Hello, I'm Ryan, 22, and proud to be Canadian
. I thought i would finally post the story of my sipster-esque diesel daily driver never ending project for you all. If your like me then you like long reads with lots of pictures, enjoy
This car has been with me for a little over a year now but its seen alot and has alot more evolving to do. I bout the 96 golf back in march of 2012 for $300 as a 2.0L automatic, I'm its 6th and final owner
the previous owner couldn't keep it running, I put new spark plug wires on it and drove it until october. I was getting 550km a tank and was not happy with it. After the tranny took a dump i had 2 options.
1.) spend $400 on a junkyard tranny with no garentee it would work.
2.) find a 1.6 or 1.9 diesel and swap it in.
which option do you think I chose? :p
This is the car in its virgin state
After 2 weeks of searching on kijiji, I found a 93 4 door with a 1.9td with a 5speed chd for $700. The engine was supposedly a 97 with 230,000k on it and the tranny and car had over 400,000k and was in RUFF shape. i gave the guy a call and he said he had done the swap himself and it was done right. That weekend i drove 3 hours, and after the scariest test drive of my life, i put it on the trailer and dragged it home. Everything in the car rattled and crunched, the gear shift had so much play in it i couldn't tell if i was putting it into 1st or 5th, the hatch didn't stay shut, the suspension was shot, and it pulled to the left HARD. but the turbo worked and it appeared to be wired properly so i offered him $500 and he took it.
Once home i began the stripping process. I had never done an engine and tranny swap before, or a diesel injection pump rebuild or anything on a vw as this was my first. My father, a mechanic of over 30 years, said he had never known anyone to succesfully rebuild a diesel pump. Challenge accepted!! lol
got it home
pulled the motor and trans
rebuilt the 020 shift linkage with all new bushings
bout new front suspension
dropped the diesel tank and cleaned it really well
started patching holes in the floors
then I started working on getting the 2L out
dropped the gas tank and fixed the rust around the filler neck
Continued with a wack ton more floor welding and cutting
floor work done, started to piece interior back in and swapped the harness over, carpet from diesel car, tan seats dyed black
deleted wires after minimalizing the harness
strut tower repair
diesel tank in with new straps
started to work on the 1.9, it got many new parts. New rear main seal, new water pump, new timing belt and tensioner, new serp belt, new power steering belt, new thermostat and oring, new metal coolant tube, new castrol edge fully synthetic motor oil, cleaned clutch, polished flywheel with plastic cookie, painted most of the block, new oil pressure sensors,
had a little mishap trying to get the hood insulation off in the dark, resulted in a trip to the hospital and stiches
next i took apart the pump to replace worn parts and reseal it, I took my time and didn't cut any corners, I printed out the 56 page bosch manual and studied it thouroughly before i touched it. Also made a few tweaks while i had it apart.
put the engine back in and bolted it up
made my own badgeless grill
The interior has had quite the makeover as well
I have recently deleted the power steering, put the interior dash lights on a switch to disable them during the day, unplugged the pcv heater element until winter gets here and disabled the headlights during the day. I'm currently getting 55 Imperial MPG city, and i drive it hard, but hope to break 60.
Me and my girlfriend just returned from a 2 week cross Canada road trip in the golf with no problems, drove 5500km from Ontario, up through quebec, through new Brunswick, through nova scotia, up to pei, cape Breton and back. Saw quebec city, grand falls new Brunswick, Niagara falls, st. johns, Halifax, peggy`s cove, singing sands beach on pei, drove the entire cabot trail, and many more things
pics from the trip to come later.....
The car will be going all white on the outside within the next 3 weeks, Still debating on coils or bags for suspension but its leaning more towards coils for now, bags maybe down the road
and rims whenever I find a set I actually like (ì`m very picky) lol. Thats all i have to say for tonight, lots more to cover in the next few posts, hope you like it so far
let me know what ya think
clack clack
