Damn, what a weekend
So yeah.. Drove all over creation yesterday between getting the motor, getting parts from one place, then going to NAPA to get the timing belt...
Last night go to get the new belt on so I can drop the motor in today...
FREAKIN NAPA... They gave me a gasser belt.
Boy was I pissed.. Had to drive waaay the hell out of my way to get it after being on the road all day in a dually, and to make it worse it costs almost as much in fuel to return it now since I don't go over to that hell hole area very often. I dont understand how it got screwed up.. Called the location I usually go to, they say they dont have one but Eatonville does.. Go over there, pick it up.. The receipt even says 1.6L diesel.. Part number is even using the OE vw numbers.. So last night I go on Contitech's website and punch the part number in, its for a gasser like I suspected.. Get the diesel number off Autohaus AZ's website, then go back to NAPA's site and look up a belt for a 1.6 diesel, and get the same number as Autohaus AZ's site...
So up til 2am trying to figure out who has one of these bastards in stock, and the closest I can find is the main hub store for Autozone clear down in another sh!thole area in the heart of the Orlando hood, over an hour from the house..
I get to bed about 230, drag myself out of bed by 7 something still tired from the day before and head down to Autozone.. Decided to get a water pump, thermostat, v belt, hoses, etc as well. Ran by Harbor Junk while I was in the 'hood as well to pick up some sh*tty tools. Im sure the 5 pack of wire brushes will fling all the bristles off and lodge them into my leg in the first 30 seconds of use on a cordless drill, but figured they were worth a shot..
Long story short, finally back to the house by like 2pm.. Spend some time with my girl and head out back...
I decided its been long enough since the bead blaster was working, so I finally got my bead blaster operational first.. My dad bought it used for his business in the 90s, and when he closed in like 98 I had him hold it in his garage for me until I got a place I could keep it.. Finally in 2007 I took posession of it, and in 2012 I made it work again.. I wonder why I waited so long...
So, back to the engine.. It looked like royal sh*t when I got it, covered with flaky rust but supposedly a good runner... One thing is for sure, it has hardly any miles on it or it NEVER had the oil changed, or the previous owner was meticulous..Because it had a genuine VW filter on it.. Not even a MANN, but genuine down to the huge VW Audi logo.. I havent seen one of those in a good while..
Today it doesn't look a hell of alot better... I am not sure how long this motor is going to be in there, and I just want it to run... I didnt want to have to fully retime the pump, so I didnt take it off to clean the brackets all that good.. So it got a spray can rebuild, and not a very good one...
After the spray can rebuild, I replaced the timing belt.. I went to replace the water pump, and the second bolt broke off.. Third bolt felt like it was twisting.. Since the clutch looked like new, I figured maybe this thing has had some decent maintance and rather than get into a big can of worms with busted bolts I decided to quit while I was ahead and not worry about the water pump or thermostat. I did replace the rear main on the engine.
I wasnt aware that VW decided not to put ANY timing marks on the pulleys, so I switched gears and pulled the tranny off the engine from the caddy.. Replaced the throw out bearing, pushrod bushing and seal and input shaft seal. Cleaned about 1/4 inch of grime from the bellhousing. Mated the tranny to the motor, and got the timing belt put on and started dressing the motor out..
With the bead blaster running, my girlfriend was cool enough to blast the timing cover, valve cover, intake manifold, AC comp tensioner, and the alt tensioner. Thanks babe!
So TONIGHT, I went to paint those parts.. I cant wait to see the contrast.. Rather than spray bombing the parts that came from the bead blaster, I went ahead did something special...
Also, I am not a fan of clipper kits, but I hate the look of MkI's with absolutely no bumpers.. Since a clipper bumper is all I have laying around, I decided the other day to go ahead and use it until the financial pain of this build dies a bit and I can spring for some chrome euros or find some nice us bumpers to mod..
Since I plan to put the engine in tomorrow evening, and its a royal mother to get the bumper bolts in with the motor in and dressed, it meant I had to paint the bumper tonight... Yay, 9pm and I am fixing to BEGIN prepping the bumper for paint... Wheres the "yawning" emoticon?
Dont worry, it actually looks like hell, LOL... It was chipped and gouged to hell and back... Im partly in a hurry, and dont plan to keep it very long, so I just wanted to make it look better than nothing...
Remember the parts my girl cleaned in the bead blaster? The rest of the engine may look like ass, but some of it wont
