What is this engine sitting in my basement??

[v8volvo]

Several years back, I picked up a spare short block to have around. Plan was to eventually rebuild it then have it ready to drop in if my '81 Rabbit's motor ever started getting weak. Well, plans change. I sold the Rabbit last month, with its motor still rock solid since I re-ringed it 20k ago. Now I have this spare sitting in my basement that I need to get rid of.

Here's the thing. When I bought it, the guy said it was from an '84 Rabbit, so I assumed it was a 12mm block. A guy who was interested in it asked me to confirm for sure by running a 12mm headbolt down a bolt hole. Well, sure enough, it's NOT a 12mm motor.... the bolt did not fit. Now the question is: what IS it?

It clearly has 11mm headbolt holes, but it has 1 6 D stamped on the back of the block. From that I can only assume it is one of the early 1.6L motors from the first part of '81, that still used 11mm bolts. Is that safe to assume, or did 1.5L motors have that stamped in the back too? Is there any way to know for sure -- from the serial number, etc?

Of course, the next question is: does anyone in the Seattle area want the dang thing? I know the 11mm 1.6 blocks are often thought of as something to avoid, but they are also hard to find, so maybe there is someone who needs one. I have heard they are fine if you convert em to head studs. Will this block fit under a 1.5L head? I assumed so, but it would be worth knowing for sure...

Thanks in advance for any help! Sorry to be leaving the VW diesel fold... but I'm not really leaving it, moving onward and upward to Volvo diesels, which are really just a VW diesel's big brother at heart.

[82vdub]

If it's got the 1.6D on the block and 11mm bolts, then it's the early 81 1.6L motor. To know for sure, measure the bore and stroke and run the calculations, but I'm sure it's the 1.6 motor.

[vwtyp133]

If you decide to keep / rebuild it... run a 11mm bottoming tap into those head bolt holes, to acquire all the holding power you can, and use 11mm studs. Shouldn't be a problem if it's truly a good block.

J.R.
SoCal

[hagar]

v8volvo : I agree with the rest sounds to me like a early 1.6 L NA . IMHO 11 mm is fine if you use finesse. I go head studs and Belleville Washers.

Volvo has a super diesel division , but even they could not better the VW .That really is a fantastic design Penny for Penny. . They all pinch the pennies these days. , don't we all ?

hagar.

PS : the Anacortes Duckling does 76 MPG Imp every day so far. (love driving that girl)

[v8volvo]

Thanks for the help. Sounds like it is indeed an early 1.6.

Will a 1.5 head fit on this block? Assuming so, since it's still an 11mm, with only the stroke being changed to make the 1.5 a 1.6...

[vwtyp133]

Thanks for the help. Sounds like it is indeed an early 1.6.

Will a 1.5 head fit on this block? Assuming so, since it's still an 11mm, with only the stroke being changed to make the 1.5 a 1.6...

Sure, as long as they both have the same style/size of center oil drain hole. Most of the 11mm 1.6L engines had the small drainback holes, same as the 1.5L engines.

BTW, probably shouldn't say this, but ... make certain those short little 11mm bores in the block are totally clean, free of crud & stray water, coolant, etc., especially the two at the front of the block. Don't ask how I know this!

Possible future plan... I may use up my last 1.5L motor to build an emergency generator, to run on WVO, of course.

Have fun.

J.R.
SoCal

[v8volvo]

It has the large drainback hole. The head I have here, which as far as I can tell is a 12mm head (at least a 12mm head bolt fits down the holes...), has a small center drainback hole. Are you sure you don't have it backwards? If not, then what I have here really is an odd pair... the thing that first caused me to suspect that the head and block didn't match is that the block's drainback hole stuck out further than the head's. Then I noticed the hole in the block was much bigger than the head's, and then I noticed that it wasn't a 12mm block at all.

If you are right, does this mean I am limited to an extremely narrow range of 11mm 1.6 heads with large drainback holes that will fit on this engine?

[rabbit_man]

To the right of the oil drain bump there's a flat spot on the block with a two letter code stamped in it, get that it'll tell for sure what engine you got.

[wbhgrace]

Some insight about the engine codes would be helpful to me too. I'm looking for a 12 mm NA block to rebuild.

My understanding is that all CK blocks are 1.5 liter with 11 mm threading, and all JK blocks are 1.6 liter with 12 mm threading.

I believe that all CR blocks are 1.6 liter, but my question is whether all CR blocks are 11 mm blocks, or are some of them 12 mm also?

I realize putting a 12 mm head bolt into the block is a really good way to tell, but knowing more about the codes would help when trying to figure out if a block many miles away is worth going to see.