AAZ rebuild for my '78 Rabbit

[RamcoNorris]

Thought I would introduce myself, my car and get the forums opinion. I've had my '78 Rabbit for about a year now and am in need of more power. The 1.6na just isn't cutting it, takes forever to get to freeway speed and I'm holding up a lot of people. Found a complete AAZ up in Vancouver, BC so drove up there and brought it down (along with half of the donor car in misc parts).

My question to those with more knowledge than myself is this: run the engine or rebuild it first.

The engine looks great from the outside; no rust, very little grim, lines/hoses look great. I realize this doesn't tell me whats going on inside but at least its not trashed. I have the cluster from the donor car that if I can figure out how to power it I'll know its mileage.

My thought is to run it as is for now, start acquiring parts and rebuild in the winter or next year. I don't plan on running the engine hard, just to work and home is about it. Plus it will sit this winter when I'll be using my A4 for winter duty.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. This site looks to be full of useful info. I'm pretty good with forum search functions but I'm sure I'll have questions down the road.

Thanks,
Chris

[bbob203]

Find out how many miles are on it. If your still concerned hook it up to a hose and a can of fuel and start it in your driveway and see how it runs.

[sparkoid]

Ditto on starting it up before you put it in. 

That way, you still have use of your Rabbit while you are learning harness quirks; see if you can get the cluster fully functional out in the driveway, not upside down under a dashboard!  Seeing / hearing it run *before* you drop it in will save you a lot of aggravation and lost labor if the engine has some lurking issue.  Have the oil analyzed if it hasn't been changed recently, it can tell you what's worn inside.  Otherwise, best of luck on the swap, wish I had a loose AAZ to play with myself!

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

Regarding starting an engine sitting on the driveway, do you do it without coolant? How long can you run it w/o damage? 5 sec? 30 sec? 60 sec?

[RamcoNorris]

I've got it on an engine stand right now in the garage. I'll have to locate or buy a hoist again so I can take it down and connect the starter. It was really fun getting the engine out of the back of the Rabbit, on the stand and then back to my garage. Had to do this at a friends house, then trailer the engine on stand back to my place.

Is there much worry about the crank nose failing if it isn't driven hard or is this a time bomb waiting no matter what?

[RamcoNorris]

Regarding starting an engine sitting on the driveway, do you do it without coolant? How long can you run it w/o damage? 5 sec? 30 sec? 60 sec?

From my understanding, you run a hose to your water piping and hook up a battery to your starter. Not sure how long you'd want to run it like this but I'd imagine if you have a constant flow of water/gas you'd be alright for a short run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XT7c-O9TIU&feature=player_embedded

This does look terrible though. Not sure I'd just let it flop around. 

[sparkoid]

After watching that video, I withdraw my suggestion.  Wonder if he got it to roll all the way down the driveway...

[Gizmoman]

At the very least, I'd check compression.
WOw - so you transported the engine and other bits in the Rabbit?

You've got what it takes to swap the engine I'd say 
GO for it.

[Syncroincity]

Here's some good reading for you;

http://www.vwdiesel.net/forum/index.php?topic=20551.0

Have fun, take lots of pictures... we live for this kind of stuff!

[RamcoNorris]

At the very least, I'd check compression.
WOw - so you transported the engine and other bits in the Rabbit?

You've got what it takes to swap the engine I'd say 
GO for it.

I think there was about a 1/8 inch on top and bottom of the engine getting it in the rear of the car. Wish I had taken pictures of how crammed the car was. Customs just shock their head at the border when they saw me rolling through.

As for compression I agree that it is a must do. Just need to find a good tester that isn't a million bucks.

[RamcoNorris]

Here's some good reading for you;

http://www.vwdiesel.net/forum/index.php?topic=20551.0

Have fun, take lots of pictures... we live for this kind of stuff!

Thanks, this I looked at that one a while back but will definitely reread it. I've been impressed with the quality of builds/thread on here. There is a lot of great info on here that will surely come in handy.

[sparkoid]

Think about a leak-down test instead of just compression, it will tell you more about what's going on (by listening to where the escape air is hissing from).  I saw a simple one on Partsplaceinc.com for $30 something, or there are DIY articles on the web for about the same.  Biggest challenge is drilling out an old glow plug or injector body for the cylinder hookup.  You need a source of compressed air, I already had a cheapo air tank; filled it up at a gas station.

The idea is to put a cylinder at TDC and pressurize the remaining space with compressed air.  The air will leak out eventually, how fast tells you how good the seal is, which is what you ultimately want to know.  Gauges on the tester give you a relative indication.

What was much more useful to me, though, is the hiss the air makes as it escapes.  If you hear the hiss at the exhaust pipe, the leakage is at the exhaust valve; at the air cleaner, it's the intake valve; at the EGR vent on the block, it's your rings, etc.   

Just pushing air into the cylinder (with the ability to valve it off) and listening told me what I needed to know for my engine (not good news); if your AAZ is nice and tight, the gauges will tell you how uniform that tightness is across the cylinders.

[RamcoNorris]

Update time:
I pulled the 1.6na from the Rabbit to get some parts of it and prep the engine bay for the swap.

First I removed the intake and exhaust manifolds to give more room.


Used the jacks to lower the engine down. Probably not the best way of doing it but making it work with what I have.


Jacked the car up as high as I could and removed the driver's side wheel to make more room for it to slide out.


Success!


This is where the fun ended. I had pulled the valve cover off the AAZ only to find this:


Last time I checked, the valve clearance for cylinder 1's exhaust shouldn't be a 1/4 inch. Not sure what the cause is but the head is coming off. I guess I'll use it as an excuse to at least port and polish the head. Knowing myself, I have a feeling this might turn into a total tear down and rebuild. At least I don't have to worry about doing a leak-down or compression test; got to look at the positives.

So this is how it sits for now.


Probably won't start tearing down until after Christmas. Any suggestions on pieces to replace while the head is off or anything else I should look?

[levi20AE]

i did and AAZ swap into my truck last winter and it was a great experience.  Only modifications i had to do was to relocate the fuel filter swap, plug the EGR port in the exhaust manifold and use the top part of the 1.6 intake manifold, and i used a female exhaust coupler to extend the 2.25" down pipe the extra few millimeters to account for the taller block height.  I actually got away with running the 1.6TD Technonics down pipe with a little rubbing at first before extending it.  I did have to use the flywheel and clutch off the 1.6 on the AAZ to mate up to the starter.  I agree with the others that if you can get it running prior to installing, it will save you a headache later. 

I can now tow a small trailer full of camping supplies and a few hundred lbs of pets and drinks in the bed and keep up with highway traffic for hours now.  I used to have to pullover several times going up long grades in the 1.6 when it was NA before it would get hot.  Even going TD on the 1.6 was no where near the performance of the 1.9TD.

http://youtu.be/aLrop-uSNHw

Here is a link from Quality  German Auto Parts, he make a video of all the motors he bring in from Germany running.  He uses an old bellhousing, starter, and a garden hose to run each motor. They don't seem to rock too much just sitting on the ground.

[CrazyAndy]

I'm doing the dame thing to my Rabbit; I've been collecting parts for the past almost 2 years no!  Hit me up if you need any links or questions about finding parts or the engine in general.  As for that head, good luck.  Hopefully the lifter just needs some 'convincing' to come out.  Seems everybody I ask says that an AAZ in a MK1 is great, and I'm no different!