85 jetta engine rebuild

[godsend789]

rebuild an 85 jetta diesel 1.6 n/a. first off let me say this forum has been very helpful on ideas and aspects on rebuilds. with that said i have not found any posts dedicated to any of the following subjects on with i am interested on regarding the rebuild. i have found tad bits on total seal's gap less piston rings but no real answer how good are they, are they worth the money and and experience with them? also what about synthetic oil vers the cheaper 15w -40, i just wondered some where i read synthetic was bad for diesel on this forum. any experience with cost of a rebuilt this is my first and how cheap do u think it could be trying to do it right just cheep. My machine shop said some where around 1100 for parts ready to be assembled, 1400 if they do i them self. and my head was shot cracked 2 spots and one valve sunk in to the head. they said over 600 for it but i will be using the one off of this site 400 way better price and i trust you guys more than my machine shop. any other advise on a rebuild would be nice and welcome this is my first thanks guys. tech spec's engine code ME engine has had a rebuild before needs to be boarded to .040 over this time... o ya mechanical head

[82vdub]

.. advise on a rebuild would be nice and welcome this is my first

Buy a Bentley repair manual.

Personally, I wouldn't go the total seal gapless ring route unless you're building a racing motor. Get the cylinder and the standard ring gaps within the Bentley spec, and you should be just fine.

If you're going to go synthetic motor oil, I'd use regular oil for the first couple thousand or so and then switch over to synthetic. The rings may not properly seat in if you use synthetic, at least that's what I've read. I've personally never used synthetic oil before.

[godsend789]

thanks for the advise i have the Bentley manual already best book for the vw IMO.. for the oil my auto friend said the same thing start on standard the later switch to synthetic i sill don't know what to do i got a great deal on royal purple 20 bucks for a 5 qt jug so i picked up a few any advantage using RP in the diesel, power,fuel economy? you said the gap less rings are more for a racing type engine which is something i plan on never doing. does it improve compression i live in Chicago area so cold is a factor that is also why i ask about the oil. I heard something about synthetic was easier on the motor. thanks -Kevin-

[82vdub]

The gapless rings are for people searching for as little blowby and compression as possible. Diesels need compression to run, but in general, I say that these rings aren't needed for a stock street engine. Money is better spent elsewhere. There are hundreds of thousands of engines (and diesels) running on the road that don't have gapless rings.

For the rebuild, I'd go slow and double and triple check everything as you go. Cleanliness is absolutely necessary, and just make sure you torque everything to spec. Figure out what bearing clearances you need and get some plastigage for the bearing clearances you need. There's three types of plastigage and each is for a different clearance. THat will verify that the bearings are made as labeled, and the machine shop did their work on the crank correctly.

You will want to run oil that's rated for use in the diesel engine. It includes more additives (or something) due to the increased pressures exerted on internal parts. If the royal purple isn't rated for the diesel engine, don't use it.