2.1 DJ rebuild

[PetenAli]

engine originally built first week in January 1987, the asterix is a rebuild mark but unless the heaads are the dated Polish ones there's no way of dating that and plenty of engine rebuilders put the asterix on as well as VW, hence I guess they went to the VWrecycled logo to distinguish their's from everyone elses

Thanks again Aidan. The age of the engine would fit with the age of the pistons. As you say the rebuild could have been at any time. Good to have the extra bit of info though.

All the info that i can see on the heads is that they have part no. 025101375C just to the left of the inlet ports and above plugs they are marked "GERMANY 1 (VW Audi Symbol) WWC". I haven't started cleaning them properly yet and haven't removed the valves. However there are no cracks between the valves. I need to see if there's any damage to the seats and whether they need new valve guides.

[PetenAli]

Not done much on this over the last week due to work and also sorting leisure side electrics and trying to get b&%%#y fridge to run on gas before we go away at end of this week (no joy).

Been out this afternoon doing some more cleaning. Also checked through some of the bits that I got from Dave. Good news is as follows:

OE cam bearings with correct part no. according to VAGCAT

Just need to get a cam now - got any lying around Dave??!!

Quite good news:
There is also a set of piston rings. They are 94mm by Kolbenschmidt. I think I've read that rings for DJ's are different to others. VAGCAT only shows one part number for all 94mm pistons. I don't recognise any of the numbers on here - does anyone have any ideas?

All nicely packaged still:

If these are the right ones and my pistons / liners are within tolerances that is going to save me a whack of money.

Not so good news:
Got a complete set of lifters with the right part no. according to VAGCAT.

But...

and...

This is the worst one and I'm hoping that with some 1200 wet & dry, paraffin and elbow grease I may be able to get them back to spec. What do people think?

[sarran1955]

Hello,

Hydraulic lifters,

Yup, just polish them up.

Then let them dunk, vertically in light oil, and you will see air bubbles come out. This will not fill the tappet, but will help them when priming up. They will clatter for anything up to 30 mins.

Cordialement,

[PetenAli]

Hello,

Hydraulic lifters,

Yup, just polish them up.

Then let them dunk, vertically in light oil, and you will see air bubbles come out. This will not fill the tappet, but will help them when priming up. They will clatter for anything up to 30 mins.

Cordialement,

Merci bien. Des bonnes nouvelles!

[PetenAli]

Still making slow progress and currently have parts in the local engineering shop being cleaned, measured and polished. Getting close to the point where I am going to be bolting bits together rather than taking them apart and cleaning (although there's still a lot of cleaning to be done - buy shares in Jizer!).

Here's a question for the cogniscenti which hopefully will save a bit on the parts bill. I picked up a camshaft at the weekend which came froma 2.1. I haven't measured the lobes yet but it all seems pretty similar apart from one number. This is the orginal:



and this is the one that I have just picked up:



As you can see there is a difference in the number at the end of the top line. Can anyone help with the significance of these numbers and whether the cams are interchangeable?

Thanks,

Pete

[sarran1955]

Hello,

Not sure if this is still relevant,

VW used to put a match number (eg 9 0r 24) on the toothed wheels of the cam and crank drive.

Effectively they were made in matched 'pairs'

This made the engine run more quietly.

Will you be able to swap cam drives, ( cant quite see in the photo)

Get your machine shop to mike everything up.

Keep at it Fella

Cordialement,

[PetenAli]

Thanks Sarran - keeping at it. Just spent a couple of hours polishing up the new but slightly rusty tappets and they are now soaking in oil with occasional bubbles floating up - nice!

I'll take the cam when I go to the machine shop tomorrow.

[toomanytoys]

Have a look on the machined sides of the gear.. there should be a marking there.. I am sure the 9 and 12 are just the casting, nothing to do with the diameter.. thats what the -3/+2 etc etc numbers are in ETOS.. its to do witht he line bores on cam and crank.. the cam can be closer or further away from the crank by a small amount so the cam wheels are machined bigger or smaller to make the backlash correct...

[PetenAli]

Have a look on the machined sides of the gear.. there should be a marking there.. I am sure the 9 and 12 are just the casting, nothing to do with the diameter.. thats what the -3/+2 etc etc numbers are in ETOS.. its to do witht he line bores on cam and crank.. the cam can be closer or further away from the crank by a small amount so the cam wheels are machined bigger or smaller to make the backlash correct...

Thanks - will be out in the garage by this afternoon and will check that out. I'd seen all the different cams on ETOS and been trying to work out why there are so many. How critical is the backlash? I think that now there is only one cam available if you buy new so how could you compensate?

Now the main parts for the engine are coming together I need to start cleaning all the ancilliaries. MM269 sets a high standard to follow for engine porn but I'll have a go anyway. I've thought about painting the block and heads - what are people's views on this. I see that tencentlife does it on his engines - is it just for looks or is there a benefit?

[toomanytoys]

The backlash can only be set using the cam wheel..
The other option is to remove your cam wheel and fit it to the new/alt cam if different.. but I havent investigated the viability of bolting rather than the OE rivets..

Paint.. makes the engine look clean and fresh.. stops corrosion.. VW didnt paint them.. up to you I would say...

[mm289]

Good work Pete,

I haven't posted for a while but been keeping an eye on ya (bit pre-occupied with this one)


The painting was easy, it was the 15 hours or so to clean it that was the pain! Once I had done all the cleaning I thought I may as well paint so people realised how much cleaning had gone on

I also was experimenting with VHT paint as I have a few more engines waiting rebuild.

Next one I do will get painted in epoxy primer....... but that is a 2K product so not an option for you unless you have proper breathing gear etc.

Pipe work was done in brush on engine enamel.

Keep up the good work buddy, it will be awesome

Cheers,

MM

[sarran1955]

Hello,

Engine paint... I use hammerite silver on the top, visible block, and black for all tinware.

For all the hot exhaust parts I use black wood stove paint

Tappets... Store them in oil, and as soon as poss after installing, be in the position to put oil in the engine, ie sump plate , and oil filler pipe in place

No matter what you do there will be one or two that will drain down, and rattle at startup.

Our latest motor (1600 CT with hydraulic tappets) clattered for 20 mins, then ran better the next day.

Thats when to do the adjustment, cold, 1 turn in from contact,

Cordialement,

[PetenAli]

Have a look on the machined sides of the gear.. there should be a marking there.. I am sure the 9 and 12 are just the casting, nothing to do with the diameter.. thats what the -3/+2 etc etc numbers are in ETOS.. its to do witht he line bores on cam and crank.. the cam can be closer or further away from the crank by a small amount so the cam wheels are machined bigger or smaller to make the backlash correct...

These are the markings on the front of the gear (i.e. facing forwards). First the original cam:



Then the one I picked up last weekend:



I can see that the "new" one is going to be slightly tighter (i.e. less back lash). I guess the only way to check will be when both crank and cam are installed in the left hand half of the crankcase and measure the back lash between the gears with feeler guages as well as seeing if the cam lifts out of its bearings when the crank is turned backwards . Bentley and Haynes give 0.00 - 0.5mm as the permissable backlash. Does anyone know the significance of the one letter / three digits stamped on the same face of each cam?

Also got the pushrods cleaned up and blown through (although like everything else they'll get a final clean before assembly):


Had a break from engines yesterday and took the Syncro down to Pendeen. A good walk up to Bosigran (in the distance on this shot) and Piri Piri Chicken cooked on the Cobb helped blow the cobwebs away:


I guess its called engine / life balance.

[PetenAli]

OUCH!! Just been cleaning up some more ancilliaries including the two metal pipes that run from the water pump to the right hand head (joined by a short length of rubber hose). Both have got quite bad corrosion and look like they are going to need replacing.

Here's the long one


And here's the short one:


Went on BW and Heritage sites to see about replacements. The good news is that they are replaceable. The bad news is that they don't come cheap. Does anyone have any good SH ones for sale?

Been thinking that if my pistons and liners turn out to be OK and only need rings fitting, then I may just bite the bullet and replace as many hoses and pipes as I can get hold of. In any case if these ones are anything to go by I may have to. BW do some very nice stainless coolant pipes...

[PetenAli]

Some good positive movement happening now. Yesterday I picked up the fully cleaned case, fully cleaned heads (they even re lapped the valves for me), polished crankshaft, pistons and liners which are well within tolerances and de burred gudgeon pins which now slide nicely in and out of the pistons and conrods but with no play

Will put some pics up later but just had to dump everything in the garage and go to work.

Also got the injectors back from HGL in double quick time (see separate thread). Also got oil temp and pressure guages / senders sorted courtesy of another thread and I am putting the finishing touches to my oil cooler plan.

Going to fit the left hand case half to my home made engine stand and then add the right hand half so that I can get at all areas to paint it. Just looking at choices of paint at present. Will also paint the heads.

Flywheel has gone to another engineering shop to be skimmed and then I will be able to get it back and build up the crank shaft from pulley to flywheel and get that balanced.

One question for MM269 - can you remember where you got your piston rings from - I think I recall you saying that they came from Germany?

Pics to follow.

Pete