newbie to the diesel

[busparts]

I have always  ran gas from air to water. But I work with a guy who's dad has a diesal rabbit and truck in the early 80's. He is looking to sell them.

First things first what should I be looking for in the diesel motors? what kind of motors do they have in them?
What can I do to the motors to make them better and give them more HP without putting a turbo on them?
Is there any aftermarket MTR parts that I can get for them and where do I get it?

Thanks

[fillmore]

hey im fairly new to the diesel engines aswell. diesels do not have spark plugs, instead they have glow plugs and the motors have high compression which is why there is no need for the spark. diesel motors are heavy duty and will outlast most gas engines. i have witnessed a late 80's jetta roll over 1 million and my dads jetta has 550 thousand kms with all origonal engine and runs like a champ. as far as performence goes when you start adding turbos it reduces the engines life but i dont really know much in the line of diesel performence beides usual stuff like better fuel injection and better air intake. but pre 1990 vw's were made in germeny and are the strongest vw moters ever built, nowadays vw makes their cars in mexico when the labour is dirt cheap and the quality just isnt there. (dont mean to offend anyone)

[chrissev]

First things first what should I be looking for in the diesel motors? what kind of motors do they have in them?

VW diesel motors?  There are three old ones that aren't produced anymore.  A 1.5, a 1.6 and a 1.9.  There are also a bunch of new ones including what I believe is a 12 cylinder that comes in the Touareg.  When looking at the motors you should be looking for oil leakage.  That is a sign of a worn out diesel motor.  Also look for peppiness and power.  Lack thereof indicates worn rings and/or a worn injection pump.  

What can I do to the motors to make them better and give them more HP without putting a turbo on them?

very little.  The turbo is the thing for diesel performance.  They just can't get enough air into themselves at high rpms to give any power worth speaking of.  They need a lot of air and take in as much as they can, then inject a specific quantity of atomized diesel fuel into the super compressed air to get combustion without spark.  The more air you have in the cylinder, the more power you get.  As rpms increase, the engine is able to take in less and less air, meaning that the motor will actually become less powerful at high rpms.  This problem is solved by the turbo pressurizing the intake and this way the engine gets lots of air when it needs it.

Is there any aftermarket MTR parts that I can get for them and where do I get it?

no idea.  I hate aftermarket parts and never use them.

Thanks[/quote]

[busparts]

Thanks for the info

[chrissev]

The more air you have in the cylinder, the more power you get

Well, no, not exactly. The more air in the cylinder during compression/combustion, the more fuel can be added before the point of stoicheometric combusion occurs (combustion runs out of oxygen molecules to burn the fuel). Diesel engines are all about fuel, the more fuel you can put through them, the more power they make. Problem is that it takes air to burn the fuel, and that's where the turbo comes in. Put a turbo on a diesel without increasing the fueling and not much happens.

Right, more fuel too, forgot to mention that.  That is the reason for the boost enrichment device on top of the injection pump on a TD.  But if you just dump in more fuel, without pumping in more air, you will not get more and more power.  So the air is important too.  All the turbo really does is artificially change the operating conditions of the engine by putting more air in the cylinders than could ever actually be there under normal physical operating conditions.  Then you add more fuel and zoom, lots of extra power.  Quite fun really.