1.6L TD rebuild?

[Steve Landeau]

Hi, all.
Been lurking for a while, learning a whole bunch. You guys have some serious diesel talent. Last night, after spending about 3.5 hours reading about the VNT install and a few links within, my wife asked me why I was spending so much time reading this forum. My answer, "It's an education, that's way cheaper than giong to school"...
Anyway, I have an 81 Rabbit diesel L 4 door. I've had it for a year and a half, and am loving every minute of it. I recently picked up a complete 1.6TD, and am looking for some opinions. I was told when I bought it that it ran, but smoked a bunch, and the owner thought the rings were bad. However, the first thing I noticed was that the turbo did not spin freely. This would also give lots of smoke too, right (mixture too rich)? So, here's where I'm at... I have it on the engine stand, with the head and oil pan off. Everything looks normal inside. The intake ports are clean, and the exhaust ports are all showing no signs of passing oil. I am prepared to rebuid the engine (already bought new oversized pistons and rings, and have fixed the turbo bearings), but am thinking it may not be necessary. Do you all think it would be worth reassembling and running before tearing it apart, or should I just rebuild it since I'ts halfway torn up already?
The car is currently my daily driver with it's original 1.6na, so I have time to rebuild.
Thanks,
Steve

[zyewdall]

Nice catch.  It's harder to find the 1.6TD than the NA version.

On the smoking, do you know what color smoke it was?  Blue smoke would have indicated burning oil (from either rings or valve guides), but black smoke is usually excess diesel fuel -- overfueling from insufficient air, too high on the fuel screw, dripping injector, misadjusted boost fuel enrichment, etc.  Your ideas that a stuck turbo could block airflow and do this seems reasonable to me.  Also, retarding the timing can make more black smoke.

[Steve Landeau]

I didnt bother asking, as I was planning to tear it down anyway. I wanted to get it out of there before he changed his mind!
The engine that's in the car right now has a leaking exhaust valve guide in the #3 cylinder, although it runs fine otherwise. It shows in the exhaust port. The head from the TD is showing nothing of the sort. That's why I'm starting to question whether or not to rebuild.  On another note, is it possible to reassemble it and at least get a compression test done while the engine is out? Can you get good numbers by turning it by hand?
Steve