'77 LS Turbo-Diesel Build thread.

[gldgti]

well, here it is. the LS build is beginning in earnest now that I will be pulling it apart very shorlty (the carb has been sold :-)

I thought i'd start a build thread to keep track of things and make sure I post up everyhting i do so that hopefully we can all learn.

Just to begin, heres what I have planned:

the car is a '77 LS aussie made rustbucket (:-)) which isnt too rusty. panels are ok-ish, etc, but it drives straight as a die. its the only mk1 i've ever driven that will just drive so perfectly.

that said, its surprising. theres a lot of work to be done - the front strut towers are mushroomed from excessively hard shocks. theres a few minor cracks in places there shouldnt be. good old MIG will fix this.

so what am i doing?

ENGINE:

will be going with a 1.6L turbo-diesel, intercooled, garrett T3 and performance injection pump. ported and polished head.

new parts:
- entire valvetrain and all valves (hydraulic lifter)
- balanced crank
- ARP or raceware head studs*
- water pump
- injector pump
- oil cooler
- 3" mandrel exhaust (and downpipe)*
- ceramic coated pistons

run atleast 20Psi, should easily top 110hp@4500 and who knows up to 5500. should still be good for 5l/100km too ;-)

SUSPENSION:

will be running coilovers all round.

have:

- mk3 booster, master cyl, pedal switch. mk3 rear drums. GTI from vented rotors and calipers
- 20mm front sway bar - still looking for something for the rear

new parts:
- upper front mounts
- tie rod assemblies
- all boots
- entire urethane bushing kit
- urethane engine mount insterts
- coilovers (probably hottuning, haha)
- front upper strut brace, tied to lower wishbone brace, tied to chassis (like a k-bar arrangement but also tied to the upper strut brace)
- rear strut brace

- running 14x6.5 BBS and conti rubber

BODY:

will be basically the same. will be tidying up all rust and adding new carpet.

ELECTRICS:

continuation of current situation - everything is getting a relay! WOOOT! relays for all the reasonable current draw stuff - wipers, lights, etc etc etc.

thats about it really. this car will be a daily, and a weekender, and everything. no mercy will be shown, no any extra special treatment once its done. its going to be my DRIVING car.
i cant wait to add to this thread!

[GoLfMan]

im eagerly awaiting updates man, and PHOTOS :D:D
sounds awesome

[Mischa]

awsome 2 or 4dr? btw you have a pm ;)

[Water Boy]

Is it the blue? Or the white one in your sig?

[Jarred]

This sounds good. I'll definately be keeping an eye on this thread :D

Look forward to more updates

[Preen59]

awsome 2 or 4dr? btw you have a pm ;)

It's the brother to mine. :) It's a 4 door.


Oh, and i'll be keeping my eye (both if it gets super interesting) on this thread. (Subscribed!)

Good luck Aydan, should be a super economical weapon!

[DVR68U]

sound like this should be fun ,
cheers brenton

[mollins]

its the white mk1 4dr in his sig.

its my fault its off the road... i stole his carby :evil:

should be a fun little car. im excited.

[Preen59]

its the white mk1 4dr in his sig.

its my fault its off the road... i stole his carby :evil:

should be a fun little car. im excited.

Well thats not very nice! I'm looking forward to this build. Hoping to learn a bit about diesels. :D

[gldgti]

Well on the weekend i managed to get my little MIG going, and i thought id give you guys a quick run down so that anyone who is interested in getting one themselves may be a little better informed.

The model i purchased was from a sydney based ebay store, and is marketed as a "Mars 200 MIG/MAG Welding machine". its made in china and is painted a pretty blue colour :-)

the specs are:

185A max capacity +-7.5%
15% max load duty cycle
gas or gas-less capable
0.8-1.2mm MS, 0.8-1.0mm stainless
11 position current setting switch and infinitely adjustable wire speed

i spent 1/2 hour making up a gas line with $2 fittings from bunnings, and the welding machine has provision for a bottle at the back - and E size bottle fits nicely.

so far, i've only used 0.8mm MS wire (can't see myself needing bigger wire for anything at home) and its worked PERFECTLY. i'm really surprised. no gas leaks, very nice wire speed control, steady current flow. it'll weld forever at current setting "4" (out of 10) and do a decent 5mm throat weld with no trouble...

plugs into a normal 10A outlet (no long earth prong) and hasnt set anything on fire (yet :-) )

so anyone out there looking for a mig to do your bodywork and exhaust stuff at home - this little baby will get you out of trouble.

[pr*duct]

Oh sweet good tip

[gldgti]

well finally i've done something! whoopee!

over the weekend, missus and i pulled the interior out and found some little six legged critters had set up camp and were eating the sound deadening... well good on 'em i say, they can have it.! anyway,, we chipped, vacuumed and brushed away all the crap to find basically no rust in the floor at all, despite having some wet as foam in the front. pulled the lot, and off to bunnings to buy a whole 8mx2m roll of 12mm carpet underlay.... $75.

using contact adhesive, we have glued 2 layers of the stuff back to back, so theres about 25mm of foam between the carpet and the floor... its good stuff btw - has a sealed side for ease of glueing and means there is no porous section sitting against the metal of the floor, so no rust worries for me.

then in went the old back/grey carpets from mollins old South african import mk1, which was an 84 model. nice carpets and a good match in with the black and white theme of the car.

first impressions were that the insulation/underlay worked well, but it wasnt until we went for a drive that it really became apparrent how good this mod is. we put extra underlay in the back (stock theres no foam under the rear pass. feet) and under the back seat too. the car's dead quiet now, its lovely!

further, i think i forgot to put in this thread that the coilovers are in, and wound down nicely.... no recent piccies of it yet - i'll update the progress report with pics in the next couple of days, rest assured.

finally, the current plan puts my hyro-1.6 block in a LONG BUILD. i really wanna do it right, so i'm going way slow on the engine at the moment until i can concentrate on it fully. this doesnt mean it wont soon be diesel however...

i've bought mollins' old 1.6TD passat engine, and i will be chucking that in, hopefully very soon.... so it'll give me time to do all the ancillaries on the car, and get it all nice, before plonking in the sexy new donk when its built... whenever that may be.

[Water Boy]

No more camping adventure :biggrin:

[gldgti]

so i think i should change the name of this to just " '77 LS build" instead of the turbo diesel bit, because getting my butt into gear and rebuilding my engine has been soooo slow.... and because of today.

so some of you know that because of the kanga- valley cruise, i decided i would do a quick engine swap, just for fun.... i got a little carried away though...

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2009/07/P1000300-1.jpg

engine out.... basically spent about 2 hours with rags and turps cleaning up the engine bay... then i painted all over everything...

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2009/07/P1000304-1.jpg

then i though't i'd paint some other stuff ;-)

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2009/07/P1000301-1.jpg

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2009/07/P1000302-1.jpg

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2009/07/P1000303-1.jpg

engine mounts, gearbox, engine. the engine with the red rocker cover is my old 1.6. the engine with the grey block is a 1.8.... RV with mild cam.... so with the big carbie and good exhaust, it will go pretty well i reckon.

mickey's coming up tomorrow to borrow my press, and he's gonna help me put the engine/box back in too ;-)

oh- and a 210mm diesel clutch! woot!

hopefully everything works and i can bring it on sunday, and if not - then i've gone a long way towards getting hte car ready ofr a mega sexy turbo diesel engine!

[16v_kid]

nice work mate,

keep it up.

[Preen59]

Great work dude. :drinkbeer:

[gldgti]

Well i never managed to get the engine running for the 12th cruise, however its now in and running sweetly. seems that with the higher compression and lots of low down grunt, the thing actually returns better fuel economy (if you drive it gently) than the old 1.6... use the pedal a bit more however and the economy dives a bit.

the thing is mjuch quicker than my mk3 TD now and that makes me a little dissappointed in the diesel when i get back into it, however getting more than double the range off a tank kind of makes up for it a bit... that, and the mk3 weighs so much more.

anyway, its all in and running, and most importantly, my cobbled together clutch kit works great! i have a mk3 diesel pressure plate (210mm) with mk3 petrol 210mm flywheel and 'aparrent' diesel 210mm friction disk, but of that i'm not so sure its a diesel one. either way the feel is great and it certainly is plenty of clutch for a mk1.

[Mrk_Mickey]

I've gotta come up again now for a drive! Well done, I'm glad you like it. Sorry I couldn't be of any more help, you'll have good beverages next time I come see you though :nana:

You make me wanna buy a mk1 just to tinker with because it's too fussy on the mk3. Haha. Good on ya mate.

[mollins]

had a drive of this and it goes great.

Made me a little nostalgic as it's the engine from my old yellow mk1.

Much quieter though, aydan has done a great job with his interior and the engine setup.

You can still hear the induction over the exhaust.. true mk1 style

[gldgti]

So things have been a little quiet lately....

the 1.8 is going soo nicely in the dellorto and the car is just too much fun. anyway, i've had an addition to the fleet (a cabriolet diesel) which is my partners car. she's learning to drive but will be on her p's soon and its perfect for her. now i dont have to worry about what i'll be daily-ing when she's driving (i'll be either car-pooling or in the mk3) so the LS is now not going to be diesel in the near future (but it will eventually).

my plan now for this car is to keep it registered but make it a hillclimb/track day car. to this end, the 1.8 is a great start and since i have 2 1.6 TD motors waiting for rebuild now, it will eventually be turbo-diesel powered... it will just have to wait until after the cabby gets a TD swap (a 1.5D in a cabby is a world of slow).

anyhoo - watch this space for updates on the white LS, destined for the hillclimb arena.

[Jarred]

hillclimbs? 1.8? dellorto?

I like where this is heading!

[GoLfMan]

1.8 + big carb is an awesome combo matey :D

looking forward to progress!