What a difference a day makes!

Gearbox now on engine.

Transfer box mounted to back of engine (found the right length M8s in my collection in the end).

Engine timed up.

Various bolts all over it have now been torqued up, including the cam sprocket.

Rear mount is on.

Found out the pressed steel mount from the rod-change gearbox that goes front to back on the gearbox doesn’t fit the cable-changer, so that won’t be being fitted.

Found out the 2E rocker cover doesn’t fit, as it’s too high and the breather port is too far in.

The rocker cover I got with the head does fit under the inlet manifold, but it doesn’t have the breather port on the cover (I remember seeing it fall off at Andy’s and thinking ‘I bet I’ll need that’). However, I have another steel rocker cover lying around with a suitable port in it, so I’ll be combining the two this weekend, I think.

I’ve also fitted the distributor pipework, tried the crossflow waterpipe and also the ABF radiator – they appear to work! The only thing I did notice was that the radiator has circular indents to fix it in. The G2 has tabs that insert into the radiator – I would have thought a couple of doctored bolts should sort out the top mounting issue.

So, only a few things to do (and bolts to find/come in at the dealer) and it’ll be ready to go into the engine bay.

I also took delivery of a 30metre roll of heat wrap and some stainless clips. I figured I should check how to do the wrapping thing and found this handy topic:

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?t=140895

Which I’ll praisee and add to when I’ve done mine.

Next jobs I’m going to need to sort are swapping over to the 100mm inner CVs and then with a few bits added to the unit (like the sodding 50mm exhaust manifold studs) from VW the motor and transmission can be slung into the engine bay – when the downpipe and steering column boot are wrapped.

Photos from last night and tonight are here:

http://diamondhell.com/component/option,com_rsgallery2/Itemid,29/catid,35/

Also many thanks to Matt Neck (known as Beavis) – he came round tonight and sorted out a GTI speedo head into the instrument cluster – many thanks for doing a job I wasn’t looking forward to! This is necessary as the new drive on the cable-change box is a different geared one to the original Syncro unit.

Big update, short post. Engine and ‘box now in car and being hooked up (gradually). Myriad small issues unearthed, which are being worked through bit by bit (with thanks to ChrisS and DannyP!

Pictures from a big session today are here: http://diamondhell.com/component/option,com_rsgallery2/Itemid,29/page,inline/id,954/catid,38/limitstart,7/

More in the next couple of days.

trev16v :- for a 16v running megasquirt the easy option is the throttel body off a passat 16v it allready has a TPS inbuilt

Erk. That was a long session!

Danny got here just after lunch and we piled into it. I’ve had a number of things that I wanted to get sorted, so had been fiddling through them slowly. The dashboard came back out and some of the wiring doen previously also came out, so we could try and get a nicer set up sorted.

After lots of changing to and fro Danny eventually found a solution which means the car runs safely and sensibly – if the motor stops running the fuel pump shuts off too. This was important to me (rather than jerry-rigging the system) – if I have a big off at some point the last thing I want is fuel everywhere!

So, when did it finally run? I think about 9ish, but it might have been a bit later. As this was the first fire-up it sounded like a bag of spanners, but with every start and test run up it sounded better and better. I’d screwed up on the dizzi timing (180 deg out) and the lift pump wiring was back to front, but once these were sorted it fired up relatively easily. The timing has currently been set by (Danny’s) ear and there’s quite a lot more to do putting things back together and ready for a first test run out.

The Toledo in the front garden has been really helpful – it’s donated a couple of relay holders and wire, as well as it’s washer bottle and power steering fluid return hoses, which means the resevoir is tucked neatly away out of harm’s way. The hard-line return hose is also in a lot better condition than the original one!

In the next session I need to finish off the top mounts for the radiator. I already drilled a new hole at the cambelt end, as G2s never had such a large radiator fitted. This was an 8mm hole, then punched into a nice recess with an M12 head bolt and then an M14 bolt

The 8V leads were too big for the recesses on the head, so the motor is now running Bosch Super4 16V plugs, with leads to suit an Audi A3 1.6, on a 2E dizzi cap.

Pictures of various parts (note descriptions under them in the gallery) are here, as ever:

http://diamondhell.com/component/option,com_rsgallery2/Itemid,29/page,inline/id,973/catid,39/limitstart,2/

Trev – I’ve been quite guided by Chris and Pascal on the spec for this motor. The more advanced (development, rather than ignition timing!) closed loop lambda system just seemed to make a lot more sense in terms of optimised mixture, rather than the open loop system run on standard G2s.

My aim is to have something with a step up in power from the 90-100bhp my car was running before. I didn’t want to get over-complicated, or heavy. The 8V motor should ensure I have something that won’t monster through fuel too badly, while providing good fun out on the tracks and B-roads. It’s also key that if it does let go it won’t cost the earth to get back on the road. I’m happy with how things seem to be shaping up. I think I’ve got a lot to learn about this set up before I feel the need to install something pokier. The car also has a lot of development needed to get it really performing and effectively using what should have now.

Thanks for the interest!

Onwards into tidying up and ‘Snagging’. I still have a few daft things like the top mounts on the radiator to finish, so I managed to grab a couple of hours in the workshop last night. This saw one of the top mounts for the rad done, also a rather nice (if I say so myself) bracket for the accelerator cable, which bolts to the top of the inlet manifold. I also had to fit the fuseboard back up in place – note to self for Danny’s car additional relays etc cannot be fitted on the left most position on the fuseboard – there’s wiring in the way!

After the battle with the fuseboard was won I fitted the dash back in the car, not before taking off the stalks – there’s only so many times 20 year old plastic can take being pressed down HARD and I don’t want to have to find a new set right now….. h’mmmmm, I wonder if the Toledo set will fit….

Had a short first drive out in it this evening – nice and smooth and grunty. I wasn’t pushing too hard as it’s not been set up right yet and holes in pistons are neither big, nor clever.

Only had one snag so far, which was the accelerator cable housing popping out of the hole in the bulkhead (it wasn’t seated properly). This left the engine revving at 2k, but there was a convenient place to pull over and sort it. It was at this point there were big clouds of smoke/steam from the heat wrap!

Things still to do are setting the motor up properly, securing the wiring and hoses etc in the engine bay and ironing out any glitches that become apparent over this week.

Now I’m getting finished with my car I just need to clear up the garage and get ready to do Danny’s car with him! Reassuringly I did check to see if they’ll both fit in the workshop and the answer is yes, with all of two foot to spare (in addition to the rear working area).

[8D]