Early 1.9 to 2.1 conversion - stop me if I'm being stupid!

[itchyfeet]

look on the bright side gives you a chance to paint the engine bar.
I stood mine on end in a bowl and poured old engine oil into it, takes a while to come through but I figured the oil coating inside will help stop internal corrosion.
Then I ordered new ends from Brickwerks

[CJH]

Haha, yes, I was planning to go back and improve that bar at some point. Priority is to get it all back in ASAP now though. And on Thursday I also want to fit in a reciprocal favour on my mate's beach buggy - so no time for painting and rust protection right now.

[CJH]

Took the engine out again this evening, took the clutch and flywheel off, fitted a new felt washer, refitted the flywheel and clutch, and put the engine back in. Easy when the van's still got its tail in the air, when you can remember all the moves from two nights ago, and when all the bolts are clean and accessible. Glad I did it - for the sake of £1, a two-night delay and an hour and a half's labour that's one less thing to worry about.

[CJH]

Got it all back together today. Don't talk to me about hose clips! It's no wonder they leak - there's just so many of them.



Put some fluids in, turned it over on the starter without the king lead attached in an effort to get some oil round, and to pump some fuel into the carb. The pressure gauge didn't move (forgot to even look at the dashboard oil light), so I went for it.

It fired up first turn of the key!

So I quickly got the timing roughly right, then wound up the idle speed to about 2500 rpm and let it run for a few minutes, while I tried to add more of the coolant. Got 4 bar on the oil pressure gauge.



After a while I decided to switch it off for the evening, and tomorrow I'll crack on with bleeding the cooling system, checking for leaks, adjusting the valves again, setting the timing and idle speed properly etc.

That deserves a beer I think.

[dumbo]

have a beer chris well done mate hope all goes well tomorrow
simon

[CJH]

Thanks Simon

I've been wondering about the correct approach now. The engine was very tappety while it was running yesterday. I'd never set the tappet preload before, and I suspect I didn't get it quite right on the bench. The approach is to set the screw so it just touches the top of the valve, then add 1.5 or 2 turns of preload. Even though my tappets were all cleaned, refilled and stored in oil, they won't have been pressurised, and it's likely that in most (all?) of them the internal piston is sitting further in than it will when it pressurises. So my 1.5 to 2 turns of pre-load would then be too much. But also, in my inexperience, I may have misjudged the point of first contact because some of the rockers seemed to be sprung on the rocker shaft so as to naturally rotate away from the pushrods - with hindsight I probably should have held them on top of the pushrod against that slight spring pressure. This error will have reduced the pre-load a bit. So I think they'll be all over the place at the moment.

Obviously I can't get them set right until they all pressurise and go quiet, but on the other hand I'm reluctant to take it out and drive it while there's too much pre-load, as the valves may not be closing properly and could get damaged. So what's the right approach here?

Also, I can't take it out on the road until I've filled the cooling circuit. Yesterday I didn't run it long enough to open the thermostat, so there's a load more coolant to go in. Obviously I need to do that first, but because of the way the thermostat works (opens a bit till it gets a hit of cooler water then closes again) it takes a long time to fill a completely drained cooling system. I don't really want the engine to be just idling while I do this, because I've heard that new piston rings inside new liners ought not to idle for long periods while bedding in (bore wash?). So again, what's the right approach?

I'm thinking this will be an iterative task. I'll start by having another go at the valves (some may have pressurised yesterday, and I know now to pay attention to the rocker springing). Then I'll start it up, set the timing properly, then set it to a fast idle again (2000-2500rpm), heat it up to open the thermostat and get most of the coolant in, then set the idle speed back to 900-1000rpm and take it for a drive to try and quieten the tappets. Then when they're all quiet I'll have one more go at setting the pre-load. Is that the right order?

[itchyfeet]

I'd reset the preload first then start and sort out cooling system, at the same time you need to remember the 20 min at 2500 cam break in.
Don't know what you mean about preload, the internal spring in a tappet keeps the piston at top, if your tappet is full or a bit empty of oil you can still set a preload by getting the adjuster to just touching and then screw in two turns.
Remember it probably won't have any compression for a number of hours after setting preload as the valves are held open until it bleeds down to equilibrium.

[CJH]

I think I misread what was happening. It felt to me as though the rocker arm was slightly sprung so as to tilt it off the pushrod and onto the valve stem. This was because I could easily, with very little finger pressure, push it down onto the pushrod. But I checked more closely, and the rocker arm is actually touching the pushrod, which moves with the rocker arm when I press on it. I think this means the tappet is very soft at the top, and I'm just seeing that internal spring pressure.

Anyway, I had another go at setting the pre-load, idled it fast and filled the radiator and the rest of the cooling system. The fan now comes on when it's hot. I think there's still air in the heater though since it blows cold, but that'll sort itself out on the road I think. By the time I'd finished this the tappets were a lot quieter - still not quite there I think, but I'll take it for a longer drive, then let it cool down and have another go at setting the pre-load.

I took it for a 10 mile drive, and it's driving very nicely. The exhaust sounds different at idle - very slightly deeper I think - but on the road it's the same as it ever was. Pulls smoothly, but I haven't laboured it yet as it should probably be babied a bit for a while.

I haven't yet fitted the oil cooler (didn't want to push my luck), and the oil is getting up to just over 100 degrees when everything is hot. I think it could go higher on a hot day with hard driving. What's normal - do I need to stop everything and fit the oil cooler pronto?

Oil pressure seems ok. I've gone a for 20W50 mineral oil (Original Heritage from Classic Oils, for it's high ZDDP content (1300ppm), which is good for flat tappets apparently. At 100 degrees I'm getting 2 - 2.5 bar while pootling along at 40mph in top (don't have a tacho, so will have to work out what rpm that was). At the just over 100 degrees and idling at around 1000rpm on my drive I was getting just over 1 bar. So what should I expect at different temperatures/rpms?

Parked it on my drive and checked underneath for leaks - not a single leak of anything, anywhere. You think *you're* surprised. I count 24 hose clips in the engine bay alone, plus various pipe gaskets, o-rings, sensors etc. Must try not to be too smug - pride before a fall etc.....

[itchyfeet]

4 speed or 5 speed

4 speed is 2000rpm at 40mph 4th gear, at 80 deg oil temp you should be over 2 bar, thats the only spec. VW give
at 100 deg it will be lower

( just corrected the mistakes, was typed in a hurry)

[CJH]

Thank you. 4 speed - seems like it's ok then. I'll see what it is at 80 degrees next time I go out in it. Which is now in fact.

[CJH]

Just checked - it's an ABD gearbox, on standard 14" wheels with 185/80 tyres, so you're right - 2000rpm comes up at 37mph. So at 37mph on the satnav and about 80 degrees on the oil temp gauge, the pressure gauge is showing about 2.7 bar.

Just under 50 miles on the engine now and it seems to be running very smoothly. Just a hint of a tap from, I'd say, one tappet, but before I panic I'm going to have one last go at setting the pre-load again, now I think I know what I'm doing. Getting hot air from the heater too, and the cooling system is brim full, so I'm about there I think.

One little gremlin - I stopped off at the shops on the way home, got back in and no starter. Had to crawl under to check the starter terminals (not as bad as it used to be now that everything is clean under there), and the trigger wire spade terminal had sheared off. Had a spare terminal and crimping pliers with me, but the remains of the old terminal are jammed in the recess on the starter, so I just stripped the wire and shoved it in - it only had to last one more start to get me home. The wire itself is quite corroded and the insulation is cracked and brittle, so I'll figure out where it goes and look to replace the entire length if possible.

Is it tempting fate to change my engine details in my signature I wonder.

[itchyfeet]

Is it tempting fate to change my engine details in my signature I wonder.

Nah, get it in there you have earned it

[CJH]

Yeah, it's been a bit of a slog, especially the last two weeks. And anyway, I don't believe in fate - if it blows up it'll be my fault, not fate.

I've changed quite a few things as part of this engine swap, not the least of which is the gearbox. I'd like to publicly thank Aidan for his meticulous attention to detail (his bill of works is astonishingly detailed). His reputation is well deserved. My previous gearbox wasn't bad, but this one is slick and precise and a joy to use

[itchyfeet]

Yes got an Aidan Tabot 4 sped rebuild in my tintop

[CJH]

I've had another go at setting the pre-load this evening. Now that the tappets have all pressurised it's much more obvious where the 'touching' point is, and I've added 1.5 turns of pre-load. I don't know which ones were under pressure from the cam since the engine was turned off 24 hours ago, but they all felt the same. I then fired it up, and the tappets all sounded fine. I'm hopeful that that means they're not going to give me any trouble.

I finished off the last few jobs too - fixed the broken starter terminal and a few other dodgy looking terminals in the engine bay, rechecked the timing, and refitted the splash guards (didn't want to do that until I felt I'd finished with the tappet pre-load).

And I've emailed the chap at the rolling road to get an appointment - I'm keen to have the carb jetted properly and to have the engine performance measured for comparison against my DG.

There's definitely something different about the exhaust compared to the DG. Whenever I walk past the tailpipe and feel it blowing on my legs it seems like not only is there noticeably more gas coming out (makes sense - the engine is 10% bigger), but the individual pulses from the cylinders seem more clearly defined than I remember. I wonder if that's related to the different cam (lift and timing). I've got detailed measurements of my cam and a stock (if worn) DJ cam. Once I get round to stripping my DG I'll measure that cam as well for comparison.