Hi,

I'm in the process of designing a motor swap for a midsize pickup that we cannot buy here in the US. I'd like to use a Nissan Frontier (Navara) and swap in a 3.0 VW/Audi TDI from the Touareg/Q7. They only offer in an auto here in the states, the truck will be a manual. I think I can get a 3.0 TDI ECU from an Audi A4 or A6 B7 car which would make things much easier than having to try and flash or find the manual MAP and update it or write a whole new EPROM for it. But I still have some questions that I'm hoping the group here may be able to help out with.

- I'll be disabling the immobilizer to help with the starting issue outside of a VAG car. Is turning it off/deleting it enough?
- Will an Audi ECU work in a motor designed for a VW, or will I need to source an Audi motor because of sensors?
- Is there a way to disable or turn off the convenience centers/features to keep from always having codes related to these on VCDS or a check engine light?
- Would there be a way to turn on or program/flash in the 4x4 features that are used in the Amarok in, or are these too different? I know the Amarok uses a 2.0 single or biturbo TDI which makes it unable to use in this scenario.
- Is there a reason or is there a way to keep the multi function display in the middle of the dash in the new truck so that issues with the motor can still be communicated? Or would I need to keep the entire dash circuit board for this to work?

I've been researching on a few of the different vehicle related forums, but only here have I been able to find info about the ECU, especially the newer EDC17s that are used in the 2009-12 Touaregs and all of the US 3.0 TDIs.

This is going to be a big project, but I'm an engineer when I'm not at my day job, so this is more of a long term/hobby project if you will. My first hurdle will be clearing it with the local licensing board so that changing from a gas to diesel motor will be legal. After that I'll be trying to get the motor to run in a full capacity outside of the vehicle.

Any suggestions or if you have any study and reading material I would greatly appreciate it, I'm still very new at all of this. Also I have a Ross-Tech VCDS cable and VAG-COM, will I be able to work on what I want to with the free winols version, what other software should I get? Thanks!!