My 1985 Golf 1.6 N/A Build Thread - No 56k! Picture Time! - page 1 - IDI Engine - VWDiesel.net The IDI, TDI, and mTDI source.

• My 1985 Golf 1.6 N/A Build Thread - No 56k! Picture Time! by riddleyo on 05 Jun, 2008 19:49
• Last November I found a 1.6 N/A Diesel sitting outside in some lady's backyard. I bought it quickly and AAA towed it to my house. I dismantled the engine and found that the solid lifters were welded into their bores in the cylinder head! I also found the plastic thermostat housing was cracked open. This led me to believe that the engine lost all of its coolant and overheated. I bought a new cylinder head and thought I could get the thing running within a week or two. I started looking at VW GTD and VW vortex and found I was over my head in the work to come:
  
  Here is the car soon after I bought it becoming a storage shed:
  
  
  Out with the old cylinder head:
  
  
  No valve-piston contact, good!
  
  
  The new (used) cylinder head I bought. I didn't know it was 11mm and mine was 12mm until I started searching through VW GTD! So I had a machine shop enlarge the holes and washer recesses:
  
  
  Went to home depot and bought some metal to make my own valve spring compressor:
  
  
  Cylinder head is dissassembled:
  
  
  All cleaned thanks to simple green, paper towels, and an ebay ultrasonic machine:
  
  
  Using a gasket, a needle, and a marker to start porting the cylinder head:
  
  
  Using a die grinder to port the cylinder head:
  
  
  Took the cylinder head to a machine shop for new valve guides and a valve seat job:
  
  
  Reassembled and used a dremel, scouring pad, and simple green to clean it up:
  
• #1 by riddleyo on 05 Jun, 2008 20:00
• Now it is time to install the new cylinder head:
  
  But first, ARP head studs for a ford cosworth and a new headgasket (the headgasket is on upside down in this picture, I fixed this after taking the picture):
  
  
  The rusty ip bracket just doesn't cut it:
  
  
  Hex bolts instead of allen bolts and newly painted brackets:
  
  
  After finding out my timing belt was not tracking correctly, I fixed it (you can see how in this thread: http://vwdiesel.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=13496)
  
  
  Got some 1.6 turbo diesel injectors with mercedes nozzles:
  
  
  Head installed and cam splash guard goes on:
  
  
  At this point, I tried starting the engine and it would fire then die once I released the key. So I rebuilt the injector pump thinking that was the problem (pics in the next post). It turned out to be just the glowplugs. The previous owner completely screwed up the glowplug wiring so I just tore it all out and redid the entire thing the right way. I used a push button switch because my relay had a mind of its own.
  
  Vince Waldon's site helped me pimp my glowplugs with separate fuses, a ford starter relay, individual wiring, and a push button switch:
  
  
  Done with wiring up the glowplugs and installing IP. Put on an unpainted G60 valve cover (haven't painted it yet):
  
  
  Windage tray goes in, cleaned out all the hair  :shock: from the screen of the oil pump:
  
• #2 by riddleyo on 05 Jun, 2008 20:14
• So I thought my car wouldn't start because of the injector pump being rusted inside or something. So I rebuilt it using biodiesel seals just in case I want to run biodiesel in the future. I had no idea what an injection pump was or how it worked until I found a post here in french showing how to reassemble it. So I followed the pictures and took some of my own.
  
  Before the rebuild:
  
  
  This is part of the cold start/dynamic advance assembly. I took out the bottom left shim in this pic thinking it would increase my dynamic advance. Now my cold start doesn't really work. Is this mod worthwhile or should I put the shim back in?
  
  
  Feed pump looks good:
  
  
  I wet-sanded every flat surface I could find in the IP:
  
  
  Re-assembling:
  
  
  Pump goes in:
  
  
  Getting ready to put the delivery valves on:
  
  
  Almost done rebuilding:
  
  
  I put the IP back in the car, timed it to about 1.05mm and started it up. No oil pressure. Turns out I didn't tighten the bolts on the oil pump and they vibrated loose. :oops: Fixed that and took it for a drive. The brakes were NON EXISTANT! Did I take it back home and check to see if there was brake fluid in the master cylinder? No! I rebuilt all the brakes including the drums. And then when I went to bleed the brakes, I found that there wasn't a single drop of brake fluid in the system... :oops: I have never done drum brakes before. It took me a long time and you can see in the next post...
• #3 by Possum79 on 05 Jun, 2008 21:07
• Nice post. I like. I wish i had the money to treat my car better to rebuild a bunch of stuff. :lol:
• #4 by Vincent Waldon on 05 Jun, 2008 22:26
• I like the glow plug wiring.   :wink:
• #5 by Vincent Waldon on 05 Jun, 2008 22:57
• 
• #6 by riddleyo on 06 Jun, 2008 06:11
• Quote from: "libbybapa"

  Nice looking work.  I like the gasket matching.  
  
  Your headgasket is upside down in the picture.  If it's run that way, it will starve the head of oil.
  
  Andrew

  
  
  Haha yeah. I just threw it on there for the purposes of picture taking. I fixed it later  :wink:
• #7 by riddleyo on 06 Jun, 2008 07:23
• So I took the wheels off and I saw the axles were wound up and tangled with weeds and grass:
  
  
  All fixed up (the rattle clips are installed wrong in this pic, I fixed them later):
  
  
  After taking a sledgehammer to the rear tires to get the rusted drums unstuck, here is how it looked:
  
  
  New drum hardware, took me a while to figure out how drum brakes worked. I've never worked on them until now. My emergency brakes were stuck so I put new ebrake cables in. (I ended up replacing the wheel cylinders after I took this pic because the bleeders had broken off):
  
  
  Packing the bearings with bearing grease:
  
  
  Using a big hammer and an impact socket to install the new bearings in the new drums because I don't have a press:
  
  
  Rear drums all done:
  
  
  Time to put the wheels back on:
  
  
  That is pretty much where I'm at now. Cleaning the inside (it is full of grass and pine needles) and installing new gauges in a homemade gauge mount is next.
• #8 by bevboyy on 06 Jun, 2008 15:54
• My hats off to ya! Great job, doing it right!
• #9 by riddleyo on 06 Jun, 2008 19:23
• Thanks for the comments!
  
  So today I got a lot done. I finished my homemade gauge cluster and did some wiring and cleaning. The car had been sitting in the previous owner's backyard that hadn't been mowed in a long time:
  
  
  After some vacuuming:
  
  
  Got some presents in the mail!:
  
  
  Now it is time to start work on a template for the gauge cluster. I didn't want to shell out big bucks for one from 42draftdesigns, so I thought I would make my own.
  
  
  Transferring the template to some plexi-glass. I hate working with plexi-glass. If I were to do this again, I would use some other type of plastic sheet that isn't so brittle.
  
  
  Being very careful not to crack the plexi-glass while drilling holes:
  
  
  Spraying the first coat:
  
  
  I used a dremel to cut out the plastic where the stock tape player was. Then I test fit the plexi-glass:
  
  
  The previous owner had a rat's nest of wiring that I had to fix:
  
  
  After a lot of test fitting, cutting, and finished painting, it is finally complete:
  
  
  Here is the last moment of my clock cluster:
  
  
  Tach cluster in (Somehow my car instantly racked up 99,000 miles!):
  
  
  All done:
  
  
  I started up my car and the TACH DOESN'T WORK!!!  :evil:   :x  :evil: I tested continuity from the W plug to the tach pinout and there is indeed continuity in the wire. So I gave up for the night. I think it is either the guy from vortex sold me a broken cluster or my alternator's W output is broken or something. Anybody have ideas why my tach doesn't work? It should be plug and play right?
• #10 by riddleyo on 06 Jun, 2008 20:16
• Quote from: "prothe"

  Very impressive!
  
  I wish I had all that time to work on my projects!
  
  Where did you get that tach cluster in mpg?

  
  
  Thanks. I saw it on ebay and turned out to be a guy from vw vortex so I bought it: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3846258
• #11 by zukgod1 on 06 Jun, 2008 20:32
• Good job man!!
  
  Keep it up, we need more old school vw diesels on the road..
• #12 by burn_your_money on 07 Jun, 2008 04:31
• Good job. Very impressive amounts of work you are doing
  
  Check the wires for the W terminal. They like to corrode.
• #13 by theman53 on 07 Jun, 2008 07:33
• I don't really know where beavercreek is but ohio isn't that big...when your dun with your project how much do you charge for other  :lol:
  where did you get the guages? I like them. I was going to go cheap for some of mine, but those might have me turned around. Great work...I'm serious on the hiring deal :twisted:
• #14 by Turbinepowered on 07 Jun, 2008 09:20
• I'd second the suggestion to check the W terminal for corrosion. I think I've still got a QTD alternator around here somewhere if you end up needing a new one. Sell it to you on the cheap.
  
  You make me jealous with the speed of your build. My poor Fox has languished in the garage for six months, dash apart and engine-less.  :cry: