1985 1.6T Jetta Coupe "Pippi" Project

[MarkToews]

A project car that my friend has been working on during the last month with the help of myself and some other friends. It is a 1985 Jetta coupe with two 1.6 diesel blocks, a turbo head and a non turbo head.

[MarkToews]

When he first bought the car, the trunk hadn't been opened by the previous owner who had it as a parts car. It turns out that there was basically a whole new engine in the back with an n/a head. This is the black that is currently being re-built.
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Here's the car the day after it was purchased, front bumper and hood are already taken off:


Starting to take the interior apart:


Relatively empty engine bay:


Original engine and tranny:


Turbo head:


N/A head that is of little use to us:


Pump:


The car is now on a rolling chassis with working brakes:

[MarkToews]

Had a look at a potential donor engine this past Friday:

[8v-of-fury]

Welcome to the board, nice project. If you wouldn't mind, can you please update your profile to reflect your location and details? It helps any possible people helping you give you a better answer based on location.

Also if you have the means.. Swap in a 1.9 AAZ engine, you'll be way better off in terms of power and more importantly reliability.

[srgtlord]

This statement is true about power but if the 1.6 is maintained correctly they are very reliable.

[burn_your_money]

This statement is true about power but if the 1.6 is maintained correctly they are very reliable.

Many times more reliable than a 1.9...

[R.O.R-2.0]

This statement is true about power but if the 1.6 is maintained correctly they are very reliable.

Many times more reliable than a 1.9...

ive seen way more pics of broken 1.9s than i have broken 1.6s...

[MarkToews]

Dash is all in, just needs a final cleaning. Sorry for the ***ty picture:


I'm diggin these rad tweed Recaro seats that came in the car:


The current door panels don't match the rest of the interior. does anyone have a couple of the black ones without speaker ports that would fit a coupe?


It has a Banks Power emblem on the back, but I've looked into it and haven't found anything. Does anyone know if this is a legit thing or if it was just something someone slapped on there? It very well could be because that last person who drove it put sony xplode speakers in it, if that gives any clue to their brilliance:


Hood needs some work, but should just need some new paint, we have to get some other parts re painted as well:


Also we just picked up some violet high heat paint today for the engine bay, block and head 

[8v-of-fury]

This statement is true about power but if the 1.6 is maintained correctly they are very reliable.

Many times more reliable than a 1.9...

ive seen way more pics of broken 1.9s than i have broken 1.6s...

Are all three of you high? lol. 1.5's were the revolutionary dependable diesel in their day, how dependable are they really? Any feature that you can think of that makes a 1.6 reliable, the 1.9 has as well. Being the "next Gen" engine, it has all the good stuff from the lessons learned on previous years.

[burn_your_money]

Are all three of you high? lol. 1.5's were the revolutionary dependable diesel in their day, how dependable are they really? Any feature that you can think of that makes a 1.6 reliable, the 1.9 has as well. Being the "next Gen" engine, it has all the good stuff from the lessons learned on previous years.

Come on, how many more rods have you seen through a block on 1.9s than you have on 1.6s in the last year on this forum? And 1.6s are way, way more common.

Not to mention the crank nose issue.

I'm not sure what all Banks does, but I know they provide aftermarket turbo kits, mainly for pickups.

[8v-of-fury]

We cannot say what the real cause was for those engines with failed bottom ends, impossible to tell. Were they tampered with? Maybe some 1.9's had different plants of manufacture. All I can say is that with my own personal hands on experience, I love everything about the 1.6. But the 1.9 has everything the 1.6 has and more, so naturally that makes it better lol.

The 1.5 and 1.6's suffer from the same issues if you slap a serp setup on them with a lot of accessory load.

Banks does aftermarket generally bolt-on performance mods. I am unaware of any BANKS bolt on stuff for the VW diesel engine, generally geared towards the pick-up diesel market.

[MarkToews]

Alright thanks guys, there's a possibility it had a Banks turbo kit on it, but im not sure because the car didn't have a turbo when we got it. I'll ask my friend if he knows

[85-IDI-Coupe]

Thanks for the feedback guys, this is my project that my friend Mark here is gonna keep you guys updated on. Any feedback at all with this would be hugely appreciated.

Also, if anyone needs interior parts for a coupe I have many spares including some door panels, rear interior panels, a brown decent condition dashboard, and eventually some grey tweed and black vinyl rear seats (as pictured & in excellent condition) as soon as I'm done with them in the spring.

I would eventually like to drop a TDI into her, but as far as funds go the 1.6L works just fine for me! a KKK K24 turbo is being tracked down at the moment and then an intercooler and oil cooler will be added to keep everything running smoothly.

If anyone in central Alberta is looking for a good, reputable shop in their area Mikasa Performance is probably the best to talk to, they've worked wonders for me and tracked down some very difficult parts and answered some very difficult questions.

[85-IDI-Coupe]

Doesn't BANKS have a diesel mk4/5 wagon with the whole shabang? I feel as though I've seen a video of it ripping through L.A or something. I believe they also have a mk4 gti with banks exhaust and turbo... I'm not exactly sure though because I've spent a lot of time looking at turbo set ups and my memory may just be garbled. Just a thought though

[R.O.R-2.0]

Are all three of you high? lol. 1.5's were the revolutionary dependable diesel in their day, how dependable are they really? Any feature that you can think of that makes a 1.6 reliable, the 1.9 has as well. Being the "next Gen" engine, it has all the good stuff from the lessons learned on previous years.

Come on, how many more rods have you seen through a block on 1.9s than you have on 1.6s in the last year on this forum? And 1.6s are way, way more common.

Not to mention the crank nose issue.

I'm not sure what all Banks does, but I know they provide aftermarket turbo kits, mainly for pickups.

yea, seen DOZENS of broken rods sticking thru 1.9 blocks in the last couple years..

the crank nose issue, that is a BIG ISSUE if you ask me.

if you are in america, the 1.6 is more reliable, because you can actually get parts for it..