Rebuilt D24T?

[Hecklebone]

Hi All,

After successfully retiming the D24T in my Pinzgauer, today the cam shaft broke, I think. I'll need to take it apart to really know. As it was idling, there was big BANG and it stopped. Timing belt stopped moving and the front of the cam shaft wiggles around when I crank the engine. We all know what that means.

So, any leads on the rebuilt D24T? Perhaps a more 'performance' D24T so I can get more power out of it? I have a core to send in.

Thanks in advance,
h.

[v8volvo]

Bummer, sounded like you had just got it to where you wanted it. Fortunately though, given the circumstances, you can probably get it back into shape without doing a whole motor rehab.

Probably the broken cam was preceded by the front timing belt skipping and/or a sprocket working loose at the crank or the cam. Cam breakage is an almost inevitable result of slipped timing on these motors, but doesn't happen on its own, only after an episode of the motor coming out of time while running... usually after someone puts a new belt on and doesn't get that crank dampener bolt on tight enough.

Sorry to hear about this turn of events, but good news is, since it happened at low engine speed, chances are very good you will find that the bottom end escaped any damage. Reasonably strong likelihood it will need a little head work but would be unusual for it to need any attention from the headgasket down. You can pull the head off and check piston protrusion; if some of them come up short then you might need to worry about damaged rods or crank but likely all will be fine, only time I have ever seen an issue was on a TDI where a valve head dropped completely off into the piston bowl while the car was going down the highway and the thing beat itself to pieces for a good while, on a motor that had already had the timing belt break once. Even after all that, it only needed one new rod and piston and a fresh head and it was fine... Seeing how the motor is installed in that truck I suspect you want to avoid hauling out a perfectly good bottom end if you can fix it by just working on the top half, which more than likely you can.

I have a spare cam on hand if you need it, that and a handful of new valves and lifters should be most of what you need to get it going like new. Check the crank and cam sprockets for play, and the water pump bearing and belt itself too, those will answer the question of what caused the problem and what you have to fix before running it again. There's a guy nearby in Golden who has some motor parts and Pinzgauer bits as well. If adding power is on your mind, regardless of what it needs to fix it you have a nice opportunity to do some porting, turn up the boost, add intercooler, etc...

[Hecklebone]

Hi Gents,

I have been looking at all options, perhaps even fitting a different engine. So far it seems that no other engine would fit. I am still looking into a VW 2.5 diesel option, but that would be 12v instead of 24v.

So I have two questions:
1) Any suggestions on a company that can re-manufacture it in the states? As long as I'm doing the head, I want to bore/hone it with new pistons and rings. I'd also look at a more aggressive cam grind. Ideally I could build a box around it and ship it off and it'd would come back in a month fully rebuilt.

2) I need more power. With 6 wheels in the snow, at altitude, I need to do a neutral drop to get enough power to get out. I get about 10psi boost with the turbo on there. It seems max safe boost is about 25psi. If I get a larger turbo and drive to 25psi, which kind of HP and torque could I expect?

Thanks again...

[Kraftwerk]

I would do the following:
Rebuild the engine first, tune everything to stock specifications, except for ported head...port it as much as you can, keeping it safe...since the biggest problem about theese engnes is the head - they're not crossfow, valves are tiny, valve lift isn't much either, etc...focus on that first.

Then, turbocharger:
I would go to about 20psi, just block off the wastegate or put an eBay (or even DIY, it's simple) manual boost controller (MBC), install a eBay (or sourced from a wrecker) intercooler, fit pyrometer and turbo boost gauge as a precaution and keep a close eye on it.
Further, IP pump unleashed...take the governor out, block the main spring with 2-3 shims, set the fueling screw accordingly, up the low pressure fuelling, do turn the fuel pin or even grind it (but I don't think you will really need that) and you should be all set.
I'm preparing (actually, gathering informations and waiting for more free time on hand) to do it myself on my wagon...looking for something over 300Nm, don't really have an idea on horsepower...but might be fun.

[Hecklebone]

Anyone know of a shop that could rebuild a D24T in the states?
Better yet, know of one already re-manufactured and I can send them my core?

Thanks in advance,
h.

[v8volvo]

There is a 2.5L 5cyl TDI that saw use in some Audi and Volvo cars and VW LT vans overseas in the '90s, and was also sold here in the US for marine use, I suspect that is the one you are referring to? It's a 10-valver, (2 valves per cylinder) more or less a variation on the D24T family architecture, very similar in its layout, shares the same crank and bellhousing bolt pattern etc.

The 5cyl at least in principle should be a relatively viable swap into a Pinzgauer, most of the main components (cooling hoses, IP, etc) would remain in the same place, it bolts right onto the same automatic transmission/flexplate/starter, sit in the same orientation and installation angle, etc. Any place a D24 fits, a 2.5L five ought to fit without too much trouble, quite a few of them have been installed into Volvos originally housing D24s and D24T's...

the challenge in the Pinz would probably be with the front motor mounts, since in the one I was tinkering with I noticed the mounts attach at the front -- with a slightly shorter engine some creative fabrication might be necessary to make it fit together OK. In any case though probably nothing much more exotic than what is required to put one into a Volvo, which you can find pictures of motivated fabricators having accomplished elsewhere before... cooling fan might present some issues as well, and a few other packaging concerns, but probably nothing too extreme... and the massive improvements in low-rpm torque, overall power, mileage, cold-weather starting, and potential for ECU tuning and other power increases that come with direct injection and electronic engine management may make it worth the trouble given the way you are hoping to use this vehicle...

You would have to find one, of course, but there are a couple of TDI guys who bring motors in for swaps and might be able to offer some info and pricing, other than that all it would take is a little wiring...

[v8volvo]

FYI, It looks like Pinzgauer 2.5 TDI has been done a few times before, looks like it fits and works pretty nice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS9MEiCz8fQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AetiXRr7F-w

Looking at the arrangement in the first video it looks like they were able to even mount the accessories (PS pump at least) in the same place as they fit on the D24T in the Pinz application, another nice aspect of the arrangement -- in addition to the back of the motor being identical to the six, the front is also the same or closely similar, or at least this is true of the old 2.0L IDI version that is the basis for both the D24 family and the 2.5 TDI.

Probably only real fabrication-intensive part is mounts, and given that this has been done before perhaps some info is out there about it. Wiring would be the same as for any TDI swap, the early pre-immobilizer ones are pretty straightforward... or could even have an m-tdi pump built for it, IIRC Giles has done them for the 5-cyl before -- would allow you to run it mechanically without using the computerized management system. Most of the time I scratch my head when I see people do this with their swaps since I figure electronic control is one of the major *advantages* the TDI motors have over the older designs, but given this application maybe maximum simplicity would be more valuable than an extra couple of HP or MPG.

Not trying to talk you out of rehabilitating/upgrading the D24T in there now, certainly there's enough room for improvement in that platform that you could stick with it and still make some significant power gains -- but if you are inclined to think about a swap, this doesn't look too bad as far as these things go. I just finished helping a guy get a Subaru 2.2 running in his Vanagon a couple months ago, which is a commonplace swap, but nonetheless much more involved than this looks like it would be...