Scirocco Register

Well this is turning into a bit of a project, having at first thought bought Nutty at auction several hundred miles away it seemed perfectly straight forward, change a few bits, and hey ho of we go. After timing belt, all oils, cam belt, front suspension, horn, windscreen wipers, washer, battery, fan belt, brake pads and disks, fuel lines, carburettor, vacuum hoses, electrical relays it has now come to the stage of taking the head off and seeing what is happening in there. After removal I found out the inlet manifold coolant channels are completely blocked, yes I mean completely, will make some photos and will try and post them. I did rig up a pressure tester and I think there is a problem with the inlet valve on cylinder 3, no further surprises (so far) apart from the stripped wheel bolt hole on the rear brake drum, I have probably forgotten some other minor troubles but as the Borg famously said resistance is futile even for a Scirocco.
The minor interior problems are not that important, cracked dashboard etc. and a bit of rust here and there also won't keep me awake at night, first of all lets get the mechanical bits up and running and the rest is just a matter of one problem at a time.
Quite a learning curve for a first time car tinkerer.

Nice sounds like quite a project but will be worth it in the end. Get some pictures up of you can


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I’m so glad I bought my 4th Rocco back in 2004; 13 years after it was first registered. It wasn’t in too bad condition. Although I think the lower part of the passenger door needs new metal.

And you say you’re a first time car tinkerer..... be patient. Tell us why a scirocco? And not an mgb or xr2 or jag XJS....


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That's the head removed and examined, I did a compression test a couple of weeks ago and No. 3 cylinder was down on compression, 14, 12, 9, 15, bodged a leak down tester, by my reckoning it was a problem with the inlet valve, I have had problems getting the carb to run leaner, whatever I tried it kept running rich, got it running quite well without the breather from the rocker cover attached but the moment the breather went on it was back to running like a dodgy tractor. I imagine the mixture from the inlet valve was added too the carb mixture with the air flow and causing the rich running. So make a valve compressor, then out with the valve grinding paste, and grind away.. According to a mate of mine it's that simple, yea right.
As to Dave's question, I wanted to buy a scirocco in 1984, was persuaded to buy a Passat instead (this was in Holland), the OH had a Scirocco whilst living in London in the 80's so it seemed like a good idea. Don't get me wrong we took it for a spin a couple of weeks ago and is was such fun apart from the fact that it would buck like a kangaroo under 2000 RPM, so over 2000 it was.
I will prevail in fixing the old (ish) beast but quite how it got an MOT is beyond me.
One other thing, I found a sort of restrictor in the coolant channel in the inlet manifold, any idea if this is necessary?
Oh and to what size do I have to reduce photos in order to publish on this site, and no, I don't have a phone capable of taking pictures.

Nutty wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 7:00 pm I have had problems getting the carb to run leaner, whatever I tried it kept running rich, got it running quite well without the breather from the rocker cover attached but the moment the breather went on it was back to running like a dodgy tractor.

Just an idea on the rich running, in case there is a simpler explanation. I had the embarrassment of trying to adjust the mixture on my GT II while it was sitting in the MOT bay at Halfords during my first MOT. The further I screwed the mixture screw in to weaken the mixture, the higher the CO reading became. The engine was coughing and spluttering like crazy, the CO probe kept getting contaminated and the air in the workshop was smelling quite noxious. None of us could figure out what was going on so we gave up on it and they failed the car for "Emissions not tested".

The Haynes Scirocco manual was no help, but studying the detailed information of the 2E2 carb in the Haynes Solex and Pierburg carb manual, I discovered the mixture screw on the 2E2 carb operates in the opposite direction to every other carb. In other words, screw in to enrich the mixture, screw out to weaken it. This is because the screw controls the volume of air bleeding into the idle fuel channel, not the volume of fuel. With this information, I was able to set it up roughly "by ear" and fine tune it to VW's specification on Kwik-Fit's CO meter before they logged it on for the MOT retest a week or so later.

Thank you for your suggestion GT II, I did find that bit of info about the mixture adjustment somewhere here on the forum, quite amazing the knowledge shared on this site, many thanks to all who supply the info for others to use.
Valve compressor works, won't win any prizes but I can live with that.

And the story goes on, valves re-ground, everything cleaned, head skimmed with 1200 grit wet and dry, cleaned up for it to be level and rust removed on the block, new gaskets, put it back together and fill up with coolant, aaahhhh that's where that washer goes, off with the head, remove inlet, fit washer thingy, refit head. refill with coolant, now leaking on the bi metal cup, bother, not done that before, ah well, try and start it never the less, not starting, fuel hose cracked just before fuel pump, fix that, and yes it starts and runs. Still having to sort the bi metal leak, seems to be missing an o-ring, never came out when I dismantled it.. The best investment made so far is the tool required to remove the "C" clips that hold the exhaust, what a b*stard of a job without, with it's a doddle.

Sorted fuel leak, sorted coolant leak, start, runs fine, but after a couple of minutes revs drop to the point of dying. Won't start, bugger, got the OH to start and have ago at setting the ignition timing, quite a novel experience. Set the timing light on the mark but is does run a lot smoother setting it a bit earlier. Time for test run, no problems, apart from stalling at times when shifting down, time for a longer fast run. After 20 minutes the oil light started flashing, stop in a layby, engine stalled, restart no more oil light problem, a bit later on the coolant light decides to light up, ah well. I did pass some very expensive bit of vintage Porche being filmed by a car programme, I might become famous by being on TV in a slightly beaten up 'rocco.

MOT passed, second go as there were a few bits that decided to stop working between home and the garage, horn (broken wire), washer (blocked with some gunk), rear brake (piston stuck) and the emissions, off the scale on the CO2. After using a Colourtune and adjusting the mixture much leaner it sailed through. Just in time for the road tax to run out and for Nutty to be laid up in the garage for some interior maintenance, dash board is cracked and the milometer needs fixing so I can actually see the mileage increase from it's current 133K miles. It will be fun removing the dash and working on that, according to Youtube it is not that difficult to repair, Hmmm another one, not difficult, we'll see about that.

Plenty of instructions on how to remove the dash online, I did it early 2018. Be careful with the blue external circuit foil on the rear of the binnacle. It does all come apart with a little patience. Take pictures......It might be a good idea to swap out the LCD clock whilst it’s in bits. I got one from brickwerx and it’s spot on.

https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/

Good luck, I’m sure you’ll be fine [emoji106]


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More info on fixing the odometer

http://www.4130-products.com/step/odometer/index.htm

Well, that's the dash out, taken the odometer apart, glued metal gear back on axle, all seems well but time will tell I guess, mark1GLS, that link is fab, still took my time and made copious notes on taking everything apart so hopeful on that part of the job. I did drop a bit of glue on the red gear, just in case, now I need to sort out what I need in the way of additional electrical connections. Since the 'rocco is now old enough I can take it for historic rally days, I think a navigator clock and an upgraded reading light will be required. It will take a bit of time but hopefully there will be a shiny rusty 2 seater bombing around the countryside this summer, rock on.

Well, recovering the dash with vinyl sounds like a good idea, however, the shape of the binnacle is so extreme that in order to stretch the vinyl I heated it and it sort of worked but the tight corners are impossible to keep down, the vinyl actually separated from the backing. Only one thing to do and that is pull it all off and start again, new material ordered and I will try a different starting point. Those chaps showing you how to do it on their Youtube channels do know what dashboards to recover, it will be interesting to hear if anyone else on the forum has had a go at this.

think these were probably originally covered using a vaccum former type of machine to heat and then suck the vinyl around the dash. might be worth speaking to a local vac form company if you have one.