Farkas Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 I've been a long time MK3 guy, and after recently helping my roommate ABA swap his early westy, I took a serious interest in getting my hands on a MK1. This is actually going to be my current project car as I've decided to put my 964 in storage for the year, and hopefully get the MK1 on the road before end of March. Anyhow, onto the good stuff. After searching for a couple months for an early mk1, I came across this '80 Diesel L in Indiana, and made the decision to bring it home. 130k on the clock, ran great, and the black interior is in good condition for it's age. Rust is pretty minimal- Towers are solid, body is solid, pans are solid, just a couple dents and dings, but nothing that would keep me from buying. I definitely don't intend on this car being a show winner or anything silly like that. I simply want a fun little car to enjoy on my trips to different shows this year. I put the original rebuilt 1.5 diesel up for sale as I had no interest in owning a diesel car, and it wasn't long before it was sold to a forum member on VWVortex. This was used to fund the motor I intended on swapping into the car... OBD2 2.8 VR(Oh, the horror). I get a lot of laughs reading some of the reactions to a VR swap in the MK1 section of the VW forums. Oh well, it's what I want, and I'm going to make it happen. The 2.0L ABA is a fun motor, but nothing beats the sound of a VR. I found the "new" motor semi-local to me for $500, which included pretty much everything- Engine, Trans, Harness, ECU, Shift tower and everything else. Made short business of getting it torn down as I really had no idea of the actual condition of the motor aside from, "ran great, shifted fine, come get it." From what I could tell right away, it needs a valve cover gasket. and the PO had converted to the FORD coil pack, which I'll have to find new leads for since one of the leads had some damage on it, probably from being moved around in storage. Tonight I pulled all of the unnecessary accessories off right away, and began stripping off the coolant pipes so they can be replaced. Block itself is filthy, and I'll give it a quick chemical bath while it's out of the car. Clutch looked like it had been replaced already, and to my surprise, the chain and guides look like they have been done as well! Very happy to see that, as I was hoping I could at least get away with skipping that part. There is a marring on one of the guides pictured, but that doesn't worry me so much. As long as they're not cracked or falling apart, I'm satisfied. Internals have a nice golden color to them, so the motor hasn't exactly been neglected. Plans for the car so far: -Eurowise mount kit & other goodies -NLS harness -New coolant pipes and etc. -New clutch -Walbro pump -Various preventative maintenance items -Wheels TL;DR? VR swap, car will never be really nice, started tearing motor apart, ordered some parts. See pictures below. IMG_1114 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1119 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1286 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1301 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1288 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1283 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1300 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1296 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1295 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1290 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1294 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr More to come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unfunnyryan Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 you're gay 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farkas Posted January 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 you're gay k. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dammit Charlie Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Came in here looking to read a Ford 7.3 swap or a cummings. Regardless, looks like a fun project for your interest. Enjoy. Looking forward to the updates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Like the steelies on it. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miller Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Enjoyed the short read. Good luck with the project Farkas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRed05 Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Cool project. I must say that I personally would rather see a diesel engine go back in there, but whatevs. Those steelies look like the ones that used to come on the CITI Golf Chico back in South Africa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Subscribed. Can't wait to see more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsm_sleeper Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 I look forward to seeing the transformation. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief8one Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 please leave the diesel tags on it. sweet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Love it! I was wondering what we can expect from the Farkas clan this year. Sucks that it's an '80, but not every Rabbit project can be a swallowtail. Ditch the front and rear bumpers, plz. Looking forward to seeing more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsey Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 What year truck did the vr come in? 4.8 or 5.3? Lol. Cool little whip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssFo Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Does someone make mounts for the VR in MK1's now? Back when I was swapping you had to make your own. There was a long running joke on the Vortex about VR swapped cars flipping over in driveways. Wish I could find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B3NN3TT Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 I can get behind this. Love the noises the VR makes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Maker Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Does someone make mounts for the VR in MK1's now? Back when I was swapping you had to make your own. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Eurowise+mount+kit&l=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImUrOBGYN Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Good luck, man. Looking forward to seeing it all go down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farkas Posted January 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 please leave the diesel tags on it. sweet They're absolutely staying, lol Love it! I was wondering what we can expect from the Farkas clan this year. Sucks that it's an '80, but not every Rabbit project can be a swallowtail. Ditch the front and rear bumpers, plz. Looking forward to seeing more! I wish I could've found an earlier MK1, but there's not much about a swallow tail that I really care to hunt one down. Does someone make mounts for the VR in MK1's now? Back when I was swapping you had to make your own. There was a long running joke on the Vortex about VR swapped cars flipping over in driveways. Wish I could find it. Haha yes, I'm very familiar with the running joke... I half expected someone would make the joke in my thread, already. But yeah, you can buy the entire mount kit with axles now. If I knew how to weld, I would've preferred keeping the original MK3 mounts and welded the bases to the MK1 frame horns, but for ease of dropping the motor in, Eurowise is the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted January 27, 2015 Report Share Posted January 27, 2015 Looks cool good luck with the project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farkas Posted January 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2015 UPDATE: Well, I was able to make some more progress today. I made a trip to the hardware store to pick up some various bolts and washers that were less than acceptable, even with my low expectations for this motor. Most of them were severely weathered or rusted bad enough that I was lucky to even get them off the motor. I did, however, get some packages delivered to me that will soon be on the motor as I slowly start to reassemble everything. The new valve cover gasket I ordered came in and that was able to go back on the motor after I buttoned up the front cover again. The old one was so bad, it was literally crumbling into pieces as I was removing it from the valve cover lol; no wonder it was leaking. After sealing up most of the motor and removing the exhaust manifold. I gave the engine a healthy amount of purple power to bathe in while I made another trip to the hardware store for a new hose, since my other hose was frozen from the temperatures in the teens we've been having as of late. I was honestly not looking forward to cleaning off all the old grime and grease from this motor... it's always a huge mess as you can see from the kitty litter I put all over my work area. Took the motor outside and blasted it with piss... jk, I gave it a scalding hot wash with the hose, as well as the manifolds, trans, and other accessories I planned to use. Most of the old black paint from the block had come off from age, so I also picked up some rust neutralizer and black high-temp paint. Pretty sure I'm just going to mask off only the necessary and paint the engine top-to-bottom in black lol. As far as the injectors, I'm going to soak them in some solvent to make sure they're good to go when they go back on the motor, but I need to do something about the casings. I'm thinking I'll probably sand them down as best I can and paint them to prevent further rusting. Since I'm deleting both the PS and AC from the motor, I was reading I could get a 44" 5-rib belt and keep the alternator in the original place. I'll have to verify before hand, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to take the accessory bracket off and trim it so it only holds the alternator and cleans up the look of the motor a little bit. Any advice from people who have already done this? Good idea or bad? IMG_1367 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1369 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1371 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1374 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1375 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr IMG_1376 by Andrew M. Farkas, on Flickr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssFo Posted January 28, 2015 Report Share Posted January 28, 2015 Are you running the Eurovan parts to convert to a cable clutch or are you keeping it Hydro? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farkas Posted January 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2015 Are you running the Eurovan parts to convert to a cable clutch or are you keeping it Hydro? Yessir, using the hydro/cable setup from the Eurovan. Also decided to go with cable shift and the O2A shift tower since I hate the OEM style mk1 shift linkages. I'll have to figure out a way to mount the tower, but that's the least of my worries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted January 28, 2015 Report Share Posted January 28, 2015 Took the motor outside and blasted it with piss... Love build threads. This will be a fun one to see when it's completed. Big props to you for working even harder to stay on point given this cold weather. :thumbup: Some observations: - That wheel on the drivers' front looks wiiiide (which is good!). Is that the rolling stock you're planning on using? Could you tease us with a pic? - To me, removing the A/C and PS pulleys from the lower front of the motor makes a long run from the alternator to the crankshaft pulley. Any concerns about the belt coming in contact with the other side of itself spinning the water pump? - BTW...dem injectors be like "You IS gonna replace us, right?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antilagmike Posted January 28, 2015 Report Share Posted January 28, 2015 Looks good, I recently sold my mk4 vr6 to get a new mk6 and nothing beats the sound of that narrow angle 6, gobs of torque too. Should be fairly quick given the weight. I'm sure you already know but change the timing chain while the motor is out, saves you the only real maintenance for that engine that is difficult when the motor is in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verse Posted January 28, 2015 Report Share Posted January 28, 2015 http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b59/155/michal6newstylertagesme.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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