pdq import repair
Veteran Member
I guess I have a weakness for the classics, or maybe too much time on my hands but....
I don't know if this is the right forum for this, but it kinda defies categorization, if not logic. Started with a pretty rust free 76 aircooled beetle. It had been converted to carburation and needing some help. The engine had been removed and installed in a Baja project, also incomplete. We acquired the original engine, and the Baja, but what fun is that? Sure it isn't much to look at yet, but being the type to fix it mechanically and doing body and shiny stuff last, we launched into a project. It all sounds about normal for a post here, but for the age of the car maybe. The ultimate goal is diesel power.
Since people want pictures more than prose I have taken a few to document our insanity. First, a before pic:
https://i.imgur.com/QsZWD90.jpg
Our goal is to make the car appear pretty much normal and stockish looking from the outside so space in the engine bay was paramount. We had settled on Diesel power for the torque and fuel mileage aspect, as well as the "Huh!" factor. We have a few options ranging from the late common rail TDI down to the normally aspirated 1.6 diesel to choose from. The common rail is the ultimate of course but weren't sure there would be enough room, especially when you factor in the semi stock looking goal. We started mockup with a common rail block and Kennedy adapter to gauge length and height. We managed to get it in there but there was very little room for the belt pulley without excessive cutting. It did fit though however so we were not discouraged and proceeded a by placing a random head on the block to gauge other clearance. The adapter is clocked at 15 degree increments so we played with straight up and down mounting, 15 degree (stock) mounting, and 45 degree Vanagon style mounting.
First tried straight up mounting, it showed the most promise for hood clearance with the cam sprocket. When you take the diesel pump into consideration there is no room under the hood for it at that angle.
We also tried the Vanagon 45 degree mounting, which also fit but had more hood issues to deal with so that proved to be not viable. The best of all for hood clearance was the stock 15 degree mounting.
The sharper ones among you will notice that the engine doesn't look like any diesel you have seen. The reason there is that for mock up purposes we first mounted our spare common rail 03L block to gauge clearance first, and after that we found a random head from a 1.8 gasser to gauge other clearances. We threw a random pump and mount to gauge that clearance etc.
Once we saw that the fitment of a diesel engine looked more promising, we mounted the engine we decided was the best option, all things considered. We settled on a AHU with a manual pump hybrid that we had laying around after our cut down beetle common rail project.
The ALH is a little shorter than the CBEA both in length and height so it fits just a little better, though the pulley area around the water pump had to be clearanced no matter what we tried. Due to the immense power of parts hoarding we had several different mounting bracket from various VW and other brand engines. VW was very good about keeping the mounting ears similar on blocks over the years regardless of gas or diesel application, so many bolted right on. The biggest problem we encountered was alternator mounting as most of the brackets we found mounted it high on the engine neat the injection pump where there just wasn't hood clearance. We did eventually use a VW bracket but had to redrill and fabricate it a little to mount the alternator low and on the other side.
Next stumbling block is cooling. We do have an alternate plan for front radiator mounting we may have to revert to, but for now we are going to try the rear mounted radiator. Found an aluminum "racing" radiator for an Acura Integra that shows some promise. It is a two row radiator and we got it with the flashy red fan that can be mounted on either side and run either direction. Once mounted in place it appears to provide enough clearance to clear the hood. Hopefully there will be enough airflow from the fenderwell and hood slots to provide enough cooling.
Seen from this angle it shows the compactness of the whole package. We are awaiting a scrap hood that was promised to us to experiment on the cutting and forming process. It appears in this configuration that there will be little modification to fit and hopefully we can kinda hide the mods with careful remounting of the license plate light cover and plate itself to conceal the "power bump"
Project currently on hold now for a flywheel to be made for the conversion. We wanted to work out the possibility of fitment before spending the money. We mounted the engine without flywheel and clutch for ease of mock up. I suspect we will need to unmount the transmission and juggle it around some to fit the package together with a clutch mounted on the engine due to tight clearance issues.
In the meantime we will remove the engine again and clean up and probably paint and prep the engine compartment while waiting for the flywheel to mount it permanently. Need to work out fuel lines and throttle cabling, and many many other items before it is driveable.
I don't know if this is the right forum for this, but it kinda defies categorization, if not logic. Started with a pretty rust free 76 aircooled beetle. It had been converted to carburation and needing some help. The engine had been removed and installed in a Baja project, also incomplete. We acquired the original engine, and the Baja, but what fun is that? Sure it isn't much to look at yet, but being the type to fix it mechanically and doing body and shiny stuff last, we launched into a project. It all sounds about normal for a post here, but for the age of the car maybe. The ultimate goal is diesel power.
Since people want pictures more than prose I have taken a few to document our insanity. First, a before pic:
https://i.imgur.com/QsZWD90.jpg
Our goal is to make the car appear pretty much normal and stockish looking from the outside so space in the engine bay was paramount. We had settled on Diesel power for the torque and fuel mileage aspect, as well as the "Huh!" factor. We have a few options ranging from the late common rail TDI down to the normally aspirated 1.6 diesel to choose from. The common rail is the ultimate of course but weren't sure there would be enough room, especially when you factor in the semi stock looking goal. We started mockup with a common rail block and Kennedy adapter to gauge length and height. We managed to get it in there but there was very little room for the belt pulley without excessive cutting. It did fit though however so we were not discouraged and proceeded a by placing a random head on the block to gauge other clearance. The adapter is clocked at 15 degree increments so we played with straight up and down mounting, 15 degree (stock) mounting, and 45 degree Vanagon style mounting.
First tried straight up mounting, it showed the most promise for hood clearance with the cam sprocket. When you take the diesel pump into consideration there is no room under the hood for it at that angle.
We also tried the Vanagon 45 degree mounting, which also fit but had more hood issues to deal with so that proved to be not viable. The best of all for hood clearance was the stock 15 degree mounting.
The sharper ones among you will notice that the engine doesn't look like any diesel you have seen. The reason there is that for mock up purposes we first mounted our spare common rail 03L block to gauge clearance first, and after that we found a random head from a 1.8 gasser to gauge other clearances. We threw a random pump and mount to gauge that clearance etc.
Once we saw that the fitment of a diesel engine looked more promising, we mounted the engine we decided was the best option, all things considered. We settled on a AHU with a manual pump hybrid that we had laying around after our cut down beetle common rail project.
The ALH is a little shorter than the CBEA both in length and height so it fits just a little better, though the pulley area around the water pump had to be clearanced no matter what we tried. Due to the immense power of parts hoarding we had several different mounting bracket from various VW and other brand engines. VW was very good about keeping the mounting ears similar on blocks over the years regardless of gas or diesel application, so many bolted right on. The biggest problem we encountered was alternator mounting as most of the brackets we found mounted it high on the engine neat the injection pump where there just wasn't hood clearance. We did eventually use a VW bracket but had to redrill and fabricate it a little to mount the alternator low and on the other side.
Next stumbling block is cooling. We do have an alternate plan for front radiator mounting we may have to revert to, but for now we are going to try the rear mounted radiator. Found an aluminum "racing" radiator for an Acura Integra that shows some promise. It is a two row radiator and we got it with the flashy red fan that can be mounted on either side and run either direction. Once mounted in place it appears to provide enough clearance to clear the hood. Hopefully there will be enough airflow from the fenderwell and hood slots to provide enough cooling.
Seen from this angle it shows the compactness of the whole package. We are awaiting a scrap hood that was promised to us to experiment on the cutting and forming process. It appears in this configuration that there will be little modification to fit and hopefully we can kinda hide the mods with careful remounting of the license plate light cover and plate itself to conceal the "power bump"
Project currently on hold now for a flywheel to be made for the conversion. We wanted to work out the possibility of fitment before spending the money. We mounted the engine without flywheel and clutch for ease of mock up. I suspect we will need to unmount the transmission and juggle it around some to fit the package together with a clutch mounted on the engine due to tight clearance issues.
In the meantime we will remove the engine again and clean up and probably paint and prep the engine compartment while waiting for the flywheel to mount it permanently. Need to work out fuel lines and throttle cabling, and many many other items before it is driveable.
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