Starting a turbo build...Videos of it running :D

[theman53]

where would I hook up the ground at the gauge?

[lord_verminaard]

I bet that is about enough to make you sick.  Should have used the VDO gauge. 

The Golf is running great lately.  Boost is low, but so are the EGT's and it has ample power.  Nearly zero smoke too, only off-boost and when I am really digging on it.  Part of it I think is that the engine is just now starting to "break in".  We estimated about 18k miles on it since the rebuild, now that the speedo works we can get a better idea of mpg and such.

Boost is maxing out at 12 psi or so, that's like a full pull in 3rd or 4th.  Still spools slower than I'd like.  And more fuel up top would help too.

One step at a time.

I hope you get your gauge figured out.  Now, the real question- do you remember how to take the Giles pump back to the way Giles had it set up? 

Brendan

[theman53]

I hope you get your gauge figured out.  Now, the real question- do you remember how to take the Giles pump back to the way Giles had it set up?

 

Well, rotate the boost pin to Giles ground part, raise the starwheel 2 turns, and get it to where 3 threads are showing on the torx drive above the nut on the top of the LDA. Main fuel is right at where he had it give or take 1/16 of a turn.

As much of a TD noob I am I kept pretty good records of where crap was at...just in case something like a bad probe or gauge was found.

Now I know why it was such a turd. I seem to believe the 1050 max EGT. I could do alot to get it up to 1,200-1,400 F as those have said was ok for short bursts. I am going to mess with it minimally until I get my late Christmas present = intercooler and when that comes I will see what I can do. That is if I can trust the gauge or have a new one by then.

[Runt]

where would I hook up the ground at the gauge?

I would start by grounding the gauge body.  After a little research, I see that you cannot do much more than that.
I wonder if you disconnect the gauge pigtail from the TC, what would the gauge do? If it does anything, the guage is BAD.
I also see that westach suggests using NORMAL wire to extend the TC connections.  See: http://www.acro.co.uk/html/Wiring/single_cht.htm

[81 vw pu]

where would I hook up the ground at the gauge?

I would start by grounding the gauge body.  After a little research, I see that you cannot do much more than that.
I wonder if you disconnect the gauge pigtail from the TC, what would the gauge do? If it does anything, the guage is BAD.
I also see that westach suggests using NORMAL wire to extend the TC connections.  See: http://www.acro.co.uk/html/Wiring/single_cht.htm

On my westach 2c2-19 the gauge body is all plastic except the glass. When I touch the plastic the needle is not affected, only when I touch the glass over the needle. I did notice when I moved my finger from left to right on the glass the needle went down and right to left it went up.

[theman53]

That is what I am getting. It isn't everyday, as sometimes it will do nothing when I touch it. Some days I don't even have to touch it just hold my finger close and it will follow it. I tested this before install, and all was well, so either I broke something or the running vehicle did. I would assume ME as the problem. Either way I think I will buy another gauge like an autometer K type and see if that fixes it. I didn't like the way the Westach fit in my space so far. It is for a 2-1/16" hole, but the face is about 2-1/4" and hits my other gauge. I had to sand a little of the bottom to get it to fit and thought that might be the problem, but if another has the same issue then I will not take all the blame

Just did a search on pyrometer problems and they said that a kinked wire could cause trouble. The one in question was an autometer and it should be putting out 1 to 2 millivolts at ambient air temp. I need to get a great fluke or similar meter and test the TC before doing much else. The gauge itself is normally not the problem aparently. As hard as it was to get all the wires through the firewall in one convienient hole I bet I damaged something.

[VW Smokr]

Both my VDO and Isspro pyrometers exhibit that needle fluctuation issue when given the finger... rub. A lot of tachometers do the same. Just assumed it was static electricity charge building up. It seems to go away after a few seconds to a minute or so. Making sure the case is grounded might help, or not; the VDO has a plastic case anyway.

Try not to dust your gauges at highway speeds... it's all too easy to lose control of the burger or taco in the other hand, or spill your beer into the cell phone !

J.R.
SoCal

[theman53]

Pyro seems to be settling in???

For all whom are doing ball joints this may save you....There is a big and small ball joint. Stock 86 is a small BJ as far as I know. My previous owner must have had a junk spindle at one time and replaced it with at big BJ spindle. When you put a small BJ in the Big BJ spot you can crush that pinch point all you want, but the BJ will continue to fall out. All it does is make it harder to put the big BJ in once you figure it out.
I need to buy a new big BJ. I am going to be running the old junker for now. There is no way to know until it is apart and since a replaced the control arms I didn't even look at the old BJ. Luckily I didn't drive it I just shook it to see if my poly bushings were squeaky and the car ended up fender on tire.
Anyone have use or would trade German small BJ for German big BJ???

[Dakotakid]

I would be glad to take it off your hands, Lucas.
I don't think I have any larger ones right now. I would have to check.
Do you happen to know what mm. measurement the bigger ones are? I might have one....seems like I bought two for the GTI and never needed them....been along time. Consider it sold if you need to go buy a new one.
Contact me in pm or email.

[Jettagli16v]

Yeah, the big/small BJ issue is
(according to my local parts Haus)
basically from 85-89, you could have either, (unless you have big brakes - GTI/GLi were all big).
Went through that myself,
Put the car on the lift, disassembled everything,
and had my 2 brand new BJs to put in, .... Wrong size!
(And I really killed the old ones getting them out.... Had to smash the crap back together, drive to parts store, and put it back up and disassemble again!)

As a point of reference on EGT,
My 85 TD will peak at 1250, 5th gear WOT.
(19 PSI, 3" turbo-back, stock pump, no adjustments. Aircraft/Spruce thermocouple & VDO gauge)
It used to be 1550 WOT 5th, in stock form (no mods).
Bringing the boost to 19 (from the factory 10) brought my EGT to 1450.
Adding a 3" turbo back exhaust brought me down to 1250.
But the thing is easily 16v quick, or quicker on the boost.

Great build,
hopefully one day you can actually DRIVE the thing!!
keep us in the loop!

-Brad

[R.O.R-2.0]

if your brake caliper retainer does not un bolt, you need small ball joints..

if you have a caliper retainer that un bolts, or you have a car newer than an 89.5, you need bigger ones.

the small ones are 17mm diameter, the big ones are 19mm..

i went to put GLI suspension on my 85 GTI, and i didnt know that there was a difference in ball joints at the time..

thank god i had the whole GLI as parts, so i took the right ball joints off it and put them on the GTI.

[Dakotakid]

....and thank you for those numbers (17 and 19).

[R.O.R-2.0]

....and thank you for those numbers (17 and 19).

not a problem..

bout didnt believe my eyes when i saw that mk2s also have 2 different sizes of BJs.. thought that was a mk1 only thing.

[theman53]

Won't be long until summer temps. I got a bunch of 2" piping as well. I measured and ordered this off cxracing or something like that off ebay. Said 28x7x2.5 and it measures 28-7/16 x 7-3/8 x 2-5/8 That sucks as the extra 3/8" on the 7 measurement is killing where I wanted to put it.

[Thezorn]

I have the exact same one. Seemed to work well, didnt leak and didnt loose any boost either.