Engine Swap in '82 - Update (Longish)

[Greg Baxter <gbaxter@wimsey.com>]

Well, my Winter holidays have come to an end, and I still have only one
vehicle on the road - the Jetta. For those that may not recall, I am the one
that asked about a month ago about whether I should bore out my 1.7, or get
a 1.8. I got the 1.8, from an '88 Cab - engine code JH. 

I installed the 268 cam out of my Jetta (a lot easier than I remember from
when I put it in, but I know a bit more about how to set timing now...) I
got a 16v throttle body, and ground out my intake manifold (dirty, noisy,
longish job with a Dremel, but hopefully it works OK...) Got a K&N filter,
and I found an S&S header (for $125, apprently they retail 'round here for
$375 (all CDN$) It doesn't hook right up to the flex pipe - should be a fun
drive to the muffler shop where they'll match it up by cutting behind the
flex pipe. (What am I gonna pay for this???) Also upgraded the clutch (a bit
of a problem there, as I had to hunt down the proper flywheel from the donor
car, then I had to wait an extra day so that I could get three more
flywheel-to-pressure plate bolts) - The smaller clutch has 6 of 'em, and I
needed 9. Took 'em into my parts warehouse and the guy behind the counter
actually said 'Hmpfh... its them weird German Metric Bolts. Nope, can't help
you. Ain't you got that thing in yet?!' So the next day I went to the
dealership, and paid over $10 for these three bolts. Ouch. I also got 12 new
CV to Transaxle bolts as I stripped the blazes out of them when I thought
that they were driven by 6mm hex bolts. They weren't. A $10 tool, and
another $25 in bolts later, I was in business. Didn't realize that I hadn't
undone ALL of the nuts on the transaxle mount, so I lifted the entire car
off of the ground by one 13mm nut. Imagine my surprise after 45 minutes of
playing around, thinking 'Shit, I bet it's ripping the hell out of the
tie-rod, steering column, or some other hidden hitch somewhere, this feels
expensive.'

Putting it back in was much easier, and I've now got to put the new throttle
body, intake manifold ass'y, and a few more wires and hoses back on, and I
should (SHOULD!) be in business. 

A few questions, though:

Behind the passenger side transaxle flange, there seems to be a
substantially sized crescent-shaped hole behind the differential housning
and the block. I looked on my old block, (and frantically through the
garage) and it seems to me that there wasn't anything there, but on the
engine that I'm putting in, it looks like there was some sort of plate
there. Is this correct? Can I run the car (on a dry day, no off-roading) to
the dealership, or my VW mechanic and have him put the plate on? Is there
supposed to be something there? It seems that it could be used for cooling,
but I'll be damned if I can remember if the flywheel was sealed behind
someting, out of harm's way. As you may be able to tell, it is somewhat
difficult to describe this plate, which may entirely be a figment of my
imagination.

Looking at the flywheel through the hole that the starter goes, it seems
that there is precious little clearance for the flywheel. Is this supposed
to be so? Remember, I am using the flywheel from the 1.8. (As well as the
distrubutor... all part of the upgrade.)

Timing: When installing the cam, I set it so that the dimples on the pulleys
and sprockets all lined up. What setting is this? 0`? It has been suggested
that I set it to 12`BTDC? Does this sound right? If so, which marks would I
use for this? How will all of these upgrades affect my emissions? I have a
year before it's due again, and they'll probably be on strike (here's hoping...)

Something that just occured to me, where is the Tach cable? is it one & the
same as the speedo cable? Cuz I don't remember taking a tach cable off of
the tranny. Hmmmm.

I ended up getting an Alpine Detach face CD player, not the 10CD changer -
many thanks to those who answered my queries, though. I just decided that
I'm not in the car long enough to justify a 10 disc changer, and I don't buy
cassettes anymore, so I had NO use for the cassette deck part of the
changer. I have to promise myself that I won't start working on the interior
upgrades (I have also bought a 16v leather interior Mmmmm... and only need a
dash after that...)

If anyone has any questions, comments or answers to my queries, please let
me know. All in all, it's been fun, and it will go MUCH smoother next time.

Thanks,


Greg
82 Rocco
91 Jetta (Digifant sucks!)

--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send email to scirocco-l-request@privateI.com,
with your request (subscribe, unsubscribe) in the BODY of the message.