Tacoma Diesel Swap (VW or otherwise)?

So I've seen a few threads talking about swapping diesel motors into a tacoma and was curious about it's feasibility. My friend got a VW Jetta last year with whatever diesels they have in there and i was wondering if those could be tailored to bolt up to a new Tacoma? Or any other diesel that would take kindly to a new Tacoma.

Don't plan on doing anything soon, just feeling it out to see what is out there. Thanks in advance guys.

 

Lots of diesel swaps talked about in this thread....

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/performance-tuning/140258-powerstroke-toyota-pickup.html

 

The VW diesel was designed for a vehicle that weighs 1/2 as much as the Tacoma. Look at the 4 cylinder cummins, Isuzu's or Mercedes. WWW.4btswaps.com has tons of information on diesel swaps. Good luck and keep us posted.

Bacon

 

I own a VW diesel it's great but it does not have much HP but it does have twice the torque of a 4 cyl gas. I don't think you would be pleased with a 1.9 but a 2.5-3 liter turbo engine would do it I would kill for a V6 turbo TDI diesel in my Tacoma!

 

Speaking of vw and diesels, I was next to a VW Amarok with a tdi engine driving around here the other day with a Michigan manufacturer tag... should be giving all mid-size trucks a run for their money.

 

This guy swapped a freightliner diesel from a sprinter van into a first gen. If you can fit one in a first gen should be no problem in a 2nd

 

Dang ^^^^ good find!

I'm wondering if it would even be worth looking into. I'm trying to determine if the money and labor is worth the extra gas mileage i would get out of it. I'm already averaging about 24 mixed which isn't bad at all... but if it could drive me up to the 30s it may be worth my time.

 

Easy enough to figure out.

In the above example, using his best possible mileage, his mileage before was 26 mpg highway and went up to 30 mpg. The further you drive, the better the results.

If he travelled 12,000 miles in a year, that means he would use 461 gallons of gasoline @26mpg and 400 gallons of diesel at 30mpg.

If he was paying $5/gallon, that works out to about $2305/year in gas at 26mpg and $2000/yr. So best case, would be about $300 in savings every year based on $5/gallon. At $4/gallon, that drops to $244 dollars in savings. The savings would also drop due the price differential between regular gas and diesel (about $0.30/gallon extra for diesel)

 

I don't think it would be cost effective to do the swap unless you got all the parts super cheap or free.I would have to almost double my mileage to make it worth it.it's just like all the people who buy hybrids. How long would you have to keep the car to make it worth it to pay extra for the hybrid. If you took an old wrangler or samurai and converted it to veggie oil it would be worth it as a neat cheap project.
Extreme 4x4 did a samurai with veggie oil.simply install and you could get the waste oil from any dinner or deli

 

I plan on swapping to diesel when the motor in my truck eventually dies. May be a while, but that just gives me time to save. I plan on doing a kind-of ground up rebuild at that point, reinforcing the frame for the extra weight, possible SAS(while maintaining a "stockish" ride height), replacing worn out parts such as seats etc. I plan on keeping my Taco for a long time!!

 

I'm with you on that. My puppy will be run into the ground. At that point I might consider a diesel swap or who knows, by then Toyota may have a diesel option (i got a 2011 Tacoma so they have plenty of time to figure that out before my sucker dies).

 

Totally agree...

But if you do have the parts...the time...the skills and the tools. It would be a super neat project!

 

what about these guys. not cheap but looks like you get what you want, turn key.

www.dieseltoyz.com

 

Pretty sure these trucks as they sit, will last longer then we have fuel for. Fuel going to be like 10-15 bucks a gallon someday.The whole veggie thing won't last forever as more and more people catch on. I had a buddy doing it to a Chevy LUV though college, and he was always having to ensure his "source" was secure as more people were looking for oil as well.

 

If I had funny money, I would def do this!

 

Are you serious!? I wonder if it was some car magazine doing a test drive for an article?

 

If you want to see some cool stuff visit Toyota's websites for other countries. the power plants available in the Hilux are sick--

imagine what your Fuelly # would be with the 2KD-FTV VNT 2.5L diesel.

Toyota must think folks like [a certain diesel hater in this thread, who has almost twenty-nine thousand posts] accurately represent the general American demographic.

 

Agree and agree. why can't we get any good diesels around here???

 

I don't see a Jetta engine swap being possible since those cars are front wheel drive and sit sideways in the engine compartment like all FWD's do, but a truck diesel motor could be done! It would be cool to get a Jetta motor to work though, they can get 50mpg, but in a Tacoma would probably only get 35.

 

tdiclub.com dozens of TDI swaps into Tacoma's. The ALH TDI engine with a few mods will do 250HP. Any diesel of the same displacement as a gas motor will do about 30% better on fuel.