Turbo rebuild kit

Turbo rebuilding weekend! :)

Spacers needed, and other bolts.

The rims are 16x7" ET 45, and it's known that the ET is too high to fit directly. The images are taken with 10 mm spacers, so the effective ET is now at 35. It seems many people are using spacers to get down at ET 30 or even lower, but I don't see any other reason than getting the wheel further out (which on the other hand looks better on the Caravelle). For me it's enough with a moderate adustment. I'll go with 10 mm in front and 5 mm in the rear. The rear spacer is actually not needed but the bolts I've found are long enough and I have the spacers. Easy choice.

I think I'll make new center caps instead of modifying the old ones. One idea was to pop out the VW logo and replace it with something else. Like a fake center nut. But if I'm going to make the fake nut I can make new caps. Why not go the whole way?..

Wheel fixin' part III

Clear coated!

Kristal 2K HS clear, a thin sticky layer and one thick on top.

Wheel fixin' part II, diesel pump testing

Just waiting for clear coat. Super nice result!

I couldn't resist, I had to fix the wheel right away. Zinc priming, some putty where the road salt had eaten the aluminium, one layer of filler and then colour. When I sprayed the black at the inside of the rims I changed my mind, the outer side is now gray metallic instead of the deep black. The image doesn't really show the real look, the rim in the background is more natural than the one in the front. I'll clear coat them today with 2K UHS clear, and then it's time to add the tyres. 

 
 

The updated mount bracket works well and the 1Z cam belt wheel fits the pump, the belt line is still parallel so it's really spot on. I had to open up the belt cover too (the black shield in the pictures) to get the pump in place. I found though that the outlets on the pump is longer than the old ones, so I have to move them over from the old pump. By doing that I can reuse to old fuel lines.

Hmmm... Is this TDC on a 1Z?

After milling, before paint

 

Now two of the rims have a center that will fit on the front hubs. I like milling with index tables. :)

The bracket for the diesel pump is also opened up. The pump goes in nice and easy. It's really awkward to rig the bracket in the mill so I skipped the mount holes. Either I do them by hand or I'll open up the holes in the pump. The need to be "elliptic" so the pump can rotate a degree or two while still mounted for timing adjustment.

I left the wheels in the morning and could pick them up already in the afternoon, blasted and ready for some paint! They look relly good and I think they will be nice with black metallic. Priming, filler and painting-time, are they on the pickup in the weekend?..

Wheel fixin'

I have a friend, Robin, who happens to have a workshop 250 metres further north on my home street. He's a relly nice guy and I have free access to the place. Sometimes, for example when a couple of wheels must be fixed and a bracket for a diesel pump must be milled, then that's a true super-good-thing-to-have... :)
The rims will not fit directly on the front hubs, the bearing caps are bigger than the center hole. So I put two of the rims up in the big mill with an index table and milled them up. The diesel pump bracket needed a bigger center hole as well to accept the new pump. Spent a couple of hours in the workshop yesterday and this morning I went to a sandblasting company with the rims. I think I can paint them before the weekend.
Pictures later!

More engine work

 

Ripped the electronic pump off today and did some measuring. I have to open up the center hole in the mount for the new pump and make a new back plate or modify the old one. The new pump alternator house is mirrored so I can't switch the old back plate onto the new pump directly. It's a minor work, just a little bit irritating.

David knew exactly what the "four water sensors" are (see this post), only the blue is for temperature - the other three is a water heater cluster! They're not mounted on all TDI's, only on cars sold to countries with cold weather (like our bloody winter). They help the engine temp up to working temp faster. But they consume a lot of electrical power, I'm not sure I'll use them because of that. David told me about a friend of his that made another solution; rotate the EGR valve 180 degrees, make a water/exhaust heat exchange tank and use the exhaust gases to heat up the engine faster. When the temp is up, close the EGR. Super simple and smart idea. That's now planned for my engine.

Anyone got info about my turbo? This one seems to have more axial and radial play than the other turbo I have (same model). Either I buy a rebuild kit on eBay and refresh this one or I'll switch turbo with the other head I have on the shelf. Haven't decided yet...

And BTW, I do know what the red and blue rubber hoses are for. It was just a nerdy joke. :)


Not much left to do, time to reassemble!

David visiting, soon of - to Cape Town!

 
David parking on our street, my kid Valter on the other side of the street is super excited - at the age of 1½....
David, behind the wheel.

David's long tour camper.

 

TDI'd since ages and a real intake snorkel!

I bought a set of tyres for my pickup from a guy called David, a super friendly lad that brought the tyres on a trip to Stockholm from the northern parts. He came in his Syncro Caravelle, that has been TDI converted for many thousands of km's. We had a nice chat over a coffee about different convert's and their upcoming trip - David and his wife is soon of in the camper to South Africa! They plan to spend a whole year on the road visiting people and having a good time. This is not the first trip they do, they've been to Greece two times to start with, Stockholm-Athens is 3700 km and they live another 750 km up north... I'm jealous, I want out on the road too (can I convince my wife to go to Portugal again?..).

Anyway, we drove to my workshop with the tyres and continued talking about TDI's as he inspected my engine work, I think we talked for another 1½ hour.

They have their on blog about the trip here: http://swedenafrica.blogspot.com/

Good luck David!

Disassembling

Started to disassembe the engine to replace the diesel pump, water pump, the cam belt and all the other standard stuff.

Some picture notes...

It's a cluster of water temp sensors, four of them. I think I'll use one...

The turbo has a lot of play, I haven't decided but I think it will be replaced by the turbo on the extra head (that I happen to have...). The engine was already out when I bought it, so there are some questions left. Like: what are the red and blue rubber hoses for? No VNT, easy to work with but gives lag. It's supposed to be a work house and not a performer though so I prefer the simpleness.

The EGR is mechanic, I have to find out if it's just to plug it to the inlet (don't think so) or if it can be controlled some way. Some people remove them, I think it's a system with a purpose so I'll save it if it's possible.

Did two simple tools to lock the cam and the crankshaft, works like a charm. The toothed tool is locked down with a cable tie and that 13/16 is something I haven't and will never use anyway. Finally a usage for inch tools. :)

Some pics on Peter's bus

This is what we have to work with in a near future. The engine is a B19 and the conversion itself looks really clean, and the engine compartment has plenty of space. The extra top frame is a joke, it's made of plywood and leaks noise as an AC/DC concert. I'll replace it with a new one made in sheet metal instead, with aaaa lot of sound deadening material.

But, before anything happens with this one, my pickup is going TDI...

Rims 'n' tyres

Getting the tyres this week. So I'll take the rims to a sanding/blasting company to clean them up. Did a try in our own sand blasting box but it took too long time. I'll send these to a company that will make it cheap. Then, black paint! 

Central locking

Finally, just ordered a central locking kit from eBay, time to fix the locks that the bloody druggies damaged. A new ignition key was fixed via a friends VW workshop. I'll use two for the doors and two for the hatches. This was dirt cheap, and there are several with even lower price. But the parts looks good so I'll mount it in the bus during the week I think.

A real work horse

We've been working with the new garage for months but finally we have moved into the new place. When we made all the walls, the pickup went many times to the brickyard. And daaarn they're loading! Here's a complete pallet of OSB board, almost 1.3 ton. The heaviest loading I did was 1.9 ton and still she went home like normal. Ok, it's a bloody slow vehicle, but with full load it keeps the same speed. 

But now everything is coming into place in the workshop. The TDI is in the work stand, the new gearbox is prepared and so on. Soon time to add the Landy Disco pump.

AAP gearbox, high speed cruisin'

The AAP gear box is cleaned up, zinc primed and then painted. Nice to work with until it's into the pickup and way easier to keep clean later on. Now it's just waiting for the diesel bell housing. 

eBay is your best Disco pump friend

The VW TDI's were electronic controlled from start. I want to go the mechanic TDI route to not involve a lot of electronic's in the pickup. Mostly to not get the extra attention at the yearly scruteneering, and because it's an old pickup!

Land Rover on the other hand, used mechanical pumps. VW TDI + Land Rover Bosch pump = mTDI Franken setup.

Big thanks to easy-does-it at http://vwkd.co.uk who sent the pump over from England!

Picking up a bag full of candies!

Engine retrieval time. :)

New engine for Peter's VW

And yeah, it's a Volvo!

His VW Carawelle is already MOT'd with a Volvo B19, but it's in pretty bad shape now according to Peter himself. So I figured out we should refresh his bus - with a B23a instead. The new engine has been in a warehouse for the last 12 years and the compression test looks very promising. It looks pretty good overall and the only parts I miss to get it running are some spark cables and the distributor. Almost a complete engine for less than lunch money...

Before I stick my hands to this one, my own pickup is going TDI.