We were fooling around here at the shop last week with my Father's '85 GL and decided to try something a little different. His stock 1.9 was running kinda poorly so we thought we'd throw a motor together out of spare parts. The motor we ended up building is a 2.1 liter with a VW bug camshaft (mild grind) and solid lifters from a Type 4 engine (his old lifters rattled incessantly). The cooling system is stock 1.9 liter, as is the Digijet FI. We did cut the seats on the heads and resurface the valves, but the only new parts we used were a set piston rings, rod bearings, and gaskets. And an oil filter of course. About $75 worth of parts. Needless to say, we had no idea how this thing would run when we fired it up. All I can say is.... WOW! This baby rocks! She fired right up and idled perfect. No lifter clatter of course. Acceleration was even, smooth and extremely responsive. But the real test was waiting out on the street. After bleeding the cooling system and double checking everything, it was test drive time! The first indication that we'd done good was still in the parking lot. We backed it out, put it in "D" (did I say it is an automatic?), and stepped on the gas... TIRE SCREECH! Totally unintentional, we just stepped on the gas like normal and the damn thing took off like a cat with it's tail on fire. This was getting fun! Next came the freeway... we hopped onto I-50 and easily merged with traffic at 65mph. A few lane changes to the left and we're cruising at 75mph. We knew what we had to do next... step on it. We did, and the damn thing took off again! Had to back it down around 90mph. Even though it's pretty much a used engine, we didn't want to rev it up too much for too long. Next stop... the smog shop next door. We didn't need a smog, but thought it prudent to see if it would pass. It did. Easily. Of course, we're wondering a few things: - How long will our rebuilt/used motor last? - and, how often well we need to adjust the valves?
This was fun and if anyone wants to drive a Frankenstein's monster that kicks ass, come on by the shop. Cheers, Jeff www.vanagonparts.com |
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