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Sorry about the lack of updates everyone. I haven't done much to the minitruck besides getting new tires, new carb and a new catalytic converter. I moved up to Portland from Eugene this last summer, so I haven't had any money to do anything lately.
Last summer I went to Missoula Montana to hang out with some family. I took the truck, and she drove awesome. Before I left, I bought another truck box for my bed so that I can bring all of my rock climbing and camping gear, as well as water and food for the trip. This worked out amazingly well.
I ended up having a tire completely lose it's tread on a highway in Montana, which ended being pretty crazy as I was driving about 65 and when she blew, I veered way into the opposing lane. Luckily no one was driving the other way, or else I would have been toast. Since I needed a new tire, I bought a cheap replacement. When my other front tire (still old) started acting funny, I decided to just get all new tires before something bad happens. I ended up buying 4 new Toyo Open Country A/Ts, which are amazing tires. Here are a few pics from those adventures:
I moved from a city with no DEQ test to one with a DEQ test (Portland,Or), so I had to add a catalytic converter and put my egr system back on. I ended up failing the test a few times, but she pulled through in the end.
Other than those things, not much besides little things (recently hooked up my drivers side door locking mechanism so that I can unlock my truck from the drivers side now). I plan on buying a VW Jetta TDI sometime within the next year so that I can get on with Phase 2, hehe.
Just picked up this R151F and the two driveshafts that he was using with it up today. I've been looking forever for one of these, and I just happened to find one a few hours away.
I don't know if I should replace my L45 with it now, or wait until I put my VW TDI in my truck.
Wait for the tdi!
Also start looking at the PD motors, 2004 to 2005 golf, jettas. look for a passat of that year as well, that is the engine you really want. The passat is a 2.0 and mounts transverse. http://www.malonetuning.com/pd-tdi
Hehe, good call moroza. Surprisingly, I actually had all of the original mudflaps up until my trip out to Montana a few summers ago. I should probably take care of that though.
Small update to show what my front bumper is going to look like. Northwest Trail Innovations is building a prototype for our first gen 4x4s that will bolt on, with a few small cuts to accommodate the mount. After this beast is powdercoated and all the welds are finished, I'll post another picture with it mounted. I am crazy happy with this thing, it's the coolest looking bumper I've seen for our first gen 4x4s.
Also, what's with the picture upload feature? I tried uploading from a url multiple times, and right when I type something, it disappears from where the url goes. Anyone else having this problem?
Thanks 83Toyota88. I'm crazy stoked to see what this thing will look like when she's all done.
I also replaced my side marker lights next to my headlights with 1157 sockets, then I rewired my turn signals to the new sockets. Now I have blinkers when I officially swap bumpers.
Here's the socket I bought from Napa. It came with folding tabs on the top that you fold down to hold it in place.
I folded all of the tabs back except for two. Taking the old sockets out was the hardest part, and you can see here that I cracked the housing. I'm not too worried, as I want to get new ones down the road anyways. After the old socket was out, I took chunks out of the plastic with a wire cutter (hehe), and test fit the socket multiple times until it was at a decent depth, with the folded tabs controlling the amount of depth the socket has. At that point, I just folded the last two tabs over to hold it into place. I should probably use some sealant of some sorts too. Then, I just wired the ground from the socket to the ground on the original wiring for the marker light. After that, I turned the blinker and lights on to see what wire in the socket was the dimmest (marker light now) and the brightest (blinker now) and connected the wires for each.
Here's a shot of the blinker on. It doesn't look that bright, but it is pretty decent, and is really bright at night. Now people can see where I'm turning from the side as well as the front. Notice the cheap LED side marker lights. Super easy to install, and only like $4 each vs. the $20+ for stock ones. I have them on all 4 corners.
Here's a final shot after the powdercoating of my new NorthWest Trail Innovations sick front bumper. I love the fact that this bumper doesn't stick out too far.
Sorry about late reply. It is actually designed for our first gens. You only have to weld in a frame brace under the radiator. If you want, you can bolt your stock bumper back on after welding the frame brace on, but then why would you when you have such an awesome bumper? hehe. Here is a link to the craigslist ad: http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/ptd/5201177158.html
I am crazy happy with how this turned out, and I highly recommend NWTrailInnovations to anyone.
I started working at a VW independent mechanic a few months ago. Regarding the PD motors:
Like many automotive things made in Germany, they work great until they don't. They use the camshaft to actuate the individual cylinder injectors; the lobes on the cam for the injectors are massive. Because of the much higher camshaft loading, they require a very particular oil specification - VW 505.01 - to avoid premature cam wear, which can (will?) happen anyway. Depending on where you are and how much foresight you have (to buy it by the case for several oilchanges), using the correct oil can be a hassle. We're a VW specialist and there's a VW dealer in town, and even we have trouble getting it sometimes.
The older 1Z, AHU, and ALH (the latter by far most common) use an old-school rotary injection pump. They're 95% as efficient and a lot more reliable.
We haven't seen enough of the 2.0 diesels for me to have an opinion on them. Having said that, I'd generally be mistru˟˟˟˟l of modern VW technology until it's been around for at least a decade.
EDIT: forum software, give me a break. M I S T R U S T F U L is not a bad word.
07-19-2013, 10:02 AM
