Turbo Diesel Cabriolet Project (with head porting pics)

[gldgti]

I thought I should start a thread for our Cabby. Its a 1991 with:

> power top
> power windows (working)
> converted to 1.5 diesel by previous owner

We got it in 2009, November. The car needed a new vinyl top, a lot of cosmetic body work, and not a lot else.

I fitted a new top myself about 3 weeks after we got the car, and the ensuing list of mods/repairs is as follows:

> mk3 rear drums, new wheel bearings
> remove after market alarm
> new stereo, 2 new speakers in stock locations in rear, 2 new speakers behind the door cards in front (sneaky) and 2 8" subs and amp in boot, in new side-panels so as to keep stock boot space
> front lowering springs
> modified rear suspension mounts for 30mm lowering on stock struts
> new Bilstein touring class shocks (VERY happy with these!)
> fixed rust in windscreen sill
> replaced passenger side door
> replaced tailgate
> resprayed front and rear bumpers, LHS rear quarter panel, pass door, tailgate, rear brake drums all in factory LA5Y Helios Blue.
> E30 BBS wires, 14x6.5

This is how the car looked recently at our wedding and at the 'nats.:

Nationals day...




Wedding day...



A couple of weeks ago the car developed the classic 1.5D headgasket leak - a little oil in the coolant and losing coolant from the front of the head. I thought initially I would simply repair, but we had plans to turbo the 1.5 anyway and with some unrelated bartering I managed to score a 1Y 1.9 Diesel engine.

The 1Y is still indirect injection, and has a largely mechanical pump (with some parts of the pump simply electronically controlled. It is however internally setup to work just as well as a turbo engine as it is without, so we quickly decided that the 1.9 was going into the Cabby instead of a repair of the old 1.5 engine (which will still be put to use in another car, don't worry).

We began work readying the 1.9 for installation over the weekend. We first gave it a pressure clean, then began pulling everything off for a proper clean and paint, and general tidy up. After pulling off the sump and discovering a world of black horrid muck and some water, I have cleaned most of the bottom end up already, and a base coat of bright yellow is on the block, CAT style

Plans for the engine are to run the Garrett T2 that used to live on my AAZ from my mk3. This will give it plenty of low end torque and good midrange, which will be great fun in the lighter mk1 chassis. It should also make it easy to tune it to run smoke free or close to it. This week I'm working on modifying the exhaust manifold so that i can run it upside down, getting the turbo down behind the block so we can run the n/a engines intake manifold, which will let it breath better and improve the off boost performance. I'd like to get it to up around 90hp at the wheels, and with whole lot of torque on hand form about 1800rpm it should be great fun.

I'm also going to upgrade the master cylinder and booster to the SEAT/Mk3 style ones for better stopping power and a longer ratio gearbox and 210mm clutch to finish off.

I'm glad to be putting some effort back into a mk1, its been too long!