing my those LED headlights with a set of Holley RetroBright Headlights in Classic White color. They were expensive, more than any headlights I have bought before, but well worth the money as an upgrade to my TJ Wrangler.

While swapping out the headlights I took the time to replace my broken passenger, normally the drive side, headlight bucket that had broken sometime in the last year. Out of all the things I have done to my TJ in the last year or so, this was the easiest by far. Replacing the headlight bucket was straight forward as was install the Holley RetroBright headlights. The only trick I ran into was replacing my other headlight without pulling the headlight bucket out. It was a bit of a balancing act to get the Holley RetroBright to stay set in the headlight bucket while at the same time reinstalling the retaining ring and putting the T15 torx screws in all at once.

What really surprised me was how much better the Holley RetroBright was how well focused the light was in my shop. I wish my Wrangler was running so I could take it outside and see how they do at night, but even in the shop, I could tell a massive difference between the sterile white LED headlights I had installed and these warmer more yellow classic looking headlights in my Jeep. No more pissing off other drivers driving down the road at night with these headlights installed.

Here is the video if you'd like to watch:

Thanks
Grant

 

[Alex01]

Hey Grant, I just saw your most recent update. Congratulations on the new property.

Looks like you really need to get that thing up and running again so you can start exploring the property.

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Hey Grant, I just saw your most recent update. Congratulations on the new property.

Looks like you really need to get that thing up and running again so you can start exploring the property.

Thank you! Yeah I really need to get it done. I can't remember if I posted it here or not, but I bought a wrecked TJ Rubicon for the axles and transfer case that I will eventually swap into this build. The Rubicon came with an NV3550 and I've been tempted, especially since I have the Right Hand Drive Pedals, to just go ahead and swap in a manual transmission to be done with it. I'm not going to do that though, I've been getting a massive amount of support from HGM Electronics which makes the CompuShift controller for the AW4, so I want to see how that does first. If I still can't get it running right though, I'm going to just swap in the NV3550 and finally call this project done.

 

[carrotman]

Subbed, excited to see what you get done next. What are your thoughts on the ALH TDI? I've been toying with the idea of a TDI swap for years but have always gone back and forth between wanting an ALH for the simplicity or a newer BEW/BRM for the added power potential.

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Subbed, excited to see what you get done next. What are your thoughts on the ALH TDI? I've been toying with the idea of a TDI swap for years but have always gone back and forth between wanting an ALH for the simplicity or a newer BEW/BRM for the added power potential.

I wanted to use the ALH because of the simplicity of it but my RHD drive made that a really difficult packing challenge that I didn't feel like solving. The ALH is a great motor and you can't go wrong with using that motor in a swap. If you want it to be an easy swap though, go with a manual transmission, it makes it SO much easier.

Also there are several people that make adapters for the TDI as well, so depending on what you are trying to do, you have several options available to you.

-Grant

 

[Rickyd]

What are your thoughts on an om612/nag1(722.6) combo? Or toyota d4d/ax15?

A DID1 controller might simplify things and baldur has initial maps for those engines. Seems there are stand alone 722.6 controllers. Not sure how long those transmissions are though...

 

[B1Toad]

What are your thoughts on an om612/nag1(722.6) combo? Or toyota d4d/ax15?

A DID1 controller might simplify things and baldur has initial maps for those engines. Seems there are stand alone 722.6 controllers. Not sure how long those transmissions are though...

I have a 722.683 if you need me to measure it.

 

[Rickyd]

I have a 722.683 if you need me to measure it.

I think the GC version(wk?) Is the one we want for jeep transfercases. That would be cool if you had that one to measure

 

[B1Toad]

I think the GC version(wk?) Is the one we want for jeep transfercases. That would be cool if you had that one to measure

Mine is on a Sprinter 3500 2WD chassis

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

What are your thoughts on an om612/nag1(722.6) combo? Or toyota d4d/ax15?

A DID1 controller might simplify things and baldur has initial maps for those engines. Seems there are stand alone 722.6 controllers. Not sure how long those transmissions are though...

Not sure how I missed this but I did. If you want to skip most of the hassle, go with the Toyota d4d/ax15. I love my autos which is why I'm fighting for it so much, but if I had just gone with an AX15, I would have had this swap done over 18 months ago.

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Hey TJers,

Finally getting back to working on my BEW TDI-powered TJ Wrangler Project. On top of waiting for parts, I've moved as well which delayed everything I was doing. With that said, I've gotten the new adapter from TD Conversions test fitted onto the engine and have the AW4 automatic and NP241OR Rubicon Transfer case installed in my TJ.

The adapter from TD Conversions fits perfectly for my application. I went with their adapter because I had already installed my BEW TDI engine into my engine at a 10° angle. Their adapter had a tilt for that angle which just made my life easier by not having to redo all the work on my motor mounts.

Getting the AW4 4-speed automatic installed and test fitted was a breeze which highlighted just how small this transmission is compared to the Ford 6r80 and also just how much lighter it is as well.

In January of this year, I purchased a wrecked 2004 TJ Rubicon which I plan on using several parts for my Right Hand Drive TJ Wrangler, specifically the axles and transfer case. For now, I'm just focusing on the transfer case as swapping the axles isn't going to be a bolt-in swap because of the different bracket locations on the axles between the Left Hand Drive and Right Hand Drive versions of the TJ.

Pulling the NP241OR wasn't too difficult thankfully though getting the Rubicon up onto vehicle ramps so I had enough room to do the work was rather challenging. Once I got the Rubicon transfer case out and went to test fit it into my TJ Wrangler.

I quickly realized just how much bigger the NP241OR transfer case is compared to the NP231. I can lift an NP231 off my chest and deadlift that transfer case into place, but the NP241OR is big enough that I wasn't going to risk it. I ended up having to use a clocking ring to tilt the NP241OR down 5° so that I will have room to lift the transmission and transfer case where I want my driveline to go.

Here is the video if you want to watch it:

Thanks
Grant

 

[Wildman]

Glad to see you back at this project. I'm guessing you'll have yours done prior to mine but it's gunna be close.

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Glad to see you back at this project. I'm guessing you'll have yours done prior to mine but it's gunna be close.

Thanks Wildman and kind of hard to tell honestly. I'm way behind on your build, I've got to spend some time catching on several build threads at this point. I guess it depends on if the AW4 will work or if I have to swap in the NV3550 from the wrecked 2004 TJ Rubicon I picked up.

 

[Alex01]

Thanks Wildman and kind of hard to tell honestly. I'm way behind on your build, I've got to spend some time catching on several build threads at this point. I guess it depends on if the AW4 will work or if I have to swap in the NV3550 from the wrecked 2004 TJ Rubicon I picked up.

Did you check if the front axle is straight? Not a deal breaker since mine was actually a bit bent when I got it. A shop that specializes in heavy equipment was able to straighten it out. Maybe the photo makes it look worse than it is but the totaled TJR looks like it took one hell of a hit.

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Did you check if the front axle is straight? Not a deal breaker since mine was actually a bit bent when I got it. A shop that specializes in heavy equipment was able to straighten it out. Maybe the photo makes it look worse than it is but the totaled TJR looks like it took one hell of a hit.

From everything I've been able to tell the axle is straight but I won't know until I get it off and can more actually measure it. It was actually hit high, right at the top of the frame. Once I get my TJ running and have more time to take this TJR apart I'll know more. Regardless I think I'll use that front Dana 44 and just get it repaired if I have to, it will be well worth the investment for what I'm building.