Motor went back in the SCirocco, with video link

ChuckNelson · **Posted:** Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:36 pm

Got a nasty rear main leak. So now the question is: Spring for a bigger motor(Big valve 1.8, OK for a possible move to FSP, and I know where one is sitting) or fix the seal and swap on the hot head(needs some love, has water damage) and put in the extra lumpy mystery cam(locking the car in DM)
AND while it is out, I have a set of 100mm cups for the half shafts but then I need the 100mm half shafts(beefier) And Peloquin has the Velocity limited slip kit (40% or 80%) and the tranny is weeping out a seal anyway.
And might as well do the forward bushings on the shift rods and weld a weight on to one to smooth the action
Then there is the rev limiter, which has to go in before I run the car hard, so I don't have to go thru this again. (As much fun as it is to be in the garage when it is near a hundred degrees outside.) I thought the next great shop toy would be a TIG unit but now AC is starting to look pretty good. Nice redneck set up, window unit sitting on the ground, with the door on it and some cardboard blocking the rest of the gap.

ChuckNelson · **Posted:** Sat Jul 22, 2006 5:32 pm

Well, I got a 1.8 out of an 84 GTi, pick it up Sunday. Trans as well. Sunday will be take motor apart day and it turns out the leaking seal wet the clutch, on the 1.7, so T-Hoff will be getting several hard earned dollars.

ChuckNelson · **Posted:** Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:13 pm

The 1.8 does have the big valve head and it looks like it was a replacement, just installed on the block. I don't have an easy way to get the full profile of the two cams, but the one I plan to use is about 3.5 mm longer lobe to lobe, looks like more duration as well. The block is pretty nasty outside but there was nothing metallic in the pan, there is still crosshatching on the bore(Which might be from a rebuild, better check bore dia) and there is no loosenness in the rod or crank journals. The new motor is missing the intermediate shaft so one will have to be robbed out of one of the 1.7s

ChuckNelson · **Posted:** Sun Jul 30, 2006 10:10 pm

The big excitement has been making a tool to compress the valve springs with. A little grinding. A little welding. A little cursing. Good times. Now the head is dismantled and Thursday it will get a mild porting and maybe stuck back together(probably not, I need a seal installer). I had planned to leave it alone except for matching but screw it, the car will just have to stay a mod. I have to get a windage tray and there is another tray for the valve train that is supposed to help keep oil out of the breather. The guy I got the motor from claims to have the intermediate shaft in a closet somewhere, so I am waiting rather than pulling one out of one of the other motors.
There is a "racing" head gasket available. It gives a .4 boost in compression, but is also $100 Oh well. The bright side is the lower comp. mill will be all the more ready for pressurising.
I really wanted to do the next rallycross, but even if I get the motor back together(and installed), there are still a few tranny tricks to be pulled and no $$ to do them at the moment.

I also got a good look at a MkI Cabriolet with a supercharger installed. I had been leaning turbo(already have a turbo minivan) but the supercharger looked pretty good. Plenty of time down the road for weighing pros and cons. Either way it will have to be scratch built. More good times.

Our van had a bad MC and Ashleigh has decided to become her own mechanic, so I walked her thru it. She did good. I noticed a loose wheel bearing so next weekends tutorial will be repacking and adjusting bearings.

ChuckNelson · **Posted:** Tue Aug 15, 2006 11:08 pm

Back again. I sprained my wrist(Fell five feet onto concrete while riding my trials bike along a ledge

) so work on the car slowed to a crawl.
I did pick up an intermediate shaft. I also ported the head, and decided to just go 1" per the SP rules in case I wimp out. My die grinder will not fit much farther into the ports anyway.

While porting I got a good look at the seats and decided to take the head in for a little cutting. There was some internal arguement about buying the tools but as big a tool whore as I am, the $$ were to much to do a handful(If that) of heads. So the head will go to either Loop road or more likely, Steve Ashworth.
I did replace the A arm, torsion arm, and upper shock bushings with poly this weekend. I was going to do the steering rack as well, but the bushings got bumped from the order ??. SO they are on the reorder list. This stuff came from AutoTech, not to many other shops have much MK I stuff. I also got a windage tray and oil controller from them.
I have had this suspension knock since I got the car, and could never find it. Turns out the the front A arm bushing had pushed into the arm letting the arm touch/bump the chassis mount. The new poly stuff should stop that.
I still need to get some tranny stuff on order. Peloquin limited slip kit, and some bushings and seals. This is going to be the most wicked Mk I in last place. :twisted:

Chuck
P.S. I also need to get some of my pics up so you can see how much shite you can cram in a 20'X20' space and still work.

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

You need to buy Adam Ligon (Black Forest Industries) a beer (Mondays, 6pm at the Flying Saucer).

ChuckNelson · **Posted:** Tue Aug 15, 2006 11:59 pm

I used to post on NCVW but I never could much solid info, so I kind of slid into my own world of trial and error (It helps when most of the error has been done in the last twentyfive years) I may hit BF up for some halfshafts as I will be changing from 90 to 100mm shafts and there seems to be an issue with which ones fit at the hubs.

ChuckNelson · **Posted:** Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:43 pm

Not much action in the tech section so time for a short post.
I took my head to Ashworth and it will be a couple of more weeks before I get it back. I have all the engine stuff except some O-rings and the housing that returns from the head to the radiator(Time for a trip to Nines)
I also got some mandrel bends to make a short side exit but I got my OD and ID mixed up so this will be for practice cutting/welding.
Also, with the potential trip to Nines, debating a swap to an A2 manifold. It should be good for several horsepower but it puts the intake on the opposite side(From its present position) So I will need to make a mount for the CIS on the right and move all the high pres fuel lines AND make up some new tubes for the transfer from the CIS to the throttle body. The injector lines might not reach either. Tough call.
For the month of September, if Ebay sales go well

it will be time for the limited slip and new bushings, seals, and halfshafts for the tranny.
Seems like a lot of work for a car that will still run dead last :shock:

But it might be fun as a hill climb car, with the addition of seat/harness and a cage.
Oh yeah, the Celica Gt is coming along as well. Some hammer welding is in the near future.

ChuckNelson · **Posted:** Thu Sep 21, 2006 9:13 pm

Nearly thirty days later I have my head back. They did a great job.
While I was waiting for the head to come back, I wrapped the header(which will probably bring on its early demise), installed my 80% slip kit from Peloquin, picked up the rest of the seals and bushings for the trans., got a new clutch. I had some debate on this. The flywheel(lightened) I have is for a 190mm plate, I could have gotten a new lightened flywheel for the 210mm plate and i also could have used the pressure plate for a later 16v car. In the end it was easier and cheaper to just get the stock kit. The motor will probably not break 120hp and the stock clutch is supposed to be good for way more than that.
I finally found a front water neck, it appears to be the only one in Wake county.
Got some poly steering rack bushings and installed them, also set the preload on the rack to remove any play.
Bought a 3/4" steel bar. I will weld about six inches of it to the shift link, to weight the throw. I considered extending the the shift arm, from the pivot and doing a short shift but the throw is already pretty short.
I picked up some window seal urethane. This is the stuff if you need to reinforce a bushing and there is not a poly replacement. Just clean up the rubber, scuff it for some "stick" and fill the voids. I have the left and right motor mounts prepped but have not gotten around to sealing them yet. Now I have to get on the ball, because the motor might go in Sunday.
I also moved/pushed the Celica to the back of the driveway so I can get the Scirocco out of the garage and have some room to put the motor together this weekend. It is a much heavier car.
Still on the "to get" list: Half shafts, rev. limiter, exhaust. I have been tinkering with building a side exit, but if I do that and then rally cross, it would probably hang to low.

ChuckNelson · **Posted:** Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:21 pm

Just for the half dozen still following the saga.

Put the head on, installed the new cam. Zero(0) clearance on every valve. So I go off to get some shims, but T-Hoff only has two skinny ones. So I end up swapping them from valve to valve to get the correct clearance numbers. Loads of fun. At least the head did not have to come back off to regrind the valve tips. Once again work has stalled while I order in some shims. And what do you do when works stalls? That is right, paint the car. So we wet sanded the front fenders, masked, primed and painted them. Rattle can special but it looks pretty good( Real good from more than ten feet). Also spray bombed the engine compartment and a bit of the interior, looks tons better. Now to paint the rest of the car and the redlantern logo on the hood.

Scott Johnson · **Posted:** Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:25 am

Sounds like a great project.

Unlike many of mine, it's actually progressing!

ChuckNelson · **Posted:** Fri Oct 27, 2006 11:35 pm

Finally, some more progress.
Valve clearance set, main seals on, damaged threads in block fixed(Anyone need an 8x1.25mm thread helicoiled? I got the stuff), waterpump on. Signing up for two events is a big motivator. I also only have three days off between now and nov12, so it looks like no more movies or videogames for a while.

My wife has become master gasket maker, her art talent is paying off bigtime when the part stores are closed.
Still only the front fenders painted, but if it quits raining on free days, that should be finished before nov12, just in time to dirty her up.
Time to cross some stuff of the list.
Maybe this Sunday some big progress will happen, or not. Chuck

ChuckNelson · **Posted:** Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:40 pm

For a while today I thought we would get the motor/tranny back in the car. All the misc. bits were going back on. We found out the that hole in the windage tray is, in fact, just slightly smaller than the oil pump, no matter how you turn it. After reinstalling the pump we found the that baffle cannot be installed(with the windage tray) unless you take the pump off first. So next time: baffle-windage tray-pump.

Found one other stripped thread. Other than that smooth sailing. Until I put the flywheel on the clutch. Turns out that T-Hoff got me a 2.0 210mm clutch. The flywheel is 190mm. So now I have to decide if I want to try and find a good used flywheel and have it lightened or just buy a new lightened one from somewhere.
No complaints, in all it was a good day, we even got two spare motors wrapped and stored outside of the garage.

ChuckNelson · **Posted:** Thu Nov 02, 2006 9:34 pm

I called Black Forest for a lightened 210 flywheel. They were out, their supplier was out. I called every shop in the US, Bahn Brenner had some coming in that day. So I had one shipped threeday(Ouch, they are in Oregon) and marked Saturday OFF at work. It showed up on Wednesday, great shipping. Thursday(day off) arrives and I do all my usual(trashtothedump, mow, etc...) As I am mowing(Actually grinding leaves. Shredder and Hi-lift blades make raking a thing of the past :shock:

) I notice that about twenty yards of my fence has collapsed. Judging from the bulge in the chain link, a good sizd deer has tried to run thru the fence. I scrounge around and find all the ties hidden in the leaves and put the fence back up.( I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT NONE OF THE DOGS RAN THRU THIS GAPING HOLE, PRAISE BE, TO YOUR CHOICE OF DIETY)
I get back on my mower(A 54" Scag 20hp I built from a junker) and it will not start. After running thru fuel/fire/comp i find that the fuel pump has taken a shi.., well you know what the pump took. Moving an 800 pd. mower with hydro drive is tough, but I eventually got it back around to the shop by dragging it with my beater turbovan. To be fair, I did get it stuck in a big bush. Just once.
No spare pump, to late to get one. Might as well work on the Scirocco, YAY

I pull the new flywheel out of the box and weigh it. They claim 8.5. I get 9.05(Digital scale). Still beats the stocker or even my lightened 190 flywheel. BUT, BUT,,,CRAP. There is only one alignment pin. I told the guy I needed a two pin wheel, he confirmed. Again,,,CRAPOLA. So I check the bolt spacing, it matches. I call Bahn Brenner. They tell me I can send it back and wait for the out of stock (No one knows when they will arrive) two pin flywheel. They also tell me if I pull the pin out of this wheel it is mine forever. After several careful minutes with a micrometer, I decide to go for it. I remove the pin with some dykes, being very careful not to mark it, so I can still send the damn thing back :twisted:

if my plan fails.
I get my alignment right, for the timing marks, by guaging against the old flywheel. It goes on smoothly, but I need three more flywheel bolts, and I cannot find any in my attic creaking collection of VW stuff.
To make this whole experience a bit better, earlier in the day, I installed speakers hooked up to a craigslist special tuner. I now have true stereo tunes in my garage. I also hooked an old set of TV rabbit ears to the FM ant. input. FAN-TAS-TIC reception. Of course there is the Dellpod hooked to the tape input. Now I can force my neighbors to listen to Man or Astroman and the Rev. Horton Heat :twisted:

For those interested in the Yeager comp at the Christmas party, this was written after five 16oz. Ice House. :shock:

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Thu Nov 02, 2006 9:52 pm

ChuckNelson wrote:

For those interested in the Yeager comp at the Christmas party, this was written after five 16oz. Ice House. :shock:

Aha- I was just thinking that this was my favorite installment of your story so far! :beerbuds:

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