Franken-TD for an '84 Coupe: Like i need another hole in my build thread

[Gizmoman]

Sounds like your machinist is on the right track - waiting for the pistons.

These are not big block Chevys (not that there's anything wrong with Chevy's) and the tolerances are quite snug. A little over the bore target and it's the same as removing 100K miles with the mill in a few minutes.
Your Bentley, or possibly the FAQ has the specs

[theman53]

Vw diesel has a spec of .0012" more than the piston skirt. Most machinists even with piston in hand will say "no way, too tight, I am going to .0025". The wear limit when you break them down is .003" so they basically bored the life out of your engine if they do it their way. I have been lucky, both machinists I have used went by the book, but that is what the tales of shops not boring correctly start at.

[TimpanogosSlim]

Ok, i'll have that conversation with 'em

. :Sent by pneumatic tubes

[TimpanogosSlim]

just back from the machine shop. had a conversation with the guy who bores cylinders. he seems to understand the bore spec, though as predicted he thinks it's tight. i am under the impression that he will bore according to my wishes, but says he is going to start with a rough bore just to see what size piston is going to go in.

all this guy does is measure and bore cylinders. it's his whole job. he's good at it.

hardly recognized the block without the grease all over it. The wrecked IM shaft bearings are already out of it - he says their parts cleaner damages bearings so they always R&R any pressed bearings.

I've decided to let them build my head as well, so i'm going to drop off the prothe aaz head and valve train components i got from mcpook and then head up to the tractor store to get some green paint. the JD paints are made by Valspar and seem to be made to a very good specification. All the black parts are going to be painted with JD Blitz Black so it only makes sense to use JD Green on the green parts.

Come to think of it, I'll swing by the auto body & paint supply and get some adhesion promoter for aluminum while I'm out. Maybe start with the water pump housing as a test piece.

[TimpanogosSlim]

FYI, there are two shades of John Deere Green. The current shade is darker than the old one. Your John Deere dealer will have both in stock.

I bought the brighter shade.

Also realized that i want to plug the extra oil return before i hand it to anybody. I ordered the plug (and some fuel & lube tygon tubing, and some other stuff) from mcmaster, and a 5/16" pipe plug socket from amazon ($6.50 shipped, about the same as some key stock from mcmaster).

I have a Cunning Plan for how i will drill for the G60 valve cover in the AAZ head.

I will use a thin bead of silicone to 'glue' the valve cover to the head. and use the valve cover as my guide on the drill press table.

[TimpanogosSlim]

i have a lot more time to work on the jetta now because i am *ahem* between jobs.

shame the engine is all taken apart.

anyway, visited the machinist again, collected my old pistons which, turns out, they didn't bother to clean since they're no use in my current block.

Noticed that there are clear valve marks on the tops of all four pistons, one of them really impressive, but the valves in the head that i pulled off just have a healthy coating of carbon.

My surmise is that these impacted the previous head. I know the guy who saved this car from the wreckers so i believe it when i hear that the head is not original. Does give me some pause.

There is only 127k or so on the odometer so either the odometer isn't original to the car or the engine was abused.

ah well.

I put the #4 piston in the can of berryman chem-dip so i can get a clear image of the old nural stamp for someone who was curious about it.

McMaster bits arrive tomorrow. I'll be in my machinist friend's shop tomorrow or thursday plugging the extra oil return on the head, possibly drilling and tapping for the g60 valve cover as well.

[mcpook]

Watching to see how this shapes up.  Jealous of the jetta coupe.  Lots of potential there.

[TimpanogosSlim]

Yeah. A lot of people would just drop in an ABA but i wanted diesel.

I suppose my reasons for a 1.6td are illogical at this point but i had hoped to find a good block with worn rings, not a block so worn that the pistons looked odd in it.

Ahh well. I hope for a good result, and maybe some day i find an AHU and sell a built 1.6td to someone. Or maybe the 1.6td will be plenty.

. :Sent by pneumatic tubes

[TimpanogosSlim]

Inspected and cleaned (somewhat) the head i removed, which is for sale (make offer):











The bearing surfaces at the sprocket end lend some credence to the theory that the timing belt was on too tight. i think it still looks usable but potential buyers should make their own decision.

Some of the valves are not OE, you can see that a couple lack the concentric rings.

No evidence of cracks that i can detect with a fingernail.

The bottom surface was cleaned by applying berryman chem-dip with a hog's hair brush, over and over, and wiping it off.

This is now reassembled with permatex ultra-slick assembly lube on the bearing surfaces.

Also tried out the vintage john deere paint:



The camera makes it look more washed out than it looks in person, tho.

[TimpanogosSlim]

The axle flanges on the transaxle are shimmed and re-sealed.

Peloquin should have included new outer seals as well, for the money. They also should have included 2 or 3 washers as part of the flange tool.

The tool is sized just barely too big to fit inside the rim of the 90mm flanges, so when you really torque it down - required to get the snap ring in on top of the convex washer for 40% kit - the legs spread as the center bows in. and the nut and bar chew each other up.

re-shaped the U so it fits inside the flange just barely and stacked 3 oiled washers between (new) nut and U, works much better.

[TimpanogosSlim]

Finally found my npt tap/die set and tapped the extra oil return for the plug.

I used A-9 aluminum cutting fluid. This was my first time using a purpose-made cutting fluid (rather than whatever oily substance is around) and it was worth it. Tapping w/ cheap harbor freight tap and an adjustable wrench was a breeze. I just applied a few drops to the tap's threads and went a quarter turn at a time, then backing out a bit to loose the aluminum from the tap. Nice and slow and easy.

The A-9 fluid even smells uncanily like cinnamon rolls w/ frosting on.

As others have said, it is important to stop and check to make sure you haven't gone too far, as this is a tapered thread. I seem to have got it just right. Still need to clean up a little peening where the leading edge of the tap was.

I will probably go get a high-temp thread sealer for final installation.

Also, i bought a sunex 5/16" square pipe plug socket for this job. Waste of $6.50 to amazon prime. Doesn't fit in the mcmaster plug. Not even close.

A 1/4" socket wrench, however, works well enough.

. :Sent by pneumatic tubes

[TimpanogosSlim]

Drilled and tapped the prothe AAZ head for the G60 valve cover. Used a drill & tap combo set from sears.

The timing end of the head has two holes already that line up exactly with the valve cover - they are only drilled out 5mm though, and not deep enough. So i started by drilling them out and down, and tapping them M6x1.0.

This allowed me to use a couple m6 bolts to attach the valve cover, and i then used my handy dandy harbor freight center punch to mark the positions of the other 6 studs.

A-9 aluminum cutting fluid again was pleasant and helpful.

If you have a clamp big enough for this job on your drill press, use it. The drill bit will tend to want to kick out when you get through the flange, which will happen on 6 of the holes because the casting - at least on my head - is a hair wider than the distance between studs when measuring across the head. This will cause the drill bit to bend slightly, and then you'll have to bend it back as straight as you can. I did this at least 5 times.

The good news is that the drill bit will tend to catch the indentation made by the center punch and then drill straight down from that, if you go slowly.

At any rate, i don't have the valve cover gasket update kit yet, but it looks close enough for government work.

I dropped off the head and valvetrain components at the machine shop and spoke to the guy who builds heads. I am terrible with names. FWIW all my machining is being done at Clegg Engine & Machine, where the engine assembler is a personal friend of mine who has a degree in mechanical engineering. He is the most recent hire, and he's been there 11 years. Everyone who works there has one job. My friend only does assembly. The guy who bored the block only measures and bores cylinders. The guy who is building the head only does head work. They are all very good at their jobs, and this shop is clean enough to eat off the floor of.

There are other good shops in the Orem area, but since I have a relationship with these guys, they're doing it. I hear that C&T Machine also does excellent work.

The guy who orders parts is competing in a bicycle race today, so i may order my own gaskets and seals and bearings from GAP today.

[TimpanogosSlim]

Dropped off a big box of greazy diesel-stinking parts for cleaning. I dunno what precisely they use but aluminum heads come out of their parts washer looking new. It's a water & detergent system. *shrug*.

Waiting for paint to dry on the IP sprocket, then i'll give it another coat, wait some more, and then enhance the visibility of the timing mark.

Ordered all my seals and gaskets and bearings from GAP, along with new control arms, bunch of other stuff. Enough for free shipping. oof. Still at least $100 worth of parts yet to buy, not including the head gasket because we need bearings in to measure piston protrusion.

Most important component of a turbo conversion turned up today:

[Gizmoman]

Good to hear you're making progress

[RustyCaddy]

The part number on the head looks like it might be for a 1.5l motor...may be i missed something in your thread about that (pictures don't show the size of the oil return or if the outer boss had been built up for a 1.6 block).

Are the head bolts 11 or 12mm?  Some but not all of the 11mm blocks are stamped 1.6D i think...could be wrong on that.  If it is a 1.5l head the bolt holes would have had to be opened up some to fit 12mm bolts.

A guy on the Vortex is looking for a 1.5 head.