LWBJake
November 14th, 2006, 11:00 AM
Background:
In the summer, I bought a complete Acme vw-samurai diesel conversion kit from technofarmer on this forum. He packed everything carefully, and even took pictures of everything so I could see how it went together.
I had a 1.6 turbo diesel from my mother's old jetta, and I gave it a going-over with new gaskets & seals, but no didn't pull the head or replace bearings because I knew the engine and it was pretty sound.
Well, I took last week off and dove in. I'll spare you all teh details, but it went really really well. I'd recomend the Acme kit to anyone interested in a vw diesel conversion. It is first-rate.
Anyway, after all the work I fired it up last night, and it is running really well.
It didn't at first... it was blowing tons of blue smoke, none at idle but lots and lots when revved. Took it for a spin, thinking it just needed to be run, but it was still making a huge cloud of smoke; it was embarassing. My heart sank, I thought I had put in a crap engine (it was out of my mother's old jetta and it never burned oil like that before).
Once it was warm, I decided to give it an italian tune-up. I started gently, then MASHED IT in second and then third. The smoke actually caused cars to pull over, someone flashed their lights at me.
Then, I heard the turbo spool up and the smoke stopped.
I think the turbo was sticking, causing high enough vacuum on the intake that it was pulling oil past the turbo seals. Once the turbo freed up, it stopped completely.
Anyway, I feel a LOT better about it now
A few outstanding issues:
- I get a rattle when I let the clutch out... in gear or in neutral. Doesn't sound right
- I broke the nipple on the heater core, and now it leaks badly. Had to bypass it. How hard is it to change the core? I looked under the dash last night, it doesn't look like fun
- Stock suspension, I had the springs re-arched and another leaf added to clear the oil pan. It is still only 1 1/2 inches from the axle. Will have to put longer shackles.
In the summer, I bought a complete Acme vw-samurai diesel conversion kit from technofarmer on this forum. He packed everything carefully, and even took pictures of everything so I could see how it went together.
I had a 1.6 turbo diesel from my mother's old jetta, and I gave it a going-over with new gaskets & seals, but no didn't pull the head or replace bearings because I knew the engine and it was pretty sound.
Well, I took last week off and dove in. I'll spare you all teh details, but it went really really well. I'd recomend the Acme kit to anyone interested in a vw diesel conversion. It is first-rate.
Anyway, after all the work I fired it up last night, and it is running really well.
It didn't at first... it was blowing tons of blue smoke, none at idle but lots and lots when revved. Took it for a spin, thinking it just needed to be run, but it was still making a huge cloud of smoke; it was embarassing. My heart sank, I thought I had put in a crap engine (it was out of my mother's old jetta and it never burned oil like that before).
Once it was warm, I decided to give it an italian tune-up. I started gently, then MASHED IT in second and then third. The smoke actually caused cars to pull over, someone flashed their lights at me.
Then, I heard the turbo spool up and the smoke stopped.
I think the turbo was sticking, causing high enough vacuum on the intake that it was pulling oil past the turbo seals. Once the turbo freed up, it stopped completely.
Anyway, I feel a LOT better about it now
A few outstanding issues:
- I get a rattle when I let the clutch out... in gear or in neutral. Doesn't sound right
- I broke the nipple on the heater core, and now it leaks badly. Had to bypass it. How hard is it to change the core? I looked under the dash last night, it doesn't look like fun
- Stock suspension, I had the springs re-arched and another leaf added to clear the oil pan. It is still only 1 1/2 inches from the axle. Will have to put longer shackles.