Club 80-90 Forums

Spent today fitting my new 2.1 on carb + lpg
Well I am chuffed.
Initial tests are very encouraging.
I filled up with oil and turned the engine over just using the starter (no plugs)
Took several 15 second bursts but the oil light went out, and a healthy 60psi pressure (wet guage) on the crank.
Cold compression check next.
Happy to report 13bar on all cylinders.
Tomorrow we'll fit the new clutch slave and fill it up with coolant.

Great News, nice work [THUMBS UP SIGN]

So the slave fitted, and bled
All the electrics and hoses connected.
Gearbox selector shaft refitted.
Turned over again and again
Connected the LPG
Connected the ignition
Connected the battery.
Gulp!
Cranked and started in a couple of seconds.
Clattering like nails in a tin (empty lifters)
Going for a drive tomorrow should quieten them down

Happy days Kev.
It's a great feeling eh.

got a picture?

Aye I'll pop it up later

kevtherev wrote:So the slave fitted, and bled
All the electrics and hoses connected.
Gearbox selector shaft refitted.
Turned over again and again
Connected the LPG
Connected the ignition
Connected the battery.
Gulp!
Cranked and started in a couple of seconds.
Clattering like nails in a tin (empty lifters)
Going for a drive tomorrow should quieten them down

There's no coolant in that list

Coolant added

A good long drive brought up a few teething issues.
The temp gauge sits really really low but steady.
I cant get my head round that one..might be my new piece of loom to the sender..investigating.
Thermostat opened nicely.
Not much air bled out as I bled it on the driveway
One noisy tappet after the drive, removed rocker cover checked them all again at TDC, found one loose one.
Reset it at just touching for now.
Lifter clack replaced with a tick
Rocker cover leak, (silly me) now ok
LPG Vapouriser sprang a leak, replaced vapouriser with spare ..all ok but had to set the gas by ear.
Coolant dripping from tube cover, (brought me out in a sweat) traced to bleed outlet on #2 (phew!) ..now ok, but still a tiny weep
Oil pressure really low on my mechanical gauge..
Bled tubing ..now ok
Sump plug weeps..pfft!
I can tell the difference from the other engine.
I think it feels less stressed, more torque.

40psi @ 3000rpm
20psi @ 1000rpm
13.5 bar on all cylinders

Best week I've had in ages.

Some pictures

Sent from my SM-A320FL using Tapatalk

that should be a bit quicker going up the hills

kevtherev wrote:Some pictures...

That's a smart looking engine. I like the shiny intake manifold - what did you do to get it like that? When I did mine I grit blasted it, and it came up the same.

Those splash guards have obviously had some attention too.

The intake was blasted and sprayed with aluminium engine enamel.
Same with the guards.
Engine was just brush painted with the same.

I have one further question, regarding the lifters.
I had one lifter that was loud, I set it back to zero lash, now its pumped up can I turn the adjuster in 1.5 turns?
I keep thinking this will open the valve, but R Atwell and Boston bob say ok do it

Looking good Kev. nice work.
Yes, turn it in 1.5 turns from just touching, the lifter needs to be in it's working range.
It won't open the valve.
Worth checking the rest too now you've run it.

kevtherev wrote: I have one further question, regarding the lifters.
I had one lifter that was loud, I set it back to zero lash, now its pumped up can I turn the adjuster in 1.5 turns?
I keep thinking this will open the valve, but R Atwell and Boston bob say ok do it

I believe that's the correct method, yes. I believe it may open the valve as you apply the pre-load, so you may not have compression in that cylinder until the pressure inside the lifter dissipates. The length of time it takes to dissipate depends on the condition of the lifters, oil grade, temperature etc.

For the record, in my case (new KS lifters) I found that 1.5 turns resulted in rapid depressurisation, such that I had noisy tappets after as little as 30 minutes standing. The VW-recommended 2 turns cured that completely. I also found that new tappets took a long time to recover to their fully uncompressed length, making the initial adjustment an overnight job. When the engine stops, 6 valves will be closed, but 2 valves (one inlet, one exhaust) will be compressed. When you come to adjust those two, they may not have fully relaxed, so my two-stage process was to do the 6 first, then rotate the engine so that the last two valves were closed, and finish those two the following morning. I've never heard of having to tackle it this way before, so maybe it's a particular problem with new tappets, I dunno.