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Author Topic: My Grumman Kubvan: Parts hauler, camping rig, surfing, and just for fun  (Read 7888 times)

June 22, 2015, 12:26:16 pm

shortysclimbin

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Well I bought last year thanks to a fellow TDIer a sight unseen Grumman Kubvan that was "running" after sitting for 11 years.  It wasn't in the best of shape, but not the worst and the prior owner did spend quite a bit of time on it to get it up to date and road worthy for around town.   Fast forward a few months of ownership and I am working on doing my own updates trying to go from this 1.6na:





To a compound 2.0L AHU with ported head, 11mm lift 38mm base circle cam, customer oversized valves, cummings 12mm mechanical TDI pump, block girdle, rosten rods, and transporter pistons.  The project build is based on "what I had on the shelve"  Basically 90% of the materials was project leftovers from customers or other car projects.  The turbos are rebuilt or used and the transmission is the 010 3 speed auto reworked with rasbestos clutches & bands, a billet pump drive, and no accumulators.  I also upped the pressures and increased the clutch pack volume to hold more torque.







I'll need to post more on the project as I have reworked the whole engine bay, brakes, suspension, transmission, engine, turbo setup, and engine mounting / frame work in this Kubvan... The motor is going to be overkill instead of the 42hp 1.6NA but I suspect I'll just drive it detuned 90% of the time and for shows turn up the power a bit.  Next years questions will be what color or scheme to paint it.  This is by far one of the most fun VWs I have owned yet.


PS anyone need a motor or 010 auto that is a TC code (rare diesel auto) let me know. The 1.6na is still good with only 76k on it.



Reply #1June 22, 2015, 11:59:02 pm

vanbcguy

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What head gasket did you use with the AHU that let you bore it out to 2.0?
Bryn

1994 Jetta - AHU M-TDI - Jezebel Jetta
2004 Jetta Wagon - 1.8T - Blitzen

Reply #2June 23, 2015, 01:17:50 am

shortysclimbin

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I used an ahu one and opened it up with some creative grinding. There is just enough room to go before you hit the fire rings. I then put indian head on each layer just to be sure.

Reply #3June 23, 2015, 11:53:00 am

RabbitJockey

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does the starter fit with an ahu block and the automatic?
01 Jetta TDI 100% stock daily
81 Rabbit:TDI-M ported head, Frank06 cam, PD intake, hybrid T3 turbo, Renault intercooler, Syl20 11mm pump, light weight fw, and yellow California Clutch clutch kit

Reply #4June 23, 2015, 11:55:13 am

RabbitJockey

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    America, DUCK YEAH!!!
what turbos have you used?  the small one looks really really small k14?
01 Jetta TDI 100% stock daily
81 Rabbit:TDI-M ported head, Frank06 cam, PD intake, hybrid T3 turbo, Renault intercooler, Syl20 11mm pump, light weight fw, and yellow California Clutch clutch kit

Reply #5June 23, 2015, 05:38:31 pm

shortysclimbin

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yes the starter can fit.  It just needs a little grinding to get it to clear the added motor casting.  I chose to grind about 2mm off and took a picture of it.  I'll post it up in a bit.  The AAZ people didn't want to play around apparently :p!





As you can see only a little grinding on the new starter:



But to note the old one was quite a bit bigger... Gas vs. Diesel or just a different casting?




And it is a 2.0L  I custom made a gasket big enough to clear the pistons under compression. I did this by clamping the gasket between the ARP studs and slowly opening it up with a nice grinder. It isn't the most accurate way to do it, but it was what I had.  I then cycled the pistons up and down and validated it was greater than 1 mm clearance in the worst case situation.



The head is reworked with my own design swirl polished inconel valves, tdimeister 260/260 11mm lift cam, dual valve springs, and a heavy port job to match.  The pistons are 81mm 17:1 CR pistons with deep and big pockets for the valves.








Reply #6June 23, 2015, 05:55:08 pm

shortysclimbin

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For the bottom end I made a custom 1/2" thick block girdle, rosten rods, arp bolts and assembly hardware, lightened and balance the intermediate shaft, installed a new liquid vibration balancer, balanced the rotational assembly, and powder coated the engine block.





The intake is a custom intake manifold:






For the turbos the HP is a modified K03 turbo that has a new center section.  the wastegate was ported out along with the turbine and compressor housings for max flow.  The HP is sitting on a custom adapter that bolts to a 1.6TD manifold that was ceramic coated.   The HP Turbine is a ballbearing GT28RS style turbo with a slightly larger compressor and smallest AR possible for the turbine.  The turbo setup only cost $500 bucks and is a budget build for sure with used parts that have been rebuilt.  I suspect I might want to move to a gas K03 turbo to have slightly better overlap between the compressor maps, but am going to try the combination to see if it works.  The secondary wastegate is still yet to be welded in as I still am scratching my head on the downpipe placement.  I will sort this out once it is in the engine bay and I can snake everything in and around.  a 3" pipe should fit in a 1.5" pipes place right :)?

Reply #7June 23, 2015, 06:32:45 pm

vanbcguy

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Is that the Passat V6 oil cooler I see on there? Did you have any issues getting the coolant hoses to fit?
Bryn

1994 Jetta - AHU M-TDI - Jezebel Jetta
2004 Jetta Wagon - 1.8T - Blitzen

Reply #8June 24, 2015, 07:25:40 am

RabbitJockey

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have you modified the transmission at all?  there are lots of performance parts available for the 010
01 Jetta TDI 100% stock daily
81 Rabbit:TDI-M ported head, Frank06 cam, PD intake, hybrid T3 turbo, Renault intercooler, Syl20 11mm pump, light weight fw, and yellow California Clutch clutch kit

Reply #9June 24, 2015, 07:31:28 am

RabbitJockey

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    America, DUCK YEAH!!!
and yes gas k03 would be better
01 Jetta TDI 100% stock daily
81 Rabbit:TDI-M ported head, Frank06 cam, PD intake, hybrid T3 turbo, Renault intercooler, Syl20 11mm pump, light weight fw, and yellow California Clutch clutch kit

Reply #10June 24, 2015, 11:15:19 am

shortysclimbin

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It is actually a CR oil cooler which is the same size as a VR6 one.  The coolant hoses had to be slightly cut and massaged to fit.

The 010 3 speed was completely rebuilt and reworked.  I have added clutch packs with rasbestos clutches, and bands, decreased clearances, put a new billet pump in it, removed both accumulators, put a 80% diff in, and cranked the pressures up substantially.  I also changed the gear ratios around a bit to get slightly better highway rpms.  I'll post pictures up on the work here in a bit.  It was a lot of changes which should support the motor build.

yes the stock K03 may actually be too small now due to the motor displacement changes and flow improvements. Again.. budget build, I may update this turbo later or get a custom center section made up for it so I don't need to mess with piping changes.  It still shouldn't be that bad of a setup as the LP will compensate well enough with the maps I have seen.  The problem is its just not going to be in the 75% efficiency island :).

Reply #11June 29, 2015, 07:27:54 am

shortysclimbin

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Well worked on it a bit this weekend and was able to get at least the timing belt side mount bolted up and almost all the mounts on.  I stopped because of a few difficult areas which I need to address first.

1) The alternator was way to close for comfort to the 1/2" bolts which hold the bumper support. So I made custom bolts:





2) while installing the rear transmission mount (the greatest PITA known to man)  I noticed I was not going to be able to remove the control arm bolts so I could change the bushings and 32 year old rubber mounts... So I am rebuilding the drivers side control arm and suspension bits now. This resulted in 32 year old bolts not liking me and a lot of hope that I don't have another venture with cutting these out to remove the control arms.  The engine mounting will commence after I get t his resolved.

You can also see the engine fits all but the intake air filter!  I need a 90 degree cobra head fitting.  Anyone know a good place to get one?    The turbo is right now up against the firewall but this is because I have it jacked up hanging on jacks and my engine support bar so I can play around with suspension.

Reply #12July 23, 2015, 01:28:37 am

libbydiesel

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Very nice work.  I really like that intake. 

Reply #13September 16, 2015, 11:36:39 pm

shortysclimbin

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Re: My Grumman Kubvan: Parts hauler, camping rig, surfing, and just for fun
« Reply #13 on: September 16, 2015, 11:36:39 pm »
Andrew it should work out very nice, thanks!  I put a lot of sweat equity into her and not a single thing isn't massaged.  The best part is she is mostly shelve bin parts from my old shop!

She Lives!  The motor is finally running but I now need to do exhaust work, axles and some odds and ends! 

Here are some more pictures of the progress and the overall engine bay rework for the coolant system.  Note I now have a dual shutoff system for the heater valves which will help in the summer.



 

The abf altenator swap works great on this engine bay although is a bit tricky to get to fit at first. 



http://vid121.photobucket.com/albums/o229/shortysclimbin/VID_20150915_2307261_zps0y9js9ni.mp4

I need to now figure out why it doesn't kill it when the key is pulled, and get a spring that will allow it to return to idle (the stock cummins 4bt has a return spring installed stock.  I was experimenting with a mk4 shifter spring but it was too loose :(

Reply #14January 30, 2016, 02:35:52 pm

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Re: My Grumman Kubvan: Parts hauler, camping rig, surfing, and just for fun
« Reply #14 on: January 30, 2016, 02:35:52 pm »
This thread needs an update! Please, you tease!
'87 Syncro Transporter Single Cab "Now TDI"
'78 Rabbit..Gas Weekend Racer
'81 Caddy..Diesel 1.6/1.9 TD hybrid 275HP 349TQ "Retired"
'90 MultiVan, 2.5 Suby Swap, Porsche Brakes
'76 Scirocco TD dragster project
'13 Golf R:. Tuned
'98 Puch G320

 

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