Goodhart's budget beater 1g

[goodhart]

I bought another 1g back in June or so from 95tsi (Dave) on here.



Here's what I know about the car's history:

-Three owners ago, the stock N/A 4g63 threw a rod.

-My friend Terre bought it from guy above.

-Terre installed turbo 6 bolt in it with no turbo just to get it on the road again, but it never ran right.

-Terre sold it to Dave (95tsi). Dave pulled out a giant rat's nest of wiring that looked like it was from about 3 different sound systems and all kinds of ricer stuff. Also had some ricer blue seats and other crap he got rid of. It now has nice stock seats in it.

-Dave daily drove it for a short while and it ran good until it just died on him on his way home.

-I bought it from Dave.


Ok, so if you are still with me now...

Dave never got the chance to mess with it, he got busy with life and decided to just get rid of it, so he gave me a good deal on it. After talking to him about the no start symptoms, we both agreed it seemed like a fuel issue.

First thing I checked was the fuel pump, which tested good. I replaced the fuel filter with one I had from my last 1g and gave it a shot. Turned and turned and nothing. Would just spit and sputter like one more turn would make it fire, but it just wouldn't. I took off the timing cover and found this:





Yikes. (I got a whole gates timing kit on Rock Auto for $58 though!) It seemed like it had good tension, so I figured I would see what the motor had for spark plugs. This is where things got ugly...




Found that in the #1 cylinder. Fuck me running. This won't be as cheap as I was hoping.

So I popped the valve cover off to see what it looked like inside.

Whoops, no rocker.



Oh, there you are!

[goodhart]

Well after finding that I figured the head would for sure be shot, and brownman had a 2g head laying around so I bought it from him. I also picked up a 2g manifold from Kerry (95talonracer). I have picked up a handful of parts along the way as good deals come along. Too much to list.

The intake manifold was completely filthy. Here is my home made hot tank experiment. Used some industrial degreaser that my brother had, and the neighbor guy had a shitty old pot, so I tossed her on the turkey cooker!


It wouldn't fit all the way in, so even though it cleaned it immaculately, it had kind of a tiger stripe effect to it, so I decided to just get it coated to look stock. Thanks PowderKeg!




Before I got it coated though, I ported out the throttle body inlet to match my n/t throttle body. Here's a picture of how much material I took out:



About 3mm or so all the way around.

[goodhart]

So, this weekend I finally had a chance to really dig into the car. Pulled it into my parent's garage and went to town.

Getting started, I was pretty hungover from my Birthday Friday night so Saturday was pretty unproductive.




Sunday I got some real work done and found a few surprises.

Ugh, really? Guess I need a harmonic balancer.



And an oil pan, good thing I got one last week. Thanks little Nash!



Aaaaand I may need a radiator.



Blue brakes make you stop fastar







Because fuck power steering coolers



Ah snap, coilovers son! Probably some eBay junk, I guess we'll see how well they work/don't work. Don't really have my hopes up.


Ready to get the hoist in....



Doneski.

[goodhart]

So that's all the pictures for now. It will probably be a while till I work on it again since I have to go up to my Parent's place where I actually have space to work and a place to store the car. God I want a fuckin house.



Anyways, the plan is this:

-Next time I get to work on it, pressure wash the engine bay and the rest of the car and get the engine on a hoist so I can tear into it and see what kind of damage I'm dealing with.

-Hope there is not a hole in the #1 piston. If there is, 2g pistons 1g rods it is.

-Get 2g head cleaned up, new valve seals, get head bolt holes drilled out for 1g size bolts, all that crap.

-Send throttle body out to fix my fuckup. I got some WORKS high pressure throttle body seals for it, then broke a damn throttle plate screw taking it apart. Probably send it it to throttlebodies.com or Tim Zimmer

-Get 2g coil pack and 2g power transistor for the 2g head setup.

-New radiator. Thinking of a honda half radiator to save some weight.

-Get car running N/A, work out any kinks, then work on getting a turbo on it. I would eventually like it to be as stock appearing as possible.

-KEEP IT FUN AND KEEP IT CHEAP!!


Also, I picked up a built trans for it tonight for $250. BM/Turbotrix, Hughes used to have it, and I think maybe Brian/1QUICK4? I bought it from Andrew7dg, he gave me a hell of a deal on it.

[asshanson]

Wow, seems like a piece of art. I love the oil and water coolers, I bet those dissipate crazy amounts of heat! Good luck with the project!

[scheides]

You got your work cut out for you man! Can't wait to see this thing come back to life.

[C3L1CA]

Atta boy! Keep up the good work and enjoy it once its done!

[cudvig]

holy crap I forgot how many hoses/lines and wires there are in a stock 1g! yikes!

-Colin

[4seasons69]

That sucks you're in the same situation as me! It will feel really good once things start going back together!

[turbotalon1g]

Nice, I like that oil cooler setup, It will still cool the oil like that compared to no cooler.

There is a vfaq on the TB rebuilding and it lists the TB screw sizes. I don't think I have anymore, I'll take a look and you have have them.

I saw some evo rods and pistons for sale somewhere I'll link you to them if i find them again. (assuming u don't have parts already)

[A//// Guy]

Thats quite a project! Good luck!

[goodhart]

Still debating whether to keep or get rid of the heater core and A/C. The A/C stuff weighs about 60 lbs I believe, and it's not like the car is my daily. It is just a summer beater/eventual highway ripper. And it seems like most people have cooling problems with 1g's trying to keep A/C with a good sized FMIC.

I really don't see how I will ever use the heater, since this will be strictly a summer car. I can layer up if it gets chilly out haha

Cruise control is already taken out, I hate how much room it takes up. I will be keeping power steering since the car is only FWD.

[4seasons69]

Originally Posted by goodhart

Still debating whether to keep or get rid of the heater core and A/C. The A/C stuff weighs about 60 lbs I believe, and it's not like the car is my daily. It is just a summer beater/eventual highway ripper. And it seems like most people have cooling problems with 1g's trying to keep A/C with a good sized FMIC.

I really don't see how I will ever use the heater, since this will be strictly a summer car. I can layer up if it gets chilly out haha

Cruise control is already taken out, I hate how much room it takes up. I will be keeping power steering since the car is only FWD.

I'd get rid of the a/c but keep the heat. I'm a baby though and don't like to be cold lol

[gsxvince]

Throttle bodies are pretty easy to fix yourself
i have extra throttle body parts and know how to rebuild them
if you need something!

Plus a few other things it looks like you might need

[C3L1CA]

Not having heat doesn't save a ton of weight but is nice to not have to pull the heater core hoses. The only time it really sucks is when it's cold and the windows start to fog up haha

[goodhart]

I like having less shit to work around as well. Not like the heater hoses are really in the way of anything, but less crap in the engine bay = better

[turbotalon1g]

Delete AC keep heat, is my vote.
I'm doing the same thing in my car, I won't drive that shitbox if its over 90* out, although I did last year and didn't even notice, neither did my car.

Triple core baby!

[Halon]

Holy rust. Good luck with her. Lemme know if you ever need a hand.

[goodhart]

It's actually pretty rust free except for the typical thin surface layer of any MN vehicle.

[goodhart]

Picked up a few things. There goes December's budget towards the beater.