1.6 NA connecting rods

[Mohatanous]

Hello all! I have made posts about my 83' Rabbit with a NA 1.6 not completely rotating and couple other things, but since then it seems that the forum has changed a bit and some things may be gone. Regardless, in the end I ended up putting a new head on my engine and it ran beautifully. I made several over 450 mile round trips with it and it never skipped a beat. I even took the carpet out and fixed all of the rust I had in the floors and put the car on a lift and replaced the floor supports. It was looking good and running great.

My tragedy began on July 4th, when on a trip long distance I noticed a considerable lack of power. I pulled over and noticed injector 1 squirting fuel out of it and the engine skipping. I managed to limp it home, about 40 miles, and ended up needing to replace the fuel lines. I ran it back and forth to work the next day with no issues and attempted my long journey a week after the original incident on July 11th. I made it about 45 miles this time, cruising on the highway around 70mph, and heard a terrible grinding noise that I sadly knew all too well. The engine quit, and trying to re-start it made all sorts of terrible noises in the bottom end, which I believe to be a broken connecting rod. What I believe happened was some fuel was getting into the cylinder a week before but not enough to combust. This fuel washed past my rings, and washed my bearings. This is only a theory based off of what occurred and smelling my dipstick post-tragedy and smelling diesel in the oil.

Since I have a new head on it that I know works well, my question now is where can I source some connecting rods for a NA 1.6? Since I'm going to be doing the bottom end, are there any words of advice or upgrades I can do while I'm in there? I know it is nearly October now, but between work and being straight up distraught over it I haven't even touched the car. Any words of wisdom are appreciated, thank you!

[fatmobile]

Sorry to hear about your engine.
A friend is rebuilding an engine and might have a couple spare rods,... but it will be awhile before they are available.
 You haven't actually looked at your rods yet right?

[Mohatanous]

I haven't looked at them yet, no. I haven't begun any process yet, I have to get my basement cleaned out enough to get the car inside. I'm going to guess it's the rods based off of my current knowledge of what I believe happened. I'm also hoping that my crankshaft isn't scored beyond use. My father has an 81' Rabbit with a 1.6 with bent valves. My backup plan is to use the bottom end from that car, as that engine only had about 50k on it when that unfortunate incident occurred. I'd like to use mine, but I'll take what I can get.

[fatmobile]

 It's great that you have access to another bottom end.
 Even if it's to use while you rebuild yours.

[sgnimj96]

This is little off topic, 
but I've been wondering lately if it's really true
that 11mm headbolt blocks use the exact shortblock
internals as the 12mm blocks.
As we all know the 12mm head bolts hold better,  would
it be worth finding a dead12mm block, if you have a rebuilt
11mm engine,   and having a machine shop swap the
internals.    I know there are a lot of variables that would be
found out in the process,  but is it true the parts swap over?

[fatmobile]

Yep, everything from a 1.6 11mm block will swap to the 1.6 12mm block.
Same bearings, rods, pistons
 The crank sprocket and keyway are different. The 11mm uses the standard straight slot key.
But the crank will swap on over too.

 I've put 11mm heads on 12mm blocks.
 I really think the holes can be drilled bigger on a drill press. No need for a machine shop.
 But the flats that the washers sit on need to be bigger or the washers need to be ground down.

 I do think the 11mm block is just as reliable if you use head studs.
Libby said he had 11mm head studs pull the threads out of a block but I've never had it happen.

[sgnimj96]

I picked up a cheap "untested" 11mm 1.6 that a vanagon guy replaced the pistons
himself because it had a lot of blowby,  but ran fine.  Then decided to sell all his
vw stuff.  I think I'd need to inspect it well before running it.   

Then I see a  12mm engine with a broken timing belt on FB
also dirt cheap....  got me wondering about talking to a machine shop and
upgrading to that block.

I see a lot running mk1's popping up too,  the rust is taking a toll and people also just
need to move on,  but the cost of repairs on newish cars are going crazy too.   
I think people are in denial of how much cars are wrecking budgets.
It nice to hear there are so many interchangible parts with these old IDI diesels.

And to the OP,  there is a guy that fixes our injectors in S Carolina.
He's really good I hear,  gets the old nozzles spraying right again if he can.
https://www.dieselinjectorguru.com/
Kinda sucks,  new nozzles are all chinese and don't last like the old ones.

[fatmobile]

The rust has been taking it's toll around here for decades.
Where are you located? Is it even getting hard to find a rust free rabbit down south?

[VWSmokr]

Another mix n' match chapter! Not to shove aside the OP's plight, but are there any suggestions re. head  with the 11mm head bolt (stud) washers for the opposite situation, i.e., a 12mm 1.6td head on a brand new 1.5L n.a. block? Can the head be secure enough with the steel 11mm washers or should custom hardened washers be fabbed?
 

[fatmobile]

I suppose they made the washers bigger in 12mm heads to distribute/spread the force.
 It's probably a good idea to have bigger washers.
 I don't think I'd go to the trouble. Washers from old 12mm headbolts might work with 11mm ARP studs.
 Youd have to cut the old bolt to get them, they don't slide down over the threads.

Wondering about the 12mm head on a 1.5 block.
 How is the small oil return in the front center lined up with larger 1.6 head?
And I've done this before doh.
 I'm not sure how the head sits on the 1.5 in that area.
 I remember Jack had a sleeve that was tapped into the block for going the other way (1.5 head on a 1.6 block).
 So the head gasket would have support.

[VWSmokr]

Thanks for the input. The 11mm Race-Tech studs came with some black high-strength washers. Searching around, it looks like McMaster-Carr has a decent 10.9-class washer assortment in their "structural" & "oversized" series. Measurements are listed at https://www.mcmaster.com/products/washers/fastener-strength-grade-class~iso-class-10-9/  May be a solution there for the OP also?

As far as the mechanical 1.6td head's center oil return, seems like that could be tapped fitted with a threaded aluminum plug (with sealer!), re-drilled to match & planed flat with the head's surface to play nice with the 1.5 block & head gasket. With the turbo & installed piston squirters also drawing oil from the high-volume pump (Anal; yeah, I know!), the 3 oil drains should still be adequate to handle the return oil flow. 

[fatmobile]

On the 1.5, the oil return holes were never enough, even stock.
 The inability for the oil to drain from the head fast enough caused runaway in older engines.
Blowby became strong enough to keep oil from draining into the block and send the oil out the CCV right into the intake.
 VWs solution was adding an extra hose from the front of the block, up to the hose going to the intake.
Basically sending blowby gasses around the head, instead of through the oil drains in the head.
So the blowby couldn't keep the oil from draining back to the block.

 The 1.6 didn't have this hose, due to large drain holes (mine do, integrated with the 2.0 gasser CCV puck).
 But the idea came back with the AAZ, 1Z and AHU.

[sgnimj96]

Where did you get a "brand new" 1.5D block?  VW stopped using those 45 years ago.

[VWSmokr]

Re. NEW 1.5!

A VW shop in lower B.C. had some brand new German "fitted blocks' back in the mid-1990s, so I ordered one, but with new 1.6 pistons & rings. Then mothballed the entire project when family priorities changed (very positive!) & the Dasher wagon daily was running sweet, with a mostly stock 1.6na & wide-ratio Quantum 5-speed (43/55+mpg). Kids grown now & it's time to re-claim shop time & finish several projects that got relegated to the back burner. Glad some on this forum are still successfully running with & improving the IDI engines!

[sgnimj96]

That is pretty sweet.   Those Dashers were built like little luxury cars. 
Good job upgrading the transmission, I had an '80 with
the 4-speed and it really held back the top speed.