1SlowVW’s mk1 VW Project

About a decade ago when I was heavily into the vw world a I saw a classified ad posted with no pictures for a pair of vw rabbits. So instead of being a good student I called a friend and we hopped in my big turbo 1.9td powered mk2 and off we went.

Upon our arrival we put a jack under the first of the two cars expecting to find no floors. Instead I saw the best mk1 floor pans I had seen. The car was from Labrador where it's too cold for road salt. Every panel on the car was dinged or dented but not rusty. So I made a deal and bought the car. First I installed a g60, and before I was done wiring someone offered me big money for the motor. Then I built a 16v and installed it, even bought a turbo kit and an SDS stand-alone. Then I got married, sold my mk1 caddy to pay for the wedding and moth balled the mk1 and my Jetta as she finished her masters and we moved around trying to figure life out. 
3 years ago I pulled my mk2 out of storage and put an aba-t in it. Then this past Christmas a local kid wanted to buy that motor set up. I put the mk2 away and saw the mk1. 
 

So here we go, a decade in. Round 3. Cars loaded up and will be brought down in a few weeks. The body is a little worse for wear but I'm older now. I can handle a little panel beating. 

This is the backup motor. If the 16v in the car is seized from sitting than I'll use this aba-16v combo. 

The plan if the current motor 9a 2.0l isn't seized is to use Microsquirt with an externally mounted ford 36-1 reluctor wheel and vr sensor and some spare ls coils. 
The turbo is a gm3 off of a 6.5 diesel and the manifold is home brew. I also have a short runner intake stashed away somewhere.

Ooh do I spy a ported manifold?

In reply to 84FSP :

You spy a flipped Passat manifold with an aba tb flange welded on. It's pretty magnificent.  

1SlowVW said:

The plan if the current motor 9a 2.0l isn't seized is to use Microsquirt with an externally mounted ford 36-1 reluctor wheel and vr sensor and some spare ls coils. 
The turbo is a gm3 off of a 6.5 diesel and the manifold is home brew. I also have a short runner intake stashed away somewhere.

Please heavily document this part (the megasquirt part specifically) as I'd like to upgrade the CIS on the 16v 2.0 in my 87 Roc. Can you list parts and part numbers?

In reply to vwcorvette :

I'll go right down to what wire goes where but I'm no expert.

Even reading up today on external crank sensors and reluctor wheels had my head spinning a bit. But I'm determined, and I'll get there, I also know there are some real ms gurus on this site who should be able to point me in the right direction. 

Just a heads up, the VR sensors can be a pain to get working correctly.  On my MS3X build, I opted for a hall sensor on my 60-2 wheel instead of the VR most others used.  I did have to machine an adaptor for a cherry 12mm threaded sensor, but that was because I used a bracket made for the VR sensor.  This is on my 10vt Audi build

I don't know if the microsquirt has built in VR compatibility, so this may be a mute point.  Otherwise, nice looking MK1 project.

In reply to de80q :

The manual says it can handle it straight out of the box. At least that's what it sounds like. Maybe someone can chime in who's done it. I've got a reluctor wheel and sensor on order and building the bracket off the old power steering pump mounts shouldn't be too hard.

What issues did you have when you tried to go this route? 

It had to do with the conditioning circuit.  I was going to use a special board to run the dual VR setup on the Audi flywheel.  Turns out it's quite a PITA to get it to function properly, and can be glitchy.  I was told by my MS guru to skip it, and go with a hall based trigger wheel.  He was running the board on his 20vt setup, but he also ended up going to hall sensors after I got mine to work so well.

Good info to have. I think I'm still going to give it a shot. It's basically half of a ford EDIS set up and lots of folks seem to run them.
Really I'm spoiled for options. My aba 16v motor has a factory crank sensor that I could use. But the 16v motor in the car has 0 miles on new bearing rods and pistons. And I have several back up 16v bottom ends and only one good spare aba bottom end. 

Vapor blue?

In reply to clutchmaster :

Lago blue! I really love the colour. 

How do I subscribe to this thread?

1SlowVW said:

In reply to clutchmaster :

Lago blue! I really love the colour. 

It's interesting how VAG calld two totally different colors "Lago blue".

In reply to de80q :

Yeah, isn't the Audi one metallic? 
 

vwcorvette:

I'm not sure how you do that. 

vwcorvette said:

How do I subscribe to this thread?

At the top of the page, under the thread title are a handful of little icons. The eyeball is the watch button. Then when you click on your profile picture you will see the watch list.

Neat project!

In reply to 1SlowVW :

It is a metalic, but it is also much darker.

In reply to de80q :

That's nice too, did some googling as I'm currently bored and apparently it's named for a lake in Italy. Vag must have had a corporate retreat there at one point or something. 

The VR circuit on the micro works great, if anyone tells you differently point them my way. You need to get the polarity right, generally rising edge in software, make sure you have one tall bar for missing in a tooth log and it works. Period. For higher tooth count wheels a 10k resistor should be across +/- this is all documented in the manuals on msextra.com

In reply to Paul_VR6 :

Paul, I plan to use this tone ring from dorman and machine a spacer to fit it on an aba crank pulley ( which has already been shortened to fit the 16v).

I'm planning on using NAPA css400 for a vr sensor. This is the one used with EDIS equipped fords.

I'll build a mount off the ps brackets as my car has manual steering.

In reply to Paul_VR6 :

Good info.  I wasn't sure how the microsquirt handled VR sensors.  My limited experience is with my MS3x setup.

@1slow that should work great, just make sure everything ends up concentric. If not you end up with another missing tooth where you don't want it if the gap gets too large. 

@de80q, in general VR sensors are fine on the v3 and v3.57 boards just that the v3.57 needs a 10k input resistor for some tooth patterns.

Whelp, 

Life changes , some projects had to go and ultimately the mk1 shell didn't make the cut. 
That being said the 16vt is back at the front of the project line. I even dug the still sealed Microsquirt out of the toolbox. Going to try and get the trigger wheel mount set up sorted next then we can move onto some wiring and getting the shell brought into the garage. 

Yes!