freshening up an aaz for vanagon install, lots of questions !

[zuhandenheit]

Hi all,

I've got an AAZ motor that I am preparing to drop in my 1982 vanagon. I've been doing body work on the van, so I'm taking my time with the motor.

I'll post pictures later. I don't have them on this computer.

I bought the motor from a Canadian member of this forum, who has been helpful and gave me a very reasonable deal. (thanks Rob)

The first thing that I did was take off all accessories, brackets, etc., so that I could clean and remove rust, and then paint the block. That's done, and I've been putting it back together slowly.

I bought a new oil pump, timing belt and tensioner, gaskets, rear crank seal, and other odd and ends.


I have a lot of questions about what I ought to check / do to this motor before I put it in. Thanks in advance for whatever help you can give me.

The head was recently rebuilt.

I have removed the pan and checked with feeler gauges a few of the tolerances listed in my vanagon 1.6d Bentley, and they seemed reasonably close to those, but I don't know how different the aaz might be in these respects.

I'm just learning about this motor.

Here are some questions:

What should I check in the block? Where might I stick a feeler or dial gauge? Should I do any dis-assembly?

The 'tab' at the end of the oil pump shaft is very worn (i'll post a picture later). Might what that hooks into on the vac pump be worn also?

Is there anything that would be easy and prudent to replace while the motor is out and the oil pan is off, etc?

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I will be using a v-belt set-up, with only an alt and w-pump. The crank pulley didn't 'feel' wobbly or anything. How important is it that I take off the pulley for inspection, considering that I won't be using the sep belt?

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Unfortunately, any of the tapped holes in the block which were not filled with bolts are filled with rust, and I need three of these rusty holes for one of the vanagon motor mounts. I've been thinking about drilling and tapping the hole, installing a stud, and then using a nut rather than a bolt on the mount. If I use a stud that's the same size on both sides, that might mean drilling out the holes in the mount so that the stud, which will be larger than the original bolt, will fit.

Any suggestions?

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The k03 turbo has axial play. I measured it with a dial gauge, and it's quite far out of spec. I'm thinking about: a) running it for awhile anyway b) rebuilding it myself using one of the available kits c) paying to get it rebuilt or d) getting a different turbo

I'm especially interested in rebuilding it myself. thoughts?

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I have two different intake manifolds. Unfortunately, both have the oval, 1.6td ports, rather than the aaz d-ports. I'm thinking about using one of the oval-port intakes for awhile, and then later getting an aaz intake. Thoughts about that?

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I have a mig welder, and intend to make some kind of exhaust myself. But, I've had a little trouble locating a k03 006 downpipe flange, or a downpipe that I can hack up. Prothe sells a whole downpipe for $60 !  I'm considering it. thoughts? Z&S imports sells just the flange for $60. It looks nice, but I don't trust them.

I was given a drill press recently. I've been thinking about using it to try to make my own flange!

Excuse the long post! thanks for the help!! I'll post some pictures soon

[theman53]

I would definately do the crank nose mod. Where you cut a flat to accept the TDI crank sprocket. Also run the clutched alt pulley. As you probably know the aaz had problems there.

You could port your oval intakes to the D shape. I think you may have to. I think the van had very specific bolt on stuff and never came with an aaz, I could be off as I never have owned one, but I am pretty sure that is how it works.

My block was pretty rusty. If you run a tap in and out repeatedly the holes will clean up.

vac pump will probably look like a bowtie instead of a slot. Unless it has more bowtie than metal I would run it as you can't find one in great shape anymore. You could buy new at partsplaceinc for 200.00 or more, I passed on that.

[zuhandenheit]

theman:

thanks for the response. as far as the crank goes, I've often heard that the serpentine set-up and the alt with its small pulley contributed largely to the nose failure. Some people seem to think that the v-belt set-up is ok even with the original design of the crank pulley. Considering that I'll be using the v-belts and only an alt as an accessories, I thought it might be ok with the original crank design.

I hate to remove the crank, as that would go way beyond any engine work i've ever done before.

Regarding the intake: I'm not using a vanagon manifold anyway and will have to fab an intake, so it wouldn't be a problem to use the AAZ manifold. I've heard mixed things about porting the oval ports to the d shape (some suggest that there won't be enough material left for a good seal against the head). But I'm not against trying it!

I like the idea of trying to clean up the holes in the block with a tap. It's worth a shot.

here are some various pictures:

[tdihuntdawg]

hello I also have a 82 diesel vanagon which I installed a Aaz. it had a round port manifold on it and I ran it for a while. I would inspect the intermediate shaft and bearings for flakeing and replace the seal,cam seal and crank seal. and inspect the water pump and housing. good luck!

[Rock3tman]

+1 on checking intermediate shaft bearings.  Depending on oil leak evidence, I'd likely check crank sealing surface for groove(s) and certainly replace rear main seal no matter what and also look at front sealing surfaces and possibly replacing cam, intermediate, and crank seals.  Finding leaks after all that work...well, that's too frustrating for me vs extra time & $.  Are  fuel and water lines OK?

It looks like your turbo oil feed line fitting at oil filter is broken.  I've seen it recommended to replace the oil line too.   

Good luck; should pep up the Vanagon quite a bit

[Syncroincity]

You need a different exhaust manifold too, that turbo is in exactly the wrong place for the left engine mount bracket. I've not seen that style before; most AAZs have the turbo top-mounted on the mani, not hanging underneath. Either that or you'll have to switch to a TDI style adapter engine mount to clear the existing turbo.

Here's my turbo, w/ AAZ Passat manifold (Garret T2 turbo), and it barely clears the aluminum mount.



Here's my build thread, with lots of pics.
http://www.vwdiesel.net/forum/index.php?topic=19739.0