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

[TimpanogosSlim]

Pretty sure it's a 1.6 head.

[RustyCaddy]

Sounds good then...the AAZ head wouldn't fit a 11mm block tightly without sleeving the head bolts

[TimpanogosSlim]

the block code is JK. I'd take more pics of the head but it's at the shop, in case someone wants it milled before shipped.

[TimpanogosSlim]

I think you guys were right - this does look like a 1.5 head.



In other news, got clean parts back from machine shop. I use only quality John Deere paints.



Yes, the mounts are still there. i decided that this was less fussy than having them pressed out and taping off the metal. When my new ones get here from GAP next week i'll have these pressed out and new pressed in.

Ran out of etching primer. 1st can of Blitz Black is near empty, but i used that for some other projects too.

Basically, the aluminum castings are so rough that there is no cleaning them. Thus paint. The sheet metal has lost most of it's chromate plating, thus paint. I want this engine to be pretty.

Oh, I also drilled and tapped a 2nd port on the oil filter flange. No sweat. Drilled in four steps starting with 3/16 and ending with 11/32 on a drill press, then tapped gradually and carefully until the brass 1/8 npt street tee can almost seat by hand. Liberal application of A-9 cutting fluid again. Great stuff.

[TimpanogosSlim]

Parts got here from GAP, and i got a good looking IM shaft from mcpook.

As much as i trust mcpook i am paying for an hour or so of labor for the head to be professionally assembled, plus any machining it needs. They will also double check all the parts and polish the cam.

So today i dropped off the IM shaft, IM shaft bearings, and valve seals at the machine shop.

I'm gonna install my own front and rear main seals and IM shaft seal using the method i saw in use at the shop. They have a hotplate that they heat up the seal carrier on. When it's sufficiently expanded, they just pick up the carrier with a pair of pliers, put it down on a steel table, drop in the seal, wait a few seconds, then pick it back up with the pliers and take it to the sink and run some water over it. My friend over there says this is the ONLY way to install them without damaging the seal. Seems clever to me. I figure there's no reason i can't heat up my own seal carriers on a griddle at home.

I did have them press out the old seals, though.

There was also some interesting lore shared about seal materials. He says in the 11 years he's been there - and they warranty their builds - almost every time they have had an engine come back with oil seeping from a main seal, it was a seal with a brown material against the rotating surface. Almost never a seal with a dark, graphite-impregnated material against the rotating surface. so now they acquire a graphite seal whenever possible.

but hey, this is a mk1 diesel. it's probably going to seep from somewhere, no matter what i do.

The shop won't be building this engine, though. In a day or three I'll have to pay my bill and take the block and head, and assembly of the engine will happen in my friend's garage, with his supervision.

[TimpanogosSlim]

Just a crappy cell phone picture, but i have drilled and tapped my PD130 manifold for a 1/8 npt boost tap.

I suppose with a male-female-female-female cross fitting i could potentially use it for an IAT sensor as well, but eh. I bought a lot of 5 male to two female brass tees on ebay just now, because that was the minimum quantity i could find for the kind that is milled out of a block of brass.

If anybody wants one send me a PM. I sure don't need 5.

I may have gone a turn or so too far with the tap. The plug i used for test fit goes all the way in. Nothing i can't resolve with another layer of yellow teflon tape. As the kids say, the boost tap will be "hella flush".

[TimpanogosSlim]

Well i started small with the seals. specifically the IM output seal.

I have, uh, rather a lot of cast iron cookware. So i pulled out a 6" skillet that had gotten some rust spots on the cooking surface, put it face down on the gas stove, lit it up, and set it to medium. Put the seal carrier for the IM shaft on it.

When oil started cooking out of it and smoking up the kitchen i got anxious and pushed the seal in. Slid right in. Waited a bit and then ran small trickles of water over it until it stopped sizzling.

Then i went to the weekly gathering of car nerds. Got back about 40 minutes ago.

Heated the pan up again and this time went looking for my infrared thermometer. I put the front main seal on it and waited until it read about 250f and then pushed in the seal. Same size as the IM seal. Went right in.

Then i put on the rear main carrier, which as you know has a lot less metal to it. I guess i had trouble getting a good read on it with the ir thermometer i guess, i got nervous and jumped the gun. i dropped the seal on it and just the metal part went in, and immediately heated up. I had to tap it back out with a large screwdriver and a hammer.

So i put the rear main carrier back on the hot iron and walked away for 5 or 7 minutes. When i came back the iron was reading over 700f (prime steak searing temperatures, fwiw) and the carrier over 430f.

So i dropped the seal on it. or rather through it.

then scrambled to get it back up off the hot iron with some cooking tongs.

Using the tongs i moved the rear main carrier to a cool surface, transmission side down, and dropped the seal into it's midst.

I had to stand there blowing on it for a minute before the carrier shrunk enough to meet up with the seal. Then i picked it up with the tongs and cooled it with a thin trickle of water in the sink.

I consider this a success. I don't want to install a seal any other way.

[TimpanogosSlim]

Mostly painted parts today, including the water pump housing, intake manifold, heater hard line, alternator pulley.

Also blocked off the EGR port on the exhaust manifold, since the kit came from idparts. Rusty old studs were a bear to remove, and one set of threads on the egr port was damaged.

Here's the proof of concept for the turbo oil supply line and the pressure sender, after chasing threads in the street tee until they can almost bottom out:



Intake manifold w/ 'race pipe', alternator bracket in the background:



Starting to lean toward just hot piping it for now, and trying to budget in an air-to-water intercooler in the future. Could fit all of that behind the intake manifold, i bet.

[TimpanogosSlim]

Paid the bill for the block work and brought home block, crank, etc.

I have no frame of reference (never had any machine work done before, of any severity anyway) but i am under the impression that i paid a pretty fair price for the work.

The pistons, eh, I misremember the brand name on the box. I should have bought Nurals from RockAuto. These have a made in chicago mark. I'll look it up. They look no worse than the original Nural pistons i took out, though, so i imagine they will work ok. $270 inclusive w/ rings. So with nural pistons from rockauto and grant rings from somewhere else i might have saved a few bucks after paying for shipping twice, but not much. This shop mostly works on detroit iron and has all kinds of wholesale suppliers i never heard of. They probably buy pistons for numerous makes from whoever made these and this shop warranties their builds so I imagine they trust the brand.

There are still spots of surface rust (and one swath of green paint) on the exterior of the block. I guess i can't blame them for not media blasting it or something. Some light OCD is kicking in so i think i will get out the big box of dremel wire wheels and cones and do what i can.

The crank polishing looks beautiful.

Machinist tells me that the 2nd hand IM shaft was a slightly tight fit at first, but he gave it a light polish and it now fits "perfect". I trust his judgment (he's been assembling 3-4 engines a day for 11 years, with unlimited mileage warranty, and very few have come back) but i wonder if this indicates that the IM shaft bearings sold by GAP are not fully honed? They don't specify and the box didn't say. At least this indicates to me that oil starvation due to poor IM shaft fitment is unlikely, and i didn't have to pay to have sleeves installed.

The verification, polish, and assembly of used AAZ valve train and installation into brand new prothe AAZ head is a separate ticket and i'm told will be 'like an hour" of labor, and it will be done "maybe wednesday" - i'm not concerned about the time frame since i doubt I'll have a head gasket within the next 10 days.

verification of valve train parts is not because i don't trust the guy i bought them from. just due prudence. I intend to beat on this engine pretty hard after it has been run in.

I extracted the rusty studs from the ahu-spec k03 today as well. Why is it that there is always one that is badly seized with damaged threads? I am starting to feel that my harbor freight propane torch is inadequate for superheating stubborn hardware and i may need to buy a MAPP gas setup at a minimum, and religate the propane torch to kitchen duty.

Anybody know a reasonably priced non-prothe source for a downpipe flange for this thing? prothe sells a DP for $60ish but i will end up paying someone to modify it anyway. I met a local fabricator but I am unsure if i trust him.

[Gizmoman]

Interesting reading. BTW, you wrote the word "trust" four times. Not sure if that means anything, just sayin.

IMHO some bits from Prothe are fine, some stuff not so much. The most complex thing I would buy from him would be pistons, and that's only if you can't find them elsewhere - even for twice the price.

The build is progressing nicely. As for the IM shaft fit, I get the impression the Machinist knows his stuff.

[TimpanogosSlim]

Interesting reading. BTW, you wrote the word "trust" four times. Not sure if that means anything, just sayin.

Interesting. I guess i am just listing my known unknowns?

IMHO some bits from Prothe are fine, some stuff not so much. The most complex thing I would buy from him would be pistons, and that's only if you can't find them elsewhere - even for twice the price.

The build is progressing nicely. As for the IM shaft fit, I get the impression the Machinist knows his stuff.

Yeah people seem to say that the prothe aaz heads are ok. His 1.6 pistons are the same cost as nurals so, eh, no thanks.

So far i found this flange:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1150627

Which costs more than the prothe downpipe. And the photo doesn't show that it has clearance for the wastegate to open all the way. And he says that's an OE gasket and i was pretty sure there is no gasket (just exhaust sealant compound).

So i will search around a bit more. The 'fabricator' is a guy with an enormous Norton mig/tig rig in his garage. I bought a saab intercooler from him before i decided that i am just going to hot pipe this thing until i can budget for a water to air intercooler. He offered to give me some "good clamps" with the IC and then reached into a coffee can and handed me three greasy mismatched hardware store grade worm gear band clamps.

So, yeah.

Anybody wanna buy an intercooler from a saab 9-3? Or from a mercedes sprinter? I want the least turbo lag possible which means i am not plumbing in a front mount IC.

[TimpanogosSlim]

Just dropped off injectors for pop test at a bosch injection shop recommended by zukgod1. Here's hoping i don't need new nozzles but i'd rather know now.

If they're good they'll be shimmed to 155 bar if not, eh, i'll figure that out when i get there.

. :Sent by pneumatic tubes

[TimpanogosSlim]

Early this morning i found someone on the vortex trying to get rid of some mk3 tdi parts, and then found them on tdiclub trying to get rid of even more mk3 tdi parts.

I was wondering if an AHU air inlet tube would work in my mk1 application but i ended up buying an AHU jetta downpipe for substantially less shipped cost than a prothe DP stub. I consider that a win.

Tonight i went over the whole block with wire wheels on the dremel, wasted a whole can of brake kleen, masked off gasket surfaces, and applied primer. Sadly i do not have high hopes for this paint job. environmental regulations being what they are, a hot tanking is not what it used to be. i think there is a lot of the original paint still on the block, just cooked and caked with carbon. I have a bad feeling that this engine is going to be pretty for about 5 minutes.

Ahh well.

[Gizmoman]

Congrats on the downpipe score.
I believe tackling a block with a dremel to get it clean is like a mosquito mating with an elephant
You may be better off using carb dip and a good wire brush. Paint remover could help as well - especially the non-environmental friendly stuff if you can find it.

I've used a wire wheel on a 4" grinder - both the cup and flat type, and had good results. The good thing about a pretty engine is fixing the oil leaks (if it's even possible) will keep you from getting bored.

[TimpanogosSlim]

yeah, i have a harbor freight die grinder and various wheels. i might give the front and back another good scrubbing.

there are so many little nooks and crannies on the back of the block, though, which don't actually accomplish anything that i can recall. so many bosses for hardware i don't have. must have been for industrial engines or something.

I know what the real solution here is. I just don't think i can execute on it.

there's an adhesive rubber mat that monument companies and sculpteurs use to mask items, usually stone, before media blasting. It's the primary way that words get cut into marble for the last 50 years or so. I could mask off all but the rough cast areas and go to it.

but i don't have the mat, or access to the blaster.