my 79... a brown turd build..

[riceatingrabbit]

hello everyone! I've been reading these boards for a while... I am usually on vortex, but I thought i should share my project with you guys...  and introduce myself..

My name's Greg, and I am 20... I've owned several VWs.. 87 golf, 83 16vGTI, 92 Jetta coupe, 92 VR Corrado, 81 cabby, 88 GTI, 85 GTI.. to name a few... BUT I have only recently gotten into the wonderful world of VW DIESELS

and so the project:

79 VW Rabbit Diesel

I got it last year to work on on the side... and this is what it looked like when i drug it home;







first run: it was supposed to have a rod knock.. and it turned out that the pump timing was just waayyy out.. I had it purring pretty quick..



 

I tinkered with the body work a little:







after that it sat in the garage for about 8 months..

now...

recent history!

my daily (93 mazda Navajo) broke... badly... leaving me with no other car but my rabbit...

So!

I figured "well I can do a couple of things to it and be driving it in no time!" that was two months ago...
Everything I have touched has been a problem...

stupidly, I started with cosmetics.. I couldnt be driving around in a primer-splotched car.. So it got a quick rattle car bomb job.. which came out surprisingly well..

wheels and tires:


it went from this:


to this:

[riceatingrabbit]

I dont want to draw this out for to long, but...

I had a few problems with the engine.. it was running hot..

So, I replaced the rad, and the water pump solved that problem!

then, it was chewing up timing belts..When it chewed the first one, I tore it down and found the timing belt tensioner to be on backwards, which pushed the belt out and caused it to rub. I replaced the belt and tensioner, hoping to solve the problem..

BUT NO!!! it chewed up a second one... I was getting frustrated!!

the week before last, I took it back down to put another belt on it.. when i was tightening down my new home-made crank lock I heard/felt a *CLICK!*... "hmmm... thats odd... "

come to find out, that "click" was the crankshaft moving out of the block!! I put a pair of pilers on the shaft ans was able to move it in and out about an eighth inch!.. a little on the HUGE side of acceptable shaft end play!

video:



my sweet crank lock:



SO....

what to do?

the bottom end was toast.. it may have been rebuildable, but it was going to need machine work, and a lot of my time.. so, I decided not to rebuild the 1.5, and instead to source a newer 1.6

last weekend, I got a new engine for it!

it's a mk2 1.6 with 80k miles on it.. complete for $600.. which i thought was pretty reasonable..

[riceatingrabbit]

and so the fun began...

old engine out:




starting on the new one..

while its out, its getting: tear down and inspect, replace all gaskets (accept for head gasket), clean/paint, new water pump, new timing belt/tensioner
...


and thats pretty much how I left it tonight..

almost together:

[peedman]

haha u gotta love old seat belts!!! i used one to take a motor in and out a couple of times they are so darn strong 

looking forward to more updates,

[rabbitman]

Very nice work

[katakura silk]

I would kill for the seats in that car
Good Work!

[Syncroincity]

Holy crap, it's my first car! I had a '77 gasser, chocolate brown from the factory. 2-dr, with some epic rust problems.

Nice minilites... where'd you find them?

[maxfax]

You're just wasting your time..  You need to have that heap hauled off to Central Pennsylvania..   

[riceatingrabbit]

haha u gotta love old seat belts!!! i used one to take a motor in and out a couple of times they are so darn strong  

looking forward to more updates,

Actually, its an old worn out ratchet strap…lol.. does the job!!!

Holy crap, it's my first car! I had a '77 gasser, chocolate brown from the factory. 2-dr, with some epic rust problems.

Nice minilites... where'd you find them?

Lol.. awesome!.. I wish it was a 2 door.. oh, and theyre nor minilites, they are 15x7 Konig Remembers

You're just wasting your time..  You need to have that heap hauled off to Central Pennsylvania..  

Ha ha ha ha ha … for the right price maybe!!!

OKIE DOKE! Update time!!
Engine and trans together with a new clutch.. all painted up.. .perdy!!

Took about two hours and my friend Martan’s help to get it mounted.. all new mounts! Its a lot tighter than the old motor was!

Hooking everything up:

I don’t have a good pic of it all assembled.. but this is a good enough taste..

Oh, and while it was up, I installed a ‘rocco k-frame…

[riceatingrabbit]

I got it started today, but it didnt go that well.. I made a separate thread for that issue here:

http://www.vwdiesel.net/forum/index.php?topic=19808.0

quote of my rant for that thread:

ok...

today I finished putting my "new" 80k mile 1.6NA in my rabbit.

I timed it to .036" checked and re-checked EVERYTHING... when I went to go start it for the first time, I found that the battery was almost dead. I wasn't patient enough to wait for it to charge.. Because I only had limited cranking power, I decided not to waste it on bleeding the fuel system. after about 30 seconds of cranking, it sputtered to life! it ran like crap for the first minute or so, then it smoothed out.

It was idling too low to stay lit, so I cranked on the idle screw until I had nice ~900rpm idle..

the engine was running GREAT.. idling great, instant throttle response, smooth rpm transition... I was very happy with it!

The guy who I got the engine from said that it had been sitting for about 5 months at the warehouse, and he gave me a can of "Diesel Purge" and recommended running it threw to clear out any deposits in the pump or injectors.

Since it was running well, and I had it up to operating temp, I decided to run it threw.

the can says " connect the feed and return lines to the can, and run it at various rpms"  and the guy told me to run it for about fifteen minutes..

thats what I did..

...and thats when something broke...

THE PROBLEM

I had been running it for about 5-10 minutes on the Diesel Purge. letting it idle and running the rpms up and down.. I thought, "well, lets really blow the junk out of this thing..." and I revved it high... estimate about 4-4.5k rpm... on the third or fourth high rev, it made a loud *CLICK* and then stopped INSTANTLY... it didnt sputter or run rough, it just stoped.. almost like it seized...


My first thought was that it sucked a valve or seized or something...

but, it turned over without any sort of metallic/internal engine noise...so, I decided to restart it.

*still on the diesel purge, can getting low*

it ran VERY rough, but it ran. it would not idle, it took about 1/3 throttle to keep it running. and when I gave it more throttle, it would hesitate horribly, and only rev to about 2k at WOT

Then I realized that the can was low, and it was most likely sucking air. and it may have been sucking air for a considerable time.

I decided to put it back on diesel and see if it made a difference...... and it did..

on diesel, it would idle, but still very roughly. it would also rev higher, but the throttle response is slooooow... It is also smoking gray, in all rpms..


so... this is what i am thinking.

-its obviously NOT an internal engine problem because it turns over smooth and doesn't make any bad noise..

-its not an injector(s) because whatever it is affected all the cylinders at once... almost like the fuel solenoid turned off.

that leaves the pump...

so, if my above assumptions make sense, than what could be the problem with the pump?

a few things I think might be applicable:

it was running on a small amount of fuel, and probably sucking air. Is it possible for the pump to have overheated? and if so, what would have been damaged? (note:) when I switched it back to diesel, the fuel was HOT. and the fuel line bolt was *almost* too hot to touch)

could I have an air pocket in the pump?

could it be a supply issue? maybe the lift pump inside of the pump failed?






I'm very mechanically inclined, but I have a limited amount of experience with diesel, so I am learning.. please try and analyze my situation make any sort of input....

thanks for reading my long rant..


I REALLY want this poor rabbit to be on the road....

hopefully I'll have some luck with this thing soon..