Need some ideas from ya fellers

[8v-of-fury]

Should I be getting any oil coming from the CCV if I have a cam baffle in there? I would immediately point it to having a ton of blow-by.. and the rings being non existent... but it starts up so well, which means compression must still be good. 20F it started like it wasn't even cold out, and it had 15-40 oil in it! imagine how it would start with some super light synthetic? CRAZY

Anyway, if the diaphragm pump fails, does it begin to suck any air from atmosphere? or maybe there is a crack in the vacuum line.. and the crank is sucking in excessive pressure... i wonder i wonder

[rabbitman]

Unplug the vac line at the booster and feel the vacuum, then unplug it at the vac pump and compare vacuums. I've never tried this but if you have a bad enough leak this will let you know.......

[8v-of-fury]

Edit: Grab a snack and a beverage Three Beverages of your choice.. this is a long post.

Ok, did some work, got some answers , messed around with some stuff, got some questions

Gonna lay it out paragraph style, because as anyone who has read pretty much any of my posts knows that I RAMBLE ON (also my favorite song lol) for quite some time.. and sometimes whatever it is that I am rambling about gets strewn all over the post, and no one knows what the hell is going on! (plus I just really love to write/talk)

Table of Contents:
Vacuum Pumps
Vacuum Lines for Air Vents
Relaying of the Fan Motor
Blow-By
Injectors
Ghetto Horn
Air Suspension
Cleansing/Shaving of the Bay

Vacuum Pumps
  
  So I tore more parts of the 91 engine for the 81 engine.. gotta love having a good solid parts motor, i highly suggest you pick one up if you don't have one. I took the injector return lines, the injectors, and the vacuum pump itself. Now as you know I was trying to see if it were possible to fit a 91 rotary/vane style vacuum pump in to the place of an 81 diaphragm style vacuum pump. After pulling the old one out and laying them side by side.. a visual inspection told me they were nearly identical below the engine mating surface. I doubt you could tell the two apart if you didn't know which was which.. Love the Germans, they saved me some dough






As you can see the two pumps are practically identical side by side, with the same gear and the same depth, and the same insides of where the oil pump was engaged. I was giddier then a school girl when I pulled out the old one and saw that it was identical . Now for the tube that went from the old pump to the block.. what was its purpose anyhow? Did it take air from the block? or did it put air in the block? the fitting from which the tube came had a lot of oil in it.. normal or not? possible reason for death of said pump?

The 91 pump (rotary) is a direct swap in to a 81 pump (diaphragm) from the two engines I had. Kevin tells me the 1.5 pump may be different, but i don't see why it would be if everything else is the same between the two engines right? Parts place only list three vacuum pumps ever. One diaphragm design for the 1.5/1.6's till a certain year, One rotary design for everything after the change until 1993.. when the AAZ came out, it also has a rotary pump.. and is the third design.

MAN DO THE BRAKES EVER WORK! EVEN WITH RUSTY ROTORS!! Slows this thing down like nobodies business!!!

Quick side question, the rear brakes in my 84 have practically become non existent.. to the point of not even sliding on snow (drifting), or holding the car on the slightest of incline... They are only a year old.. what do you figure is going on? I think i shall pull the drums tomorrow to see what is up in there... They can't be worn out already can they?

Vacuum Lines for Air Vents

So the genius PO decided he would remove the A/C and also the option to choose where the air comes out! (another one of his brilliant ideas, including deleting the antenna..) YES Now I understand that they are vacuum actuated.. but i do not understand how.. does the vacuum lines go in to the cabin, and then are sent to where they need to go by the selection of the lever? (I like the fact that my 84 is cable driven ) Really all I would want is Defrost, and Feet heat.. and I see the actuator for the feet heat.. soo how do i go about making this work.. take out the actuator and have it cable driven to a small switch on the dash? how would you do it? I also notice that there is an actuator in the rain tray to close off the air box from fresh air, what would this do? is it for the recirculating of the A/C? so it is not sucking hot air from outside??? Seems this one can be left permanently open.

Relaying of the Fan Motor

I have the dash pulled apart, but everything still plugged in (4-ways, fan, lights, defrost) so it is functional and all that junk. The wiring for the fan gets too hot to touch! How does this not for one melt the plastic switch, and two how have any wires not caught on fire in the last twenty-nine years? I want to relay my fan motor, but am not sure about how to really go about it.. Do I have to run an individual relay for each speed setting of the fan? Power goes from battery, fuse box, fan switch.. where it is then broken up in to 3 or 4 paths depending on speed selection. Which ever speed you choose the power continues its path onwards to that part of the resistor on the fan motor.. correct? So how do you remedy this? or is it only necessary for the high setting? where max amps are being pulled? What are your trials and tribulations about this one?

Blow-By

Keeping on with the air theme of the previous paragraphs, lets talk about excessive blow-by. Last week prior to the vacuum pump change, I was driving the car a little hard.. beating on it through the gears, and just plain ol' laying in to the pedal a bit. after this run I noticed quite a bit of oil had dripped down the back of the intake (I have my crank case venting to atmosphere to prevent blow-by runaway.. luckily too) and was burning off on the exhaust manifold.. I thought to myself, crap has it been doing this all along? I couldn't remember, so I was worried for the health of the little guy. Instantly the thought of worn rings was in my mind, but worn enough rings to let that much blow-by through would also be enough to allow a significant drop in compression no? I would have looked here if the car didn't start so magnificently.. This morning I let go out and get in to the car, let the glows go for 13-15 seconds left them on, cranked it over, caught on the second turn. Pulled the cold start lever, and it evened out and was idling smooth with no smoke. 10 seconds and i blip the throttle to excite the alt. 20 more seconds go by (30 since cranking), turn the glows off and push in the advance lever. drops the idle back down to whatever it is at (900? stock setting on 91 pump) and it is running beautifully . If the rings were bad, or compression was low, this wouldn't start so smoothly right? It starts like a TDI. TBH, thats how i feel about it. blip of the starter and its running, even after sitting for 2 weeks.. But anyhow back to the blow-by, i noticed the oil on the intake before I swapped out the vacuum pump. After the pump change, I decided to put a catch can under the crank vent tube.



I took the car out for a hard drive (after warming it up sufficiently of course..) and to my surprise, not a drop of oil was in the can when i got back from my 4 mile ROMPING. Plenty of blow-by going in and out of the can.. but no oil drops.. good enough for me. Must have been the old vacuum pump pressurizing the crank case somehow.. and allowing it to puke oil out of its orifices lol.

Injectors

I pulled the injectors from the 91 engine as well, as I am going to assume that they are in a little better shape. It is impossible to tell really.. but there is zero sludge in the 91 with 300k and a fair amount in the 81 with 700k+.. the 91 owner took a little better care it seems So i assume those injectors are either fresh, or at least if they are stock.. might have less miles on them. I want to get a set from Mr. Giles' Wonderful Emporium eventually along with a Super Pump built for modest power, and killer economy. Now FWIW, would it be worth my trouble (not much trouble at all) to change out the injectors? I mean pop the lines off, injectors out, injectors in, lines, and prime.. no biggy.. just.. would you do it? How do I tell visually if an Injector is better than another? anyway to do this? lol

Ghetto Horn




Look at this thing? ITS CLASSIC! I LOVE IT! I haven't seen if it works or not yet, but I sure hope it does. Is this a VW piece If it works all the better, but if not.. this thing is totally getting AIR HORNS!! oooooohhhhh yeahhhh. Wow I just a did a little search, and some people go all freaking out on the air horn thing.. TRAIN HORNS. 149db at 125ft away from the horn...   You have got to be frigging kidding me!!!!!! THAT IS INSANE!!! I do not want Train horns on this thing, but I would like some smaller more car size air horn suggestions if you all have any that you have come across in your infinite travels among the interwebz..

$250 will get me this 115db (5ft from horn.. not 125ft like psycho horn up there) complete setup I LIKE IT. but seriously... small small small. lol


Air Suspension

Just touch base on this one.. its 2 am and I'm super tired, to tired ot finish this post.. I wrote the rest hours ago when I was awake... lol If you were to do an air suspension.. would you even consider it? have you seen any cool posts outlining it? is it a buy a kit type thing? or is it more of a custom jobby? My 67 Cougar has rear air shocks.. and can be pumped up or let loose wit ha bicycle pump to desired stiffness/looseness... Would it be the same idea here? or no..? I cannot see why it wouldn't be similar.. Jeez, my brain is mush! It's not that I want to go low with the car.. in fact I do not want to change it's height at all. I am 6'3" and getting down in to my car is already low enough.. now if I were some pewny 5'8" guy I could understand it.. lmao

Cleansing/Shaving of the Bay

This thing is gonna need the harshest of all chemicals, that will be washed off in to a pan and disposed of properly don't you worry. I just want to get it clean.. It leaked oil for a long time and it is EVERYWHERE!! As can be seen from some engine bay shots:




What do you guys suggest short of Phosphoric Acid and Ammonia lol. I mean once again I am not looking for OMG sparkle.. clean, just clean. How about shaving.. not really much in there to begin with.. Probably just tuck a few wires in to some looms.. all i can really do. its a very empty bay to begin with lol.


For all that just read my Essay thank-you very much I hope you enjoyed it. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK? Long winded or what?

[maxfax]

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK? Long winded or what?

I've done better...


Rotary pump FTW!!  Couldn't believe the difference myself and a swapped from a healthy diaphragm pump..   The hose to the crank case is the exhaust from the vac pump.. It sucks on one side, it's gotta blow somewhere..  Since it depends on engine oil working it's way into it for lube, for environmental purposes they exhausted it to the crank case..  The rotary pump exhausts out the bottom near the drive gear...

AS far as the back brakes on the 84, what all have you done to them??  I wear mine rather frequently, but I tend to umm "misuse" the parking brake alot.. I'm assuming you are referring to the service brake (pedal) and no the parking brake.. I believe they still use the little wedge type adjusters which don;t have much to fail, short of things falling apart which would be making some sort of noise I woudl think....  Does your car have the little proportioning valve in the rear that connects to the axle?? Not sure that I've seen on a Mk1 but I'm not sure..  Next on the list would be wheel cyls siezed or an ailing master cyl which typical gives funky pedal feel...

Air vent vac should have a small line connected to the big hose off the vac pump and running inside to the controls..  There might be a vac reservoir in the line somewhere..  Typically they are needed for gassers, so I dunno if the diesels had it or not.. The actuator in the rain tray is for recirc on the a/c..  No need for that as long as it's open...  IF you can find some variety of vac switch that could be an option, but I believe 2 actuators need to be operated for the funtions you want..



The fan motor is typically relayed on the high speed setting by most manufacturers.. IF you wanted to relay it on every setting you would need a relay for each speed.. Wiring would be something like this...




Looking at the ends of the nozzels you can sometimes see if there is errosion around the pintle.. Pop tester is still about your best injector option..  You'll only be our a few bucks for heat shields to swap and try, I'd say go for it if you feel the other ones are better...


Like the horn, I hope it works..  Sort of reminds me of some of the old Jeep horns or the 60's.. If you're looking for small air horns.. Check out JC WHintey or someone like that..  They used to have small electric jobbies.. They didn't store any air, the little compressor is activated by the horn button to make em blow..  Just remeber to give the compressor a drop of oil once in a while.. http://www.jcwhitney.com/XTREME_120dB_AIR_HORNS?ID=12;0;0;0;100001;ProductName;0;0;0;0;2008992;0;0

I'm not going to speak much about air suspension.. If you want adjustable ride height look into adjustable coil overs.. IMO air suspension just leaves too many things to cause problems..  I've made alot of money over the years converting factory air ride systems to good ole springs..

A steam cleaner is idea for cleaning the engine bay and engine, but I not always available I know..  I;ve used the "Engine Bright" stuff int he spray can, or Purple Power (same as Castrol super clean I think) and even Simple Green..   A good degreaser goes a long way..  If you can hook hot water to a sprayer or pressure washer the results are amazing...


Hmm this post was kinda short for me....

[jtanguay]

How far do you have to pull the e-brake handle for the brakes to engage? you can adjust the cables as they do stretch a bit over time. one of my cables actually broke 

[8v-of-fury]

Small post here, The brakes stop the car fine.. more or less.. its the e-brake that is retarded.. I think when i only replaced one drum, and all new shoes and hardware.. they were fine.. but as it has been wearing.. the old drum just is too worn and the brakes cannot physically grab enough. ALSO there was a spring missing in the hardware of the new drum. ALSO the old drum was loose when i took the wheel off, like wth!? the nut went atleast 3 full turns with finger pressure alone..... HOW DID IT GET SO LOOSE!? thats scary..



This was the missing spring.. the self adjuster thingy what is its purpose? how does it adjust? I found a new spring, but had to go to the bottom of the shoe, as going to the stock hole wasn't allowing enough pull on the spring.. I have to pull the handle all the way up, with the cables adjusted separately for each drum having different wear.. but the old drum needs to be adjusted all the way. New drums would fix it.. but this car isn't gonna be mine much longer.. so it will suffice.. i always park it in gear anyway.. went the first 6-7 months of owning it without a functioning parking brake at all lol

On a side note, check out my trunk lighting



Thanks Brett for all your thoughts lol Thanks for the two diagrams, looks like it shouldn't be too hard at all to get the actuators working again. Did you draw the fan wiring one? loool. Are you 4 years old with a crayon? lmao "here daddy i drawed you dis picshure" haha only jkin, it doesn't have to be pretty i understand it.

I think i agree on the air susp.. a good strut/spring combo will be better in the long run i would think.

STEAM CLEANER! That's Genius. Hmm, I wonder where i can get one of those for like a day or whatever.. Or like you say.. hot water in a pressure washer and some good degreaser in the pressure washer as well should clean almost anything eh?

thanks guys.

Local Radio Rep, straight up. Classic Rock Masters lol

[maxfax]

The worn drum is probably the issue, it's amazing what new ebrake cables can do too.. I sprung for a set on the Rabbit.. WOW..   

 That spring pulls that little wedge downward between the brake strut and brake shoe..  AS things wear the brake shoes spread further apart and away from the strut allowing the spring to pull that little wedge down and take up the slack.. These are one of the nicest, simplest drum brake adjusters I've seen..

How'd your wheel bearings look??  IF there was a cotter pin in there to hold the nut, about the only way things are gonna work loose is bearing wear..  That or it just wasn;t tight enough to begin with.. I know I get a bit conservative when it comes to tightening those small wheel bearings..  A bad experience with a Festiva got me this way.. 

Nice trunk lighting indeed!!  You need the lights like I have in the '99 Vic..  Since it's a Police Interceptor it has two big red lights that flash alternately when the trunk is open..  I should have told my mom how to shut those off when she borrowed it a while ago..  I guess she was kinda embarrassed at the grocery store.. 

I did indeed draw that wiring diagram..  Rather hastily using windows paint..  I was hoping that it would be at least somewhat clear.. I have software that makes really nice diagrams, but is a PITA to use..  I could probably do it with a t-square, triangle, template, and pencil faster...  Just in case, here's a diagram of a relay that sort of explains what the correlation is between the number on the pins and their function..



 FYI mopar products are a good source of relays at the junkyard.. Ford and GM seem to like using those mini relays which work fine, but I have yet to find terminals to fit them properly.... Yep, I'm that cheap...

[8v-of-fury]

update on the 'ol girl

Went and put on about 60 miles today, listening to one of my dads mix tapes from the 80's, and just cruisin'.

It is about 5-10C out today, and I was driving with the window down just basking in the ambiance of diesel fumes and a tacky pine air freshener The car did very well, up some steep grades, flat and down steep hills. Everything acted properly. BESIDES THE DAMN SHIFTER! Gaaaah getting in to first at stops was a bugger, i was on a hill, and turning on to a hill so i needed first! i couldn't grab it so i tried for second.. missed it too.. stalled it. fired it up got first! and got around the corner and then grabbed second except the engine was bucking and rattling something fierce. So i gave it a bit more pedal, it was speeding up so it was not that i was lugging the engine.. i got enough speed for third and the noise was gone as i let off the pedal and not there when i was light on the pedal in third.. but as soon as i got on it, it started makin the noise again.. pull over check everything, everything fine.. weird! I think i might have done in the rear motor mount now that i think of it... it didn't do it for the next 35 miles..

Pulled in to a truck stop on the highway and went to the only diesel pumps, where the rigs fill up! jeeez, this is gonna be embarrassing lol. I get funny looks from a few rigs as I'm filling up and one guy actually asks me if I know I'm puttin diesel in.. Are you serious? like I can't read or something. I mean i wasn't dressed in my sunday best, i was in my super dirty clothes.. i think i know whats goin on.

ALSO for anyone wanting to upgrade to much stronger brakes. PUT IN A ROTARY VACUUM PUMP! Holy cow does it stop amazing!!

[maxfax]

ALSO for anyone wanting to upgrade to much stronger brakes. PUT IN A ROTARY VACUUM PUMP! Holy cow does it stop amazing!!

x2!!


I love the fact that some people STILL look at you funny when you pull a car up to the diesel pump.. 

[8v-of-fury]

Oh Yeahh THREE Mk1's



I was once told by many people over on the "hortex" that going to an N/a 1.6 will be like riding a slug around. I must say they were very wrong, or at least childishly misguided.

What the hell were they comparing too when they told me it was gonna be a slow vehicle? A 360 Ferrari Modena? Perhaps a Bugatti Veyron? They must have been comparing to something NO ONE has had the pleasure of driving themselves, because this car is far from slow. Completely stock everything (mind you I am running just the air filter.. no snorkel) this car gets up to 100kph (60mph) without any labour 'tall from the little 550k mile 1.6D.. I was passing cars and the sorts Cruising at 135kph (85mph) (3200RPM) was no problem for it either.. and this is before the governor modifications...

THIS THING IS GONNA FLYYYY OMG

Which brings me to some hard decision making.. Money isn't tight but it isn't right either, so I can't be doing any frivolous spending right now.. No super pump, no EGT gauge, no stereo upgrade.. blah blah.. What I need to focus on is getting it road worthy. which is not much left, I just need to get the turn signals to work again.. and voila. perfect. I will be taking my deck, front speakers, rear speakers, amp and subs from my 84 to the 81 so that's covered. However heavy mods, such as ones needing a $100 EGT to make sure I don't start a metal forgery... a little out of the question at the moment. At least I know what westach stuff to order when the money comes in though. For now I will settle for a Cold/Ram air intake, and eventually a bigger (2.25") exhaust.

So what I need to know now is, Can I squeeze any power out of this little guy with the fuel screw alone.. without much change to over all EGT's? just a turn or two?

Lemme know what you guys think

[maxfax]

After driving a 19 foot Buick with a touch under 500ftlbs of torque for almost 10 years, just about every VW feels slow... But I'd much rather buy go juice for the VW... Generally people ragging on N/A's don't consider that the NA they have hasn't had any maintenance done in 200K.. Amazing what a bit of service, tweaking, and turning will do on them isn't it? I find the N/A's run just dandy with a delightful lack of something else to go wrong under the hood..   

Judging by the ever so accurate butt dyno, I've never noticed any gains by turning the fuel screw, other than getting rid of mosquitoes..  Maybe considering general wear and tear, or if someone previously tinkered with it you might gain a little.. How smokey is the car now? The general rule of thumb I've always heard is a slight whisp of smoke at full load...