Vanbcguy's M-TDI Build

[vanbcguy]

Cool - yeah I know I have the right bits in the right order etc. I'm more worried about dirt contamination than anything.

Installed my 02J-in-a-polo-shiftbox shifter in the car today after taking the cable ends apart and lubing them up with some synthetic grease. Everything moves soooo smoothly now. The Polo shift box was a LITTLE bit of a pain as I've got an early Mk3. The early ones mount the shift box with two bolts from the bottom of the car and one stud with a nut installed on the inside on top of the tunnel. Later Mk3 cars and the Polo have 4 bolts from the bottom instead.

There's no easy way to install a stud in the Polo box due to its shape. I was originally planning on putting a bolt through from the bottom but there's a curve in the shift box in exactly the wrong place that prevents you from holding the bolt in with a nut. I ended up putting a bolt through the tunnel, securing it with a nut and then securing the shift box itself with a nut inside of it. That of course meant I couldn't put the bottom cover plate on until after it was installed. There is basically no way to crimp that plate on properly from the bottom of the car with the shift box in place either. Ended up using a self tapping screw or two to secure it. Ugh. But it's done now!

Not a whole lot left to do before I actually put this thing in the car now. I need to get the bracket installed for my great big Racor fuel filter, got all the hardware for that today. I need to buy a tube of CV joint grease and actually bolt the clutch and transmission on the engine but I think that's about it for the heavy mechanical stuff. Some work left on my turbo controller, need to pull my intake so I can tap it for a couple of boost ports.... Ummm... That's about it? Wow. The end is in sight!!



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[vanbcguy]

Got a bunch of little things done today. Drilled and tapped my intake manifold, installed my IAT sensor and some barbed fittings for my LDA and turbo controller... Reinstalled the heat shield on the bottom of the tunnel... Put on my oil filter and finished up the PS pump...

Hoping to drop the engine in the car this week. Will still be a bit before I have my VNT controller finalized (had to pack up my work area back in January and haven't set it all up again yet) so no mad power runs for a bit. Obviously will need to break everything in first anyhow.

The part I am absolutely NOT looking forward to is swapping the cable clutch parts out. That of course is a prerequisite for driving though!

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[vanbcguy]

Progress!!

Clutch installed:



Intake drilled and tapped for barbed fittings.  One for the LDA, one for the turbo computer.  The other thing is an IAT sensor.  My computer display will show IAT/EGT.  The sensor was fairly cheap so I figured what the hell, might as well know how well my IC is working.



aaaand transmission more or less bolted up... installed my 02J shift tower and my slave cylinder.  Discovered that the TDI front engine mount I got was actually for an 020 4-cylinder (ABA or AAZ).  Bah.  Also realized I'm missing part of the cover plate from the back of the clutch on the back side of the engine.  Need to get those sorted before I can drop it in the car.



I had been hoping to drop it in today but those two little things are somewhat critical.

You can see my old 1.6 sitting in the background.  What a dirty mess!

It's kind of crazy seeing everything on the hoist like that.  I mean... woah... that's a virtually complete TDI hanging there!

[theman53]

That is a nice and bad feeling at the same time. You are close so don't fret.

[8v-of-fury!]

Wow, you have completed quite the amount of work since I was last around here.

Keep it up!

ps. Are your IAT/EGT sensors Auber Instruments?

[vanbcguy]

Wow, you have completed quite the amount of work since I was last around here.

Keep it up!

ps. Are your IAT/EGT sensors Auber Instruments?

Yeah I REALLY want it to be running in the next few weeks... Ideally very soon.  Really the biggest thing I'm not looking forward to currently is the under-dash work for the hydraulic clutch conversion.  I haaaate under dash work.

Yup I've got Auber Instruments sensors.  The EGT / IAT sensors will be going to the turbo computer.  I've also got an Auber oil pressure and oil temp sensor - I'm going to use the 2 Auber gauges I bought a long time ago but never installed for oil pressure / temp.

Picked up the engine mount bracket plus a bunch of other little hardware bits and pieces over the weekend.  I have everything I need to drop her in now!

[vanbcguy]

I have a drivetrain in my car again!!



Way easier to fit the 02A in than the 020 - didn't take us long at all.  I've got my shifter all hooked up, oil and trans fluid filled, all the cooling hoses except the rad hoses installed... Getting there!!

Primed my oil system with a power drill - I have a gauge hooked up to the head right now, got 50 PSI with the drill running at less than half speed so I should be good to go there.

Question: Filled the trans, the capacity is supposed to be 2.1L.  I started having fluid drool out at the end of the second liter.  The front of the car is SLIGHTLY raised but that should make it take more fluid, not less.  Thoughts?

[bbob203]

I have wondered about that myself WRT to the trns fluid.

[theman53]

My 02J said 2L???

[410]

I fill the transmission by removing the speedo drive.  The level does end up higher then the plug on level ground.  You can also jack the front end up a little higher but I recommend getting it all in there.   

[vanbcguy]

I'll add some more fluid through the speed sensor, thanks. I guess the synchros and gears load up with oil once they spin a bit, that would easily make up the difference.

Finished up all the shifter cable stuff. Had one stupid VW parts counter guy that ordered singles of everything I was trying to get in quantity - mainly fasteners. Yeah, I wanted one each of 6 different bolts. Amazingly many things have multiples, who would have thought? Anyhow I finally got all the correct bolts for the shifter hardware, clutch cover plate, etc.

Set the timing properly today. Definitely muuuuch easier with the ALH style sprocket. I've set the initial timing to 1.45mm, will adjust from there.

Working mainly on wiring right now. Quite a bit of my harness tape had disintegrated over the 20 years of life this car has had. Re-taped a bunch, added some convoluted tuning here and there... Oh and found out why my backup lights didn't work - the wiring was hacked up going to the switch and had broken off of the connector. That'd do it! I have a replacement connector to install next. Plus I need to lengthen my VSS wires. A couple of little things to do on the factory wiring and then I need to worry about all my upgraded stuff (glow plugs, coolant glow plugs, turbo controller)

Keeping at it!

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[745 turbogreasel]

That's funny about your  parts guy, here when I need fasteners, they usually  seem to be a bag minimum with one bag being not quite enough  for one car

[vanbcguy]

No pictures but...

All the wiring for the factory stuff is done now.  My custom glowplug harness is done, complete with a nice 4-bay fuse holder on the firewall. 

Axles are bolted back on (have I mentioned I hate dealing with axles?) 

Sorted out an issue I was having with my shifter - one of the Mk4 cables I got is slightly bent at the end which was causing it to bind in 1st/3rd/5th.  You could get it in to gear but it wasn't a good feeling.  Tried to straighten up the cable guide a bit which helped, but in the end I adjusted everything so the cable is slightly shorter which gets around the issue.  I guess there is a very slight change in the physical position of the shift knob but it isn't really noticeable.  Those cables are f'ing expensive plus I'd have to pull the shifter box to change that one out otherwise I'd just replace it but I think I'll be ok with it the way I have it now.  A short shift kit would also solve the issue completely so I could go that route if my adjustment isn't sufficient.

Airbox to turbo pipe is done - I had a much more complicated solution in mind when I bought all my pipe but it turned out to be super simple.  As a result I have a bunch of 3" aluminium pipe and some silicone connectors that I don't need.  Also realized that there is NO WAY I can put my Racor fuel filter in the spot I had been planning on due to the intake piping so I need to rethink that.

Decided I want to yank my turbo off and cut a nub off of it.  This is why:

There is one itty bitty problem with going with this manifold, the turbo is positioned closer to the firewall. I guess there is supposed to be a heat shield that one bolts onto the hotside, but I don't have one. The upper mount nub allows for about 1/2" clearance with the firewall. Unless you plan on using it, cut it off, imho, and give yourself more clearance.



If you don't, your firewall could end up looking like this:

Once that is done I should be ready to put the nose back on the car complete with radiator, etc... Getting awfully close to first startup.  I haven't done ANYTHING on my turbo controller since January though so that is still pending.

[theman53]

Cool. Let me know how your controller works out as if you could make me one cheap I may be interested on my Jeep project.

[bbob203]

Audi tt short shifter is the way to go. Only 40 bucks.