81 Rabbit LS AAZ (2023: now tdi-m)

[RabbitJockey]

haha yeah thats one way to justify it

[RabbitJockey]

I built a glow plug harness for the ahu. The stock ones are expensive to buy and I wanted this to easily work with the stock vw harness/gp relay. I threaded the terminal on each glow plug with a 8/32 die so that I could attach the wires with a nut similar to a stock 1.6. I wrapped the harness and used some little boot covers to cover the glow plugs.





then i was able to start the engine for the first time. this is the first time the car has ran on its own power since 2017

i had to floor it to get it to idle, and you can hear in the video that it didn't sound good.

first start video


So i reindexed the throttle lever on the shaft, and i was able to get it to idle and rev great... i'm sure that I will have many adjustments ahead, but for now i can drive it in the and out of the garage.

running after throttle adjustment


here it is after leaving the garage under its own power for the first time in 7 years. there's no coolant in the system, and many other things aren't connected.

[Dennis Froelich]

Dale, Hit some junk yards for an intercooler. I have one from a sh!tbox Chebby that i scored. Cobalt SS either turbo'd or supercharged.

Got mine for free because of a little nick that won't hurt anything. Just a thought.








 

[Dennis Froelich]

RabbitJockey, Very cool sir. Wonder how long the 020 will last?? Curious as I don't want to put a cable shift setup in my 79.

[RabbitJockey]

RabbitJockey, Very cool sir. Wonder how long the 020 will last?? Curious as I don't want to put a cable shift setup in my 79.

i have two more sitting in the corner of my garage incase if this one fails, so I'm not even scared lol.

i'm hoping it will last just fine, i tried to build this for more high rpm power, and i plan to be somewhat careful with how i drive it to help the 020 live. If it does well i'd be inclined to have it rebuilt, or to have one of my spares rebuilt and get the gears cryoed and put a diff in it. but at that point i might as well spend the money on an 02a/02j swap...

that's the thing with an 020, they may last but it's hard to find a good clutch setup and till you spend money on a decent clutch you might as well swap to an 02a/j.

there are advantages to the 020 in a mk1, it's easier, cheaper if it doesnt break, plus everything about it is lighter, including the clutch/flywheel setup.

[Dennis Froelich]

I have all the 020's I need. The ratios in them are good. Even have a 84 GTI 020.
Clutch setup is key!! Thanks for your input sir!!

[RabbitJockey]

Also there is the video of me starting it and pulling it back into the garage

https://imgur.com/h7BJt4G

[Dennis Froelich]

Hell yes!!

[RustyCaddy]

Very nice, that's a cool project!!

[RabbitJockey]

I'll post some updates soon. I got it on the road yesterday, of course the first drive just makes a new list of things that need to be straightened out. Overall the first drive went great. The new engine absolutely rips and i didn't even put the boost controller on it. So it's 8psi straight to the wastegate. Feels faster than the old aaz with the same turbo at 25psi. the aaz was a tired engine with no intercooler, and this new engine was in great shape, plus the cam, headwork, intake manifold, and intercooler so its not much of a surprise.

Reverse worked at first but now i can't get into reverse it just grinds when i try to push the shifter into reverse, so i think there is a clutch issue where it's not fully disengaging.

[ORCoaster]

If my memory serves me correctly, and I can't say it does all the time, I think there is an adjustment nut on the transmission for the reverse engagement.  I would have to look it up in the Bentley to confirm that.

Tell me you need that, and I pull out the big red book.

[RabbitJockey]

thanks, i feel it is something clutch related right now because it worked fine on the last engine and it worked fine at first with this engine. I am afraid that maybe the thrust plate is cracked and flexing so its not allowing the clutch to fully disengage. last night i checked the pressure plate through the bottom of the bellhousing, the straps looked ok and i could see movement when i had my girlfriend press the clutch pedal. I did notice something makes a lot of creaking noises when engaging/disengaging the clutch and its not the clutch cable. i'm afraid i may be pulling the transmission soon to see whats going on.

[RabbitJockey]

Creating the lower radiator hose did not end up being as simple as i had thought. The stock hose fit the dodge neon radiator, so i thought i could just cut out the straight section and add the radiator switch and holder in there. Once i tried that, i could only cut the hose so short and still have room to fit it over the sensor holder and still have room for a clamp. I went poking around at napa and found this piece over a nice 80 degree angle to it, which did help, but not enough.





it looks ok here, and this will give everyone an idea of what i'm dealing with.




The issue is that there is not enough room, so the hose is smashed down, and one there's enough heat to build water pressure, plus the engine moving around it starts to push up on the radiator a lot.



This needs to be fixed before i call it reliably drivable. I'm going to try buying another 9189 hose and use that on the bottom sectio coming off of the thermostat housing to create more of a Z shape  leading up to the radiator so there is more flex in the hose, hopefully that will resolve the squashed hose and moving radiator

[RabbitJockey]

I used this 2.5" piece of angle aluminum to create a shelf for the intercooler to sit on. I used 2 oem holes to mount it, hopefully they're strong enough. If not I will just rivnut it on there



Top view of the shelf, the intercooler has 2 pegs on the bottom, similar to some vw radiators. So I drilled 2 holes for the intercooler and used some grommets around the pegs as dampeners.





Here it is in its new home. I got a 96r battery because it's a little smaller to make room for the intercooler.




I didn't like how long the "race pipe" was so I cut it down and added a new bead.




And here it is with everything in place. I still need to make some mounts for the top of the radiator, and the top of the intercooler but this was enough to make it drivable.

[RabbitJockey]

Not much of an exhaust but I had enough scrap to get me back passed the shifter





First time getting fresh fuel in 7 years. It turned a lot of heads. Probably because of the noise and no hood. Lot's of people yelled as I drove around usually a joke about not having a hood. This engine really rips, i think the pd intake, head work, frank cam, sylvain pump, intercooler, and big t3 turbo added up to good power. Right now I dont even have a boost controller so its just the stock 8psi wastegate pressure. Spool up takes a little bit of pedal input but it's not slow spooling, just kind of dead down low and as soon as you press the pedal down it starts making jet noises. the injection pump is very responsive to boost even at 8psi its likes you're pressing the pedal down more as boost increases. Flooring it in second gear even at a low rpm leads to wheel spin almost instantly. I didn't even think that was a possibility until later when I turn up the boost.





And here is the noisy clutch operation. After some driving I could no longer get into reverse it just grinds when I try to press it in. So I think something is wrong with the thrust plate not allowing enough disengagement. I made this video of the travel on the pressure plate but don't know what is or is not enough travel.

pressure plate video