Supergrunt! - Turbo Diesel Build.

diabolical1 date=1433425370 said:
Temp shoots up to around 210 on the highway if I'm on it more then a couple minutes around 50 mph... before I chicken out to see where it stops..  with a 27 inch vw rad I was expecting it to keep cool.. Maybe I have a air bubble somewhere? Think I might try one of my dual pass RX-7 oil coolers in addition to the water cooler.. but then I may have to notch the frame rail for the filter to clear or get a relocation kit.
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Few thoughts  :

Did you happen to drill a small air release hole  into the thermostat  ?  It certainly do help with removing trapped air .. ;)

If the temperature is spiking up fast under load , there is a good possibility that there is air in the coolant system , which is restricting coolant flow .. Remember the water pump is only a circulating pump , so any air trapped in the system will restrict , or even stop the coolant flow .. [approve] 

You could also try a lower thermostat , I never use anything above 82'c .... Summer I just use a 70'c  , it allows much more flow , cooling the system quicker ... [thumbsup]

Thermostats available to fit your engine ...                   70'c -  158'f 
                                                                                       80'c - 176'f
                                                                                       87'c - 188'f
                                                                                       92'c - 197.6'f
Use only a good German manufacture unit , like the brass Wahler ...       

http://www.autopartsway.ca/partdetails.cfm?w0133-1635179/wah/volkswagen/1987/jetta/base/1.6l-l4/allb/cooling/thermostat,-gasket,-and-housing/engine-coolant-thermostat/pagenum1/tabs

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210 temps are not the 27 inch radiator if you have a good one with the right thermostat. Even the small rabbit radiators will cool a 1.6 diesel motor no problem. 27 inchers are the best.
Questions: Do you have any small bubbles in your coolant? Is your cooling fan(s) wired for pulling or forcing wind toward the motor? Do you have a good German thermostat with the drilled hole like Newfie said? Have you measured actual temps with a laser temp gauge at the head to verify your gauge? Do you have the good VW water pump with the STEEL impeller? Proper coolant ratio to water?
 
I'll finally have the time to pull the thermostat and see what brand it is and what temp it is after work today.. It came in the rebuild kit from parts place inc and i don't remember what they provided. I do know that i did not get around to drilling it though. I don't know about the differences in the impeller.. hopefully I can see when the thermostat is removed. ill drill the thermostat if its a quality one slap it back in and see what happens.  at the moment I'm running only 25% coolant.

It holds steady 190 degrees on my mechanical temp gauge around town, and that's pretty much where its supposed to be from my understanding so I'm pretty sure the gauge is working correctly. Its not until i get it up on the highway the temp start to rise. After I slow down it almost immediately (1 minutes or so) resumes the 190 degree temps.

 
50-50 mix is about the best , it will allow a higher operating temperature  without overheating the engine ,  since there is less water content  ... [approve]

Since it is only heating up during high load , I would guess that a lower thermostat would bring you temps down ...

My guess would be : Small amount of air in the system , or the thermostat is opening to late ... ;)
 
Newfie-Zuk date=1433786054 said:
50-50 mix is about the best , it will allow a higher operating temperature  without overheating the engine ,  since there is less water content  ... [approve]
Since it is only heating up during high load , I would guess that a lower thermostat would bring you temps down ...
My guess would be : Small amount of air in the system , or the thermostat is opening to late ... ;)
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What would be the downside of plugging the bypass and removing the Tstat?  (specific to warm climates)
 
ToeCutter date=1434901425 said:
looks good, where did you get your gps speedo. im looking at gauges including a gps speedo from speed hut .
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I got the GPS speedo from speedhuts website. You're on the right track. I have not however installed it yet as I'm still going back and forth on the design of the dash im putting in.
 
ShadE date=1434850802 said:
What would be the downside of plugging the bypass and removing the Tstat?  (specific to warm climates)
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It would really depend on the outside temperature  , like already mentioned , it may not warm up ?   Remember the diesels do need to be a certain temperature to operate  correctly ... ;)

If your keeping the VW engine above 165'f  your fine ,  I have operated them at 175'c all winter sure , and that's even with cab heat !   [thumbsup]

I use this little critter in the pictures below , when flushing a VW diesel . [approve]   .. It is a cheap knock-off VW thermostat with it's core removed ... It will allow the thermostat O-ring to remain seated correctly , and prevent leakage ...  I use it along with one or two cascade dishwasher capsules , and run it for a day , then flush ...  You will need something like this , even if the thermostat is removed to prevent leakage .... ;)

 

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So it's been awhile since I last posted in this.  I have not done much as I have been enjoying driving the samurai and breaking in this engine. It's now December and I've decided it's time to get back to it. I started off with rebuilding the hubs, it needed new king pin bearings and spindle bearings. the rear bearings as you'll see in the picture below were... well overdue.  You'll see I removed the front axle because I realized the previous owner paid no attention to pinion angle when welding the spring over axle conversion, the perches were about 15 degrees off which would explain the horribly touchy steering due to excessive caster.  After remounting the axle, I reassembled the front hubs and did a toe alignment with the toe bars I made. Currently I?m in the process of rebuilding the rear differential because there was absurd amounts of slop in it. I could turn the axle a good 1/16-1/8 turn before engagement. I found a broken spline gear. And all of the spider gears seem awful sloppy on the pins.. Not sure yet what my options are as I don?t want to sink too much money into these Sami parts as I may want to upgrade to Toyota axles in the future. Not an exciting update, but I promise things will get more interesting.










 
Those are fine looking alignment bars that you made. Do you have access to a water jet or plasma bench? 

Now might be a good time to do the Sj410 brake backing plate mod, if you're wanting to swap axles easily and without having to pull the backing plate / disconnect brake lines to do so. Yes, its more work and more $$........easy for me to suggest it, lol. 
 
Thanks for the compliments guys, A friend and I came up with a better design since making the yellow ones.  Even more universal.. these will pretty much work with any lug pattern. [thumbsup]

 
have you got a planular view IE straight at it? it looks pretty simple  to design  a straight edged piece with a 90 to help keep it straight and a connector that can be bolted to the hub  with the interchangeable stud / hub plate cut and drilled to whatever spacing you need     [thumbsup]  kewl work
 
Spokerider date=1449017459 said:
Those are fine looking alignment bars that you made. Do you have access to a water jet or plasma bench?

Now might be a good time to do the Sj410 brake backing plate mod, if you're wanting to swap axles easily and without having to pull the backing plate / disconnect brake lines to do so. Yes, its more work and more $$........easy for me to suggest it, lol.
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I forgot to address this question. I have access to an Amada laser table, a plasma table, and various sheet metal equipment.  I have more fun laser cut pieces in the works..

Also if anyone sees something of mine they may want to buy, I can probably work something out with you, although doing it over private message would be best or i may need to create a post in the for sale section?  If you have something already that you would like an improved version of, if it's within my means, you could ship it to me and I could reverse engineer it and improve it/modify to your liking. Custom products is pretty much what I do for a living as a design engineer.
 
diabolical1 date=1449247279 said:
I forgot to address this question. I have access to an Amada laser table, a plasma table, and various sheet metal equipment.  I have more fun laser cut pieces in the works..

Also if anyone sees something of mine they may want to buy, I can probably work something out with you, although doing it over private message would be best or i may need to create a post in the for sale section?  If you have something already that you would like an improved version of, if it's within my means, you could ship it to me and I could reverse engineer it and improve it/modify to your liking. Custom products is pretty much what I do for a living as a design engineer.
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That is a kind offer thank you. 
You know us zuk guys, we are always looking to better our zuks! 
 
Just wanted to update this after so many years! It was a trip down memory lane rereading all of this. I ended up selling this thing to a guy in Minneapolis who later sold it to a guy in Kentucky or I believe, so it's still out and about. I regret doing so but I needed the money at the time. The way I see it is if I can do it once I can do it again better as there are things that I would change with my experience and improve upon. Eventually I will do exactly that on a new rig. 
 

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