Former VWDieselParts.com Forum

I've had this 85 golf for about three years now. It has never has near the power or economy that my 81 dasher had.....Kinda wish I had kept the dasher. I'm lucky to keep it at 55mph uphill on the interstate. I have read Hagar's thread and have followed many of his suggestions.


I posted this in another thread earlier:

I have an 85 Golf NA with an ACH trans. Been running it for the past three years and have only been able to get 33mpg at best also. Power has always been very low when going up hill. It was pretty normal to drop to 55mph uphill on the interstate.

I have tried two known good used sets of injectors (pop tested them before installation), checked and adjusted pump pressure, changed spring and shims for more advance, confirmed advance was working properly with a timing light, set the timing to spec and also tried other settings in search of more power, adjusted the max fuel screw, did the governer mod.

That engine died last week on my way to work. Started tapping and lost power very quickly. Within a quarter of a mile it died and locked up. I can turn it by the crank bolt about a 1/4 turn. I'll see if it is even worth rebuilding at a later time.

I'm in the process of installing a 1.5 taken out of an 80 rabbit I had sitting behind the shop. I'm also installing a t3 turbo from a mercedes 300sd and fabricating a 2.5" downpipe. I'm hoping that I'll have more power and mileage now. It has been so very frustrating having low power and mileage for so long.




I know everybody likes pics, so I thought I would add a few.

And a few of the proposed turbo setup. The turbo is from a mercedes 300sd, exh manifold was bought on ebay and I think it was for an 8v gasser, and the intake was bought off of ebay germany and is supposed to be for a vanagon. I bought a couple of 2.5" mandrel bent 180 degree stainless pipes for the down pipe and a 2" mandrel bent 90 degree stainless pipe for between the turbo and intake.

Thinking about gutting a glass pack muffler I've had sitting at the shop for years so it at least looks like it has a muffler.

I know I shouldn't put boost to the 1.5 until I can afford head studs, so I'll turn down the boost to just a few pounds and wait to install the alda from another ebay find - a 12mm pump that was rebuilt a few years back and had been sitting on the shelf.

The LDA from a 12mm cummins 4BT pump, might not fit on a VW diesel pump.
Internal lever on the wrong side.
The head should swap with some machining.

Do a search on the vortex for head studs.
the 8V headstuds are reusable and you can get used ones for prety cheap.
That's what I have in my 1.5 with the VNT-15 turbo.
They've been handling 25 psi.

Where are you at?
Sooo, what happened to the old engine?

I though I had read that the LDA could be swapped onto a vw pump with changing to a vw bushing for the throttle and using the vw throttle shaft and levers. Guess if it doesn't then I'll be running in eco mode for a while.

Thanks for the tip on the studs. I had expected that was something I would have to buy new. Glad to hear they will hold a bit of boost too.


I'm just north of Atlanta. Guess I should fill out some profile info.


I think it looks like rod bolt just unbolted itself. The nuts were laying loose in the pan along with the cap and one of the bolts. The other bolt was still in the rod and bent from the impact.

You could also rebuild the head and stick the guts from the 1.5 in the 1.6 block, as your 1.6 block is 12mm vs the 11mm 1.5 and early 1.6.

I think I might have found a set of used 11mm studs. I've found two part numbers that are said to work, 204-4203, and 204-4701. headbolts dot com lists both sets, but states that the 204-4701 are undercut. Do I need the undercut ones?


I plan to do a proper build to a 1.6 for this car in the next few months. I have a good long block as well as a spare crank, 3 rods, and a couple of heads. Should be able to put something together. Funny thing is that I had decided to do a rebuild the day before it let go, and had been pricing parts.

I just chose to part out the rabbit and use the 1.5 for a while because I needed the golf back on the road pretty quick. The rabbit was too rusty for our standards in the south, but only has a little over 100k miles and the motor sounds so nice. Not to mention I need the hood and a few other parts for the 84 turbo jetta that I have sitting out back.

The 1.5/1.6 sounds like a good option though. I wonder how bad the bores are in the 1.6 block. Still might break the budget right now.....minimum would be gaskets, rings, bearings, and head studs or bolts.

If you plan on doing the 1.6 rebuild anyways, it might be better for you to just drop the 1.5 powerplant in the Golf and then use it as it. In theory you should be able to pump out quite an economical machine if you add the turbo and run it w/out a turbo pump in "ECO" mode.

We had some snow and ice yesterday afternoon and couldn't get over the big hill to get out of the neighborhood till this afternoon. I went to the shop this afternoon and got a little done.

Replaced the clutch push rod bushing and seal, as well as the input shaft seal. Mated the 1.5 to the trans. Replaced the timing belt. And got started transferring the water pump and accessory brackets. The rabbit didn't have air and the golf does. Still need to drill out the little ear on the head so I can mount the alternator bracket.

I also ordered new hoses, exhaust nuts, cap for the expansion tank, the short shifter rod (I broke the old one), injector return line, and a few o-rings.

I would have had it hanging in the car, but I had left both of my drills at the house from re-doing a bathroom and wanted to enlarge that hole on the ear on the head before putting it in. Hopefully in the next day or two I'll have it in and be starting on the exhaust and turbo drain.

Oh, I checked the balance shaft and it seemed like it didn't have any slop at all and it turned nice. I think I'll check the rod bolt torque while I have the pan off to weld in the fitting to the turbo drain.

If I like it at low boost, then I'll get some studs and install an alda in a few weeks.

When you say balnce shaft do you mean auxilary shaft?

And checking it was done by moving it side to side,.. or did you pull it out?

Lol....yes I should have said aux shaft.

I tried moving it side to side and up and down. No perceptible movement. Do you think I should have removed it to give the bearings a visual?

I would check it very closely. According to a lot of people that rebuild engines on this forum its one of the first things to go. The wear limit is only 10 thou. A dial gauge will tell you for sure. This is a reason for low oil pressure and leaky seals.

The I-shaft bearings usually chip out in pieces.
They don't wear like normal bearings so side-to-side play doesn't tell much.
Pull the vacuum pump so you can support that end and keep the gear away from the inner bearing while you pull it out to visually inspect.

Seal and o-ring on vaccum pump usually need changed while you have it off.

The seal and o-ring on the seal carrier should be changed while you have a chance.

Thanks for the advice.

I think I'll go ahead and pull the aux/intermediate shaft in the next night or two. I was going to drop the pan to weld in the turbo drain and check the rod bearings anyway. I guess it is really not much more work to pull the shaft and visually check the bearings. Might just replace them as a matter of principal because they are so cheap. I have an antique lathe and could make the installation tool pretty quickly I think.

I did stop by the shop on my way home from work today and spent a couple of hours fitting up a few things. The first was the mk2 accessory bracket interfered with the ear on the injection pump bracket. Had to trim it a few times until I had a little clearance. Also had to trim both timing covers to clear the accessory bracket. There was an ear that stuck out about where the alternator pivot bolt is now.


I temporarily mounted the manifolds and turbo to see what I'll need to do here. I think I'll make a block off plate for the existing inlet on the intake, open up the top of the manifold, and make it top entry.


I'm also going to have to deal with the turbo drain. I'm thinking about making a new flange and using either 3/8" or 1/2" pipe to get it close to the block then adding a piece of hydraulic hose between that and the fitting I'll weld to the oil pan. It looks like I should bolt on the motor mount bracket before I do this just to make sure there is clearance.


Here is the golf resting on the lift, waiting for its motor to be put in.



I'm anxious to have the golf back on the road. It has been my daily driver since April when I totaled the gold 300sd. I didn't really realize how attached I have gotten to it. Not to mention with the wvo conversion my fuel costs have been pretty good. Did I mention I installed a heated 18 gallon aluminum tank in the trunk?




And HOH up to the electric pumps, seperate coolant wrapped filter for each tank, FPHE for the wvo, pollack valve, and also made an electrically heated aluminum fuel line between the pollack and the ip.



I'm going to have to look in to looping the return. I've never done that, but it was recommended on another thread and sounds like a good idea.

I haven't been able to work on the car for a couple of days. The other two mechanics have the week off and we got busy at work. I have to be at work at five in the morning so I can be in macon around seven to look at a crane that lost brakes. At least I'm getting some overtime!!!

I did pick up a set of auxiliary shaft bearings today just in case. I already have the seal. My 2.5" stainless tail pipe came today too. Just waiting on ups to bring the few odds and ends I ordered from autohaus. Shipped on Monday, but it looks like it will be next Monday before it gets here.

I'm thinking about flipping the turbo around and having the air filter come out over the trans. I'll have to look and see if there is enough room to make the down pipe clear the motor mount, unless you guys already know that it won't work. I guess the only other option is to mount the air filter in the rain tray area.

A MK2 alternator bracket on a 1.5.
You might be better off with a 1.6 upper timing belt cover.
I'm putting a MK2 alternator bracket on a MK1,
but haven't checked to see how the upper timing belt cover fits yet.
I'll have to check that.
I figured I'd have to make a small bracket to go from the alternator bracket to, to support the upper timing belt cover. Didn't think I'd have to cut anything on the cover. We'll see.