Where did you acquire the engine?
I found the engine just over 2 years back from a DCX trades guy. He posted the complete engine / trans on craigslist for $200. Then my contract there was not renewed and he held it for over a year for me... when I got there, he had a box of extra parts he gave me - 3 injection pumps, a NEW vac pump, a used vac pump, extra injectors, a new half shaft, and many others... $$$ on ebay. Then, he gave me a 220 pound milk crate sold with welding rods - someone stole his arc welder and he was excited that I was doing the caravan ;-)
I see aluminum oxide was sticking one valve open. Glad to see it was not anything worse.
Yeah, I was worried about that #2 cylinder.
Good idea to place a new timing belt and tensioner on it. I don't understand why you have to do so much fabrication to fit a Turbo. Didn't the turbo come with it? And what's with the exhaust manifold? Didn't come with it either? You received a five cylinder manifold, not a 4 cylinder manifold from a Ebay purchase? But you made it work. Amazing.
This engine was not a turbo, but the block was a turbo. It has the turbo oil spray for the pistons... stock turbos did not have a intercooler, so they had lots of heat to dump. Mine will have intercooler. I wanted the turbo as it increases the efficiency - more O2 to burn fuel = less smoke. The injection pump is not a turbo, so I will simply have more O2..... Yeah, the jerk sold me an Audi turbo and manifold - said it would bolt on. Got it and the turbo was junk and there was that extra hole !!! He would not return calls and I got laid off again, so no $$$ to go through the cycle again. I did find a NEW turbo on eBay for $299. Its a Garrett. That's why all the fabrication.
I would take the Dodge halfshafts and the VW halfshafts to a local prop shaft fabricator and have them match them up and balance them.
I might have to get them balanced. I've talked with 2 guys who have spliced half shafts like this. If I keep the run out to less than 0.020" I will be OK to 80 mph. One guy put a second engine in a Honda CRX and had it to 130 mph !! His are to 0.005" - they both said for mine if I used my magnetic mount dial indicator on the K frame, I will be able to tack weld it true. Then finish welding. I'll try it. Ideally I'd make a spline for both that allowed me to change one half at a time when the CV join needs replacing. I'm looking forward to 500,000 miles. The both is from Virginia so no rust :-) I replaced the rear wheel bearings and have new 15" hubs for the front - it came with 14".... I want the taller tires for more mpg.
What are your plans with the low pressure fuel delivery from the tank?
I have that low pressure electronic pump you see in the pump will be mounted in line just before the filter / water separated. It free flows with off. I'll have a separate toggle switch next to the glow plug switch. I don't want to rely on the factory glow plug relay. I had a diesel rabbit's relay stick once and it burned out the plugs - $60 at that time. W/o them, you can't cold start unless your spin the engine very fast - as in a big hill or a push start with a car. I pulled the tank for 2 reasons - one is to remove the high pressure pump in the tank. I hope it is easy to still use the factory pickup. The second is the fuel filler neck needs to be opened up to the full diameter. I want to be able to fill at truck stops too. They have a really big hose.