I've been playing with this little Cabby off and on for a few years, and finally got it running well enough to get some local DD time on it. It's a fun little car to zip around town in and cruise the beach with. Unfortunately, there simply aren't any more parts donors in the local yards since the price of auto scrap went up after Katrina. Motor needs to be pulled and at minimum have all the seals/gaskets done or else I can't drive it to work anymore. Base Environazis lose their minds when my Cabby marks its territory. If it has to come out, might as well replace it with something I'd enjoy more, like the "strong" 1.6l Nasty Asthmatic from my New England Cancer 86 Coupe.
Plus, I really hate the smell of gasoline.
So all things considered, here's what power searching with my good-buddy Google (site:vwdiesel & site:vwvortex) has led me to believe. Just looking for a once-over to make sure I'm not missing the obvious... Keeping in mind that I'm keeping every possible Cabby part under the hood that I can get away with.
1. Keeping the ACD 020 trans in the Cabby. My ACH has a blown reverse, and I'm not up for busting open the case to rebuild at this point. Keeping the ACD allows me to maintain existing flanges, axles, shift linkage, reverse light switch, speedo gear, & d-side mount, the trade-off being less than stellar gearing that I'll have to find a happy-medium via tire size to suite my driving habits.
2. Keeping gasser PP, clutch & flywheel, remembering to transfer mark for TDC. This also gives me a lighter flywheel that should give a potentially faster throttle response and a compression-braking effect due to lack of rotating mass. Sounds like stop-n-go fun to me.
3. Moving all mk1 mounts over from 1.8 to the 1.6, all straight forward except for P-side. Since the 1.6 is mkii, the IP bracket has no mount welded, but I should be able to grinder-notch the IP bracket to accept the gasser mount over top, without belt interference. I'll know more about this when I get both motors on the ground. *shouldn't negatively effect alignment of other mounts or shift linkage* haven't confirmed. It's what, 6mm thick? I might need longer bolts.
4. Transfer all gauge/light senders from 1.8 to 1.6, allowing all Cabby gauges to continue doing what they do.
5. Coil exciter wire becomes fuel cutoff switch signal to IP.
6. Ditch high pressure pump, accumulator, and wonky plastic "filter" swirlpot thing that is guaranteed to break the moment I touch it. Keeping gasser tank and transfer pump on sender, deflecting return line to point rearward in tank instead of downward. Carry over diesel filter and mount. Use existing CIS feed/return hard lines, replacing softies with clear poly lines. *edit: jumper wire where fuel pump relay used to be to run xfer pump when key is on*
7. Tractor-style push-button and relay glow plug control. K.I.S.S. philosophy.
8. Figure out best route for cooling, radiators are *supposed* to be the same (mkii non-ac diesel vs. mk1 ac gasser). Hoses will sort themselves out between mk1/mkii after motor install, I'm sure. Keeping res cap from diesel for proper pressure.
9. Ditch all AC-related Cabby parts (condenser, dryer, possibly evap when if/when I need to drop dash). Diesel Coupe was born sans-AC.
10. Power Rack - loop feed/return lines with reservoir until manual rack install, or attempt pump install on to diesel. Don't know if it's worth the headache of belt-routing. This will be a null point if Jetta is already power assist, I don't remember since last time I looked. However the diesel currently exists, is how it will be.
11. Diesel manifolds and air filter/box remain stock, Cabby toilet bowl dp and exhaust, sans cat (can't remember, does 88 have cat? Does have oxy sensor for sure.)
12. Knock-out filler neck restriction to accept diesel pump nozzle.
13. Vac Booster & heater door control lines routed to Vac pump. Relocate vac reservoir from hood (and possibly replace with smaller res)
14. Remove remaining gas-only components from engine bay.
15. Retain cold start advance cable, make dash pull from mkii fit into cabby dash blank.
16. Figure out best throttle cable.
Keep in mind I've stepped over some obvious "performance enhancing" mods
, stuff like boring out toilet bowl to match exhaust size to manifold I.D., increasing air box snorkel diameter and routing to source of non-engine compartment hot air, etc. I want to get a feel for how everything shakes out before I make changes, so I can judge seat-of-the-pants improvements later down the road. I just want to establish a baseline first.
I think that's it for now. Have I missed any obvious stuff?