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Author Topic: Wife's Project: 86 Golf NA (maybe TD?)  (Read 33198 times)

Reply #90April 07, 2010, 10:11:56 am

lord_verminaard

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Re: Wife's Project: 86 Golf NA (maybe TD?)
« Reply #90 on: April 07, 2010, 10:11:56 am »
Sorry, I have not updated in a while.  I didn't have the time to update two forums at the same time, but I'll post what I've got.

I'm not running an intercooler anymore, I blew the end tank off of the old one.  Not completely off, but it split the seam in the plastic.  So I'm looking for another FMIC to use instead, since I hated the way the pipes were routed for that one anyway.  Here's the most recent post from the Vortex:
______________________________

Well, this has probably fallen out of everyone's watched topics, and probably out of most people's memories. Time to bump this back up and give some updates.
I have some pictures not yet uploaded that I'll include a little later as well.

It's been a rough ride for this little car the past few months. But in true VW style, (and true VW ownership insanity) we have overcome and the car is really coming together.

So, the car got put into service rather quickly, there was not really any "shakedown" time before Laura needed to drive to work every day, so we had to work on things as they came, with usually a very limited time frame, plus there was the Ohio-winter weather thing to contend with.

The first order of business was the head gasket re-do back in December. I basically had a weekend allocated to do this, in a very cold garage. So Sunday rolls around, and I'm getting ready to drop the head back on. What I did when I initially assembled the engine to align the gasket and head/block, was put a small, deepwell socket in two of the head bolt locations to act as dowels, so after I got the head on and a couple of the bolts hand-threaded in, I used a magnet to pull out the sockets and bolt down the head. Simple enough, right? So I got my "alignment sockets" and dropped one in the front corner hole, and went to drop the other in the rear and- being cold and tired on Sunday night- accidentally dropped it in the oil drain hole instead. I heard it go all the way down the engine. I "assumed" that it made it all the way to the pan, I can fish it out later. I was wrong. The socket fell in to the windage tray instead. After getting it back together, I started it up, no noises, everything was fine. Took it for a test drive, and heard a loud clank. Again, everything was fine. Car was running, no smoke, all gauges were normal. Drove it about 3 miles or so, came back to the house, and popped the hood to check if the coolant leak was finally fixed and then I saw it: The end of the socket sticking out of the side of the block. It looked like a dart stuck through a piece of cardboard. Oil mist was all over the place. (though I didn't really loose that much) My heart sank. I thought it was done.

I looked at Bentley diagrams, and pictures of the block when it was apart, and I got some hope. There was a chance it didn't hit anything. So we made arrangements for Laura to get to work, and I took a day off to start tearing into it again. Pulled out the socket, drained the oil, dropped the pan, (in about 10* F high temp/snow that day!!) and had a look. There was a very small nick on one of the crank counterweights, a dent in the windage tray, and two small pieces of piston- I cracked off a piece of the bottom of the #3 skirt, about 2mm wide, 4mm long, which then broke in half. The bore in the block was fine. The socket made a near perfectly round 1/2" hole in the block. It missed the intermediate shaft and did not hit any oil galleries. I got lucky.

I cleaned the pan, (though managed to break the plastic baffle around the pump pickup- no time to replace it now!!) and contemplated how to handle the hole. I thought patch and JB weld, but then had a better idea. Drill and tap and use a plug. I had a 1/2" NPT pipe tap, and bought an iron square-head NPT plug, and borrowed a big-assed drill from my neighbor. Took the core support of the car off, moved the radiator out of the way, and carefully drilled out the hole. I then proceeded to tap, (by using a socket and ratchet instead of a proper tap wrench which would not fit in the space!!!) and carefully cleaned the hole and both sides of the block surface, and using a bit of sealant, tightened down the plug in the hole. It was perfect, almost like it was supposed to go there. Buttoned the car back up and it's holding fine.



After that incident, Laura decided to name the car "Lucky". I think it's fitting. 

Cathy happened to take a pic of the repair when we saw her at Daun's a while back, but otherwise I'll have to take a few pictures of it.

Edit: Here's the pic, thanks Cathy:


Many more updates since then, but I'll leave you all with that for now. I was actually very embarrassed about it, and even thought about not posting it at all, but from the few people I've told about it, it makes a great story so why not. Plus, I have something for the "Carnage Award" this year. 

Enjoy. More to come.

Brendan
81 Scirocco 'S -->Soon to be m-TDI
93 Corrado SLC VR6
'86 Golf N/A Diesel  -->Wife's car
1990 Audi CQ
05 New Beetle PD TDI


"I am a man, I can change... if I have to.... I guess....."

-Red Green

Reply #91April 07, 2010, 11:23:47 am

theman53

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Re: Wife's Project: 86 Golf NA (maybe TD?)
« Reply #91 on: April 07, 2010, 11:23:47 am »
Yeah Lord V you're the man when it comes to fixes of the unknown kind. Glad you got it going. Let me know if you need a hand in the future I would love to help someone that knows what they are doing...so I can learn.

Reply #92April 07, 2010, 11:46:31 am

truckinwagen

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Re: Wife's Project: 86 Golf NA (maybe TD?)
« Reply #92 on: April 07, 2010, 11:46:31 am »
dont feel bad about it at all, we all drop something in somewhere sometime, I dropped a woodruff key in the valve cover on my last build, it sounded like a bad rod bearing bouncing around in the head.
but I found it, and the miraculous lack of damage it caused.

good for you not giving up on that block!
83 Opel Kadett Diesel

Reply #93April 07, 2010, 12:38:37 pm

vanbcguy

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Re: Wife's Project: 86 Golf NA (maybe TD?)
« Reply #93 on: April 07, 2010, 12:38:37 pm »
I lost one of my glowplug nuts down an injector hole once... Thankfully aluminum is NOT magnetic, while glowplug nuts ARE - I was able to fish it out ok.  I was having visions of having to pull my head until that.
Bryn

1994 Jetta - AHU M-TDI - Jezebel Jetta
2004 Jetta Wagon - 1.8T - Blitzen

Reply #94April 07, 2010, 12:41:56 pm

Rabbit on Roids

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Re: Wife's Project: 86 Golf NA (maybe TD?)
« Reply #94 on: April 07, 2010, 12:41:56 pm »
I lost one of my glowplug nuts down an injector hole once... Thankfully aluminum is NOT magnetic, while glowplug nuts ARE - I was able to fish it out ok.  I was having visions of having to pull my head until that.

eh, just pick the car up, turn it upside down, and shake the nut out of the injector hole. no big deal... lol

Reply #95April 26, 2010, 02:01:07 pm

Smokey Eddy

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Re: Wife's Project: 86 Golf NA (maybe TD?)
« Reply #95 on: April 26, 2010, 02:01:07 pm »
I must say i absolutely love your downpipe, glow plug wiring - very clean, and centre console with gauges! zomg so nice! WISH i had done that instead of drilling huge holes in my dash.
I've fubar'd this car up so much i sort of want to get a new dash and different gauges that match...
Ed
Blacked out mk2 AAZ Jetta RIP. You are missed.
White 1999.5 ALH Golf 2dr. Low & wide. Rammed off the road RIP.
Blue 2009 CR140 Jetta CBEA/CJAA. Malone stage 2. EGR/DPF/Exhaust-valve deletes. 2.5" open exhaust. ADP Turbo swap. 1-stage nitrous kit. THROWN ROD

Reply #96June 16, 2010, 09:29:13 pm

theman53

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Re: Wife's Project: 86 Golf NA (maybe TD?)
« Reply #96 on: June 16, 2010, 09:29:13 pm »
Is it running well with no leaks yet? I hope so.

Reply #97June 17, 2010, 10:44:34 am

lord_verminaard

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Re: Wife's Project: 86 Golf NA (maybe TD?)
« Reply #97 on: June 17, 2010, 10:44:34 am »
Nope.  :(

Installed a catch-can, but it was too much restriction and blew the o-ring out of the dipstick tube.  Ended up threading a barb fitting into the hole in the block, and ran that to the can.  Helped a little, but I still have the valve cover open to atmosphere.  Need a better catch can than that cheap e-bay one. 

I finally swapped the stripped out fitting on the drain line to a new one with a barb (push-loc) but damn it is really hard to get a -10 hose on one of those things, especially doing it upside-down and covered in oil.  It only went on about half-way but I added a hose clamp to be sure it doesn't come off.  I still have a nasty, nasty oil leak somewhere, looses about a quart every 100 miles or so and makes a mess all over the driveway.  Not sure where it is coming from- back of the engine somewhere.  The Audi is currently in "service position" on my ramps so I don't have any space to work on it, so we'll just have to keep feeding it until I can get it done.

It's not running too bad right now.  We actually cleaned the car up, and shined the paint up as best as we could in preparation for our annual "Cincy" Scirocco gathering the first weekend in June down near Wilmington.  I had turned the fuel up a good amount (remember, EGT's are still high, boost is still very very late) so that I could keep up with the Sciroccos during the cruise, strangely enough EGT's didn't go up at all during highway driving.  They will climb very quickly when your foot is on it and not in the boost.  But the boost comes on a little earlier now, (but with a lot of smoke) and peaks at about 15 psi.  Not great but not too bad.

We estimated about 54 MPG during the 350-ish miles during the trip.  (speedo-odometer still not working) and the car got a lot of attention at Cincy for being a "kia".  (at Cincy, anything that isn't a Scirocco is a Kia and has to park in the Kia section)

A pic, after I blew a boost tube on I-71 on the way down:



Still lots of work to do on it.  I'm not happy but at least my Wife can drive to work.  :P

Brendan
81 Scirocco 'S -->Soon to be m-TDI
93 Corrado SLC VR6
'86 Golf N/A Diesel  -->Wife's car
1990 Audi CQ
05 New Beetle PD TDI


"I am a man, I can change... if I have to.... I guess....."

-Red Green