1.6L TD in a Dodge Caravan

[arb]

Thanks Andrew. I only had the aluminum tube to work with. It was rather hard to bend. Flat stock would have been MUCH easier to work with, and I would not have wasted half a bottle of argon ($27 to exchange) on that one part !! (the regulator issue ;-)

I also had a terrific head ache all the next day - ibuprofen and aspirin would not touch it... too much argon ? Maybe being in the cold for so long welding.

[arb]

Thanks, I was a little dissapointed with it ;-)

I just realized I need to make one more small part - My throttle cable for the Caravan is the style with the tubular lead chunk at the end, just like most cables are on motorcycles. My IP had a ball joint at the end of the throttle arm. I was thinking of removing this ball stud, and welding a small block of soft steel to it - cut it at 90 degrees with the band saw for the cable to slide through, and drill the hole for the lead cylinder to pass through, like on motorcycles.

Got a better idea ?

[arb]

We had a steady rain here last night, so I worked on the exhaust system from the down pipe on. I got a pipe expander from Murray's Discount auto. Its a kit that comes with a chain pipe cutter (that I would never use on a car) and the expander were in a nice case, and they charged the steep price of $50... but they give it back to you when you return the tools. It is a free rental if you will. First I opened the free flow turbo muffler and found a sticker for the window in it.. I would have liked S.S. but for a diesel this far from the turbo, it should last forever..

I have a similar batch of tubing. I thought it was S.S. as it has been left out in the rain / snow for about 10 years and there is no rust. I got it at a scrap yard when I was trading metals. Here is the fit in the muffler. I'll need to expand the tube to make a tighter fit.

Same thing for the flex joint. More space than I expected...

Here is the expander at work. It did not work as well as I hoped. I used my 300 ft/lb impact on it and it did not stretch the tube very much. That tube must be S.S. as it is tough stuff. I expanded it about 4 times, turning the tool a little each time as it creates a not perfect circle. The pipe wrench moved a little when I setup this photo... I was not trying to expand the pipe wrench too ;-)

[arb]

We had bitter cold this weekend and strong winds Sunday, so  I worked slower than usual... Saturday afternoon was not so bad, but I had to prepare for my wife's "Woman's Day" gift - she said she wanted me to take her and her girlfriend (also Ukrainian) flying for woman's day. I had not flown for 3 years, so I needed my Flight Review. This I did Saturday. By evening I was legal to fly again so back to the project. I bought $42 worth of hose and exhaust clamps. Hopefully that's enough. ;-) The first thing was to fix the kink in the hose entering the water pump.

I'm not a big fan of 90 degree elbows, but I over sized the hose in the first place, so the reduction in flow from the turn should be not a big deal.

This gave a good exit to the oil cooler.

Next was a reducer for the air intake to the turbo.

[arb]

Bitter cold here last night - the wind blowing across the lake was about 6 degrees F. So, only incremental work. I cut and bead blasted 1/8" aluminum plates I cut to block the open top port on my turbo intake. I might install a 12v toaster element in it if I think it will be easy and quick. Looks that way now. I have these plates in my vice now ready to weld around the parting line to form a single 1/4" plate.


I also assembled the intake feed hose right up to the reducer than will go in the car tonight.

[arb]

I got this PM from Rabbit on Roids - Thought you all should see it. I didn't know, but the argon was the only thing I could blame my all day head ache for...

Subject: welding/argon saturation  

i was just reading about your van (and your issue using a half bottle on one part) but im gonna let you in on a secret my dad and grandpa taught me, and they are both welders by profession. but if you breathe too much argon and you feel like crap, its probably argon poisoning. if it ever happens again, stand on your head, or by some way, turn yourself upside down. argon is heavier than air, and you get argon saturation very fast in your lungs. i have no idea when that post was from or anything, but i just thought i would let you in on that secret.

[arb]

Family day last night... small work..

I took a couple feet of 3/8" rope and ran it around the pulley's of the engine. I pulled it tight and cut it to length. This gave me my V belt size. The Autozone guy rolled his eyes when I told him he would not be able to look up my belt as it a Caravan with a VW diesel with a GM alternator ;-) So he tried to size it for me. He handed me the correct length V belt, but it was a Utility Belt. I explained this was great for furnace blowers, bench grinders, etc.. but they are all low power applications and the cloth rapping of the belt would quickly come off when my 65 amps are being produced, so the other guy took over my search. We found the right one... I think ;-)

[arb]

Maybe someone can answer my question on the speedo sender wires ?
http://www.vwdiesel.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=18674

Last night I got closer to first start ;-)

I got some radiator support bushings from a local radiator shop ran by an OLD guy... the local Chrysler dealer said tough luck on buying then as 1992 is VERY old and discontinued long ago. At first the old dude said tough luck too.... I explained about my VW diesel in a Dodge and it peaked his interest...  then he remember he had a bucket stashed someplace. There were 2 different sized. We showed me the smaller diameter and I said "That's it !"  but when I saw the larger, it looked good too, so I took 2 of them. He told me to bring him back $1 for them when I could as I only had plastic and checks in pocket. I tried to install them, but they were too big and he was closed....

I then took some Never Seize and applied to the ends. I used a 3/8" socket extension to "pull" them in from the ends.. worked perfect !!

Here's the rope from yesterday... to measure the belt length.

To block the open port on my head

I cut 2 pieces of 1/8" aluminum stock and shaped to the rough shape.

Then I welded them together

and sanded the mating surface flat on my bench belt sander. You will also see the 1.375" to 1.75" adaptor I am making. Notice the ridge at one end of the tube. My turbo has about a 1" discharge opening for the pressure side. The intake manifold is about 1.75". Since they will be under pressure, I welded the ridge to keep the hose from slipping off.

Here is the other end of the reducer. It will also be a 100 degree elbow.


The little plates will seal the gap where it is reducing.

I had to stop welding as my Miller automagic helmet went all black, I thought I could still weld, but it was completely blocking the light, not just the dangerous light.... I had not placed it in the sun for some weeks. It is inside the house in a window now.

[arb]

After reading today's post on IC, http://vwdiesel.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=18684

I've decided I'll take a slightly different approach that will cost me a couple more hours now but save time when its warm in a few months - I'll not make that 100 degree turn from the turbo to the intake like my engine would be stock, instead I'll go 2" for a full route around the perimeter of the engine bay near the hood line. This will make it easy to install the IC w/o touching the turbo / manifold, and also give a little cooling along the way.

[arb]

THought I was getting an 83' TD to rebuild and put in the Caravan when I wore our the existing engine...

Buyer beware !!!!!!!!!!   Danger Will Robinson, DANGER !!!

I just drove 16 hours from Michigan to & from that "Jeff Dersche [email protected]
 705-754-1218  905-449-3214" in Haliburton ON to buy a broken 1983 TD Rabbit. He claimed $300 - $500 and said I could get it running. What a joke. He suddenly had no title for it and knew this from the start, so why tell me the day before he had it and that the trans and engine were installed in the car - the axle shafts as well as he knew I had a tow bar...

Well, he was really trying to get me to drop $2,000 on the P.O.S. 1980 rabbit that was cobbled together with a collection of parts. He was even driving it with the timing belt covers missing.... MANY issues with this car. While I was looking at it, another set of men had driven for many hours to see it too !!! What a lying piece of excrement Jeff is. And this first car, the 1983 that suddenly had no title, it suddenly had no engine, no trans, no windshield, no axles, no door knobs, In short, it was a rusted hulk ready for the shredder.  And his "complete turbo engine" ?  LOL !! No head, no IM shaft, NA block, no IP, and the pistons were rusted solid in the bores. Looks like it seized so he started parting it out...
Beware of Jeff Dersche in Ontario.d knew this from the start, so why tell me the day before he had it and that the trans and engine were installed in the car - the axle shafts as well as he knew I was going to use a tow bar to tow it home...

[arb]

Yesterday was rained out for working on the car directly, so my son and I worked on the turbo plumbing. First thing, I tried to weld but my auto helmet from Miller only has solar cells and the built in battery was dead... so I tried to charge it with a sun lamp...

I tried to weld with my old school arc helmet, but the results were not good.

Zach bead blasted the ends of the 2" tube so I can weld a ridge all the way around to protect against the silicone from slipping off. I think stock 12 psi isn't enough, but I might be wrong. We got some of the plumbing done...

I also made a S.S. 7mm bolt out of an 8mm bolt to hold the speedo sender in. Getting it to start took some persuasion.

The results looked good.

[arb]

Getting very very close to FIRST START !! My 20' x 20' garage was packed with an airplane project I had been working on for years. My wife wanted me to start a new one that could land on water, so I sold it. The trucking company finally came last night, so I suddenly have room in my garage !!  Took a lot of time loading the plane though...

So, in the hour I had left, I connected the air intake - I might shorten this up by 6" when I route the IC lines behind it. I also will be making a dirt shield after I'm driving it.

I fitted the alternator belt - its 1" too short, so back to Autozone tonight ;-)
Next I fitted the IC feed line to the intake manifold.

I need to finish welding my reducer tonight... Yesterday I took my Miller auto-dark welding helmet to the Miller dealer. They made this one with a soldered in lithium battery they clearly did not want you to replace.. So, be careful if you buy a auto-dark helmet - be sure the lithium battery (they are all solar powered) is user replaceable. I bought a replacement 4" x 5" auto-dark lens for my oldie moldy helmet like my Grandpa had - he never Heli Arc welded think walled aluminum ;-)
Last, I started to fit the intake blocking plate. I might put a toaster element on this plate at some point. I need to drill the 2 bolt holes as well as drill and tap for the turbo boost gauge. I lost the brass fitting for my gauge, so I had to get a replacement last night... Lots of running around last night - Oh yeah, I also bought a new 16 psi rad cap for the Dodge radiator.

[dieselweasel]

Sorry to hear...I'd be pissed!  I don't live too far from Haliburton...there are some interesting characters up there.  Why did you drive 16 hrs for that?  There's got to be lots of 1.6s much closer to you...?

THought I was getting an 83' TD to rebuild and put in the Caravan when I wore our the existing engine...

Buyer beware !!!!!!!!!!   Danger Will Robinson, DANGER !!!

I just drove 16 hours from Michigan to & from that "Jeff Dersche [email protected]
 705-754-1218  905-449-3214" in Haliburton ON to buy a broken 1983 TD Rabbit. He claimed $300 - $500 and said I could get it running. What a joke. He suddenly had no title for it and knew this from the start, so why tell me the day before he had it and that the trans and engine were installed in the car - the axle shafts as well as he knew I had a tow bar...

Well, he was really trying to get me to drop $2,000 on the P.O.S. 1980 rabbit that was cobbled together with a collection of parts. He was even driving it with the timing belt covers missing.... MANY issues with this car. While I was looking at it, another set of men had driven for many hours to see it too !!! What a lying piece of excrement Jeff is. And this first car, the 1983 that suddenly had no title, it suddenly had no engine, no trans, no windshield, no axles, no door knobs, In short, it was a rusted hulk ready for the shredder.  And his "complete turbo engine" ?  LOL !! No head, no IM shaft, NA block, no IP, and the pistons were rusted solid in the bores. Looks like it seized so he started parting it out...
Beware of Jeff Dersche in Ontario.d knew this from the start, so why tell me the day before he had it and that the trans and engine were installed in the car - the axle shafts as well as he knew I was going to use a tow bar to tow it home...

[arb]

Sorry to hear...I'd be pissed!  I don't live too far from Haliburton...there are some interesting characters up there.  Why did you drive 16 hrs for that?  There's got to be lots of 1.6s much closer to you...?

Well, around here the IDI's are hard to find and the seller usually looks on eBay and see's a mint Caddy in California sell for $3,500 so figures their MKI is worth thousands even if it can't start.  So, his offer for a TD complete and rust free for $300 - $500 Canadian = $225 - $375 USD sounded good, even with the $100 in gas I'd burn.  Yes, it was interesting driving up there. I was expecting the guy to have a collection of several dozen broken MKI and MKII in his front yard like so many homes around the many lakes I pasted.

In stead, I got burned. At least his name and number are on the net now and if anyone googles "Jeff Dersche [email protected]
705-754-1218 905-449-3214"  they will see he is a scammer, maybe a car thief as evident from the rusted stripped 1983 Rabbit he has w/o papers.

So, last night I did some more aluminum fabrication with my new welding lens in a very old welding helmet. The camera batteries where dead so no photos. I also returned the 15330 belt and got a 15335 and 15345 - They did not have a 15340. The "33" in these is the length in inches, so I have a 33.5" and 34.5" belts to try tonight.

[arb]

One interesting event in Halliburton, both the scammer and his neighbor spoke about Giles !!  His name is spoken even up there. He claimed the IP in the N/A 1980 he tried to sell me was "A Giles Pump"... but since everything else he said had become a lie, I didn't bite. Besides, Giles would not install an IP w/o the stone shields. ;-)