Vanbcguy's M-TDI Build

[rbremiller]

I reinstalled my IC this weekend. It was off all winter because they just leaked all the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVDUM2ZxoW0&index=6&list=FL4u8dcRQAsDjZYkWUYUkbyQYou tube vid;

I made a bead crimper with a few mods to a pair of crimper pliers. I bought a pair of crimper cutters & cut the tip off with an angle grinder. I cleaned up the crimp form with a Dremel to fit the round contour of the pipe. It is so simple and it works great. I made it in 20 minutes. I would leave a bit more tip on the next set of crimpers I make and soften the sharp edges more. I put the bottom edge of the pipe on the top edge of the ziptie and squeeze. Move 1/8" and squeeze again. Go all the way around 1x and it's done.

[vanbcguy]

Hey now that's perfect! I've seen a few other designs involving a pair of vise grips and a washer but that required a welder. I'll have to keep that in mind.

First start attempt!

Fair bit of white smoke but she didn't light. I've got fuel at all the injectors so it's gotta be timing. I was a little sketchy when I was setting the timing about whether I had the right cylinder or not on the pump, I had made a mark on the pulley but it wasn't clear to me looking at it later exactly what I intended to tell myself. So I think I'm off by 90 degrees most likely, will have to sort that out tomorrow as I'm out of time for today. Compression sounds great though, nice and even. The new starter sounds wonderful compared to my bagged out one on my 1.6.

Oh and I seem to have a slight coolant leak. And an extra thermostat o-ring. Oops.

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[vanbcguy]

Realized I never posted photos of my glow plug set up!

I found this great fuse block - it has LEDs for each fuse.  If a fuse blows or comes loose a red light comes on.  One fuse per cylinder...



I used an 8-32 tap on each glow plug as suggested by Mr. Vince Walden elsewhere - found some good nuts with an integrated star washer and then ring terminals.  Lots of heat shrink and convoluted tubing makes it look great.

[vanbcguy]

She's alive!!!

First startup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5WosMsGOt8

Playing with her a bit during her '10 minute over 2K RPM' cam break-in run:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2wOGQ7gnJQ

I was totally right - timing was off by 90 degrees, it was off by one cylinder.  That'll do it!! I need to add some paint or something on my pump hub so I don't loose track again.  As soon as I set it up correctly she fired up on the first try. 

Currently timed to 1.40, sounds pretty good there.  I'll have to get my timing light / pulse adapter and see how that lines up.

The car is nowhere near done - I've got wiring hanging out all over the place, I've got a coolant warning light flashing (guessing my new Meyel brand coolant ball has a crap sensor in it), haven't powered up my lift pump yet, haven't hooked up my IC, no downpipe and no computer on my turbo yet.  Still have some brackets to go back under the dash, things like that.

BUT I DROVE MY CAR TODAY FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE SEPTEMBER!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

 

[410]

Sounds great!  Congrats.  The first video says it's private though.

[vanbcguy]

Thanks!!

First Start video should be viewable now...

[410]

Awesome!  Just need a little lube on the driver's door hinges and you're set!

[vanbcguy]

Awesome!  Just need a little lube on the driver's door hinges and you're set!

haha actually that's my window crank.  The door hinges are fine

[Smoker]

Good stuff!  I'm sure that increases the motivation to get it wrapped up...

[vanbcguy]

Coolant warning light fixed... One of the pins in the connector had split in to two pieces.  Replaced it with a new one, no more flashing coolant light.  Yay!

The other thing that was concerning me is the temporary manual oil pressure gauge I had installed initially was reading normally but after a bit ended up down around 5 PSI at idle.  I was pretty darn sure it wasn't actually that low as it should have been tripping the dynamic oil pressure warning system according to the gauge.  But the gauge I was using I bought for $2 at a thrift shop some time ago and there were no other signs of oil pressure issues.  I had been seeing 45 PSI just cranking the engine over and there was plenty of oil under the valve cover when I was setting the timing so I was pretty sure there wasn't actually a problem.

I hooked up my Auber Instruments oil pressure gauge today temporarily and fired her up again - 80+ PSI at start up with 10W30 at 10ᵒC, settling down to 35 PSI once things heated up.  Yeah, that's what I thought!! The $2 gauge apparently didn't like actually being USED.

[vanbcguy]

Made a more permanent connection for my accelerator cable:



I cut a strip out of a piece of an electrical box I had kicking around and then shaped everything up with my dremel.  There's a keyhole cut in the bottom that accepts the swaged end on the factory accelerator cable after I cut off the plastic VW end.

The cotter pin is temporary until I can find a small enough clevis pin, though I think it would probably work just fine forever if I wanted it to.

[vanbcguy]

OK - I installed my Auber gauges today so I have EGT and oil pressure actually in the dash now.

I'm a LITTLE concerned about my oil pressure still.  I'm measuring at the head which I know is usually lower than at the flange, but once things are hot (oil temp 95+C) I'm seeing about 10-12 PSI at idle, and about 22 PSI at 2000 RPM.  The VW spec is 29 PSI at 2000 RPM but measured at the flange.

Should I be worried?  Looking around it seems like I'm not THAT far off of what others are reading on their engines (especially for 1.9s) but I was expecting higher numbers.  I COULD swap my gauge over to the flange though that would be a bit of a pain as I went and cut all the wires to length for the head.

I had the bottom end professionally built by a reputable shop - all the bearing clearances should be good.  IM shaft bearings are brand new and the shaft felt great installed, no lateral play.  Oil pump is brand new, cam is brand new, there is really no reason for the pressure to be low.

[theman53]

My 1.9 pump was a bit lower than the older 1.6 pumps, but I think it moves more oil volume. I would keep it on the head as if you have an issue it will show up instantly. If you get really desperate you could take the oil pump out and pre tension the bypass spring a little more and that might help

[damac]

I use the big oil pumps on my 1.6td rebuilds and also use auber gages.

I put the gages on the filter port just to see the spec mentioned when I first broke my rabbit in because I was paranoid

At sub 1000 idle after a long freeway commute I come to a stop at 25 psi.  So any pedal and I am at spec with 15/40 oil.  I drove around for weeks watching all the temps, etc. and making sure I wasn't dumping liquids and I never want back to switch it at the head like people mention.

Even on older runners I came across with the flaked im bearings it seemed to me I would get low pressures at the head with the dash dummy switches working, but the oil would definately splash still up top.  These engines were borderline spec if not below at times at the flange.  Part of the reason why I switched engines, etc.

I set my low oil pressure threshold to 23 or something figured that would show a change over my first year+ running the car and I have an aircraft alarm that is very annoying, piercing noises shooting from the dash that let you know stop the car even if the music is loud   sucks very bad because its on with ignition while the glowplugs light, but i want to know if the oil pump locks up!

[vanbcguy]

I set my low oil pressure threshold to 23 or something figured that would show a change over my first year+ running the car and I have an aircraft alarm that is very annoying, piercing noises shooting from the dash that let you know stop the car even if the music is loud   sucks very bad because its on with ignition while the glowplugs light, but i want to know if the oil pump locks up!

If you ground the buzzer circuit to the glow plug feed circuit after the relay the buzzer will only sound when the glow plugs are not operating - might give you a few seconds less annoyance! The glow plugs have such low resistance they may as well be a chassis ground.

Thanks everyone for your observations. I'm thinking I kind of need to check the pressure at the flange no matter what since that's what the spec is for anyhow.

Oh on a totally different note... Had an idea for controlling the coolant glow plugs. I don't have them hooked up at all currently. I'm thinking I can drive them off a relay connected to my Auber oil temperature gauge. I can program it to kick them in below a certain oil temp and then switch them off when it reaches something close to operating temperature. Should help speed up warm up a little.

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