DC's 1756VK-assisted B4

Digital Corpus · Nov 27, 2013

Same, but I dropped it off on Monday morning.

Digital Corpus · Dec 2, 2013

This afternoon I stopped by and they were no closer to getting anything done. The foreman was off today so I opted to ask for my parts back. I took everything to another shop; at least things were cleaned... I'll be checking with them on Wednesday to see what their progress is, and unless they hit anything out of the ordinary, I'll probably begin reassembly on Thursday after work, maybe Friday. It's possible the first shop would have everything done then too, but they've had my block since a week before Thanksgiving and hadn't even cleaned it.

markd89 · Dec 3, 2013

IMO, good call on the shop that didn't value your business. Looking forward to the assembly pics!

Digital Corpus · Dec 4, 2013

Though I'm on a new work schedule so I cannot do it myself, I have a gracious family member who's going to pick up the completed head and block from the shop in the morning

Digital Corpus · Dec 6, 2013

Okay, the big time waister is getting the block cleaned up. I know my local temps are no where near as cold as what most of you are living in right now, but its a bit too cold to paint. This is why heat guns were invented

Made a tunnel and using an IR thermometer, I've been checking the temps. The block is being held at about 75-80˚F for the bare minimum time for the paint to cure. I've been heating it from the inside too to keep its temp up. Anyhow, here is a quick pano of the tunnel I made so I can leave it virtually unattended.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would post photos, but it looks like my domains just decided to fritz out on me right now. Anyhow, I'm cleaning up clutter, making a new valve spring compressor, installing uprated springs and the cam, and weighing and matching the pistons and rods while the paint dries. In the downtime I'll be attempting to fix the issue with my domains and thus photos...

john.jackson9213 · Dec 8, 2013

DC,

Are you still watching the paint dry on the block? Or is the block still not up to temperature.

If these East Coaster and MidWesterners knew what temperature we consider freezing in Southern California!!! Never mind the Canuks!

Digital Corpus · Dec 9, 2013

Personal health issues took a toll yesterday. Today I should be okay and I'm about to turn the dial to 11 and get as much done today as I can. Speaking of which, gotta bring the block inside from the garage to warm up while I run 2 errands before I begin the reconstruction.

Digital Corpus · Dec 9, 2013

ARL Piston and IE Rod Weights - Before

FML!!!

Through my own negligence I didn't realize that that ARL pistons require a tapered small end on the con rod. Each rod and one piston have been dropped off at a machine shop to have them tapered. Asked them for 1/8" clearance between the piston and small end. Estimated time of completion, Thursday

Digital Corpus · Dec 9, 2013

john.jackson9213 said:
DC, Any weights on the new pistons and new rods? That number 4 piston and rod weight seems out of range.

Anyhow, I found this out while weighing everything this morning. Now I didn't weigh the small end of the pistons, but I did measure their overall weight. All weights in grams, fyi.

The old hardware weighed in at

Code:

	Meas 1	Meas 2	Meas 3	Meas 4	Avg.		StdDev
#1:	1506.2	1506.2	1506.3	1506.1	1506.2		0.0816
#2:	1507.5	1507.2	1507.1	1507.2	1507.275	0.1732
#3:	1505.3	1505.1	1505.1	1505.3	1505.2		0.1155
#4:	1499.2	1499.0	1499.0	1499.1	1499.075	0.0957

Though #4 is lighter, its paired with #2 which is heavier and #1 and #3 are paired with each other. Taking that into account, the average mass for the 2/4 combo is 1503.175. The mass for the 1/3 combo is 1505.7. As such, the delta between pairs is ~4.5 grams, which is with the VW spec I've read on the forum, 5 grams. Mind you this is with areas of the pistons worn so the tolerances may have been closer when assembled.

Stock Pistons

Code:

1	2	3	4	5		Final
581.0	580.9	581.0	581.0	581.0		581.0
580.9	581.0	580.9	580.9	580.9		580.9
579.3	579.2	579.2	579.2	579.2		579.2
579.3	579.3	579.4	579.3	579.3		579.3

Stock Wrist Pins

Code:

1	2	3	4	5		Final
206.1	206.1	206.1	206.2	206.1		206.1
206.1	206.1	206.1	206.1	206.1		206.1
206.0	206.0	206.1	206.0	206.0		206.0
206.1	206.1	206.1	206.1	206.1		206.1

Stock Rods and con rod bolts compute out to 719.1, 720.275, 720, 713.675 for cyl. 1 thru 4 respectively.

ARL Wrist Pins

Code:

1	2	3	4	5		Final	Delta
202.8	202.9	202.8	202.8	202.8		202.8	
202.8	202.9	202.9	202.9	202.9		202.9	0.1
203.7	203.7	203.8	203.7	203.7		203.7	0.9
203.6	203.5	203.6	203.6	203.6		203.6	0.8

ARL Pistons w/ Wrist Pins

Code:

1	2	3	4	5		Final	w/o WP	Delta
797.9	797.9	797.9	797.9	797.8		797.9	595.1	1.6
797.5	797.4	797.4	797.4	797.4		797.4	594.5	1
798.8	798.8	798.8	798.7	798.8		798.8	595.1	1.6
797.0	797.1	797.1	797.1	797.1		797.1	593.5

I.E. Tuscan Rods - Overall (before machining)

Code:

1	2	3	4	5		Final	Delta
606.4	606.5	606.4	606.4	606.4		606.4	1.0
605.6	605.4	605.4	605.4	605.4		605.4	
605.6	605.6	605.6	605.5	605.6		605.6	0.2
606.4	606.4	606.4	606.4	606.4		606.4	1.0

Initial observations makes this whole set very easy to match right out of the box it it were not for my mistake about the tapered small ends. However, since they are about to be ground down, the weights for the con rods and their tolerances have little value at this point. The upside is that having the small ends of the con rods machined means that I'll have less weight on the small end, which seems to be a good thing.

Edit: Just noting that these I-Beam rods are lighter than the Rosten I-Beam rods by ~70 grams. Since I don't know the small end weight of the Rostens, I could not tell you where the weight savings is.

Digital Corpus · Dec 12, 2013

I got the new oil return line back, photos may not happen of it until its on the car, and the now tapered connecting rods.

Initial weigh in for the after-taper rods

Code:

1	2	3	4	5		Final	Delta
595.5	595.4	595.5	595.5	595.5		595.5	3.4
594.8	594.8	594.9	594.8	594.8		594.8	2.7
595.2	595.2	595.2	595.2	595.3		595.2	3.1
592.2	592.1	592.1	592.1	592.1		592.1

The light weight of the group is easy to distinguish as the taper was cut a little deep. I'm spending some time balancing everything and will have to lightly shave some material from those con rods to get them within 1 gram of each other. As for the pistons and wrist pins, I'm aiming for everything within 0.5 grams of each other and I have the wrist pins already at that goal.

It was simple for them since they had conical bores on their ends for reducing mass. I took a dremel with a stone bit and gently removed the finish. Re-weighed, then colored the fresh steel with a sharpie to create a new "finish". If I added a little pressure to my hand, I removed a total of 0.2-0.3 grams in one pass on each end. A really light pass removes just a little more than 0.1 grams.

Digital Corpus · Dec 17, 2013

Today is the day that things go back together. I'm not sure if I'll have it running by the time I have to hit the sack tonight, but we'll see. I'll stop and take some photos after the pistons are in, the crank is test fitted, and the oil squirters are tweaked for ARLs pistons.

I had a last minute delay I had to wait on, which killed about 16 hours of work, regarding a discrepancy with my rod bearings, but it's all sorted now.

I happen to balance everything last night and the results http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=4384173&postcount=9. For the heck of it I weighed out the bearings and put the heaviest pair with the lightest combination so my variances are even less, but that's just bragging rights, i.e. pointless.

Digital Corpus · Dec 23, 2013

It's been a while since I've updated this. Due to mitigating circumstances, such as main bearings going MIA/AWOL, and work being a bit of a pain, I've decided to treat this like sailing a boat: going where the wind blows.

Glamor shot #1 of assembly

Glamor shot #2 of assembly

With the assembly lube and bearings they all weighed in as follows:

Code:

Cyl	1	2	3	4	5	Avg.
#1	1424.6	1424.6	1424.5	1424.6	1424.6		1424.58
#2	1424.2	1424.1	1424.1	1424.2	1424.1		1424.16
#3	1424.4	1424.4	1424.5	1424.5	1424.5		1424.46
#4	1424.4	1424.5	1424.4	1424.5	1424.4		1424.44

Everything within a half a gram, didn't bother weighing the small end of the rods as that overall seemed a bit more pedantic and also an exercise in tedium work to pull off properly.

I measured clearances on the crank now that I got the bearings in and the results happen to be within spec for everything:

Code:

Cyl 1	0.038 mm
Cyl 2	0.038 mm
Cyl 3	0.038-0.025 mm (taper)
Cyl 4	0.025 mm

Wear Limit is 0.08 mm according to the Bently with no other specs given.

Code:

Cap 1	0.038-0.051 (taper)
Cap 2	0.038
Cap 3	0.038/0.051
Cap 4	0.038/0.051
Cap 5	0.038/0.051

The latter three are somewhere between the two plastigage measurements. A New crank/bearing clearance is supposed to be between 0.03 and 0.08 mm and a wear limit of 0.17 mm according to the Bently.

Next up was the fun bit, installing the piston/rod assemblies. First one was a piece of cake. Second one, the compressor slipped without me noticing and I ended up breaking a ring

!

The business day is over and no one afaik carries them locally. Rock Auto has them but their shipping is what kills me. If you have anything here in the US or NA, please hit me up.

Even with the delays on my own part or whatever, I'm fine going a bit slower than normal for the build. Back on Saturday the alternator on our other B4 died. My working one is in it now. As predicted the voltage regulator was shot. The slip ring happens to be worn pretty badly too. I know both parts for mine are nearing needing replacement so I ordered two sets and will rebuild both when they get here.

psst1997 · Dec 31, 2013

Hey DC, how's this coming along? Any progress over the holiday?

Digital Corpus · Dec 31, 2013

Some, but less than desired as I posted above. Christmas Eve is when I ordered the new ring set. Guess that savings of ~15 means it's shipping at a snails pace from Oregon instead of the Concord from the UK.

I got the parts in for the alternator rebuilds and already reassembled one. When I do the next one, which is currently being driven by another family member, I'll photograph the process and put it up in the B4 section.

Anywho, here are the long since promised photos. Now I skipped the block and decided to just start putting things back on it instead. I did manage to get away from family and associated holiday activities and gifts long enough to gasket match the exhaust ports of the head. I'm not calling it porting since I didn't go deeper than about 1.25", the depth of the bit, for the most part.

(All photos are click to embiggen)

How I held the head in place in order to have at it with the carbide bit

Sample of before and after with the template

Final Cyl #1

Final Cyl #2

Final Cyl #3

Final Cyl #4

Due to random things on the internet reminding me of various flow-realted concepts along with a family member having been in aerospace for a number of years, I'l going to leave the gasket matching as it is. Why? Well, the shape of the exhaust port is already much like a nozzle and accurately removing more material in each exhaust port becomes more difficult/costly. The gasket matching basically flared the port out a bit more which should help scavenge the gasses a bit more. If the whole port was opened up, it allows for more gasses to flow through at a given pressure, but its more commonly said that the speed of the gasses are more desirable for turbo spool. Then again, that is just my rationalization for not spending more time on it, even if I am wrong *wink*.

Fix_Until_Broke · Dec 31, 2013

Did you do the same thing (gasket match) on the exhaust manifold?

It probably looks something like this which will cause a nice step in your flow path. If you're going to do the head, may as well do the manifold as well. Otherwise, don't do either one (or do the exhaust manifold only)

What you've done so far looks good.

Digital Corpus · Dec 31, 2013

Yup, did that before the 1756, thought due to how 2 of the ports can float to different positions a bit depending on install angle, I need to open 2 of them up a little.

psst1997 · Jan 2, 2014

Looks good! I've pulled an alternator apart a few times. Be nice to see it detailed as well as a parts list.

Anyway, slow progress is better than no progress!

Sent from space.

Digital Corpus · Jan 3, 2014

Piston ring part numbers that turn up more hits: (which means I have my replacements in)
VW PN: 028 198 253 A
Goetze PN: 08-990107-00
Goetze PN via Federal Mogul: 08-114907-00
R45120 0.50 mm
UPC Barcode: 8 81882 00965 3

Here is the odd thing. On the list of supported vehicle manufacturers we have the typical Seat/VW/Audi, but Ford is listed too...

Anyhow, I have my wing set in. Lets hope I'm not dumb enough to smash this set. Engine won't be running tonight and tomorrow evening I have photography plans. Monday/Tuesday is when I'll turn the new engine over for the first time!

Mikkijayne · Jan 5, 2014

Digital Corpus said:
On the list of supported vehicle manufacturers we have the typical Seat/VW/Audi, but Ford is listed too...

The AHU and AFN were used in the Ford Galaxy minivan, which is basically a VW Sharan. Not sure if it had the 1Z as well, but the rings are all the same afaik.

Digital Corpus · Jan 7, 2014

Cool. Thanks for that info.

Anyhow, I torqued down the main bearing caps and the con rods. Well, not completely. I have to do the 1/4 tun on the main bearing caps, but I'm too tired to do that right now. It was an interesting experience installing the crank by myself. Needs 4 to 6 hands if you don't have patience and a little luck. I finished up the squirters which took a couple hours. I originally aligned them to hit the holes from about 3-4 CM away from the squirters. Since I had some brass pipe on hand to ease the bending of the squirters, I measured out 95.5 mm and marked it off and moved all pistons down to that distance from the top of the block.

Granted, there is piston protrusion, but w/e. Had to tweak 2 squirters after that, but they all clear going into the hole and will hit their mark anywhere from 110 degrees +/- TDC to 135 degrees +/- TDC. I'm assuming they are hydraulic from some light conversation I've had elsewhere, so I'm guessing that means they'll fire off whenever the oil pressure is high enough. Not sure what specific part of the oil plumbing supplies them so I'm not sure if they fire off only when the piston is 180 degrees from TDC, but hey, it's moot now.

Waking up to pick up new exhaust manifold gaskets since 2 of mine are apparently shot. Once I'm back I'll get the head installed and then finish up a spring compressor, install the valve keepers installed after some fab work and pop on the cam. I would have some the spring compressor bit already if I got off my butt from looking into some electronics stuff

Digital Corpus · Jan 7, 2014

Oh, and finished getting the turbo situated on the exhaust manifold with 4 studs and the one conical head hex bolt instead of bolts all around. Two studs are the same length as the ones used for securing the downpipe to the flange (20 mm?), one is 35 mm long overall and the other is 40 mm long overall.

Digital Corpus · Jan 7, 2014

I'm getting 0.83 mm as my greatest piston protrusion. My mean is about 0.73 mm excluding that one high side. Should I stick a 1-hole head gasket on and call it a day?

Fix_Until_Broke · Jan 7, 2014

Hmmm - that's really short

At ~0.1 CR Point per 0.001" and roughly 0.75mm ~= 0.030" you're going to be ~16:1 and in all the wrong places as it's all in dead squish volume between the piston and head where it can't mix with the fuel injected in the bowl.

Are you sure it's only 0.83mm and not 1.83mm maybe?

Digital Corpus · Jan 7, 2014

Between 0.032" and 0.033" on the dial gauge. The valve pockets are basically flush on the block.

Fix_Until_Broke · Jan 7, 2014

I wonder if you got short rods or short pistons maybe?

I think you should fix it. You can put a 1 hole gasket on and it will run, but I'm guessing it will be smokey for a given power output and won't start worth a crap when it's cold

Digital Corpus · Jan 7, 2014

Suggestions? My Bently tells me an AAZ's 1 hole gasket is for protrusions of 0.66 mm to 0.86 mm. Not sure if that is a viable option.

vanbcguy · Jan 7, 2014

No go, the AAZ gasket is shaped to seal the prechamber. I don't think it will seal a TDI head properly.

Sounds like you need your block decked...

Fix_Until_Broke · Jan 7, 2014

Maybe AAZ head gaskets are thinner because the block is taller (or vice versa)?

Below comments are assuming that you're using ALH/PD head gaskets so don't go jumping off that bridge until you know what's up.

[Since you used PD150 ARL pistons, and I'm assuming that the cylinder head combustion chamber is more/less the same (volume wise) across AAZ, ALH, ARL, etc - essentially all 8 valve TDI Heads - I think you have to go with ARL Piston Protrusions.

There are differences in valve pockets - some have flat pistons and the valves are recessed in the head whereas others have valve pockets in the pistons and the valves stick out of the head surface, but you still have the same piston top to head clearance either way.

Easiest thing to do is have the block decked so the pistons stick out farther. The timing belt tensioner will take up the slack. If you want to figure out where things went wrong, start measuring differences in rod length or wristpin to top of piston between your new hardware and what was in the engine - that's about the only thing it can be I think?]

JFettig · Jan 7, 2014

Fix_Until_Broke said:
I wonder if you got short rods or short pistons maybe?

I think you should fix it. You can put a 1 hole gasket on and it will run, but I'm guessing it will be smokey for a given power output and won't start worth a crap when it's cold

When I tore down my Passat engine, they all measured perfect .032" on a 1 hole gasket. I installed my pistons and rods and they measured .036"

Are you measuring near the axis of the wrist pin or off to the side?

Digital Corpus · Jan 7, 2014

JFettig said:
When I tore down my Passat engine, they all measured perfect .032" on a 1 hole gasket. I installed my pistons and rods and they measured .036"

Are you measuring near the axis of the wrist pin or off to the side?

I measure all 4 points of the pistons closest to where the valve reliefs break the side wall of the piston, i.e. closest to the wrist axis.

vanbcguy said:
No go, the AAZ gasket is shaped to seal the prechamber. I don't think it will seal a TDI head properly.

Sounds like you need your block decked...

This head gasket very much looks identical in layout to the 1Z. Just my 2 cents.

Fix_Until_Broke said:
Maybe AAZ head gaskets are thinner because the block is taller (or vice versa)?

Below comments are assuming that you're using ALH/PD head gaskets so don't go jumping off that bridge until you know what's up.

[Since you used PD150 ARL pistons, and I'm assuming that the cylinder head combustion chamber is more/less the same (volume wise) across AAZ, ALH, ARL, etc - essentially all 8 valve TDI Heads - I think you have to go with ARL Piston Protrusions.

There are differences in valve pockets - some have flat pistons and the valves are recessed in the head whereas others have valve pockets in the pistons and the valves stick out of the head surface, but you still have the same piston top to head clearance either way.

Easiest thing to do is have the block decked so the pistons stick out farther. The timing belt tensioner will take up the slack. If you want to figure out where things went wrong, start measuring differences in rod length or wristpin to top of piston between your new hardware and what was in the engine - that's about the only thing it can be I think?]

Easiest being subjective. I'd have to replace the bolts for the main bearing caps and the con rods and tear everything down and get it back to a shop. Thats another week of down time of just waiting, no offense. A 1-hole 1Z gasket is on order regardless. but if the CR difference or performance difference is that significant (eye-ing Jon's experience) then I could switch in a few months to a 1-hole AAZ if those photos hold up true.

Any additional/continued ideas welcome.

DC's 1756VK-assisted B4

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