Watercooled VWs and reliability (Page 1 of 2)

Well it is certainly a POS, so I can't argue with you. Anything I can do to mitigate the crappiness to allow us a little more time on the track?

Prior to May's CMP race, I would not have had any issues with watercooled Vdubs.  Our GTI ran great for two complete races, with an engine that had been pulled from a totalled Jetta, placed in a Jetta that was totalled, and then sold to us.  Unknow miles, unknown everything.  It made two and a third Lemons races, before the oil pressure went to zero.  Put a good radiator in the car, hard wire the fan to run on high all the time the engine runs, and change the oil as often as possible.  Keep an eye on the water temp and get VERY concerned if it gets on the high side.  Do not overrev the motor, well, try not to, ok, when you overrev the motor to get by that Civic, do not stay in it too long.    We had never worked on a VW before Lemons, and I was amazed at its simplicity and ease to repair.  If you are mechanically inclined, you can make it run.  It is small, nimble, and can fit in very tiny holes on the track.

Upgrade the brakes, put ducting to the front rotors, put a BIG oil pressure alarm light in view of the driver, and have fun!!!!

If it is truly a $500 car, make sure you have good oil pressure, the dizzy cap is good, plug wires aren't arcing (basically do a tune up) and it should run.

Jim, you are a wealth of information. Thanks again.

Aww Murilee, I sense guilt in your voice. You didn't scare us away. After seeing the bustling city surrounding the No Problem Raceway I'm sure we can find plenty of foreign auto parts.

I don't think we are going to apply until the May race next year, so we have plenty of time get it all sorted out. Besides, what kind of douchebags would show up to their first Lemons race and be competitive?

It's possible to find sprint car/circle track aluminum radiators very, very cheap; if you can modify your car to fit one of those, you get a high capacity radiator with better cooling than your stock one. Only downside is that they bend easy, so make sure to put some hardware cloth across the front so that the fins don't get too impacted on the track by random debris.

Make sure to put the water temp sensor on the radiator hose close to where the water exits the head on its way to the radiator for the most accurate temp readings. There are adapters that allow you to put it inline with the radiator hose (check eBay) so you don't have to drill a hole in your head.

You can put oil pressure and temp sensors on a sandwich filter that screws on between your oil filter and the block if you don't have a better place to put them. That's about the easiest way to do it. I really prefer to put idiot lights on the oil and water sensors so that the driver (who may be distracted by the racing action) can't miss the light and knows to either shut it down or dial it back. Keeping oil pressure high is your friend. You might even go to a heavier weight oil (I know a lot of guys running 20w50 for that very reason) if your oil pressure isn't staying high.

You can always gut your thermostat if you're worried about not getting enough flow through it under racing conditions.

I recommend the cooling-system pressure idiot light for every Lemons car. Junkyard oil pressure senders are pocket-sized, i.e. free. Side marker lights off late-70s Japanese cars make good oversized idiot lights.

^This
A coolant pressure sensor would have saved us a headgasket swap on Saturday night at Summit when our coolant hose let loose and dumped all the water and the driver didnt realized it because without water you just get no temp reading not a high one.  He assumed the wire came off the sensor (had happened before) and did 2 laps with no coolant before we could get him to come in.

Good news is it's an '86 so CIS w/o Oxy Sensor. It is possible to make a w/c VW run the whole weekend your first time out (we did it with a 88 Scirocco 16V that was basically unknown save a couple of hours at track days).

Stuff to watch for -

0. Go on ebay and get the Bentley Golf/Jetta 1985-92 book. It's the factory manual, and the Germans do stuff a little bit differently.....

1. Fuel system electrics - all A2s have 2 fuel pumps an in tank (transfer) pump and a pressure pump on the passenger side unibody. These pumps are driven by a relay under the dash. If the car dies on you unexpectedly, turn the switch off and then back on without starting the car. If you don't hear the pumps running, tap the relay with a screwdriver handle. If it starts running, go spend $5 at your FLAPS for a new fuel pump relay. I'd have a spare in the car and instruct your drivers on how to change it, they fail without rhyme or reason. If your transfer pump is loud, do yourself a favor and don't run the tank dry as that will finish it off (in fact don't run the tank dry ever as these transfer pumps are fragile).

2. Crappy ignition switch electrics. All VWs prior to about 98 use the same electrical switch which dates back to the 1970 Super Beetle. If the tachometer stops working while the car is running, it's possible the switch is going bad, also the car will just stop running and not crank when this dies. Another $5 investment.

3. Fuel distributor/meter/filter - Change the filter, CIS absolutely doesn't like trash. Much like carburetor is French for do not touch, CIS is German for Nicht Gefingerpoken. If the car runs ok, don't mess with the mixture adjustment or metering plate, unless you know what you're doing, it's a recipe for disaster.

4. Vacuum leaks - Fix 'em, even the slightest leak will cause weird lean misfires and other stuff that will convince you the car isn't getting fuel (see #1).

5. Transaxle - The 020 box is reasonably stout (save the riveted diff shaft aka self machining syndrome, but I've never experienced this in any of my VWs firsthand), shift linkage on the A2s is light years above the A1 setup, but still a bit fragile, go over all of the ball ends and look for loose or cracked rod ends etc. Shifter stuff doesn't count towards the limit. If you've got room in the budget, these boxes like Redline MTL. Watch for fluid leaking around the diff flanges that connect to the inner CV joints.

6. Wheel bearings - Replace them, they're a safety item now, so pull both front spindles and have new bearings put in. Consider doing the rear bearings as well.

7. Engine basics - check timing belt, make sure temp and oil pressure senders are hooked up, watch for signs of overheating and leaks. In general the 1.8 8V is reasonably reliable, as long as they are maintained properly.

8. Cooling system - loop the line, don't block the heater outlet on the head, the water in the head does not circulate well without both the upper rad hose outlet and the heater outlet (at least on the 16V head) and will boil over within minutes. We learned this the hard way. You might consider gutting the thermostat (taking the block off plate out so that if it fails, water flow is not blocked, but the frame is in there to slow/restrict the flow as needed).
 
Hope this helps....

I believe this one is CIS-E but I'm not sure. Take a look at this picture and you can probably tell right away.

Been sitting for about 3 years. It looks like it was well-maintained before that though. When I pulled the air box there was a clean, oiled K&N filter in there. The engine oil is clean and at the right level, and there aren't any puddles under the car even though it has been in the garage for over 2 weeks now.

I doubt it's the same car, Tom, since he said they got an '86 -- which would be the 2nd-generation Golf chassis.