1.8T GT28RS Big Turbo - nearly done

**simmo675** · 18-09-2016, 11:05 AM

Hey, it's been a while since I've posted on here...almost 8 years!

I bought my MKIV back in '08 and in late 2014 cracked the sump, dropped the oil and spun a main bearing.

Anyway rather than guess the rest, here's a bit of a story of how she's (almost) back on the road. Hope it helps those who might be thinking about doing this, and I'll probably have a few questions too when I get to the bit where I fire her up and she wont run!

So in Xmas 2014, out came the engine.....

**simmo675** · 18-09-2016, 11:17 AM

Pulling the gearbox and flywheel, and a few pics of the old pea-shooter k03 setup. They might be useful references for someone. Note the improv'd flywheel holding tool.....

**simmo675** · 18-09-2016, 01:47 PM

Once I got the gearbox out of the way, the engine went up on the stand.

Removed all the ancillaries:

Off with it's head!

And then the sump and flywheel end seal

Fingers crossed here as I wasn't sure what I would find, although the sump was pretty clean so not as bad as it could have been....

Big ends were OK.....

Not so much the LH main bearing, nearest the oil pump...

There's an old fashioned technical term for this:

**simmo675** · 18-09-2016, 03:33 PM

Ha! That same technical term also means (on Urban Dictionary) 'to be in love with two sisters'. Anyway, moving on.....

Turns out that the crank was salvageable and cleaned up with Scotchbrite; only the soft coating from the bearing had welded itself to the journal. I can't find any pics of this bit, the only pic I could find is the broken socket adaptor from a failed attempt to get the crank bolt out. Meh. Persistence wins....from memory I used two breaker bars and length of tube between them to get the f**ker loose...

Ordered up some ACL bearings shells (made in Tassie). Given that the factory had shut down they were impossible to get in Aus so ended up getting them from the US, although they did re-open the factory last year.

Whilst waiting for those to arrive cleaned up the block, rehoned the bores and got all the crap out of the oilways....

Got new pistons & rings (OE), rods (Brute) and set about sorting the bottom end.

Bearing clearances came up to spec:

New oil pump while we're there....

And new crank gear and bolt.

I used the old sump to cover the crank while I got on with cleaning up the head. I bodged some Araldite onto the crack that started this whole shemozzle - it wasn't a huge crack (that's what he said) but enough to cause a few problems, lol.....

**simmo675** · 18-09-2016, 05:45 PM

Cleaned up the head and got the gasket face skimmed.

Replaced the exhaust valves with the Supertech nitrided valves, as the OE ones were a little pitted. Inlet valves were in good condition. Engine had approx. 170,000kms on it before it was stripped.

The valve seats were in pretty good condition, no need for a re-cut , just lapped in the new and existing valves to the seats. Pics show that they came up well. I use the water soluble lapping paste which gives a nice fine finish.

No point porting the head IMO, I don't have the option to play around and test things on a flow bench and if you're stuffing around you can end up doing more harm than good.

New stem seals:

And setting up the cam timing:

With the skim I may need to dial the cams in with a slotted drive wheel, but for now its set up with the stock timing marks and pulley - not really had time to consider whether there is any way to tweak the inlet cam timing given the chain drive aspect. I'm sure there is plenty of info around if I can be arsed to look.....

**simmo675** · 18-09-2016, 06:59 PM

A few more pics of the engine coming together. Fitting up the OE stuff was easy enough.....

then we get to the ATP turbo kit, which, on the face of it, went together OK. We'll come back to this later.....

hybrid sump, steel beats rock....

competition for real estate beginning.....

Again, things getting tight before we've really got going..

So at the time the engine side of things was going well. Gearbox was out, so, rebuild time there too.....

Innocuous looking 5th gear eh? Well, let me tell you, this was a bitch to get off. The only way was heat, and lots of it. Propane doesn't get anywhere near. Tried a few times with propane and ended up cracking the teeth on the gear, and breaking a (kukko!!) puller arm. We had to get the whole gearbox to an oxy torch. Anyway, once this was off the rest was pretty easy.....

Quaife LSD went in, re-used the original primary gear....

Replacement 5th gear from a TDi.....

and done....

**Lito** · 18-09-2016, 07:03 PM

Great to see another mk4 gti getting some big turbo love!! What are your plans for engine management?

**simmo675** · 18-09-2016, 08:10 PM

Originally Posted by Lito

Great to see another mk4 gti getting some big turbo love!! What are your plans for engine management?

Good question! Looking on here it seems like the custom code option is the least labour intensive. I see you've gone for a re-wire to go 7.5. How much work is in that? It makes some sense to go that way too but I cant afford to keep fiddling. Maybe go custom code now and swap out later

**Lito** · 19-09-2016, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by simmo675

Good question! Looking on here it seems like the custom code option is the least labour intensive. I see you've gone for a re-wire to go 7.5. How much work is in that? It makes some sense to go that way too but I cant afford to keep fiddling. Maybe go custom code now and swap out later

Honestly knosing now how straight forward it is i would have swapped to me7.5 a long time ago. As long as you get a decent condition harness (no split wires, cracked insulation, etc) it drops right in like factory and works like oem retaining all factory options, except silly stuff like traction control but if you want to add the sensors and modules in that can be accomplished.