MK1 TDI?

Just spotted driving through Rotherham town centre. Shinny black 5dr MK1 with TDI (red I) on rear hatch and what looked like 20 inch chrome rims. Sounded like a diesel but is it really a TDI? Looked very tidy but I?d have been temped to make it look like a Golf C and be a wolf in sheeps clothing 8O . Anyones on here or anyone know if it really has a TDI motor installed? :dontknow:

I remember a blue 3dr a few years back in a magazine running a Mk2 tdi - I think with Nitrous too. There was a picture of it launching down a 1/4 mile strip with a plume of black smoke behind it! was quick too!

TDI transplant into a mk1 would be pretty hard work I would have thought, particularly with the soundproofing and weight of the TDI block!

Would be fun though. Up to 150bhp and 230 lbft of torque in 900 kgs!

Cheers,

Drew.

VW made a mk1 turbo diesel (GTD) in the last year or two of mk1 production, not sure if it was sold in the uk. Owner may have just stuck a mk4/5 tdi badge on it, more likely that than it having had a new tdi lump stuck in it :dontknow:





Cheers

I understand that there was a MK1 1600 Turbo Diesel available in LHD on the continent. Upgrading to the later MK11 Turbo or even the 1.9 indirect injection engines from MKIII Golfs is, I?m led to believe relatively straight forward.
TDIs are hardwork because of all the electronic-ary and security key fobs involved but thinking about it, its probably the same technical level as 1.8T petrol?

A PD TDI Caddy pick-up has been done using the Mk4 clocks / loom, etc. By all accounts it's a nightmare job. A few people have done the non-PD Mk3 TDI conversions (on Caddies) I believe. Prob a bit easier to do a 20V Turbo just because the swap is more popular, conversion bits are available, and there is more 'knowledge' about what to do out there.

ahh dont we just love white mk1s :wink:

A couple of years ago there was a GTD in Manchester, not sure if it was a left hooker though.
Isn't putting a diesel engine in a Mk1 a travesty?

putting a tdi in to a mk1 golf is so simple even susan could do it easy piesy lemon swiye

early 1800 u in rotherham?
cheers

I'd buy one no question!    I disagree that it's a travesty to have a diesel in the mk1…although I would say that! If the 1.6 can zip about as quickly as most modern small engined cars then I'm sure the TDI would be very impressive. I've never found the 1.6 diesel sluggish, even with a car full of (adult) passengers. A mid-90's Ford TurboDiesel couldn't shake me off in the 60 limit the other day (and I knew he was trying 'cos of the smoke display/rear end dipping etc) The gear ratios are SPOT ON aswell, no slurring up to speed and plenty of acceleration in 5th too. TDI in the lightweight mk1 would put a smile on my face. BRING ON THE DIESEL POWER!  :twisted:

i never understood the diesel thing, the mk3 and mk4 tdi's, boasting big torque figures (which i dont really understand if truth be told) then not so impressive performance, if a recent tdi is 130 bhp and "lots of torque" why cant it keep up with my battered mk1? is it a weight thing?

In a nutshell yes . Power to weight is a much more representative way of looking at it as logically your engine has more work to do the more weight it has to haul around.

Parkers says the new Golf 2.0 litre TDi has 138 bhp and a 0-60 of 9.2 sec, compared to a mk1 1800 GTI with 112bhp and 0-60 of 8.2 sec. The mkV weighs 1319kg 8O - therefore has 104 bhp to 1000kg. A 1800 mk1 GTI weighs around 840 kg which equates to 133 bhp per 1000 kg. This site has some interesting comparsions of GTI power to weight ratios.

Looking at this way a tdi is underpowered compared to the mk1 GTI. I'd imagine the mkV has highly superior aerodynamics to the mk1 which compensates somewhat. Modern cars tend to need so much more bhp to haul their fat backsides around

Cheers

my mates mk4 destorys   mk1s even ones with 20v in !!!!  runing 230 bhp 4wd what acar!    devs rock you just have to know how to drive them no red lineing keep changeing gear at about 3200 revs and let the touge do its stuff  8O

Tomo320, for the past 2 weeks residing in Barnsley, work in Rotherham. Prev 15 years in Halifax West Yorks and before that born and bred in Oswaldtwistle East Lancs. Think one of the types on here now lives in Ossy, pass on my regards.

Still not got ?tinternet at new address yet, hence the Mon-Fri 9-5 postings.

On a race track a MK1 GTI would thrash a TDI but back on planet earth, daily day to day driving a TDI would cover the ground probably as quick and my current Clio dCi is doing just short of 60 MPG averaged over previous 6000 miles of mixed driving.  Even the lightweight MK1 would be @35mpg. :dontknow:  The Caddy (which is worth its weight in gold with all the stuff I?m taking to tip, collecting from B+Q etc) averages about 50, 55 on a run and as diesel dubber says is surprising sprightly for a 1600 non turbo 1970s technology engine.

The other thing to remember is that people buy BHP but drive torque?..

ahhh so its an economy thing!     barnsley, good luck im in rotherham mate, whereabouts do you work?

Its not just economy, that?s the cherry on the icing on the cake. A good diesel is much more compatible with modern driving conditions; pulls in any gear, will drive itself in 1st crawling along in traffic. I drive the other halfs 1.8 petrol Astra and it always feels so gutless, you have to change down a gear every time you want to go. Even having said that its so low geared that on the motorway it sounds like you?ve got it in 3rd not 5th. You half expect the pistons to come flying thru the bonnet at any moment. The MK1 gets away with it because its relatively very light weight compared with modern stuff.

Remember when the 1.8 GTI was released people raved about the power and driveability but with was only 2bhp more than the 1.6? The reason is that it had lots more torque lower down the rev range. Follow that logic and you end up with a modern direct injection turbo diesel car.

Another benefit of the economy is that you don?t need to fill it up twice a week, even up north practically every other petrol station is now a building site being turned into a block of flats. I can travel 25+ miles on rural and urban roads and not pass any filling stations.

If changing gears an issue, get an automatic . High reving engines sound so much nicer than low reving engines.

Cheers

I agree with Early1800 (obviously) You can have a really comfy ride chugging about in a mk1 diesel…and it's true  you can often only go as fast as the car in front in towns etc so it's ideal. I thought that was the best thing until i moved further away from form work and used open roads more (60 limits)…it can do 65mpg, presumably because i can leave it in 5th the whole way from start to finish, even when i go through 30 limit villages! It's so nice not having to change down a gear all the time just to pull up a hill. And I have no probs keepin up with modern cars, often overtake a lot of em!
Got nothing against petrol cars but for what it is, the mk1 diesel deserves SOME praise at least! And the engines just keep on going and going and going…perhaps longer than petrols. I've yet to see one with a 2nd/3rd engine in, unlike many of the petrols :mrgreen:

P.s - you dont get good fuel economy in an auto!

I can travel 25+ miles on rural and urban roads and not pass any filling stations.

Yo i have to agree , my works truck fills up at Total garages only , 2 have closed recently . One day we will all fill up at Tesco and all work for Tesco ……..Do Tesco do Classic car insurance ?