1SlowVW’s mk1 VW Project

Back from the dead!!!

84FSP said:

Back from the dead!!!

I had to take a two year break from mk2 vw's and use my turbo ls truck. It took me the second summer to realize all I wanted was to fix my old mk2 . So out of the weeds it comes. 

I have owned this car for almost 15 years, and while the paint it messed is a pretty solid shell. Time to give it 250hp!

Ok first things first I managed to separate the v belt drive pulley from the harmonic damper. Car hasn't has power steering in 15 years anyway. Not to make these two one piece and start on the sensor mount. 
 

So first step it talk to my neighbour with a lathe. 
He's a grumpy old fellow but he's not above helping with a cool project. Next thing you know I have a large bushing that fits snugly in the crank pulley and centers the trigger wheel. 

I then used the hamonic damper/pulley as a guide and drilled the 4 necessary bold holes. Just waiting on a 16v crank sprocket to arrive then I can drill the final 4 holes to position the trigger wheel on the spacer. Then bolt the whole thing together.

Intake installed tonight and started on the downpipe. Also all new manifold studs and gaskets because this is a cheap build but once it's in the car those exhaust manifold studs are a pain. 

Baby steps as the turbo got clocked, drain is mocked up and I dug a motor mount of of my stash. Still waiting on a crank pulley to finish off the timing set up. 

We thought about burning it but instead I decided it deserved an extra hundred HP and to give the car one more kick at the can. 

Well the party is getting started. Need to finish up the trigger wheel set up and the beginnings of a downpipe. Then pull the old 2.0 8v motor and we can move on to the MS stuff. 
 

Used the stock power steering bracket as a brace and a bit of square tubing. Next thing you know you've got a sensor bracket. 

Sweet! I really liked that flipped Passat manifold. Those super long runners filled with boost would be great.

In reply to crankwalk (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks, I think I'm going to run the flipped manifold for now...mostly because it looks awesome and my power goals are pretty conservative. 

My wife and I welcomed a new baby girl into the world a couple weeks ago so time has been tight. Got out to the garage tonight and finished the trigger wheel. Also dug out an injector harness and some coils for the next steps.

Injector wiring just clears the intake and head. And I mean just. 
Since I need to run the ripped and flipped manifold for cosmetic reasons it's mocked up with a 1.8t fuel rail and some injector spacers. 
Baby steps. 

Spent half an hour looking at the “parts” I cut up to make a coil mounting bracket . 
Decided it wasn’t going to work. I think the sleep deprivation is the final nail in the coffin my my weak fabrication efforts tonight. 

Can I tuck 4 ls truck coils down under the intake and still have room for coolant lines and crank breather...yes but it's tight! 

A quick question for those of you who are more experienced with mega squirt . 
I'm soon going to wire the coils , being truck coils I don't need to ad resistors like the ls1 style coils correct? Mega manual is kind of vague but I didn't run any in my microsquirt 4.8 ls set up...unless they were built into the pre modded microsquirt I bought. 
Am I good to just go with the following ?

pin 1 pink 12v fused

pin 2 signal from ign1 or ign2 depending on cylinder 

pin 3 sensor ground to ecu.

Pin 4 ground to cylinder head. 

Which *exact* board version/model are you using (ms2v3.57, microsquirt v3, ms3 pro evo, etc)? All ls style coils use the same mods, for example on a micro with 4 spark outs IGN1/2 don't use resistors but aled and wled use a 1k to 5v pullup. V3 will need internal pullup resistors, v3.57 will only need it on spark D.

I don't suggest using these coils in waste spark, they can overheat and do all sorts of dumb stuff. I have had customers lose engines due to that (making big power, but I wouldn't f with it). From manual "Note that some coils have a built-in over-dwell protection feature. If given too much dwell the coil will automatically spark. This can give a dangerous advanced spark. Be sure to strobe your timing at high revs to ensure this is not happening." Waste spark makes this happen even at moderate dwell as it sparks twice as often.

Make sure you are using the right manual at msextra.com and not the megamanual. Pinout should be in there.

In reply to Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) :

Paul it's a no mods off the shelf v3 micro unit from efi source. 
I ran the coils wasted spark on my truck but I suppose I could go with coil packs. Any recommendations on what's inexpensive and works well? 
I just figured I would run ls truck coils because they were easy to wire on the truck and I had them on the shelf. 
 

I did read that warning to, but the ls guys seem to have good luck with the dwell set properly and the coils getting a good ground. 

Or should I just get a mk4 coil as shown in the manual? 

For LS coils I built this circuit, referred to as the FET Driver method in the hardware manual section 5.3.1.3

I wired mine exactly as you stated in your above post and no issues.  I did not add any resistors

Here is some more good info on them: http://www.megamanual.com/seq/coils.htm

Good progress.

I like this!

Those penis wheels always make me chuckle.

In reply to mjlogan :

I've gone through that page a couple times now. I think I'll bin the ls coils and go with the vw one above as it requires no mods or extra work. I don't know if I could get coil packs to fit under the stock manifold which I'd like to keep for now. 
 

iansane. 
I do love my p slot wheels. 

Guys not having ls coil issues in waste are just ones that haven't had trouble, yet. If you use a cam trigger and fire them in cop they are fine in nearly any condition. Usrt makes an adapter for the 1.8t cam sensor but you have to drill the cam. You will need a 1k pullup for that sensor and one for aled and wled (spark c/d). 
 

the vw aeg coil you showed works great off ign1/2. 
 

also the tc4427 is a great driver but its not easy to add to a microsquirt (and not in the micro manual) without it being externally mounted. 

In reply to Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks Paul. I'm going to grab a mk4 coil. They are common, pretty inexpensive and by your recommendation and a few other posts I found seem to work well. 
 

USRT makes great stuff...but this isn't that kind of project. I'm only looking for 250-300hp. Plus I figure the mix and match of parts always teaches me more than buying an off the shelf solution (see trigger wheel above).

Always appreciate you chiming in on this.