2wd to 4wd conversion

[soundsk]

I did this on a 2.5 T5 cali.

Haldex wired to abs module canbus, no sw changes was needed.

Hi Ingvar!

This is exactly the project I'm looking into for our 2007 T5 Cali. We absolutely adore the van and for it to be perfect it just needs 4x4.
Would you mind sharing further details of how doable this is and what I'd need? I'm trying to evaluate if I could actually pull it off.

I know people say just sell and buy a 4motion, but here in Portugal, Californias are rare, and 4motion Cali's are unicorns which means that even if I could find one, it would be very expensive. Same for importing, the costs of making it legal also raise the price quite a lot.

So my thinking is: buy a donor van from Germany or Spain, have it hauled over, transfer the parts I need into our van. I have a couple of friends who could help with the mechanical side, but I'm wondering about the wiring and electronics? You mentioned CAN bus, where/what could I start checking our van to see if it's actually got what's required to accept the conversion? It's a 2007 T5 California, 2.5 TDI 130HP, LHD, 6 speed manual.

Thank you for your time!

 

[buggy-boy-shane]

I did this on a 2.5 T5 cali.

Haldex wired to abs module canbus, no sw changes was needed.

What year van did you do this to? I've a 2007 2.5 and would love to concert it, I'd be fairly sure the mechanicals will be fine but it's the electrics that will push boundaries of my skills

 

[buggy-boy-shane]

I did this on a 2.5 T5 cali.

Haldex wired to abs module canbus, no sw changes was needed.

I'd definitely love to hear more how this was done if you have time thanks

 

[Ingvar B Aure]

Hi, im sorry for beeing inactive. Finished prosject and on to the next. Forgotten the next day! I actually registered to see for information my self at the time.

First of, donor car is key, hence it has som differences.
- dpf, and some different brackets here and there. - - Exhaust need to be cut and welded with the one from donor car.
- handbrake brackets and wire

Its not critical to be long/short correct donor car, since you can find correct lengts axels and wires

The rear diff mounting holes is there from factory, but no threads. I cut away threded parts from donor car, open the "pipe" in chassi, and welded the threded parts in the chassi. Here i also noticed a difference, in the pipe part of the chassis wherethe threds are, the pipe has 2 layers on the 4wd, probaly for strength.

All other parts was bolt on. I actually just found a wiring diagram on google for haldex, connected it to the places it said, and it worked. My father did the actual connecting, but from what i understand, the power(fuse) terminals was allready there to connect to.

We actually got it registered as a 4wd in the registration.

I have some pictures from the job.

Il try to remember to collect them on the laptop to share.

If i remember correctly, it matterd wich abs module you have, it could be that some was only used on 2wd, and some were used on both

 

[Ingvar B Aure]

@buggy-boy-shane
@soundsk

 

[Ingvar B Aure]

Take a look here also,

Just joined

Hi, I'm currently working on my parents cali. My parents cali is a 2006 2,5 174hp, vw grey on the outside, and some beige interior. The plan is to do a 4motion conv. Iknow it's easier just to sell and buy with. But here in Norway you can't find these cars. Mabye once a year a 4motion pops up...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

I see i posted some info here