Scirocco Register

you are seriously going to enjoy the diesel experience and eventually maybe consider more diesel power my monza has the ahu 1.9tdi 90bhp engine. stuck a tuning box ( simple plug and play ) and now runs at around 120bhp with nearing the ( honestly ) 185ftlbs torque.
i love it, more so when i have nice shiney white cars tailgating me and i floor it its so funny watching them back off when the diesel puffs away ... im now considering the pd130 conversion with a nice tasty stage 2 remap . currently i estimate around the 65+ mpg and enjoy every moment ...
keep up the good work, am looking forward to seeing the progress

The 1.6td is in, and I'm starting to feel like this will work. After further searching I'm still not sure what the engine has come out of, could be anything from a late mk2 Golf or Jetta GTD to a t25 camper. My google-fu is insufficient.

The gearbox (which we don't think was original) has suffered with a 2nd gear graunch for some time (TTATS), so has been replaced with a better identical 020 box. From memory it's either 4T (longer final drive) or 4Y (close 1st/2nd ratio with longish final drive). With the new engine mount this has been bolted to the original engine mounts for a neat finish. I wonder if this car is cursed, as unfortunately the friend who was doing the work has closed his garage for health reasons, so the final plumbing and wiring work will fall to a competition race engine builder on the same estate. Two steps forward, one step back.

Not sure if you have or are planning to but stick some new oil in the gearbox as it does not last forever, I’ve been running on fully synthetic gearbox oil and it helped with my 2nd crunch when cold in 1 of my car and made the change smoother and I’ve also stuck it in my Mk1 Scirocco and it’s been fine for the last few years.

2l or 2 bottles is plenty as I find I can only get in about 1 1/2 L before the gearbox is full and comes out the filler hole.
Oil I’ve been using, use Euro discount code to get it cheaper.

https://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/car- ... &0&cc5_868

Cheers Mark, I changed the oil in the old gearbox and it did improve the graunch somewhat, but it was still noticeable and pretty grumpy going into reverse. The new gearbox will get new oil and is reportedly better, but we'll see!

clutch adjustment is key too

Really building up a head of steam now (hopefully not literally though). Plumbing and wiring is mostly done and just a few little bits of fabrication to do.

There's just about enough clearance between the turbo manifold and the bulkhead for the existing downpipe, but we think it will knock and it's rusty. A new OEM downpipe has been ordered up (£45) and it's going to be altered by the fabricator who works from the same industrial estate to fit. It'll still use the same bastard C-clamps (well versed in them). If we can't get clearance then I'll get something lobsterbacked up in stainless (££!) and then put a flexi joint in.

Some £10 silicone hoses from Amazon arrived and aren't bad TBF. Engine bay now looking a bit like this:




A generic +10whpyo! cone filter will get installed temporarily.

Coolant header tank will take a bit of headscratching. The dash clocks have come back out (a few screws only), as we realised that the 1.6d clocks I ordered off eBay are from an earlier car and CE1 not CE2. This means the multiplug on my loom won't work with them. Instead we're going to use the original petrol clocks, take the rev counter signal off the W pole of the alternator. I'll see about getting a CE2 TD dash at a later date (they're rare as hens teeth and suffer scenetax). The electrics bod is going to try and bastardise in the glow plug light from the other tell-tale dash light into mine.

Currently holding up play is the gearbox selector linkage rod going walkies at some time in the merry-go-round of engine swaps. It's the long rod in the top of this diagram.


Had a root about in my lock-up stash of VW bits but no joy, and they're NLA from factors/ VW but luckily found one on eBay so ordered that up.
Should have first run by the end of this week, and aiming for MOT-time next week. Much excitement after 18 months off the road.

Bringing this thread up to date.
New breather, wiring and plumbing finished while we waited for a cone filter to arrive.



Got the glowplug relay working and lights wired back in.


The downpipe wasn't rotten through, but was pitted and old. A new downpipe has therefore been bought, a cone fabricated and the c-clamp flange welded to it.


Exhaust manifold was mated up, but fouled on the gear shift linkage necessitating some mods.




Cone filter turned up to complete the intake side for first attempt at running.


We then found that the starter wasn't man enough for the job. Unsurprising as it's the stock 1.8 petrol rated at 0.8KW. Trying to find a compatible diesel starter (rated at 1.8KW) was a bit of a challenge, and I ended up using a code for a Mk2 Golf GTD. Main dealers and usual factors wanted more than the rest of the engine has cost me to date. Eventually going through Bosch part numbers I found a Manchester Auto Electrical who had a rebuilt one for 50-odd quid. That arrived and was fitted.

With sufficient starter gumption fault-finding turned to the Bosch pump, to find the pump timing swinging in the wind. Some googling supplied the correct pump timing, and with a bit of boost from a jump-pack magic happened.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-iYBsr ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhoQGnE ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]

The exhaust which can be heard rattling needs welding up (and cat cutting out), but it was inching closer to the MOT.
It got a bit of a polish.


Went for MOT.


And promptly failed.

The CV and wheel bearing were done. Front struts and springs swapped for the slightly lowered item, rear springs swapped for the lowered uprated ones, but the struts were rusty so have left the original but still functional. I only paid £40 for the set so I'm not too bothered. Complete failure on photos, but I'll get some with the new ride height.

The dash light was the bloody little bulb again. Brickwerks seem to be the only place that still sells them, but found another dash to cannibalise. Behold, let there be (a main-beam tell-tale) light.


We've gone back to the original dash due to the issues with the multifunction plug at the back. At some point I think I'll try and drill out one of the redundant holes and install an LED for the glowplug circuit into the dash (and do the LED and resistor mod that cobblers recommended). Probably shouldn't rev the old derv donk to 7000rpm though.

MOT was achieved.


And I went to go and collect it from where the work was happening.
I was actually on-call the night before, so was up from 4am and running on fumes most of the day. I caught a late morning train from Cardiff, arrived into Brizzle TM to find there was a signal failure delaying all the trains by about a half hour. This meant missing my bus connection in Devon and delaying an hour for a later one to the rural hamlet where the work was going on. This shouldn't have been an issue...

Arrived to this:



Set off to run some errands locally, and then up the A38 for home. After 30 miles I was getting used to the engine/ gearbox/ shell combo, and the engine seemed to have loosened up from it's multiple year garage slumber - breathing easier and pulling harder. I did take a video but it's mainly rainy road noise and wiper action, so I'll have another go.

It does seem to run very cool, struggling to get up to temp on the long flat run. Not sure if that's a dead thermostat or having such a massive rad for a little diesel, but will need to investigate.

At Sedgemoor I pulled off to check fluid levels, tyres etc. As it sat idling the battery charge light flickered once or twice, now visible in the gloom of dusk, but I thought nothing of it.

As I pulled back onto the M5 the battery charge came on a little brighter for a couple of miles before extinguishing itself. Puzzling. It stayed off for a few miles before flickering some more near Clevedon.

Going up the M49 towards the bridge it came on and stayed on, getting gradually brighter. Some bricks were shat, but sense reigned; this was an old diesel, it don't need no charge. The battery could run the lights and wipers the 35 miles home, and most of the motorway was lit anyway.

Foot went down a little harder, and I raced on only to get stuck in a queue as the M4 was shut around Newport for the never-ending roadworks. Stress.

The last few miles were quiet sleep deprived hope, and the Scirocco duly made it to my on-street parking.



Positives:

- It's hilarious to drive - the combination of old school diesel truck soundtrack, turbo whistle and coupe shell is deliciously incongruously mad

- It sips diesel. £10-15 max used for about 200 miles. Again - old small diesel, tall gearing, aerodynamic (0.38cd) shell

- The engine starts on the button, runs sweetly, and the gearbox doesn't whine like the old one

- In gear acceleration is reasonable and surprising

- It will pull away in third, and happily manoeuvres at parking speeds on the clutch only



Issues:

- Charging circuit issues. Next job is to chase all the wiring, nip everything up and if that fails I may replace the original alternator. A bit of research suggests the regulator fails, but the reg is £10, alternator £35, so tempting to change the lot.

- Wiring is a rats nest. The dealer fit scorpion immobiliser has all been chopped out, and the glow plugs wired in correctly but the under dash harness is all still tangled up together. The fuse board is currently cable-tied to the underside of the dash. Somewhere along the way the main feed to the stereo has also been chopped (so no tunes to drown out the diesel drone). I would like to install a reasonable aftermarket alarm, C/L, glow plug light, get the tunes back and generally tidy everything up.

- The rev counter doesn't work. This should be fairly simple as I think it can take the feed off the W pole of the alternator. All of the above can hopefully be done at the same time.

- Cool running - turn the boost up to warm it up (and swap the thermostat for a spare I have).

- First gear is sometimes reluctant. Suspect dead syncromesh. I can drive around this.

- It's not quick. The pump has been set up for emissions MOT pass.

Congratulations on getting it on the road.

I would check the alternator regulator as it’s just held on my 2 screws, check the condition of the carbon bushes and clean up the contact points on the regulator and alternator and see if that helps with charging.

Great work. Mine has been running a 1.6 SB for nearly 9 years and 53,000 miles now. Averaged 51mpg according to the app on my phone over this period.

I didn’t bother with a glow plug lamp. The click from the glow plug relay is quite audible so you know then the plugs are up to temp.

Still not sorted a rev counter!