Real Fiero Tech

Does ANYONE make an AWD diesel wagon with a manual trans for the US market? I know Subaru makes a diesel Outback available only with a 6-speed manual transmission. That would be ideal, but they won't sell it on the US market since they don't have an auto for it. Blah.

No.

If you're looking for an AWD diesel in the US market, you better have at least 50k. BMW, VW, and Mercedes all make high end SUV's and then of course there are the diesel pick-ups. VW made a Syncro Passat back in the 90's that might have come with a TDI for the Canada market.

I know it's not a wagon, but it's one of my favorite cars, a VW Doka. My friend has a VW Doka with a TDI-syncro swap. It gets ~32mpg in combined driving and is an awesome utility vehicle:

AkursedX wrote:My friend has a VW Doka with a TDI-syncro swap.

The point is that we shouldn't have to waste our valuable time swapping engines into vehicles manufactures should be installing the engine into from the get go. The American public is 120% apathetic about diesels and economy, so they get away with it. It's sad. Everyone's catering to the Frat boys who make six figure digits in corporate America. And then people make fun of people who are proud to own a Prius.

Also, wasteful vaquero rednecks and their trucks.

manual
wagon
AWD
diesel
USA

hmm...

How about an '85 S-blazer with the Olds 4.3 diesel swapped in, adapted to the NV3500 from a SBC gas 4.3 then find a turbo, and have up to 150 HP from the stock Stanadyne pump. It'll pass emissions and be capable of up to 40 MPG. You can build one for $5k.

Emc209i wrote:
The point is that we shouldn't have to waste our valuable time swapping engines into vehicles manufactures should be installing the engine into from the get go. The American public is 120% apathetic about diesels and economy, so they get away with it. It's sad. Everyone's catering to the Frat boys who make six figure digits in corporate America. And then people make fun of people who are proud to own a Prius.

Also, wasteful vaquero rednecks and their trucks.

I pretty much agree with that. I've complained to the VW-corporate people I know about the lack of diesel choices here as opposed to the rest of the world, but it's believed that the US people don't want diesels. VW's American-built Passat and the new VW hybrids are proof that VW is dumbing-down for American buyers. But I really hope that this doesn't bring on the demise of the diesel car in America.

My current Jetta Sportwagen TDI can be bought with 4-motion in Europe (It's called the Golf-Estate everywhere else in the world) along with many other VW's. To me, that would be the ultimate daily-driver. Even if I had to pay a 5-7k premium for the 4-motion, I still would have bought it.

I replied to your PM Steven. The 603 shares a bell housing with the M10X series gasoline motors. If you find a 190E, 190D, 260E, or 300E 5speed the flywheel, trans, pedal box, etc will all bolt in. Its been done quite a few times, I've located all the stuff to do mine but I don't want to pour more money into this car.

Mercedes never imported a 4matic diesel to the US, nor did VW.

And Atilla the Buick diesels were the shittiest things the world has ever seen, 85HP from a 4.3? Fucking-WOW. My mercedes is a 2.5 non turbo and makes 93HP. Mercedes made 85HP with a 2.2L non turbo as well.

The 4.3 and 350 diesels needed to have the main bolt holed drilled and tapped deeper in order to not pull main bolts out at their thundering 85 HP output as well...

They're just total junk. There was a Tboned but running 4.3L buick coupe for $750 with under 100k on it, but I started reading about it because I thought it would be a diesel option for my Dakota, but there seem to be zero redeeming qualities to that motor. Mercedes 617 tractor motors are worth under $1k and make 125HP and never seem to come apart.

Well, 2 of you failed to do your research before posting outright BS.
It's the 6.2 that needs the mains drilled and tapped deeper for longer main studs to take much boost. The Olds diesels are fine to about 12 psi for the v6, and about 6 psi for the 350, ( limited by fewer head bolts than the V6 version )
The output is low by modern standards, but the survivors were properly maintained, they can be had for $150 at Pick-N-Pull, so go on half-price day and pay $75, since everyone else will avoid them because they read the bashing but don't search out the facts.
What other diesel can you find under $1500 that is legal for pre-'86 cars? None.
Those VW turbodiesels are neat, but not worth the $1500 asking price.
The Olds 4.3 can do 45 MPG in an '85 sedan with a 200-4R, but an S-blazer has way worse aero. Put it in my T/A, it might do 50 MPG. That thing comes with a Stanadyne pump that can support 25 HP per cylinder with no mods, besides adjusting the fuel screw, so boosting the 4.3 version to 150 HP is obvious. Does that way-over-priced VW have 150 HP stock? I doubt it.
http://a350diesel.tripod.com/menu.html

http://a350diesel.tripod.com/disaster.html

The Head Bolts, a major problem..there might as well been wing nuts made of glass to hold the heads down..For anyone who doesnt know about them, prepare to learn something. The head bolts on the 5.7 cant take it at all, especially the earlier ones..

..In 1981, the main bolt threads where drilled out deeper and longer bolts where used to avoid these problems..before this was done, they had the mains held in by bolts that where too short...Ooops!..

I have absolutely no interest in an engine that needs a performance rebuild to be reliable at stock power levels.

OBTW, new TDi's make 140 HP from 2.0 litres.

And the 5.0 TDi V10 from the Touareg looks pretty wild, but I know zilch about it, other than that it's a unit-injection engine.

45-50mpg? Speaking of outright bullshit.

I don't want a redneck frankenstein SUV with a shitty Olds diesel engine swapped in. WTF? Where did you gather that's what I wanted? Atilla, do you know what a wagon is?

AkursedX wrote:No.

This seems to be the truth.

I was hoping there was at least some Audi or Mercedes wagon on the market at some time that I didn't know about.

http://store.prestoliteperformance.com/ ... erico.html

I'd heard this was out there, but finally took a few minutes to track it down. It's a bellhousing to bolt VW engines to Muncie (GM T5 and everything else...) transmissions.

Now I want a TDi in the Eagle... If I ever get it on the road

Series8217 wrote:I don't want a redneck frankenstein SUV with a shitty Olds diesel engine swapped in. WTF? Where did you gather that's what I wanted? Atilla, do you know what a wagon is?

AkursedX wrote:No.

This seems to be the truth.

I was hoping there was at least some Audi or Mercedes wagon on the market at some time that I didn't know about.

There are now a few Mercedes wagons floating around in Canada coming in from Japan that are diesel and manual transmission, and I believe some of them are 4matic, but I don't know that there is any overlap, also all the cars I've seen in canada were like 90-93 cars, which aren't yet eligible for import without some creativity, but they are starting to appear. I may have a friend who will be looking to sell a Manual Transmission 200TD wagon. 2.0L OM601 Non-turbo, I want to say 85HP lol, but its a W124 with manual climate control and a manual transmission, could be swapped to a 2.5 or 3.0 turbo pretty easily. Or just slowly driven to the apocalypse.

VW doesn't make the Jette TDi wagon with a 6-speed? They do the sedan, I imagine a trans swap would be pretty easy.

Aaron wrote:VW doesn't make the Jette TDi wagon with a 6-speed? They do the sedan, I imagine a trans swap would be pretty easy.

Yes they do make it w/ a 6-speed, but they do not make it in AWD (In America).

Ah I forgot awd was in the criteria. Ummm... I'd say the TDi is the closest he's going to get.

They make the 335d in wagon iirc but it's definitely not a 6-speed. However, I'm not sure if they make the 335ix in a 6-speed but it's likely they do. And swapping would be easy since the 3s are very much the same in general. But picking up 335 stuff is costly since they are so new and say BMW on them.

The 335d was never offered in the US in a wagon, nor AWD, and like you said was always automatic. And the sedan was dropped last year. They only do the X5 3.0d now.

Pity... Did they have reliability problems or were they just not selling?

I was looking forward to seeing a growing number of powerful European diesels on the roads here.

The new 740d is the same diesel 6 cylinder engine, but with THREE turbos...