Intercooling a 1.6L TD engine

[jtanguay]

I bought a 1986 vw jetta TD a few months ago and i've got 68 HP...  I've seen that the intercooled versions of my motor have 90 HP??  If i mix that with an air induction system or a ram air system how much HP would I gain?

I'm considering water vs air to reduce all the extra hoses that will go into the front.  Anybody have experience with water/air intercoolers???

I take it that intercooling the engine is more than just slapping on an intercooler and driving off, or is it?  Do I need to change something on the wastegate or pump?

My car also has solid lifters.  I hear it won't stick like hydraulic lifters, but mine are startling to make noise...  I had the exhaust ones replaced, but not the intake ones.  (engine ran rougher mostly at idle when i noticed the ticking).   Is this serious?  She still runs the highway quite nicely and boost in 5th at 110km/h (no hill she won't climb at this speed... lol)

Thanks guys!  I just want a little more power since guys behind me ride my butt... until they smell my exhaust and drive past hahahaha

[VWRacer]

From the description I assume it's a 1.6TD (I can't recall when Canada got the 1.9TD). In any case, simply adding an intercooler won't get you any more power - this isn't a gas engine... :wink:

Anyway, you'll need to add more fuel to get more power. Smog used to have a very good DIY webpage for adding fuel to a TD here, but the link now comes up dead. Does anyone know if it moved? If not, I have it saved off line in English and can reconstruct it if needed.

[Marc, would that make a good "Sticky"?]

There are other threads here that go into quite a bit of detail. Do some searching and reading of old threads. It's the middle of the night and I'm too tired to do it for you right now... :wink:

[chrissev]

My car also has solid lifters.  I hear it won't stick like hydraulic lifters, but mine are startling to make noise...  I had the exhaust ones replaced, but not the intake ones.  (engine ran rougher mostly at idle when i noticed the ticking).   Is this serious?  

Your car requires valve adjustment.  The early 1.6 diesels and turbo diesels need the valves adjusted I believe every 10,000km or so.  Mostly the 1985s because they changed it in 1986 but if you have an early 1986 you also need to adjust your valves.  You adjust them by replacing the shims.

[fspGTD]

If you posted a picture of your cylinder head, we could tell you if it was hydraulic of solid lifter.  Hydraulic lifters have an extra oil return "bulge" on the front of the block where it mates to the block.  It's in the middle-left side of the head (looking at the transverse-mount engine with the hood up.)

The stock 1.6lIDI-TD intercooled engine, code RA/SB, was sold only in europe, and made 80HP.

Adding an intercooler can be literally as easy as just slapping it on (of course, the end result will only be as good as the level of care you put into the work - IE: how much care you take in fabricating boost tubes, mounting brackets, etc is quite variable.)  It will result in essentially more airflow through the motor.  If your motor doesn't smoke one bit, you might not notice much extra power, but your exhaust gas temperatures will be reduced considerably.  You can add more fuel to return the exhaust gas temperatures or smoke level up to the levels they were pre-intercooler, you should notice a nice, (I'd say 10-15% could be had for an efficient intercooler setup), power gain.  If the current setup smokes, just installing the intercooler, adding more air, will burn the fuel that is injected more thoroughly, increasing fuel economy and power and reducing smoking.

[crazybushman]

My 1985 TD Jetta used to smoke pretty good with the pedal to the floor.  I rebuilt the injectors (with bosch parts), and it was a bit better, but it still smoked.  Instead of turning down the fuel, I added an intercooler.  I have digital pictures of it, but I don't really know how to post them right now.  Anyways, I built a front strut bar and the intercooler bolts to that and sits between the rad overflow tank and the engine.

The first day I put it on, I went for a drive without the hood on (to get some air on the cooler).  Wow!  What a difference!!  I can only get up to 9lbs of boost right now, and it used to be 9.5lbs, but I've yet to mess with the boost on it :-)  My little brother and I went for a drive around town (without the hood), we pulled up beside some guy in a new TDI at the lights, he kind of looks over and smiles wandering how crazy I must be to be souping up this old car.  He started rolling before the light turned so I let her rip, I beat him, but not by much (he also had 4 people in the car, I only had 2).  Anyways, point being, you can feel the intercooler in the seat of your pants after putting it on :-)  Now if only I could find a hood scoop that didn't look gay.....

Cheers!
Tyler

[jtanguay]

check this guys car out, its exactly like mine!

Look at his intake mod!

http://www.virginiovejjet.50megs.com/photo.html

Oh yea. my car idles pretty rough, even when its warmed up (vibrates quite a bit).  Does this mean I need a rebuild/new rings?  Could this be injector related?  thnx for any help!

Jon