Quarantine Project Thread

[anders]

Yes indeed an experiment! I did something very similar when I was 16. I purchased an 84 f41 Camaro with a 2.8 and 4 speed. Anyways it had a horrible rod knock, being a cheap and experimental high schooler I ended up getting a FWD 2.8 from a Chevrolet car. I didn’t realize when I purchased the engine that the blocks between FWD and RWD are different.

I stripped both engines and installed the rotating assembly from the FWD engine into the camaro block. Had a tough time installing the pistons, I found out they were oversized pistons! I didn’t want to spend any money on it other then the $45 for the gaskets and the $25 I spent for the FWD engine. I ended up spending hours honing the block to accept the larger pistons!

Got the engine together with all used parts, camaro block and heads, FWD crank, pistons, rods, along with the used bearings and rings. Amazingly the engine actually ran very well, didn’t use oil or have much blow by! I was told that the engine would blow up, but it ran for the year I had it, I ended up trading it for a seized up dirt bike.

It was a fun experience, it was the first automotive engine I put together.

[Volvoguy]

My quarantine project is a 82 I picked up with a leaky injection pump. She’s getting boost and some more fuel

[ngoma]

What material did you make that exhaust manifold out of? Looks like it took some great skills and talents!

[v8volvo]

Originally Posted by anders

Yes indeed an experiment!

That is for sure. Quite a story with that 2.8, never knew you could oversize a block with a hone! That must have taken some work!

That's funny, this project took me back to some early experiences trying to learn my way around the inside of a motor too. Don't know if that's a good sign or not, but fun memories anyway.

Well, my science project TDI is back together and on the road, and so far seems to be running good. I ended up having to use a couple more new parts besides a headgasket; it needed a few new heater hose sections, and I also threw in a new thermostat just on principle while it was apart. I have never owned a new-to-me vehicle that did not need a thermostat right away, seems like the single most likely to be overlooked part on the whole engine, so I figured the pattern would hold and I would need one sooner or later here too anyway. I also put on a different used turbo to replace the one I took off it, which was a little tired from too much time at double (!) its factory boost level from the crazy computer chips in this motor, and also was drenched everywhere inside and out with oil from all the blowby when it got driven home by the PO on two and a half cylinders.

A couple weeks ago while it was still apart, I also picked up a good spare long block that luckily popped up for sale nearby. Felt better to have it as a backup in case this experiment didn't work out. It was actually kind of fun working on this project, knowing there was no reason to worry too much about the outcome or trying some "creative" ideas, since nothing I was going to do could make it any worse than it already was.

I reused the rod bearings, head bolts, and rod bolts, and cleaned up all the filthy black sludge inside the pan before putting it back together. This engine had some of the nastiest, thickest old oil inside it that I have ever seen -- I am guessing a combination of too much fueling causing heavy soot contamination, plus massive EGT and oil temps causing oil breakdown from heat, and seemingly also too-long oil change intervals to make everything even worse. Hoping a few short interval oil changes with cheap oil helps clean it up inside a little for the next time I have it apart, and I might do a diesel fuel flush with it too at some point. Reused the timing belt and rollers, for now, since they only have about 35k and 6 years on them. If the engine still seems to be healthy in a few months I'll probably at least throw a new belt on.

Everything looked and felt pretty good overall going together, but I wasn't really sure how it was all going to turn out until I got it spinning over on the starter to prime the lube and fuel systems, and heard it crank with an even rhythm. I was pretty certain at that point that this engine was going to run just fine. Sure enough, after getting injectors bled it fired right up and ran on all four! It's actually quieter and smoother feeling in this heavy vehicle than these engines seem to be in the small cars they are usually installed in, maybe a little more mass and sound deadening helps. It's surprisingly refined and decent to operate for a diesel 4-banger.

Been driving it around and the rest of the car is in reasonable shape and seems to drive well, despite having sat for a few years. Needs some new fluids elsewhere and a few other little tweaks but not bad, even the A/C works. Hopefully will give some good usage this summer as a camping/recreation rig. I found a set of stock tune chips on ebay that I need to put into it, and it'll probably need a set of stock size injectors too, then it will be much slower, but hopefully give as much life as this engine is capable of. Right now it's quite quick, but smokes like a train at full throttle, and runs way too much boost and timing, obviously experience shows it's able to hurt itself at this power level in sustained use.

There was one very strange other episode that happened with this engine several days after I first got it running that I'll describe later, completely unrelated to the internal engine repairs. Something that I had never seen or heard of before, I think having to do with the IP's reaction to running on 6-year-old diesel. I'll save that for next time though. For now here's a video of it running, and some photos below. https://photos.app.goo.gl/8j1Sopn83kaDjZxn9

Any bets on how long this engine will survive?

[ngoma]

Any bets on how long this engine will survive?

Hard to say. The worst I see are the vertical scratches in the #2 cylinder. If that's the worst of it that probably wouldn't affect longevity as much as compression and oil burning.

What were the PO thinking? Chipping and turning up the boost OK but you better step up the maintenance and inspection schedules to match.

[v8volvo]

Originally Posted by ngoma

The worst I see are the vertical scratches in the #2 cylinder. If that's the worst of it that probably wouldn't affect longevity as much as compression and oil burning.

That's what I have been thinking/hoping also, maybe some mild effects of imperfect ring seal but no major accelerated ongoing wear. Will be a lucky outcome if so. I could have kept running the hone some more and probably eliminated the scored areas completely, but I figured it after a while it would increase ring end gap and piston-bore clearance too much and begin to hurt more than help, so it was a difficult call as to where to stop. I figured I would aim to make the scored areas much shallower but not completely gone. I think you're right that it has to be losing some compression there and presumably allow some oil past too.

It will be interesting to see what this engine is like to start in the winter. Maybe I'll try a compression test on it sometime for curiosity's sake. No obvious change in oil level so far to indicate bad oil consumption, but I have only put about 500 miles on it.

Originally Posted by ngoma

What were the PO thinking? Chipping and turning up the boost OK but you better step up the maintenance and inspection schedules to match.

Good question. I have no idea. I suspect unfortunately (for them) they might have been mainly just misinformed. The engines have a reputation for being "bulletproof" and it seems like they sometimes suffer from harsh use and neglect as a result, from owners who think it means nothing can kill them. The PO may have believed that. The guy who sold him the van (and had done the conversion) may not have tried to dissuade him.

[Nevadan]

I like those low budget, not-much-to-loose projects.

Except time!!!

It's amazing how abused an engine can be and still run well. Nice recovery of that vehicle.

[v8volvo]

Originally Posted by Nevadan

Except time!!!

It sure is possible to lose a lot of that.

As long as it's fun and/or interesting, though, I guess there are worse ways to waste time.

The TDI I was working on in this thread is still running nicely and to my great surprise, appears to be using very little or no oil so far. I have done a couple thousand miles in it now, running it on my commute to try to find any bugs, but so far I can't tell it apart from an average decent condition motor. As you say, amazing sometimes how an engine can get right up to (or even beyond) the brink of destruction but still carry on afterwards with seemingly minimal effect.

The one issue I have had with this engine, as I mentioned earlier and unrelated to the internal engine problems and repairs, is a very bizarre injection pump failure that I will share here for curiosity's sake when I have a little time and can get some pictures taken. As a result of that problem, shortly after getting it on the road I had to tear it back apart again and replace the IP with a used one, which I resealed beforehand. I also replaced the timing belt while I was that far back into it, given the indications thus far that this engine is ready to run for a while now and is seemingly worth one or two other new consumable parts.