86 Jetta build

[JBG3]

Im having more questions as I start to use this car, so I figured id post a build thread with everything done so far and put my questions here

Previously I had owned an 85 Jetta 1.6 for about a year.  I barely drove this, because I was careless in my inspection of the car before I bought it, and it was a complete death trap due to rust, as well as having some transmission issues.  I bought it, towed it down to my house, drove it for a week, and parked it when the clutch went.  The big plus side of this car is the engine ran excellent.  
From then I was casually looking for a not completely rusted out shell to put the engine in and finally found one in a blown engine 1.6 powered 86 jetta.

This is the 85.  This picture is very flattering, underneath it looked like the second pic.  In the swap, I stripped this car of everything usable and all unrusted body panels, which consisted of one door, and the hood.  




Cruising on vortex, I came across the 86-




This car has some rust on the rockers near the rear, but nothing terrible yet.  Locally there is an excellent rust place that may take care of this for me down the line.  It wasn't too rusty, but instead, it was BEAT to **** by the PO.  

I towed it home about 200 miles, and discovered that the whole front end was effectively wiped out, and damage underneath definitely pointed to the car being airborne.  
The engine had also thrown a rod.  My guess from looking at the oil sticker is that the car was being abused without being warmed up, and on top of that, there was a 12,000 mile discrepancy between the last oil change and current mileage.  Basically, the kid didn't change the oil, revved the engine excessively, and blew it up needlessly.  I also don't think it was even the original engine, so this car has some history.  In my hands, it will know love once more.  

Here are some shots of the engine-

This is what I saw when I took a look at the car, don't think this engine was ever going to run again-



Pulled out and broke down the block-



found another hole behind the motor mount when I got that off, total of 3 holes in the block-



Here are some pics of the disassembled block.  Path of destruction was a spun bearing, then thrown rod at #1 cylinder, which smacked into the shaft driving the vacuum pump, and pieces of that flew everywhere, blowing 3 large holes out.  





The destruction was so violent that I decided that this block needed to become a coffee table.  Still working on it, but shes painted and needs legs.  Going to be pretty neat, a cautionary tale coffee table.  




After that, pulled the engine from the 85 and started cleaning up the bay in the 86-



I mated the 85 engine to the 86 5-speed with a new clutch, and rubber coated 95% of the engine bay




Engine back in after rubber coating, 3 new mounts as well-



The 86 engine had power steering and AC, both of which I deleted since the 85 has none.  I used one of those little loops available from a member on vortex-  Worked great




After the engine was in, before firing it up, I deleted the leaky prefilter from underneath-




And here are some pics of reassembling the front clip.  I sourced a round headlight setup and emblemless grill from another vortex member.  I like the looks of this




After that, I hooked up everything, and spent some time moving over sections of the wiring harness from the 85 which I had saved.  The 86 harness was completely torn up, there is still quite a bit of work to do to resolve continuing issues, but the basics have been properly hooked up.  

Moving on from the engine, I next went through and replaced lower ball joints and front wheel bearings





one of the wheel bearings was a real chore to deal with, was busted and broke apart, requiring over an hour of torching and smacking with a chisel to get the race off the flange-




Also replaced outer tie rods which were also wiped out, and performed a basic alignment with a tape measure.  

I adjusted the rear wheel bearings, and ended up having to replace the starter, and alternator, so both are new, but after that, she fired up and moved!

Some massive vibration problems were a really crappy exhaust repair that I replaced with a short section of pipe  (this car is also missing all the heat shielding, I didn't save the rusted out stuff from the 85, so I need to get some more)-





Used the exhaust clamp trick I read about on the forums to install the clips for the down pipe, worked great-




The car has 4-bad shocks but ill be working on that later, and it needs strut bearings up front.  

After this work though, it was a running driving car, I changed all the fluids, did a tune up, and have been driving it for a bit.  I have a timing belt kit to also put in sooner rather than later.

here is how it currently looks-




It has 4 rusty steel wheels on it with snow tires, but when I picked up the 86, it has the teardrop rims heavily corroded and missing centercaps.  I like the looks of these, so for summer wheels ill probably refinish these and put some good rubber on them-



to bring us up to the present, as of last week, I removed and replaced the rear inner and outer wheel bearings, and will be upgrading the fuel filter

Major problems the car still has-

-No heat (priority one at the moment)
-No radio
-Still Mouse infestation issues (I removed 3 nests, and have thrown away a lot of interior stuff that was saturated.  I still have to remove the dash and take out whats behind there)
-Massive water leak from the windshield right above the steering wheel
-Electric fan does not turn off
-Glow plugs only light on first start up, not after the car has been running within 2 hours (maybe by design? always starts)
-Paint is terrible
-driver door needs to be rehung, some accident in the past was repaired none to well, and it sits out a bit and hits the front fender when you open the door
-rocker rust issues

bunch of other stuff as I go along ill find im sure

Currently the car is broken down because the alternator setup keeps getting loose, it threw a belt and I parked it for the moment.  It was getting loose every 500 miles or so.  (i have put 2000 on the car since I got it running semi-reliably)

Hope to resolve at least the heat this weekend, but I love the economy of this car.  Last fuel up it returned 44 mpg! which is better than the 17 I was getting in my work van on the same drive.    If I can get the alternator tension thing permanently fixed, it is very dependable so far

further updates as I continue to improve the car, any advice/opinions much appreciated!  







 

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

Did your belt wear due to pulleys not in alignment and jumped? Or did the alternator mount bolts actually loosened? Does your alternator belt squeal? That's a common problem with these cars because of the design. I replaced mine with a Gates Power Rated lawn mower belt and haven't had any squealing since.

[JBG3]

The alternator bolts loosened.   The pulleys out of alignment don't seem to be a major issue with belt wear.  I have a really poor quality reman alternator in there,  think its been remanufactured a bunch of times.  The threads on the lower mount tab of the alt are too worn out for the stock bolt to grab threads, so I ended up putting in a bolt, lock washer, and nut.

That tab just seems to have a slotted short piece of metal to bolt to.  I want to rip the whole thing ou and put in some kind of better tensioning system.  Its getting really annoying.  Can I use something from some other vw year range?

[Baron VonZeppelin]

The A/C cars have a nice alt. belt tensioning system.
Tha alt. is mounted dead flat still - tensioning is done with an idler pulley on a cross bolt threaded rod.

[CRSMP5]

the power vs non power racks are geared different.. you really should use the 85 non power rack.. that "kit" is a joke IMO due to knowing this...

[srgtlord]

I had a belt tensioning issue and made the leap to the AAZ serpentine belt setup. I spent $200 initially, 2 years ago  and slowly refurbished the whole belt tensioning setup, inluding the tesioner, tensioner arm, crankshaft vibration dampner, clutched alternator pulley, new bushings and new seals. I recently bought a refurbished alternator somebody chucked into the junkyard. So in 2 years I spent about $500. A bit much? probably, but the chances of me getting stranded relating to the tensioner failure are reduced.

[JBG3]

the power vs non power racks are geared different.. you really should use the 85 non power rack.. that "kit" is a joke IMO due to knowing this...

Ironically, for the ratio reasons I initially was trying to get the non power rack out of the 85 to move to the 86, but every single bolt needed to be torched and cut out it was in pretty sorry shape to begin with, it became more trouble to remove than to just buy a whole new manual rack long term for 250 bucks that didn't need to be rebooted and refinished once I got it out. 

I used the little loop in the interim for the 86, so far it hasn't really been much of a problem, or at least not near the problem I expected it to be.  Its turned into a non issue, so ill probably leave the power rack in there.  The loop doesn't really do much but keep dirt out of the rack IMO. 

[JBG3]

The A/C cars have a nice alt. belt tensioning system.
Tha alt. is mounted dead flat still - tensioning is done with an idler pulley on a cross bolt threaded rod.

Good to know! Thanks! I have the bracketry from the 86 engine, and a spare dead 85 A/C engine, AND a spare running 81 non A/C engine.  Ill check them all for parts I could use

[JBG3]

I had a belt tensioning issue and made the leap to the AAZ serpentine belt setup. I spent $200 initially, 2 years ago  and slowly refurbished the whole belt tensioning setup, inluding the tesioner, tensioner arm, crankshaft vibration dampner, clutched alternator pulley, new bushings and new seals. I recently bought a refurbished alternator somebody chucked into the junkyard. So in 2 years I spent about $500. A bit much? probably, but the chances of me getting stranded relating to the tensioner failure are reduced.

500 bucks in two years and you weren't stranded by something as basic as belts.  I call that cheap.      

do you have any pics or a thread on this?  Ill do a search, would like to see how it worked out

[srgtlord]

Look under the Faq section of the forum for serpentine setup on 1.6 diesel.
Now sourcing all the needed parts is a chore.
To make things simple The A3 and Early A4 1.9 Tdi's had the same serp setup which will bolt directly to the 1.6
*NOTE THE SERPENTINE SETUP OFF OF THE GAS VW'S WILL NOT WORK*
Now that being said, nothing beats new parts
 VW parts place in michigan has brrand new tensioner brackets for $300.
AutohausA-z has the updated vibration dampner listed under 1996 passat TDI
ID-parts had the alternator pulley tool listed for A3/A4 alternator pulley removal
they also carry the bushings, tensioner arm, tensioner, and end seals if you go to refurbish a used alternator bracket
The waterpump pulley can be had off of a VR6 depending on the year, some require shimming with washers
And the 90 amp alternator can be pulled off of any A3 vw, gas or diesel.
The tensioner pulley can be had from the parts store of your choice under 1996 passat TDI


I almost forgot the most important part, the ratcheting alternator pulley. I purchased mine off of ebay, but I forget which seller I got it from. Do a search for clutched alternator pulley.
*edit* found it http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-ALTERNATOR-CLUTCH-PULLEY-BOSCH-VW-ALTERNATORS-/200295885792?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item2ea290abe0#ht_4739wt_754

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

I could be wrong, but I believe that if you want to use the alternator belt tensioner from an AC equipped car, you have to install the AC compressor with it! If I were you, I'd engineer a simple belt tensioner on your AC less setup and be done with it. Whatever you do, DO NOT copy VW's tensioner. It is an extremely poor design that's proven to be a PITA (I know the one on my car is).

As to your glow plug issues, were you referring to the glow plug LED not working after the initial cold start or the glow plugs themselves?

[JBG3]

here is the tension setup on the 81 motor.  This is basically whats on my motor in the 86, but its still way better.  I could use this



Heres whats on the A/C motor, I like the looks of this idler pulley way more, maybe I can figure a way to rig it up without the AC compressor

[JBG3]

I could be wrong, but I believe that if you want to use the alternator belt tensioner from an AC equipped car, you have to install the AC compressor with it! If I were you, I'd engineer a simple belt tensioner on your AC less setup and be done with it. Whatever you do, DO NOT copy VW's tensioner. It is an extremely poor design that's proven to be a PITA (I know the one on my car is).

As to your glow plug issues, were you referring to the glow plug LED not working after the initial cold start or the glow plugs themselves?

would this be on the A/C motor pic? the poor design?

The glow plug thing is that when I first come out in the morning, the light lights for about 8-10 seconds, and the engine pops right off regardless of temp.  Then later, when I arrive, park the car for a couple hours and its cooled down and come out, the light doesn't light, and I think the glow plugs are not lighting, because it takes longer for the car to start. 

It never fails to start, and even when it take longer, its usually on the first crank, but they seem to not operate up to 5 hours after a shut off.  Every other time, they operate.  It may be by design, but I think I will direct wire the switch to a push button instead, I don't trust the wiring.  The light also has a tendency to flicker in the rain, and light with the movement of the wipers. 

When this happens, im not sure if its also lighting the glow plugs since the engine is also running 

[srgtlord]

If you already have another pulley setup, Just go with the setup from the 81....done.
The only reason I went with the serpentine setup was because at the time I was tired of shredded v-belts  and it was the only thing I could locate parts for.

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

Yep, that's the tensioner that won't keep the tension adjustment and squeals like a pig at every engine start. I've tried a few different brands, brand spanking new belts and had to adjust the belt tension on all of them every few days when the squeal would return, till the belt stretches out and there is no more adjustment and time for another belt (which was about a month or so for me). Problem with the design is the tensioner is on the inside of the belt. As the tensioner is adjusted, it pushes the belt away from the pulleys and makes less and less contact with the pulleys. The only way I was able to make that tensioner work was to use a Gates Power Rated lawnmower belt which is wider and does not stretch like the OEM belt. I've had the Power rated belt since last summer with about 5k miles and have not had to adjust the tension since the summer. The belt squeal at cold start is a thing of the past with the lawn mower belt.