[Vwdiesel] Rebuilding the TD

[Hayden Chasteen]

Well, after several months of sitting in the corner of the garage, I
finally decided to start the rebuild of a CY Jetta turbo engine that I
bought about a year ago.  This engine will go into my 81 Pickup once I
morph the two into one.  Anyway, when I first got the engine, it had a
new head on it that had not been properly torqued down and no heat
shields under the injectors.  I thought that I would just hone the
cylinders and replace the rings to give the engine some new life and
that is what I did.  Well as the months have past, the more I thought
about the possible condition of the engine, I mean if the guy couldn't
properly torque down a head and doesn't put heat shields under the
injectors what else could he have messed up?  Anyway, to make a long
story short, I tore the engine down, took it to a local VW machine shop
and had it bored to the first oversize, bought new Mahl pistons ( a
steal at $355), new rod and crank bearings and all new gaskets.  All
external engine parts have been cleaned and repainted either aluminum
(water pump, oil cooler, etc) or low gloss black (vacum pump, all pump
and alt brackets and the oil pan).  (BTW the oil pan is an VW
replacement part that holds 5 quarts).  I tried to find an engine color
to match the VW green.  First I used a Detriot Diesel green, but it was
too dark and kind of a blue green color.  Eventually I found one called
Grabber green that is probably a bit too bright but looks really good
with the other repainted parts on it.  I assembled the entire lower end
today and feel really satisfied with the ease at which it went
together.  Although I have rebuit many, many, many air cooled engines,
this is the first total water cooled engine rebuild for me although I
have honed, reringed and put new bearings on several so I guess
practice makes perfect (a good engine stand is also a must).  It now
will have to wait for several weeks to get the head on it because I am
about to go out of town (and off list) on Thursday for 2 1/2 weeks to
teach a summer field course in Rocky Mountain Geology to 14 community
college students.  BTW, I have the original pistons from the old engine
that were cleaned, decarboned and have new rings on them if someone is
in need.  2 of them have valve impressions in them but they are OK.  If
somebody wants them let me know what you think they are worth.  Hayden

Visit my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~dieseltdi
2002 Jetta Wagon TDI GLS with Upsolute Powerbox
1998 Jetta TDI with Wetterauer Chipset and Dual Fuel Propane System
1981 Rabbit Pickup (Caddy) Currently have 2 that will morph into one
with a TD engine, WVO system and Propane Injection
And many, many, many VWs both air and water cooled long gone and too
many to count but certainly not forgotten.