What are the cheapest/easiest and most effective things I can do to get a little more HP out of my '81 1.5L Diesel Dasher?
How would it be different from the transverse engines?
I don't have a good space to work on it right now, so something that would be real quick to do myself with minimal tools, or cheap to have a shop do.
Suggestion: from a Quantum turbodiesel, grab the entire engine, trans, shifter (and even the instrument cluster, if it's got a factory tach!). Everything will move straight across to your Dasher, with very few mods: a few whacks/cuts on the welded-on lumps under the trans tunnel, some minor wiring adaptation on the instruments, some re-location of the air cleaner & intake, but
nothing huge or complicated.
Even if you just had a shop transfer all the turbo system to your Dasher, you could save the turbo long block, trans & other stuff for a later re-power. Just make sure to install an EGT (exhaust gas temperature) gauge & keep it below 1000 degrees F, with the n.a. engine. The factory turbo engines definitely had some improvements over our N.A.s, that allows them to survive at higher temperatures under boost. I would suggest going to a 2-2.25" exhaust and short, but free flowing muffler. The turbo knocks most of the sound out of the exhaust anyway; a lot of guys just run with open pipe from the turbo back.
BTW an '81 Dasher came from the factory with
1.6L n.a. engine. The early ones
did have 11mm head bolts, and that causes many VW techs to assume that they're looking at a 1.5L diesel motor.
The QTD 5-speed tranny has some nice ratios: 3.455/1.944/1.286/.909/.730, vs. factory 4-speed Dasher's 3.454/1.944/1.286/.882). Your Dasher weighs about 400 pounds less than a Quantum of a similar body style, so the increase in power should definitely feel right. There are rusted out QTDs still available fairly reasonably from time-to-time in the boneyards, local papers, etc.
Just switching to a 1.6L n.a., with post-1984 pump, cleaned-up VW Fox exhaust manifold, and 2.25" exhaust really woke up my originally 1.5L n.a. 1980 Dasher diesel wagon. The modified 1.6L td with intercooler project that's very slowly gathering parts will be appreciated even more, once it's finally installed & running.
Although most of the folks there run gassers, the Dasher Owners Group (D.O.G.) site has a lot of good tech info. It's at
http://dog.mp3equipped.com/dog/ Quite a few of the forum participants have, or have had, Dasher diesels, and a lot of them have converted over to 5-speeds. It's a wealth of good technical information about both factory stock and modified Dashers, Quantums, Audi Foxes, and even some on the VW Fox cars.
Best wishes on your Dasher revitalization efforts.
J.R.
SoCal
Topic: Boosting a 1.5L N/A Dasher (Read 2980 times)
