1951 Cockshutt 30–1.9L TDI Swap

It sounds like we’ll finally be continuing on with machining the engine adapter pretty soon. Plans for that have been going on the past couple of weeks; hopefully it’ll happen soon.

Other than that, I scored a new air intake cap for $60. It just needs a coat of the same paint I’ve been using. I don’t intend to use the original air cleaner on this unit, but I wanted to keep it there for the original appearance—especially since there’s a hole in the hood for it. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but I was planning on using it as a catch can. I think the sump, plus the metal screen will catch most of the oil vapor so hopefully the intake tract doesn’t get coated in oil.

Here is the original cap. The rust pitting is bad, plus it has dents in it. I really wasn’t looking forward to smoothing that out.
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And here’s the new one.
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To be clear, that screen in the bottom of the cap isn’t the one I was talking about in the above paragraph. Down in the canister there is a large mesh screen wound throughout the chamber where the intake air would be filtered, with the aid of an oil sump.


I guess I’ll update on the truck too. I got the 215 pump installed last week, but didn’t have too many chances to drive it until more recently. There’s been lots of rain with above freezing weather so I think the road salt is pretty much gone.

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My 160 pump was rebuilt and maxed by Seth Farrell back in 2015. It was internally pin-timed at 19 degrees, so I just matched that with this unit.

According to Seth on CumminsForum, pin-timing the 215 will set it at 13 degrees at the lowest part of the notch, which is roughly mid rack travel. So I pin-timed it, taped a degree wheel that I printed off the web onto the crank pulley, and made a pointer at 0 degrees out of some mechanic’s wire attached by a magnet. Then I backed the engine up by 6 degrees and locked the pump gear down. Pretty easy.
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Bled the air out and started it, and it actually ran nice. The idle is pleasantly smooth, but since I changed over my AFC from the 160, it needed some adjustment. I learned very quickly when I got to drive it that a 215 pump fuels a lot harder than a 160, so it’ll need a stiffer spring in the AFC.

The idle was high, so I took that down to what I’m used to, then got the preboost dialed in (I pinch off the boost reference line to disable boost fueling, then add turns to the preboost screw until I can see smoke when I take off from a stop.)

I limited max fueling quite a bit, so at full throttle it only makes 65 psi of boost, so now I can raise the max rack travel by little bits until it starts to get smoky. Kinda sneak up on it, then cut it back just enough to clean it up. I prefer a clear WOT.

So far, it drives nice, other than having to tune the boost/fuel curve to cut the smoke down. That’s the hardest part, I find.
But yeah, it idles smooth, feels snappier off the line, and hits higher RPMs with less throttle than before. Pretty cool!
 
Just to clarify one thing:

When I mentioned limiting full travel, the way I do that is by using a bolt that I added to the front of the AFC housing. On the front of the housing is that short bolt that holds the cam that adjusts the height of the AFC foot. I removed that bolt, drilled and tapped the hole the rest of the way through (M6x1.0) and threaded a longer bolt into the housing. That bolt acts as a stop for the AFC foot, which can be adjusted to allow more or less travel. A jam nut is used to hold the cam in place, and to hold the bolt from vibration/turning.

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This makes it easy to change full fuel with a 10mm wrench for a quick adjustment, without the need to remove the AFC housing. And I can use it in conjunction with a fuel plate with a steep cutback to limit low RPM fuel and smoke while being able to add/subtract top end power independently.
 
Man that is slick on the afc stop. You really think outside the box.

Good to hear the adapter will be coming along for the tractor.
 
I didn’t come up with the idea of the AFC stop bolt, and I can’t recall who I got the idea from (it was years ago). I don’t think anyone else has used it in conjunction with a fuel plate though—as far as I know, anyway.

I drove it a few times yesterday; the top end seemed limited, even after backing the stop bolt out to allow more fuel. So this morning I took the AFC off to see what’s going on.

While it was off, I got a picture of how the bolt looks inside the housing. At this setting, the AFC foot doesn’t quite touch the stop bolt, and power still felt limited even though the AFC is going full forward.
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Once I looked at the fuel plate, I think I found the issue. I believe the arrow is pointing to the witness mark from the governor arm, which looks like it’s limiting rack travel quite a bit. I didn’t expect there’d be a mark there already, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it is.
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I guess I”ll need to grind some more off of this to allow more rack travel, but for now I just put it together with no fuel plate so I can set max fuel without interference. After that, I’ll grind the plate some more and put it back in.

The other thing I did was swap the AFC spring out for one of the heavy springs from the common kits that I happen to have on hand (this one is a BD kit, but they’re all basically the same as the old TST kits.) That really cut down the smoke during boost ramp-up, but a few turns on the star wheel are still needed, I think.


Oh, and one other interesting change is that primary boost is up a few PSI. It hit 22psi with total boost at 70, and before it only hit 18-19. Last summer it wouldn’t hit 22 unless total was closer to 80. My guess is that the upgraded Treadstone intercooler is letting more air through (less pressure drop), and maybe the freer-flowing exhaust is helping a bit too. I doubt it has anything to do with the new pump—but it’s an improvement, whatever the reason.
 
Well, I tried to go for a test run. I hit 80 PSI one time, then I could hear a hissing sound whenever I made boost, with excessive smoke from the tailpipe. I figured a boost leak had been caused, but it was still making boost—which I thought was weird—and it still had OK power.

When I got home and checked under the hood, I found this:
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So the steel line from the turbine housing to the VGT actuator broke off. Exhaust pressure escaping was the hissing noise I heard, and smoke output was bad because the vanes were staying in the fully closed position, choking exhaust flow off.

This failure is my fault, to be clear. Diesel Power Source supplies a stainless steel line, but because of how I clocked the turbo, their line didn’t reach so I just made a longer one out of normal 1/4” brake line, which was supposed to be temporary. I didn’t get around to getting some stainless line to remake it properly, but I guess now the old Dodge has forced my hand.
 
First time posting since the new website. It seems OK so far, except I can’t figure out how to change that little tagline that used to be on the side under my avatar. The one they give you as a rookie would say “green behind the ears” and, of course, as a younger and less mature version of myself, I decided to be a smart ass and change it to something a little more off-colour.
That wasn’t a big deal before when it was off to the side and not that noticeable—but now, with the new website, that little tagline is displayed prominently across the top of every one of my posts… and uh… I’m not sure how I feel about it.
If anyone knows how to change it, let me know.

Anyway, the likelihood of having that engine adapter machined kind of evaporated not long after my last post. And since then I haven’t accomplished much at all; I couldn’t even keep any filler content going for the last bit.

With my brother being so busy, I ended up just getting him to order me a 15x12” chunk of aluminum, and he was able to find time to mill it down to the thickness I needed while he was at work. That’s all he could do; he’s building a house right now so he has no free time on weekends, etc.

So, since I have the aluminum here, it’s on me to finish this engine adapter myself. I’m not a machinist, nor do I have much here to work with, but all that’s left is drilling holes in the right places so I think I can handle that. It won’t look as nice as a machined part, but it will do the job and be mostly hidden anyway.

Luckily, there is a thin plate installed between the engine and transaxle on a VW TDI, which makes a perfect template for locating the holes. The two bottom holes are bigger on the engine side about a quarter inch deep because there are 16mm hollow dowels there. The bottom right hole is the only one that is threaded because the bolt goes in from the engine side (meaning the engine hole is not threaded).

This is with the VW plate lying on top. A section is missing on the right side for clearance for the CV Shaft. That is not in use now so I just mirrored the other side. Both bottom holes are done (and threaded) and the centre arch where the crank flange sits was cut out with a Sawzall.

All the holes drilled here. Just had to cut the outer shape out, which was a slow process. My Sawzall was so hot I could barely hold it by the end.

Here it is on the engine. This is as far as I could go; now I’m stuck waiting on some more bits to arrive. I still need to cut some 3/4” counter bores so those Allen bolts will be installed flush, leaving a flat surface for the original Cockshutt engine adapter to mount on.

So once those cutters arrive, I can sink those bolts and then locate the original adapter on there and drill/tap the holes into the aluminum to bolt it on.

I don’t see an option to preview my post to make sure it’s all correct, so hopefully the pictures and everything all work.
 
Glad to see your still making headway with the rebuild/transplant. This is going to be a sweet tractor when your done with it.

I'd like to toss a 2.0 TDI in a ford ranger.

I wish I could help you with that tag line. The way this new forum is set up we can't change it. Only a mod can. Maybe @4x4dually Jory can help you out.
 
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Thanks, I’ll contact one of the mods at some point.

Today I got the pedal mounts and the clutch pedal cleaned up and painted. I’m gonna need that in place so I can place the engine properly, with the clutch functional so I can make sure it engages/disengages properly. There are shims that go under the front engine mount (which will have to be fabricated) to tweak the angle so the transmission input shaft is aligned properly with the clutch/flywheel.


I’m still waiting on some bits to finish the adapter so there’s no progress there yet.
 
I got some more finished on the engine adapter this weekend. The bits I was waiting for came on Friday, and while they did the job, some of the cuts aren’t too pretty.
But it worked, so as long as it fits, I’m OK with it.

First thing was to do the counter bores for the bolts that thread into the TDI block. These are the ones that chattered pretty badly while cutting; if I can clean them up a bit, I will.

The next thing was to centre the Cockshutt engine adapter over the TDI crankshaft. I did this by measuring the ID of the adapter plate opening, the OD of the crankshaft flange, subtracting the two, then dividing the difference by two. This gives me the gap that should be around the crank inside the adapter plate. That will centre the engine to the transmission input shaft (hopefully).

I used clamps to hold the adapter in place and tapped it side-to-side with a hammer while measuring all the way around the crank until the gap was uniform.

Once located, I drilled through the dowel holes in the adapter and finished the hole with a reamer, then tapped the dowels in place.
Then I used a 9/16” drill bit to create a centred divot to drill/tap the bolt holes for the Cockshutt adapter. (The bolts are 1/2”-13, and the through-holes in the adapter are 9/16”.)

After the holes were drilled and tapped, I bolted the adapter on to test it out.

So now it needs to be cleaned up on some of the rougher edges and then paint. Then I’ll try to install the engine and pray that it all lines up. I’ve considered just trying it first, but if it fits I’ll have to take it back out to paint it. I’ll take the chance; if I have to remove it rework the adapter a bit, repainting it is no big deal. If it fits, then all is well.

Here it is from the side. Those saw marks need smoothing out before paint, no big deal there.

Hopefully the moment of truth will come soon. I really hope I didn't overlook something in my measurements, lol.
 
Man you really just don’t seem to struggle at all with this project. It’s awesome to see. Couldn’t get it machined so you just make it in the shop ha.
 
I was on vacation last week so I got slowed down a bit, plus I’m still pretty busy these days.
I did get the engine adapter done after ordering and waiting for one more reamer, and I got it painted last week. Now I just need a free weekend to see about dropping it into the frame.

So that’s where that is.

On the side, I got a nice-sized profit share from my work last spring so I immediately blew it (not all of it) on some turbos for the truck. Two new primaries, to be specific.

These are the new s200 SX-R. They have a 58mm compressor wheel with a 6+6 blade design… and they’re black for some reason. According to the specs they flow about 75 lbs/min, close to what the S362 SX-E flows. The turbine side is the same as the previous S200.


I finished installing them this afternoon—which was a bit of a chore, but not horrible. They should have been a direct swap, but the compressor housings touched together so I had to grind a touch off of them in order to clock them properly. I’m not sure why the difference; maybe the housings are a touch bigger to achieve those airflow numbers.

Luckily, I was able to swap them without removing the manifold turbo, but there are some hard-to-reach bolts in there—especially the oil drain bolts on the outer primary.

This is the new 58mm compared to the old 57mm.

I’ve only driven it around the block to check for oil leaks, etc. so I can’t say much about them yet other than that they seem quieter than the old 57mm units. I have to make a hour-long trip tomorrow to see my dad for his birthday so I’ll have a chance to try them out a bit more.

Hopefully next weekend will be free and I can try to get the TDI placed into the 30.
 
Them black compressor wheels look cool.That's sweet that you have the opportunity to splurge on the turbo's,love it! I wonder if that compressor cover would fit on my old s357G. I modded mine for a shaft speed sensor however I'm guessing that the SXE cover has a bigger A/R. what is the A/R on the cover? I suspect that the bearing housing on your turbo's has the same register as the 62mm compressor.
 
I'm looking forward to seeing that engine in the tractor.

I'm also interested in how the SX-R turbos work out for you.
 
@andy2, I can measure the diameters on the sx-e compressor housing if you want. I’m not sure if they have the same back plate as the S300G, but it’s worth a look. I’m not sure what the A/R is on them; I couldn’t find anything online about it and I don’t think it’s cast into them.

As for the SX-R, they definitely move more air than the 57mm, which is impressive because the SX-R compressor has the same 76mm exducer, and the inducer is less than 1mm bigger. The biggest difference between the two is the 6 vs 7 blade count.
If anyone recalls, last year when I first ran the set with the 57mm primaries I felt like primary boost was low (18 psi at 70 total, with 30 psi interstage drive pressure).
Today, I took the long way home from work to give the new turbos a hard run, and while I couldn’t go full throttle because of slowpokes in the car ahead, I managed to hit 20 psi at only 60 total. Primary boost also goes over 10 psi pretty easily, whereas before it stayed below 10 until I went above roughly 3/4 throttle. That’s a big increase. And they spool up exactly the same.
I should install my primary drive pressure gauge and see where that is running, because now I’m curious.

It’s still my opinion that the VGT is part of the cause for such low primary boost (with the 57mm) since it can run ahead while the fixed-vane units fall behind—especially with smaller compressors—but the fact that the new ones are moving that much more air while being basically the same size turbo is pretty impressive.

Hats-off to Borg on these SX-R units, especially since I bought them new (without exhaust housings) for about $875 each (on sale, regular price is about $925). That’s a good deal, if you ask me, especially compared to Garrett’s G series, etc.
 
Got me looking at these sxr turbos. They have a 68/73 that says it flows 110lbs/min. Wow.
 
@bateman Even the 64mm SX-R is pretty crazy. Three of those with 68mm turbines would be a wild street setup.

Anyway, I suppose everyone would like to know how last weekend went. Well, here it goes.

First off, I will probably have to do multiple posts because the new website here limits me to five pictures per post.

To begin, I had to install the bell housing adapter and flywheel onto the TDI. The flywheel adapter was installed using new bolts as per VW spec, torqued to 44 ft-lbs then 1/4 turn.
I decided to use VW torque specs, even though the flywheel is much heavier, although RPMs will be limited. I wasn’t sure what else to do.
There were no Cockshutt torque specs in the service manual, so I used some generic tractor specs I found online.
That said, common flywheel specs are 75-85 ft-lbs. So I did 85. Or maybe 80; I can’t remember.

Now, even though I just said I used VW torque specs, the bell housing bolt torque was 60 ft-lbs, but I decided to go with 80 for the engine adapter. Same with the Cockshutt bell housing mount.

Loctite on everything.


With that on, it was ready to go in. Almost. I still had to clean up the clutch and scuff the disc up a bit. The previous owner installed a new clutch disc in this tractor, but since he didn’t have the flywheel machined (I did) I figured a fresh surface couldn’t hurt.


Speaking of the clutch: since I don’t have an alignment tool for the Cockshutt 30, I ended up using a different install method. Since the upper half of the bell housing can be removed, I decided to slide the pressure plate and clutch disc onto the splines. Then I would slip the engine in and only have to line up the pilot bearing.

Then I would just line up the pressure plate bolts and tighten it down. (Spoiler alert: it worked)

So next, I lifted the engine with a ratcheting come-along (which doesn’t move because it hangs from the rafters, the vehicle has to be rolled underneath—I know it’s ghetto, but my brothers and I have done many engines this way) and rolled the tractor underneath.

This was only the first attempt at the install. As it turns out, there was a protrusion on the frame that was hitting the A/C compressor bracket on the TDI, so I had to remove the engine again and cut a piece off of the bracket. After paint touch-up with a brush, I tried a second time only to find it still hit the frame, so I had to remove the engine again and cut even more off.

This is how much had to be removed.

To be continued…
 
That material removed allowed the engine to slip straight back onto the pilot bearing.


This is the clearance between the frame and A/C bracket with the engine in place.


The bell housing mount is attached by a large bolt on each side, plus a machined dowel that hammers in place.


Onto the clutch. As planned, it was able to turn the input shaft to line up the six bolts and spun them in. They were torqued to 20 ft-lbs.

That was Saturday. Sunday I didn’t feel very well so I didn’t do as much. That said, the goal was to fabricate a front engine mount.
There’s not a lot to say about it yet; there’s more to add to it, such as a bearing mount for the rad fan, but that will come later. For now, I wanted the engine supported at both ends, so I was able to cut and tack something together that day.


Today I took it to a welding shop to have it welded solid (since I don’t trust my 120v flux core) then I installed it and removed the chain, freeing it from the rafters.
 
So there it is: a Cockshutt 30 with a TDI installed.

You may have also noticed that the upper half of the bell housing is set in place too, but not fastened. The starter could go on too, but it’s not painted yet.

That’s where it’s at as of today. I have to decide what to do next; there’s lots to do, like install the manifolds and turbo, but I need to think about what makes the most sense to do next. I don’t want to be removing things because I went out of order.
 
I came back to this a few hours after posting and the pictures aren’t showing. Are they working for you guys?
 
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