Author Topic: Vanagon progress  (Read 63662 times)

Reply #105December 06, 2008, 05:38:04 pm

blackdogvan

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« Reply #105 on: December 06, 2008, 05:38:04 pm »
What kind of temps are you seeing now?? I can't believe that sweet setup wouldn't work really well. Figure you should drop 10 deg just for looking good! Mine sits pretty rock solid around 200/205 measured between the stock temp modulator and my aux cooler.

My filter is the primary, i got sick of the mess at oil change time so now i punch a hole in the bottom & it drains a straight shot to the ground.
1991 Vanagon 1.9 mTDI

Reply #106December 06, 2008, 08:49:12 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #106 on: December 06, 2008, 08:49:12 pm »
I was still creeping up on 250 degrees on some of the long passes out here. I had expected oil temps to come down rapidly after reaching the high point and coasting down the back side but that hasn't been the case yet.

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #107December 09, 2008, 03:54:03 pm

arb

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« Reply #107 on: December 09, 2008, 03:54:03 pm »
Quote from: "Luckypabst"
I was still creeping up on 250 degrees on some of the long passes out here.
Chris


Chris, what altatude were you at ?

Reply #108December 09, 2008, 06:42:09 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #108 on: December 09, 2008, 06:42:09 pm »
Home is 3700 feet; that particular trip was to about 5300 feet.

Looks like I might have a cracked head right now (cut corners when I thought it was a bad head gasket and didn't pressure test the head).

Shoulda gone TDi but I'm in too deep - no turning back now :twisted:

It's funny how a simple attempt to repair a mangled oil return has snowballed into what this project has become. At least now I'm aware of the caveats for the next time around...

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #109December 29, 2008, 09:36:36 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #109 on: December 29, 2008, 09:36:36 pm »
The problem - the left side engine bracket interferes with a straight shot to the compressor inlet. The intercooler is going where the air cleaner sits so the air cleaner needs to be relocated to the passenger side with plumbing crossing over in front of the engine:


The solution - new engine bracket. I still need to settle on an air filter to use and build the plumbing but this was the #1 hurdle to that project. I probably would have figured something else out but I'm hoping this bracket will also work with the Jetta turbo configuration and maybe even eliminate one tough spot with a potential TDi swap in the future:





Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #110December 30, 2008, 11:07:20 am

blackdogvan

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« Reply #110 on: December 30, 2008, 11:07:20 am »
Ya, very nice work on that mount!!
1991 Vanagon 1.9 mTDI

Reply #111December 30, 2008, 04:44:01 pm

allsierra123

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« Reply #111 on: December 30, 2008, 04:44:01 pm »
I like it. Good work.

Reply #112December 30, 2008, 05:20:51 pm

TurboJ

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« Reply #112 on: December 30, 2008, 05:20:51 pm »
Incredibly clean welding on that support arm! Thumbs up for the whole car actually!
---------------------------------------
Jetta II 1.6 TD 'Project 200'

Reply #113January 16, 2009, 12:30:58 pm

blackdogvan

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« Reply #113 on: January 16, 2009, 12:30:58 pm »
On the oil temp topic, my B&M oil cooler decided to fail yesterday spewing oil everywhere, seems to have failed on a solder joint... no idea how or why. I caught it in time tho.
Anyway running without the cooler now & oil temp sits at 210 cruising on the highway, was rock solid at 190 with cooler in place. Its interesting to see how well the cooler worked installed half covering the PS air vent passage with no fan. Hopefully this won't spark a air scoop debate over here...
1991 Vanagon 1.9 mTDI

Reply #114January 16, 2009, 07:38:36 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #114 on: January 16, 2009, 07:38:36 pm »
Lol - no air scoop chatter! But I might add a NACA duct above the oil cooler so it looks racy. I was disappointed in the wind speed through the cooler vs. vehicle speed...

That's on the back burner anyhow until I can get my head to seal. Other good stuff coming down the pipe shortly as well.

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #115January 16, 2009, 08:10:46 pm

Quantum TD

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« Reply #115 on: January 16, 2009, 08:10:46 pm »
Quote from: "libbybapa"
That bracket is totally sweeet.

Andrew


X2

Any interest in making duplicates??? I know quite a few people who would be interested: myself included. The solution my Pops has on his 1.9 AAZ Vanagon is not very enviable to say the least...

Reply #116January 16, 2009, 08:39:45 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #116 on: January 16, 2009, 08:39:45 pm »
Yea the intent was to make 2 of these and test fit the second to some other engine configurations to see how it fits - but I ran out of round tuits.

I do have the drawings and jig, just need time...

But I don't think I could do it for any less that greaseworks sells theirs for - lots of labor, even with machine work for free (I was quoted $4-500 in machine work alone for 2 sets of parts and the jig pieces - good thing I had a buddy that was willing to do it for free).

Uh but yea, I'd like to sell a few - maybe if I could get multiple confirmed orders or something

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #117January 28, 2009, 09:11:44 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #117 on: January 28, 2009, 09:11:44 pm »
Minor progress today/lessons learned...

1. Fiber head gasket failures aren't always caused by excess boost (warped heads do it too!).
2. MLS gaskets don't seal well on warped heads (especially at 2x the max limit for warpage!).
3. The fabled belt-sander head job is not a viable option (it came out worse than when I dropped it off!).
4. Rimco does  nice work, for less than the original cob-job on the belt-sander.

The engine is almost back together and should be running this weekend. I got the air filter bolted in but it still needs to be churched up a bit. Of course as usual - solutions breed problems. I'm now knocking plans around in my head for a nice fabbed aluminum coolant tank since the stocker just barely squeezes in between fuel and air filters, and that's without any sort of mount system.

Krylon "old equipment yellow" dosen't match the VW paint very well. I think I'm gonna go back and black this area out after a proper clean up. Still waiting on tubing - there'll be 3" stainless running most of the distance between air filter and turbo. Ultimately I'll spin the filter housing around and run the filter intake into the D-pillar.

Not quite finished:


New vs. old (another of the PO's grand ideas - off a Honda or something, I'm NOT taking the blame for this one):


Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #118January 31, 2009, 08:03:48 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #118 on: January 31, 2009, 08:03:48 pm »
Now we're getting somewhere...

The air filter is installed where the battery used to be, piped across to the turbo using 3" stainless tube and some 3" hose. This is why I needed to build the custom engine bracket for the left side. I still need to round up a couple 3" hose clamps and this part will be done for now. Oh - I do need to add a fitting for the crankcase breather, I just need to scare up some 3/4" tube and add it to the crossover pipe.

The intercooler is installed and mostly plumbed. I used an Ecodiesel intake for the conventional inlet neck and the BOV delete. I might need a different connector at the compressor end - the hump hose touches part of the exhaust manifold, hopefully I can find a 15 degree silicone fitting.

I still need to come up with a coolant tank. Some parts are on the way so hopefully next weekend I'll have a cool aluminum tank to show off.

Crossover:


Installed:




Connection to the turbo:


Air filter:


Intercooler:
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

Reply #119February 01, 2009, 07:10:50 pm

Luckypabst

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« Reply #119 on: February 01, 2009, 07:10:50 pm »
I've been driving it around today -
It looks like the 3rd time was the charm with the head gasket; it looks like I might have even sealed up the second oil drain hole in the gasket successfully, too.

EGT is down considerably - I used to have to back out under hard acceleration, now it's not easy to pass 1000 degrees.
Boost is down a bit, topping out at about 16 psi.
Fueling may be off a touch from before since I was monkeying with the enrichment pin but the intercooler does make a noticeable difference.

Now there's a high-pitched whistle above about 10 psi so I need to troubleshoot for a minor leak in the intake routing. Also, I haven't hooked up the crank breather hockey puck - I'm curious if that's the source of the whistle.

Off to the superbowl commercial party. Football sucks.

Chris
'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

 

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