RIP "Old Blue"

This is a place for us to share progress on and upgrades to our vw diesels.

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surfcam
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Location: Canada Southern Alberta
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Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by surfcam »

So do you turn the VNT one way or the other way or graduated control like the timing on a model T.
99 TDI Jetta (Z1 engine code)
94 Grand Caravan
89 Dodge Gold Stream B class
http://www.antiquedollhouseofpatterns.ca/
Fatmobile
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Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by Fatmobile »

Not sure what you mean.
It's a pull knob like the cold start lever.
It'll probably be adjusted differently for driving in town and highway driving.

I heard it run yesterday,.. heard oil gush from it too.
Looks like the oil galley plug, next to the intermediate shaft, pushed out.

I've got oil pressure. :shock: :D
Lame, I saw that plug sitting in there a little crooked but thought it didn't leak in the last car soo....
It appears the oil galley plug is 14.25mm.
NAPA doesn't have anything close in stock and the jerk behind the counter was being all pissy about having to look it up in the book to order one,.. flipping through pages in the wrong book.
Nothing on the pages even looked like a freeze plug, I looked at him, took my old plug and walked out before he got to say I couldn't find it.
They have a real good parts guy there.
But this lazy ass, if you don't give him a vehicle make and model so he can just punch in numbers, he gets all bitchy. Tried bitching at the other guy for handing the job to him (his shift was over and he was supposed to be out of there) half way through the order.
So I told him to quit bitching he didn't even start looking for it, then to see him being all pissy when looking through unrelated pages, I knew what his results would be.
I'll check with Jeff next week; see if I can get a NAPA part number.
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
Fatmobile
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Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by Fatmobile »

The manual controller works great.
I can push the knob in and shut the turbo off, belch some black smoke,
then pull the knob and take off.
Love doing that to diesel trucks behind me.
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
Fatmobile
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Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by Fatmobile »

Time for new floor pans again.
The area around where the control are mounts was getting weak so I welded some 1/8" stainless plate in that area.
Image
I hate welding upside down but it worked.

Snapped off one of the studs trying to remove the control arm bracket so had to weld a new stud in:
Image
Also a pic of some of the welding done from the top.
But wait there's more,.. the bolt wouldn't come out of the control arm bushing. froze inside the metal inside the bushing.
Had to sacrifice the control arm:
Image
Way bigger mess than I planned when just trying to fix the floorpans.

So here's a topside pic of my new 16 gauge stainless floor pans:
Image
Image
This time I even pulled up the seat holder and fixed everything under that
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
CoolAirVw
Turbo Charger
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Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:21 pm
Location: Kansas City area, Missouri

Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by CoolAirVw »

very fun and rewarding to do a project like this. Did you make those repair panels?


when you gonna upgrade to a mk4 tdi?
Richard
85 Jetta TD
ASE Certified Master Auto-Technician with L1 Advanced Engine Diagnostic Rating and Light Diesel certification
ATRA Certified in Rebuilding, Diagnosing & Installing Transmissions

My Threads---> <a href="viewtopic.php?t=6255&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0" target="_blank">Rusty Floor Repair </a> ---- <a href="viewtopic.php?t=4923&highlight=" target="_blank">Oil Pressure Warning</a>----<a href="viewtopic.php?t=6632" target="_blank">Uploading Pictures</a>----<a href="http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php? ... t&p=730755" target="_blank">My Porsche 914</a>
Fatmobile
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Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by Fatmobile »

Hey Coolair,
I did hand-hammer those panels.
A friend gave me some scrap stainless from a Hobart commercial dish washer.
16 gauge is tough to work with but makes a great final product.

Now I have to do some of the passenger side floor. It's not as bad,.. the rear section actually looks good. But I will have to pull the front seat support and replace everything under that. Then put some patches along the outer edge of the front.

Then some of the rocker panels have been replaced with stainless. What isn't stainless will need upgraded,.. it's getting pretty thin.
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
Fatmobile
Global Moderator
Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by Fatmobile »

CoolAirVw wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2017 3:48 pm very fun and rewarding to do a project like this. Did you make those repair panels?


when you gonna upgrade to a mk4 tdi?
I forgot to answer the TDI question.
As soon as I sell the bronze rabbit, I'm going to try building something with a TDI.
My buddy has been hitting salvage auctions and buying salvaged TDIs. So I have somewhere to get the engines to start with.
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
radtones
Glow Plug
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2017 4:34 am

Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by radtones »

Can't wait to see how it turns out.
Fatmobile
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Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by Fatmobile »

The floor pans I installed at the beginning of this thread started rusting out again. Oh she's down.
So I welded in stainless floor pans this time,. 16 gauge,.. look she's back up.
In time for a long trip last fall.
California, then down to visit Andrew in Flagstaff, sister in Tucson, cousins in Texas and home.
Got home and the block had developed a crack along the front, near the oil pump a couple inches above the oil pan and it was bleeding like a wall in a scary movie.
It's a shame because it was still starting and running so good,.. the oil pressure started getting low. I figure the crack goes inside too.
I had a free ecodiesel block and a mechanical head so I built another engine and it's finally installed and running great again.
She's down, oh look she's back up.
The VNT turbo is freed-up and running really great,.. so the 200mm clutch started slipping. Oh she's down again.
I swapped the 210mm gasser clutch back in last weekend and it's holding up well,.. no look she's back up.
No more 200mm clutches on my VNT diesels ever again.
The guts from the old engine will go into an '84 block I have. My last spare NA block taking up space.
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
Fatmobile
Global Moderator
Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by Fatmobile »

Went to a festival last weekend.
Someone climbed up the ladder on the back of an RV then jumped down on top of my car's roof.
Imagepatinasmashroof by vwfatmobile, on Flickr

Imagepatinasmashroof2 by vwfatmobile, on Flickr

Security got him, he went to jail for this and other stuff he did.

The court will tack on a $700 fine restitution that goes to me. Not sure I'll ever see it.

I was able to kick the roof back up with my feet.
Not sure where I can get a crossbar for a '93 Subaru legacy outback wagon,.. I don't have much for Subaru parts connections.
Only had 1 at the pick and pull I got this one from.

Here's how it used to look:
Imagerabbitroofrack by vwfatmobile, on Flickr
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
Fatmobile
Global Moderator
Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by Fatmobile »

(Pa)Tina is still running.
Did an engine swap after the long road trip.
Oil was leaking from a crack in the front of the block.
So I swapped a different engine in.
Can't remember where I got it but remember putting the mechanical head on the hydraulic block.

It recently started leaking oil into the cooling system.
So I pulled the head and replaced the gasket.
The little o-ring in the head gasket was "curved".
Not sure how that happened.
I'll post a picture.
Exhaust downpipe was full of holes so that got welded up.
It's going back together with some upgrades.
It's got headstuds now.
And it's time to redesign the VNT-15 turbo controller with bearings
instead of the holes that wear oval and get sloppy.
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
Fatmobile
Global Moderator
Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by Fatmobile »

The head gasket was dong great except for getting oil in the coolant.
I've never seen the o-ring curve like this:
Imagepatinaheadgasket by vwfatmobile, on Flickr

Otherwise the head looked great.
And the prechambers look great.
Back together.
Except stalled to make a better VNT turbo controller.
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
Fatmobile
Global Moderator
Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by Fatmobile »

I built that better VNT15 controller.
Using the stock Vnt-15 controller spring
reversed so it would be controlled by boost instead of the computer controlled vacuum it came with.

Took it out for a test run.
It worked perfect 1st gear the boost hit 15 - 18 and the EGTs popped up to 1200 and stayed there.
Hit 2nd,.. same thing.
3rd boost was staying right in the range and boost 1200F.
4th and 5th the same.
It worked perfect,.. but the gasket between the oil filter flange and block split.
Oil spewed but I didn't notice the trail into the driveway.
Took it into town,..
the lack of oil fried the turbo.
Froze it up.
Just got to look at the rod and main bearings.
The mains looked great, the rods had spots that looked spidered but not bad oil starvation type wear.
So I got some new rod bearings. Plastigauged to .002" so still in great shape.

I had seen the oil leak and thought it was from the oil cooler. I fixed it.
I was right in there, had everything apart.
Who would think the gasket behind the flange would split.
Sandwiched between metal and alloy.
Also had bought a new VDO oil pressure sender for the gauge but didn't have it installed.

Oh well I'll pull the turbo apart and see if I can save it.
Looks like the shaft is froze to the bearing.

Soo I put the 1.6 from the Golf (Now has the M-TDI) in there.
That was the first VW diesel engine I ever rebuilt.
It's a rering with about 30,000 miles on it.
I don't know if I broke it in wrong 15 years ago or the rering didn't last but it's weak.

I decided to put the 1.7 into (Pa)tina for the winter
AKA "The Winter Rabbit"
I've wanted to see how it works with a VNT-15 compared to the stock turbo.

So I got some engine swapping going on.

But when I'm done (Pa)tina will be stronger than ever.
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
sgnimj96
Turbo Charger
Posts: 259
Joined: Thu Feb 20, 2014 2:08 pm

Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by sgnimj96 »

Awesome!
The value of those rides is jumping, too. I browse Craiglist at used car prices, they're going up fast. Diesels more.
That cup is becoming the holy grail (eh). Not many older vw's at all, just bugs. The few mk4's are the lame gasser autmatics.
81' Scirocco 1.6D (conversion)
86 Golf 1.6D
85' 300TD
Fatmobile
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Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:28 pm
Location: north central Iowa

Re: RIP "Old Blue"

Post by Fatmobile »

The supply chain problems are effecting parts for repairing many cars.
I wonder if that will effect the old cars like rabbits.
I got those 2-notch head gaskets for $20 shipped.
That's pretty cheap,.. they were on the clearance rack.
I think there is a pretty good stockpile on VW rabbit parts.
Compared to how many Rabbits are left.
'91 Golf gasser converted to a 12mm pump, M-TDI.
'84 1.6TD Rabbit with a VNT-15 turbo, still setup to run on vegetable oil.
'84 GTI with 1.7TD pistons and intercooled.
2003 TDI wagon
2000 TDI Jetta.
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