A Numpty and his 2.1 Project

[Stesaw]

So, been eyeing up a 2.1dj for a while.. there is nothing wrong with the 1.9dg I have but I want a bit more oomph.
So was looking around on fleabay and one popped up. It was in a Beetle that was being parted out, was assured the engine ran fine and was complete. So agreed on a price and on Monday I went and picked up a "complete" (might not be so complete) 2.1 with all the wiring. 

Just an FYI, No I am not a mechanic or have expert knowledge of these engines so there's gonna be questions that may seem daft to the knowledgable. It's a learning experience for me and this will either help people make a choice to do this themselves..or not 

For funzies I will put the breakdown cost here of everything i've needed to order, will update this as I go.

£750 DJ Engine
£35.63 Facet Low Pressure Electric Fuel pump (carb running, may go injection not 100% decided)
£2.95 Rocker Cover Gaskets
£464 New Cam with Adapter, Oil Pump, Piston Rings, two second hand DJ pistons, one Jug/sleeve and new woodruff keys 
£75.60 New set of Lifters
£76.25 Full Engine Gasket Set.
£69.13 Pushrod Tube Set
£118.29 New set of VW NOS Con Rods
£20.79 New Timing Gear
£13.54 Cam Bearings Double Thrust
£14.39 Big End Bearings
£125.64 Cylinder Head Stud Set
£11.94 Piston Ring Compressor
£55.99 Impact Gun
£12.40 Bearing Puller
£9.89 Stud remover
£7.40 Snap Ring Pliers
£4.99 Circlip Pliers
£43.99 Engine Stand
£20 Barrels honed and Crank Polished.
£120 Four studs removed by local engine shop

So that comes up to about £2.052.72 aside form a few sundries like gloves and plusgas.



The reason why I say it is "complete" is that I made a rookie mistake when picking it up and just got the chap to stick the engine in the back of the van with all the wiring in a box.. I never checked the wiring box the next day at home, realizing that the control unit is missing (I think the system is a Digifant, could be wrong, I was, it's a DigiJet, Carb has the vaccum unit + no lambda sensor on the exhaust that came with it nor one on the loom). Gave him a message and he says everything that came off the beetle for the engine was all in the box but he'd have a look to see if it was left behind.

So, I am thinking as I cannot find the unit (it could have fell out of the box into the back of the van on the way back but I doubt it) maybe I should just swap over the carb and manifold from the 1.9, and run it like that I know people tend to do that. Maybe someone has a manifold knocking around? I have another carb to rebuild and get parts for so that might make more sense than picking bits off the 1.9.

I already checked for compression which it has (don't know how much yet but it has some), But gonna be doing some simple checks and closer looks at things after I make this post so more pictures to follow just to document my progress into madness.

[DoubleOSeven]

Your current Pierburg sits on an air intake manifold already doesn’t it? You’ve lost me on that bit if not, to be honest. But, yes / I’d be just transferring all the dg ancillaries across, nice and easy. Check the clutch and change the seals while your at it which come with a new gasket set and go around it changing the gaskets as well. Loads of people have does this conversion, so just shout if your get stuck. Good upgrade

[Stesaw]

Your current Pierburg sits on an air intake manifold already doesn’t it? You’ve lost me on that bit if not, to be honest. But, yes / I’d be just transferring all the dg ancillaries across, nice and easy.

Yes my current 1.9 has a carb and manifold, but I didn't want to take bits off the 1.9 as it's a good engine and I'd rather keep it complete. Plus I can still use the van in the meantime with a working engine.. Job hunting to fund this is gonna be a bugger.

[Cobra88]

More reliable on the carb 

[Stesaw]

More reliable on the carb

Judging by what I am going to be working with that might be very true   . Also with the injection system I'd have to replace my brand new fuel tank with an injection tank.

[DoubleOSeven]

That’s an expensive way of doing it, having two complete engines, but I understand you need a runner while you do the build? It only takes about 1.5 hours to move the stuff across though. Sell the dg, you won’t go back, it’ll just sit there for ever. Just some advice to save you money. Another vote for the carb. too. Remember this injection system was a very early injection system, it’s far from reliable by today’s standards.

[Stesaw]

Anyho, on with checking stuffs. 
Well that air filter needs to go.
 Not sure that air filter was helping anything... it's messy in there.
Coil could do with a clean..
An example of the state of the fuel lines.

[Stesaw]

Looks like I've dug these up from the garden 
Got the old nasty pipes and rusted crimp? connectors that held the pipes onto the injectors. Put them back on the engine for now (with the old crappy rubbers).
Ruh roh...
When it came round to checking the plugs one was not like the others. Gave the areas around the plugs a clean before removing them, the different one would not budge. Great.. so cleaned as much as I could around it and sprayed some plus gas around it. Came back to it after a cuppa the bugger still wouldn't budge.. so I carefully used my breaker bar and applied pressure very carefully and I mean real carefully. That got it moving, when I got it out I put spare plugs into the engine to make sure nothing got in that shouldn't... and no I didn't use the breaker bar to put the "new" plugs in  . all four went in by hand without any issues.

[Stesaw]

Balls.. snapped the small thread on the alternator.. I wasn't even trying either 
What horrors hide underneath

None it would seem 

Same cannot be said for other bits of the loom..   quite a few bare corroded wires here and there expected with the age though I guess.
 

[Stesaw]

That’s an expensive way of doing it, having two complete engines, but I understand you need a runner while you do the build? It only takes about 1.5 hours to move the stuff across though. Sell the dg, you won’t go back, it’ll just sit there for ever. Just some advice to save you money. Another vote for the carb. too. Remember this injection system was a very early injection system, it’s far from reliable by today’s standards.

Oh I would sell the DG once I am happy that the 2.1 is decent. But yeah I'm keeping the DG complete so I have a running van.
However If I end up stripping down the 2.1 to the short block and find that the heads are damaged, I may take the 1.9 apart and swap heads as they are expensive to buy new. But thats for future me to worry about 

[Stesaw]

Today's been slow, looking more for bits for the Pierbugger and a manifold. It also occured to me that I am going to need an engine stand and hoist.

I thought I'd check the rocker arms to make sure there was nothing nasty hidden in there, both sides were clean and looked fine, once I got the covers off. The bail arms had corroded a bit in the heads, from previous experience I knew to not just force them, some plus gas and some gentle persuasion later got them moving. Took them off and cleaned up before putting them back on. Push rod tubes are a bit battered as it has no tinware underneath, they are more expensive to replace than I thought for what they are. 

Another thing that I forgot was the 2.1 doesn't have a mechanical pump on it, so I've ordered an electric Fuel pump that I saw when browsing other topics. I gather with that one I won't need a pressure regulator as it's suited for a carb based fuel system. Ideally with that I'd like to get a fuel pump relay, I guess the brickwerks one would be OK to get or could I find cheaper on ebay? The loom I have with the system has a relay, I hope it works...

My current conundrum is how far do I go with stripping it down, I thought maybe I should at least check for bent push rods. 
 

[Cobra88]

Get the Brickwerks Pump relay.

anything of fleabay will be Chinese C*** and leave you stranded at some point soon.

[Oldiebut goodie]

I have an engine stand and heavy duty engine crane that I will be looking to sell off cheap. I am at the end of the A14 (Was A45 to Coventry) ( I have done my last engine transplant - my body won't let me do anything like that now.)

[Stesaw]

Get the Brickwerks Pump relay.

anything of fleabay will be Chinese C*** and leave you stranded at some point soon.

Yeah it's on the list.  Wait a sec, the loom it came with should have a pump relay, as long as it's working of course 
 

I have an engine stand and heavy duty engine crane that I will be looking to sell off cheap. I am at the end of the A14 (Was A45 to Coventry) ( I have done my last engine transplant - my body won't let me do anything like that now.)

That's quite the journey Oldie, I have faith in the van getting there and back, just not my wallet without income coming in.   

[Stesaw]

So todays venture into my garage, aka the back of the van.

Off comes the gubbins on the top, did a bit of light cleaning with a wirebrush but need to vaccum it off really.. 
First real issue I've had.. hopefully the last one   . One of the small bolts that holds the thermostat casing together is rusted in. Tried to plus gas it and get a wrench on it, thought it was moving but it's just spinning the metal thread around in the housing. I got the thermostat out, it had a fair bit of sealant gunk around it but overall wasn't too bad. The spring was very weak on this one though. I am guessing I will have to replace the lower part of the thermostat housing as even if I drilled out the old bolt the metal threaded sleeve in it is loose.Underside of it :x

Now something I've never done before is taking a clutch off. Mainly because I want to take the flywheel off and replace the oil seal behind it, seems to make sense to do that job now with the engine already being out, even though it doesn't seem to be leaking oil.
As I have never done any work like this before I am curious to know if this clutch plate would be worth re-using or maybe my current plate if thats in good nick?