MK3 vegetarian tdi....new wheels and suspension update

I've been a after a cheap Mk3 tdi for a high MPG daily and this one came up for a complete steal on ebay...

Firstly, here she is...



Not looking too bad....



Oh, gti headlights and a sunstrip screen with tax in it...



3 mudflaps...



Random rear spoiler...



Back-up h/brake applied (left in gear)...



None too shabby cream/poo brown interior



What's that smell of diesel?? (can you see the lash up?)...



"character scar"...



Slightly dented roof, previous owner was a courier, looks worse than what it is!

So, i picked the car up from somerset last friday after loading the "included in the auction" 101k mile engine (complete with turbo) into the boot and made my way up the road....4 miles later and i've run out of fuel

A 5 litre jerry can of fuel later and a quick bleed and i'm on my way again following the sat nav trying to locate the A303 (even passsed a sign for devon at one point!)...35miles later i'm on it...i pop into the nearest petrol station (the one with the little chief beside it) and start to fill up, 15 in and i see the price for the diesel....154.9p a litre!!! so i finish at 20.

I carry on my merry way with the pedal adjustable steering in full effect, throttle for right, brake for left (o/s/f lower arm required, as in the ebay listing) but i'm enjoying the drive and the lack of fuel gauge movement. It would be nice to open the drivers window but it's held in place by the vw tool kit supplied black handled screwdriver (not in the listing).

I make it home, pick up the new arm and make it to work after 153 (near on) trouble free miles.

First things first, lets have a look at that steering issue...



Ahh, that would be it then

Next up, remember the lash i was talking about in the ebay engine bay pic, did you see it??



That would have been one of the diesel leaks then!! The other being the shaft seal on the pump....considering those and the engine in the boot i'm happy with the 53.87mpg on my first journey!!

Jobs done so far are...

replaced fuel stop solenoid
leaky oil pressure switch replaced
a few bulbs here and there
rear shoes replaced (handbrake now works)
brake and clutch systems pressure bled
o/s/f lower arm replaced

Jobs to do this saturday...

Fit genuine cambelt kit
R+R crank, cam and int shaft seals
renew crank pulley bolt
R+R fuel pump shaft seal
look at o/s/f window mech/motor
Fit a radio that isn't upside down and is wired up
Buy some switches (and wire up if time) for the cruise control mod mentioned on this very site

The car is in good overall condition in terms of rust (apart from the driver wing due to the battle scar) and the 225k mile engine under the bonnet is amazingly quiet and smoke free for the mileage...i like it

 

Yesterday i did the cambelt, wired in the cruise control switches and stripped the drivers door to find no window motor or regulator lol

After looking through the paperwork today i realised that the car has covered quite a lot of miles since the last mot....





nearly 25k miles in a tad over 9 months! Backs up the previous owners story of being a courier

 

Have you checked your timing with vcds/vag-com?

 

No mike, it'll be checked tomorrow night at the same time the ecu is re-coded for cruise control

 

tonights progress...cruise control now working and as a bonus, the airbag light was on due to under/overvoltage fault codes which cleared down leaving the light off...

Now awaiting the parts for the twin tank diesel/veg oil conversion ala brookster style

Tonights step backward...fuel pump front seal is seaping, i couldn't get the pulley off the pump on saturday so this will be rectified as soon as time allows, probably when the conversion takes place

 

nice little economy motor you got there, how much of a steal was it?

 

it wouldn't qualify for the crumbal rally but it wasn't far off

 

nice work,selling the spare engine?

 

Nice - where did you put the switches for the cruise control? I couldn't find anywhere to put them which didn't look really nasty! Even tempted to buy the proper one!

 

I had this on a 306, worst thing was the guy told me it had just stopped working!

Iv never had such an erge to buy a mk3 golf but I really want one of these, how hard is it to stick the lot into a ce2 valver mk2?

 

No mate, I'll be keeping that alongside the turbo, pump, injectors and gearbox that I have accumulated recently...oh, and a n/a inlet manifold and a pd150 fmic

 

Same switches and position as dubnutter but the two 'push to make' switches are on the same smaller dash blank that is next to the on/off switch that is on the large blank. This leaves the spare small blank for the twin tank conversion soleooid switch

 

Should be plug and play electrically but with a passat tdi pedal box for the electronic throttle pedal...then you'll need gearchange cable set upto run the box and the hydralic clutch system.

 

I now have audio entertainment...Wahoo lol...i'm thinking some 6x9's in the parcel shelf may be in order but with a four pin plug (thinking a lamda plug will do) for quick/easy disconnection for shelf removal might be in order.

Two out of the three components for the twin tank conversion have turned up as well

 

post up lots of pics of the twin tank stuff really interested in all of this, having a diesel would be so much fun again, my 205td was a hoot one of my best cars and would never do less than 45mpg even bouncing off the rev limiter in 5th!

 

Veg oil seems quite difficult to get now for anything like reasonable money, also the hassle of filtering and disposing of the rubbish from it.

Would love to try hydraulic oil, supposed to run just as good as diesel when its the right stuff, just hard to find a supply. Would like to try very well filtered engine oil just to find out how bad it smokes too, but expect that wouldn't work too well

 

Go to the diesel engine section and check out brooksters 'turbo and frybred conversion' thread as this is where I got the idea from.

Engine oil is a really bad idea! You've obviously never seen an engine 'run away' after a turbo failure? This is where the engine revs up uncontrollably on the oil left in the induction system, usually past governor speeds!
I can get processed rapeseed oil for 80p a litre near to where I work, that's 60p a litre cheaper than diesel!

 

Wasn't intending to pour it into the induction system! Would work the same way as diesel if it only came out the injectors!

Thats very cheap for oil, how much do you have to buy each time?

 

True, you'd have a bit of a smoke issue with engine oil though.

I've yet to contact them but its 16 for 20litres in a container

 

Just waiting on the fuel pipe to turn up and I'll have everything needed for the twin tank conversion