A "new" VW diesel gets added to diesel family

[VanBoy]

Well, this is the only VW section here on oilburners. But my new "used" one is pre-turbo, by quite a bit.

The specs:
1978 VW Rabbit 4 door diesel
5 speed tranny (yes, I know original is a 4- someone swapped one in).
Engine... not sure.


The bad- it has a blown head gasket and the head is shot. She's in rough shape, but body looks straight. She has some surface rust here and there and one good dose of cancer (rust through).

Stickers on the back window hint to bio-diesel use or backing. Other stickers say it was in Texas in 2008-09. And some how made it all the way to the Pacific Northwest!

There was no ridge visible on the cylinders. What I saw, they looked good.

Odo stated 5000 some miles, so I'm guessing either 105K or 205K or ever 305k!

Seller had her taken apart, was going to fix, but changed his mine (kid). Any how, I get to pick her up on Wed. Just cost me two Ben Franklins...

 

[oregon-mike]

Cool beans! Parts must still be available or do you have spare heads & such? My little brother had one of that vintage back in high school. Great mileage but man, what a dog power wise. How do those old-school diesels stand up to adding turbos to them?

 

[VanBoy]

Well, depending if the engine is original or the bigger one... 90 CID = 1.5L. The tranny is suppose to be the 5 speed...so as I said, who knows if they swapped just the tranny or maybe the whole engine and tranny. I'll know more when I get into it. I've wasted $200 before....so this might be more productive or a wast.

 

[VanBoy]

http://www.gex.com

That link is to a BUNCH of VW stuff, gas and diesel. Not sure if it's a good company, but I was surprised.

 

[gonecrazyi]

Ive got an 84 with a 1.6 turbo diesel, before the IP started leaking that thing would haul.

I was getting 43 mpg with my foot to the floor winding the turbo out and blowing smoke.

Know I need to pull the Ip but havent been that ambitious in about a year.

 

[VanBoy]

Uh OH.... it gets WORSE!!!

I was doing more looking on the engine today. I cleaned up the area where online pics show a 1.6 was cast. I used a digital camera to take pics of the "back side" of the engine. I noticed a baked/dried on green near the back...so I took pics of it too.

Long story short, the block is cracked. Looking at the pics I took trying to get a picture of the casting (it is a 1.5L) of the green area, the center freeze plug has a two cracks that extend up the block to the deck.


You can see one crack clearly since it its rusted. The other crack is on the left and follows the reinforcement casting of the block.

You must be registered for see images

I'll probably hold on to the car a bit, maybe put up a Craigslist ad for an engine..... Sucks though. I truly thought that it was just an over heated engine w/ a blown head gasket. So all it would probably need is a gasket and/or replacement head. The cracked block never entered my mind.... So $200 wasted......

 

[VanBoy]

Well, between three different forums (I posted this on a few other places I am a member)... I'm trying to see if I should fix this.

Part of me wants to.... part of me doesn't. I'm in it for $200 and my time and diesel when I went to trailer it home. So far, my search for a complete engine is nill. It has a 1.5L and it is toast...so I need a 1.6L engine (complete preferred) since some parts on a 1.5 will not fit a 1.6L.

Unfortunately, the 1.6L engines I have found are 1) complete, but burned oil 2) are in pieces 3) or at least 3 hours away by free way. 4) buy a rebuilt long block- but I don't have a good core (so price will be in the $1900-2200 area and that's w/out a fuel system).

Here's a link to an album pics are in.
http://photos.thedieselstop.com/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/14078

 

[VanBoy]

Rethinking- rethinking project

Okay, taking a step back.....

This car ran before it got overheated and blew the head gasket and destroyed the head. As of right now, the only issue is the head..... reasoning. Simple.... the green streak of coolant near the cracks originated from above it...from the gasket/head/block area. Yes, there are cracks, but it doesn't look like they were seeping (yet).

So, this maybe a wast of $$$. I'm thinking of tracking down a 1.5L head (might have one tracked down), put it together and using block sealant. I think people call it Water Block, Water Glass, etc. I'm thinking that I'd be into it about $350......

Good risk?