Big big thangs been happening this week! I have been putting in lots of work! I am pretty exhausted with all of it! The half off sale at ecology is coming up on Monday, so I am going to see if I can get a few things after work. Definitely hoping to find a nice pair of legit bumpers. Also hoping for a clean mk3 console, an instrument cluster (I suppose I am aiming for a gasser cluster and I am just going to modify it so I can actually have a tach and dash lights!), some real gauges for oil pressure temp and voltage to toss in the stock stereo spot and whatever kind of little goodies I can find. I really don't like flying blind, if I can help it :/
Anywho, I ended up taking my intake and exhaust manifold off so that I could get my EGT probe installed. I forgot how big of a PITA it is to get these stock intake manifolds off! That was the main reason I decided to rip my raintray out in the first place, and it is STILL hard to get to! I ended up drilling in the collector for the two center cylinders. I figured they would be the two hottest, and the ones that should be of my primary concern.
Since I had the intake off and I want to use the stock intake as a template for parts(I will get to that in a bit), I went ahead and threw a ported 92 cabby manifold on there with a 16v throttle body adapter (just learned they are 2 piece TB's, I was just going to put a gutted TB on there for the time being!) in order to run a cone filter under my hood vent. This is just a temporary setup, but I was also interested in experimenting with it anyways. New to me!
You might notice that I bit the bullet and bypassed my heater core. The hoses were getting in my way and working in the heat made me snap, so I just went for it haha. I put an NLS block off plate on the head and a plug in the water pump. Been running my rabbit like that successfully for a while.
The other deciding factor is that I want this car to be dependable and easy to work on out on the road. I don't know how many of you have had to replace that stubby bypass hose on the side of the road...but it is hell. Particularly if you can't find the stock hose and you have to work with some universal piece (it is a tapered hose :/)
No regrets, but I am keeping everything around in case I change my mind in the winter.
Also "finished" my glowplug setup. Got 4 pieces of 10ga wire going from each glowplug to an individual fuse in that little distribution block that I picked up. I got a PM asking about that, and looked it up to see what I pulled it out of. I found it in a mid 90's saab 900. Just bent the bracket back and forth until the metal snapped and took the whole rig. I shot it right into the frame with some self drilling screws and it worked out great. I was in a hurry yesterday though and had a hell of a time with the soldering. I spliced the wires side by side and it didn't allow me to slip heat shrink over it. Now it is just this hideous glob of rubber insulators and the last of my electrical tape haha. I am going to redo them by soldering in butt splices.
On my first night drive, I remembered how pitiful the stock lighting was. I took the wiring harness I made for my headlight relays out of my rabbit since it will be out of commission for a while, and transplanted it into the jetta to save myself some work. It is amazing what getting an actual 12v+ will do for your night vision!
Once again, if curiosity strikes, this nifty little relay box came out of some sort of saab. I just have 4 standard relays crammed inside of it. I made a nice little nest for it up in front of the battery. Easy enough to get to if need be, yet out of sight. I need to get some actual h4 plugs to splice in. The old ones I had were corroded
I got most of the wires tucked away in the frame, but I aim to have them tucked proper eventually. Right now they just drop from the firewall to the frame. I pulled a lot of wires from the stock loom and re routed them in ways that I deemed more fitting for my needs. There is still so much to do!!!!!
All in all, the most exciting part is finally having my EGT setup. I had this on top of my priority list when I first finished the engine build, but got distracted within the drama. If any of you recall, I had to take the pressure regulator apart to clean it and due to a lack of gauges and such, never got the chance to do the fine tuning. Now that I have this sucker installed, I am shocked to see numbers!
crusing downhill everything looks great, going up hill under a heavy load, holy crap this thing is blowing some hot air! I am almost scared to think of how hot it must have been when I was trying to make it up the hill coming south on the grape wine after our Napa Valley trip! I almost want to take it back apart to see if anything is badly melted
It is not uncommon for it to shoot up over 1100 going up a hill under a full load, and I had definitely seen it go over 1200. I have read about diesels going over 1500 for brief periods of time but also read that aluminum starts melting at 1200. Great haha. I am hoping to get my pressure set and recheck my timing today. Hopefully the majority of the problem is with pump pressure. Not sure if I will need more or less advance yet.
Better to get that EGT sensor installed late than never. At least the motor is still a few thousand miles young, but yikes! That is an abusive start
Topic: Dub Nasty- The rebirth of the dirty diesel (Read 31982 times)
