1.9TD Coupe Project

[starrd]

Isn't the AAZ supposed to have an 87 deg C thermostat? Or did you install a cooler thermostat?  If it maintans a pretty constant coolant temeperature, I would suggest going higher with the thermostat if it is less than 87C.  These engines like to be hotter that what you are running based on my experience.

The car is looking great!  How did you make out with the timing belt?  Also, what static timing are you running?  I'm interested to know what you are running with the Giles pump.

[zagarus]

I installed a 70C thermostat and the timing belt issue is all fixed, belt stays to the inside and isn't shaving away.  I set the pump timing to 1.02 and she's driving like a dream.  Car should run a bit warmer once I get the AWIC rad back in, but I'm just getting ready for those 40C days 

[Vangruver]

okay, i gotta know....

what radiator is that, and where can I get it?!

[zagarus]

which rad are you referring to?  The engine rad is a factory rad with approx 50/50 G12 coolant and water with the 70C thermostat. The rad for my AWIC is the one you see in some of the previous pics and I'm also running G12 and water in that.  Got it from frozenboost.com and its the 24x12x1 rad.

[Vangruver]

which rad are you referring to?  The engine rad is a factory rad with approx 50/50 G12 coolant and water with the 70C thermostat. The rad for my AWIC is the one you see in some of the previous pics and I'm also running G12 and water in that.  Got it from frozenboost.com and its the 24x12x1 rad.

dang, i thought you had a full aluminum engine rad.

however the AWIC rad is slick. and If i were to run more boost then I'd consider an intercooler....looks slick. the set up is NICE.

[zagarus]

Well I have some good news and some bad news this time. 

Bad news is better explained with pictures:










The good news is also explained with a picture:







For those that can't see very well the top pictures would show what happens when a pre-chamber becomes loose and rattles about until it drops and goes BOOM!!   The final picture is the car taken apart again with a replacement 1.9TD block sitting on the floor    I don't give up easily even after all the crap this car has put me through already.   At the moment progress is a little slow as I live in Vancouver now while the car is up in Kamloops.   On a somewhat optimistic side the machine shop that did the work on my head is no longer in business. This means others will not suffer the same fate as I did as well as a buddy who had the same thing happen.

[R.O.R-2.0]

turn that engine around 180* and mount it that way..

RWD would be pimpin..

[theman53]

I feel so bad for you. I was worried to no end that this would happen to me with mine. Still am somedays. Looks like it beat around quite a bit, was there any bad noises or that is just how fast it happens?

Hope the best for you and this car.

[zagarus]

oddly enough i wasn't driving it when it happened. My buddy who was driving it at the time said it made terrible noises and was having a hard time moving along. EGT's were really high trying to maintain 90kph. Then he pulled over and shut it off, tried to start it again and it did but made awful noises so he turned it off and left it.  Then it wouldn't crank over because of the pre chamber bits that were jammed in the combustion chamber.   I had a bad feeling when I brought my head to the shop that did the work as the same thing had happened to another buddy not to long before.   OH well it'll be back soon enough.  Gotta keep on dieseling!! 

[RabbitJockey]

how does that rod bearing look?  it almost looks more like something let the piston hit the head

[theman53]

Is that a radiator the head is sitting on? That isn't that good for it is it?

If you need a good guy for the next engine then Air Cooled Engines Plus in Tiffin, Ohio does excellent work.

[Kantdrivefast]

oddly enough i wasn't driving it when it happened. My buddy who was driving it at the time said it made terrible noises and was having a hard time moving along. EGT's were really high trying to maintain 90kph. Then he pulled over and shut it off, tried to start it again and it did but made awful noises so he turned it off and left it.  Then it wouldn't crank over because of the pre chamber bits that were jammed in the combustion chamber.   I had a bad feeling when I brought my head to the shop that did the work as the same thing had happened to another buddy not to long before.   OH well it'll be back soon enough.  Gotta keep on dieseling!! 

As the one driving the car and hearing horror stories of prechambers dropping, this was a very anticlimactic way to kill the engine. At first it felt more like an under fuel condition, started gradually losing speed, egts starting going up, engine noise a little louder. All got increasingly worse so I limped it to the first exit I could. The rest is obviously, presented.

As far as the piston hitting the head, Im pretty sure the piston is missing a good 1/8th inch off of the top of it. The exhaust turbine shows...

What you cant see in the pictures are the hair line cracks in the head at the remaining three cylinders from the prechambers to the valves. Inspect those heads yo!

Glad to hear you're still excited about it though thomas. Was getting a little worried there.

Also, thats the old water rad for the awic. Had water in it over the winter and cracked, so its junk anyways.

Cas

[zagarus]

^ The man speaks truth.   My motivation for this car goes up and down quite dramatically but in the end it always comes down to having the car because it's a blast to drive.

[Kantdrivefast]

Well now, this here be my build thread. At least for now.

I've been putting work in on the engines after school and work lately as zagarus is working out of town for the next little while and doesnt have time to work on it.

So Update time!

So far this week, the old engine has been stripped of internals and set aside for the "new" engine. Next week I'll be taking the crank from the blown engine and having it swapped into the "new" block as I'm told the one that currently resides in it wobbles like a 3 legged cat.

I also took the liberty of removing the head from the "new" engine to inspect it personally. Would you guess what I found? Prechambers cracked from mouth, 3/4 of the way to the opposite side! Under some heavy boost and fuel, this head would have suffered the same fate as the original. So I'll talk to the machine shop and see what they can do about new 1.9idi prechambers. Other than that, the head appears to be in great shape. The cracks between valves are very small and there doesnt appear to be any reaching from the prechamber from the valves, so thats the good news.

Stay tuned!

Cas

[Kantdrivefast]

Block, head and crank dropped off at the machine shop today via the trusty Carat.

Even toms old cars help build his new cars.