1991 Vw diesel jetta… Buy it?

I realize this is probably in the wrong place, forgive me as I am new here
I also apologize if this has been covered a bunch..
I know a guy with a 1991 Jetta Wolfsburg edition, manual 5 speed diesel. 201,000 miles on the odometer. It's the N/A version (according to him, I haven't looked at the car yet) and has a blown head gasket. The car is pretty straight and the interior looks good from the pics. He will give it to me for $500.
Question 1: Is it worth it to fix this car? He claims between 35-40mpg. Does that sound about right?

Question 2: How hard is it to turbo this engine? Ive read very conflicting theories on the web about it…..

Question 3: TDI swap? Haven't done much reading (YET) on swapping a TDI, but will the tranny it has work or will I need (or maybe want out of it being an inferior tranny) to swap trannys?

Thank you all in advance!

First, car is 25 years old. The purchase price of $500 is just the beginning of an expensive relationship.

Not an expert on this, but a 1Z or AHU tdi engine from the late 90's is near a drop in. Trans is different as tdi ratio is set up for lower rpm. Hard part is getting the computer in and all wired up. TDI runs on a computer, the 91 is all mechanical.

I would not bother putting a turbo on that engine, I think the turbo version has piston cooling nozzles and the NA does not.

Car is pretty slow with no turbo, but gets the job done.

It's an OLDTIMER. You just want to look at it? A new one will be cheaper..........!

Ski in NC said:

I would not bother putting a turbo on that engine, I think the turbo version has piston cooling nozzles and the NA does not.

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That is true. However, the old IDIs are very easy to turbo and as long as you don't turn up the boost, you don't need the oil squirters.

We have an '84 TD and its a great car. Definitely not as refined as the newer TDIs, but its got some great personality. They are really simple to work on and barely any electronics to worry about. If this is a secondary car, I would say go for it!

You also will probably find more information over at vwdiesel.net. Great site for IDI information. Lots on making the most of the stock engine, as well as adding power via a turbo, etc.

You can't really add a turbo to the NA engines and have them hold up. The head gasket is easy to replace, especially on the NA motors. His MPG estimates are about right.

If you were going to do a TDI swap this would be a good car... it's already got the same electrical system and engine mount locations as the 96-99 Mk3 / B4 TDIs.

-J

MPGs sound a bit low to me, but I've not driven a mk2 to know for sure. We get mid 40s in town no problem in our TD, 52 highway. And the fuel is turned up a bit.

If theres no rust it sounds like a good deal to me. You'll find a lot of people on here seem to think that cars began with the mk4 so they'll be anti-older car.

I wouldn't bother with a turbo, fix whats wrong and drive it. I suspect you can get better mileage than that. A Mercedes 190D with a 5spd can do 40mpg without too much effort, a mk2 is lighter and has a smaller engine, 45mpg shouldn't be that tough.

If you want a faster car look forward in time. If you're handy it shouldn't be too hard to get that mk2 going, sell it on at a profit and buy something newer/faster.

Yes, rust is the big factor. Everything else is easy to repair on those cars.

-J

Thanks for the responses! I am not at all worried about it being an old car. The mentality of "its an old car, so its going to cost you piles and piles of money" is not my mentality. Its very dependent on a lot of things... That being said, its something to consider.
The car has new front struts, new rear brakes, new front CV joints and a JVC head unit (not my ideal brand, but better than stock) and 4 JVC door speakers. Also, he sent me a picture of the engine.... It appears to have an aneroid on the IP, or at least I think so... Ill try to upload a picture.



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Yes, the late NA cars used that for altitude compensation.

-J

Definitely no issue putting a turbo on one of these, as long as you also fit an EGT gauge and take it a little easier than you might with a true turbo motor. Lots of them running like that over on vwdiesel.net.

Sent from my HTC One XL using Tapatalk

Aha that makes sense I think I am going to turbo it… seems to be just fine if you have an EGT gauge installed, and an oil cooler would be good too. I wonder if i should look for a TD head to put on when I do the head gasket and maybe head studs (depending on how the cylinders look once the head is off of course!).

I own an 86 Jetta N/A. Great car. Average 50mpg on the highway. 286,000 miles on mine- just had the head gasket repaced, had a shop re-build the head ($500) while it was off(didn't really need it, but.......). Friend of mine has over 980,000 miles on his 85 IDI N/A- the original clutch finally gave out. He hasn't touched the engine other than new injectors @ 500,000 miles. (and regular servicing, of course) -everything else is original too.
Easy to turbo- many of these engines in the 91-92 years were actually the TD engine(complete with oil squirters) but without the turbo/injection pump.

Shouldn't a 1991 have a turbo... believe the came with one.

gearheadgrrrl said:

Shouldn't a 1991 have a turbo... believe the came with one.

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No, not all. I have an NA one.

eco jettas came w a little turbo, and the engine is the turbo diesel engine. (oil squirters, better alloys in engine.)

wasn't the turbo on the EcoDiesels there for emissions and not really for power? I just got rid of my 92 EcoDiesel. It was a real screamer. Did 0-60 in 35 minutes.

Yes, it was about emissions. It was the first diesel car with a catalyist.

My ECOdiesel wasn't super slow. It would do 105 mph even

-J