Block/Head mods for strength, longevity, and of course HP.

[Erase_The_Eraser]

Hi there! Upon my most recent discovery of ring failure I have decided to rebuild my little TD Eco diesel out of my 92 Jetta. I'm not one to just rebuild something and leave all the internals stock, so I started searching for mods to be done to the head and block. P&P is a must for the head, and I have seen the water jacket mod on these prove to be quite useful - drilling the 8 holes through the block and head to create passage ways for air bubbles. Oh, and head studs for higher boost.
I have cash to spend on this, I considered coatings but it doesn't seem like its going to yield enough ponies for the cash I would have to hand out for that.
So now I'm looking for suggestions, lets keep it strictly long-block mods though, as things like injection pump, larger turbo, injectors, exhaust and whatnot can all come later down the road. Right now its all about the heart of the beast.

[SMOKEYDUB]

its a 1.6 so maybe knife edge the crank and get some nice and strong but light pewter rods. you will get very good results with p&p the head p&p the exhaust manifold make sure to get a lightened flywheel and you will be really strong for anything thats about it for bottom end you could also bore it out theres no replacement for displacement moly coated pistons maybe have a set of lightend pistons or custom pistons and be sure to use all arp bottom end hardware and dont cheap out on bearing sets.

[wyldman]

I wouldn't knife edge the crank,it doesn't work on these diesels.Stock rods are fine too.Don't worry about the bottom end,it's fine unless your making huge numbers,and start bending rods.

I would recommend coating the pistons,and head chambers,so you can make more power.Port and polish the head,open up the exhaust,and get a good free flowing intake system.You need good airflow to keep it cool,so you can add more fuel.

Use a 1.9L metal headgasket,and studs,so you can run lots of boost without worries of lifting the head.

Lighten the flywheel and use a lightweight clutch.This will make a noticeable improvement in throttle response,it will rev much faster.

You will now have a good foundation to start making more power.

Power comes from the pump,injectors\nozzles,and turbo.A Giles pump,with GTD nozzles will make some good power.

[DVST8R]

I wouldn't knife edge the crank,it doesn't work on these diesels.Stock rods are fine too.Don't worry about the bottom end,it's fine unless your making huge numbers,and start bending rods.

Well that is a matter of opinoin and goals, if you plan to rev this thing to 6000rpm+ then I would knifedge the crank, but have the whole assembly well balanced.

If you have the $$$ get rods, Andy2 here on this board bent his rods @ ~180hp.

Finally if it hasn't been covered: ARP main studs, rodbolts, headstuds. As far as coatings if you want to go all out, the most I would do is: pistons, valve faces and intake and exhaust ports (after some good porting) and external ceramic coating on the exhuast manifold, turbine housing, and downpipe. That is going to the extreme though.

[Erase_The_Eraser]

I called around on Knife-Edging, it was something I had not considered yet but since I'm going to be revving around the 6000 mark I figured it should probably be done. The problem was nobody in my area does it. I found a place online wanting over 500 dollars to do it...
I had no idea the bottom end would fold up after 180 HP! However, thats a crap load of torque...I imagine that thing was pretty scary.
Seems like the Ceramic coating is important to some of you, anyone notice much of a temp drop by using this stuff?

[jtanguay]

I called around on Knife-Edging, it was something I had not considered yet but since I'm going to be revving around the 6000 mark I figured it should probably be done. The problem was nobody in my area does it. I found a place online wanting over 500 dollars to do it...
I had no idea the bottom end would fold up after 180 HP! However, thats a crap load of torque...I imagine that thing was pretty scary.
Seems like the Ceramic coating is important to some of you, anyone notice much of a temp drop by using this stuff?

If you have the money, go with the coatings.  Every bit of HP counts.  I might these guys http://www.maxpower-engines.com/xtreme.htm.  They use a thermal reflective coating superior to ceramic, and I believe the anti-friction coating i bet is Moly.  I've heard of Nikasil, but that stuff erodes in the presence of sulphur. (bad for diesels then)

Considering their price, $40 each piston, its cheap insurance for a vital part of your engine, AND keeps the heat where it belongs!  I notice on my car right now, when I go uphill the temp gets hot, mainly because the heat is dissipating into all of the surfaces inside the combustion chamber.

I wonder if coating the injectors would do any good.  I know that the heat shields do a good job of keeping heat away, but wouldn't a coating do a better job?  Coating the actual injector?  Would help keep fuel temps lower, increase power, and injector life?

Has anyone ever coated the pre-chambers???  :twisted:

[jtanguay]

I called around on Knife-Edging, it was something I had not considered yet but since I'm going to be revving around the 6000 mark I figured it should probably be done. The problem was nobody in my area does it. I found a place online wanting over 500 dollars to do it...
I had no idea the bottom end would fold up after 180 HP! However, thats a crap load of torque...I imagine that thing was pretty scary.
Seems like the Ceramic coating is important to some of you, anyone notice much of a temp drop by using this stuff?

If you have the money, go with the coatings.  Every bit of HP counts.  I might try these guys http://www.maxpower-engines.com/xtreme.htm.  They use a thermal reflective coating superior to ceramic, and I believe the anti-friction coating i bet is Moly.  I've heard of Nikasil, but that stuff erodes in the presence of sulphur. (bad for diesels then)

Considering their price, $40 each piston, its cheap insurance for a vital part of your engine, AND keeps the heat where it belongs!  I notice on my car right now, when I go uphill the temp gets hot, mainly because the heat is dissipating into all of the surfaces inside the combustion chamber.

I wonder if coating the injectors would do any good.  I know that the heat shields do a good job of keeping heat away, but wouldn't a coating do a better job?  Coating the actual injector?  Would help keep fuel temps lower, increase power, and injector life?

Has anyone ever coated the pre-chambers???  :twisted:

[SMOKEYDUB]

i believe that andy coated pretty well everything including pre chambers. 180 hp is alot more then you think in that small of a car thats enough to run real low 14severyone has different experiences with everything run twin turbos and a 12 mm giles pump that would make some good power if you can make it work right (Andy)

[Erase_The_Eraser]

With the coatings...it seems like anything that is seeing any extreme heat should certainly get covered up with that stuff. Seems like plenty of companys offer it, but I'm curious to see which coatings stand the test of time, and of course heavy beatings.
I hear lots of talk on the Giles pump, what does this guy do differently from other pump rebuilders?
Anyone ever played with the idea of lowering the CR in the combustion chamber and running a lot of propane? Seems like it could work out well...I read that post saying it wasn't much of a power boost with the stock CR.

[Dr. Diesel]

I wouldn't knife edge the crank,it doesn't work on these diesels.

I did a 1.6L with a lightened crank. other than new rings and bearings, that was the only significant change. It made a world of difference on throttle response and a a noticeable difference in acceleration. Little lumpy on idle though!

[hillfolk'r]

I wouldn't knife edge the crank,it doesn't work on these diesels.

I did a 1.6L with a lightened crank. other than new rings and bearings, that was the only significant change. It made a world of difference on throttle response and a a noticeable difference in acceleration. Little lumpy on idle though!

yea they respond to normal hot rodding trix
i was gonna knife edge and lighten my crank,but the engine dude at work was worried about having to add heavy metal back,bein its stock rods+pistons,so i didnt do it
im curious how much weight did ya remove from the crank??it balanced ok too?

[Dr. Diesel]

yeah, it hardly needed anything to balance... I can't quite remember the weight difference... 4 lbs is coming to mind, but not sure.

[935racer]

The more you lighten the crank the more accurate you need to balance them, its great for street/strip cars, but I wouldnt lighten the crank much for a daily driver. 4lbs is a lot :shock:  that means that little crank was down to the 23lb territory, yikes, ditch the hamoni balancer and put a 6lb flywheel on that and taht thing would be revving faster than a gasser :twisted:

[andy2]

I Didn't bother coating any cyl head parts.I've only lightened the flywheel to 8 lbs and put the much lighter/stronger PD 100 rods in.Along with balancing everything,thats about it.

With the lower compression and lightened parts this engine likes the higher idle 1050-1100 when hot for ease of driveability.Even with the higher idle it still needs to be reved a bit in order to not stall it while taking off,Kinda reminds me of the pro stock tractor pullers :twisted:.