VW Guru advise needed - 1.4TDI into Skoda Felicia Fun?

[Ritchie]

Hello Gents,

My mate has a Skoda Felicia Fun pickup with the 1.6 petrol lump in it.

It looks like it has been messed about with in the past, different throttle body, hacked manifold and some wiring bodgery.

The issue is, it's not running quite right and due to us not knowingwhat's been done to it, it's difficult to know where to start sooo..

His mum has a low mileage 1.4tdi Polo, around a 2000 I think which has just failed it's MOT.

You can see where this is going.

I reckon that the wee TDI lump would be good in the pickup, but have no idea about gearbox / shift compatibility etc.

I've not had a look at this at all yet, and the aim is to get both alongside each other and have a look but my first concern would be engine mounts.

Does anybody have the VW knowledge to tell me it's a non starter or it will drop right in?

Cheers.

[Rich]

Nov 21, 2019 14:49:13 GMT Ritchie said:

Hello Gents,

My mate has a Skoda Felicia Fun pickup with the 1.6 petrol lump in it.

It looks like it has been messed about with in the past, different throttle body, hacked manifold and some wiring bodgery.

The issue is, it's not running quite right and due to us not knowingwhat's been done to it, it's difficult to know where to start sooo..

His mum has a low mileage 1.4tdi Polo, around a 2000 I think which has just failed it's MOT.

You can see where this is going.

I reckon that the wee TDI lump would be good in the pickup, but have no idea about gearbox / shift compatibility etc.

I've not had a look at this at all yet, and the aim is to get both alongside each other and have a look but my first concern would be engine mounts.

Does anybody have the VW knowledge to tell me it's a non starter or it will drop right in?

Cheers.

Just some info, the gearbox in the Skoda pickup is a Skoda one and all the VW engines bolt to it via and adaptor plate. I would imagine you would want to source a Skoda diesel gearbox and adaptor from the 1.9D pickup. The other issue is that the Skoda has the engine canted forwards, VW cant it back and we’ve ran into issues with this in the past, the biggest problem you may have would be the sump being at the wrong angle. Also factor in having the TDi engine de-immobilised to the whole shebang. It may work out easier in the long run to find a Felicia as a donor car and use it to either fit another 1.6 petrol or the 1.9D which gives you the option to easily fit a 1.9TD AAZ engine (I say easily, the turbo fouls the bonnet)

[Dez]

The 1.4tdi is probably my favourite vw motor, it’s a great little lump.

It sounds like you probably don’t know it’s just 3/4 of a 1.9 PD TDI with a balance shaft added to keep it smooth. Other bonus is they’re only a single mass Clutch.

They use the 02J gearbox, which lends itself to swaps as it’s cable change and hydraulic clutch. Throw away the Skoda shifter quadrant and fit the VW one in the hole. Use the VW pedals, or clutch at least. They use the larger size bolt-on CVs though which may cause issues with the driveshafts. It they’re a fault strong box that’s much nicer than the cable clutch and rod shift ones.

The whole package does slope backwards as rich says though. It’s also rather tall, being of VW ‘big block’ origin. The engine and box mounts are unique to this motor so you’ll end up having to cut and shut them out of the polo shell.

Wiring isn’t as hard as you’d think of you have a donor car. Just remove the entire loom in one piece and either thin it out accordingly and or just run the Skoda off it.

Personally I thinking would be a great (but a bit more than beginner level) swap. Very doable if you have both complete cars though.

[Rich]

Nov 21, 2019 19:43:27 GMT Dez said:

The 1.4tdi is probably my favourite vw motor, it’s a great little lump.

It sounds like you probably don’t know it’s just 3/4 of a 1.9 PD TDI with a balance shaft added to keep it smooth. Other bonus is they’re only a single mass Clutch.

They use the 02J gearbox, which lends itself to swaps as it’s cable change and hydraulic clutch. Throw away the Skoda shifter quadrant and fit the VW one in the hole. Use the VW pedals, or clutch at least. They use the larger size bolt-on CVs though which may cause issues with the driveshafts. It they’re a fault strong box that’s much nicer than the cable clutch and rod shift ones.

The whole package does slope backwards as rich says though. It’s also rather tall, being of VW ‘big block’ origin. The engine and box mounts are unique to this motor so you’ll end up having to cut and shut them out of the polo shell.

Wiring isn’t as hard as you’d think of you have a donor car. Just remove the entire loom in one piece and either thin it out accordingly and or just run the Skoda off it.

Personally I thinking would be a great (but a bit more than beginner level) swap. Very doable if you have both complete cars though.

Will definitely cause driveshaft issues as the gearbox uses push-in driveshafts like most other manufacturers gearboxes. The Skoda ‘box is quite different.

[Dez]

Yeah VW are a little inconsistent with their driveshafts usage, but I think it’s mostly down to gearbox variation. They do some odd things. From memory a tdi with have 100mm OD CVs. The smaller engine have smaller ones, around 80mm iirc.

[Ritchie]

Thanks for the info gents, appreciated.

[Rich]

Nov 21, 2019 20:10:25 GMT Dez said:

Yeah VW are a little inconsistent with their driveshafts usage, but I think it’s mostly down to gearbox variation. They do some odd things. From memory a tdi with have 100mm OD CVs. The smaller engine have smaller ones, around 80mm iirc.

Yup, except in the Felicia which used the Skoda gearbox from the favorit for all models, I suspect changing the box to the VW one would add to the hassle as it were because Sod’s law there wouldn’t be any VW driveshafts that fit the Felicia/favorit platform.

[sausage]

Do it, you have a whole donor car engine box loom ecu etc. The ECU are not difficult to immo off iff needed and the 1.4 is easy stage 1 tune to 110hp. They go to around 180hp with money chucked at them.