engine and drivetrain UPDATE: My 02 is RUNNING NOW!!!!

[Guest Anonymous]

weird question...what is your trunk seal like? I had a bad seal in mine and continually smelled of gas and exhaust. Someone suggested I change the rubber seal, I did so , and I'll be damned. It worked.

True.. I forgot about that... my first 2 tii's had that same problem and I just forgot about the trunk seal... thx for the reminder.

[Guest]

Beautiful 02!!!

[themoose]

What's that ignition you have there? Looks pretty spiffy!

[Paul7002]

sealed. No fuel leaks. I also see you have the ususal hose running to nowhere from your valve cover - make sure the hose goes down far enough to to put the fumes into the airstream under the car.

Rather than run that nasty old gas through the car, why not siphon it out and add fresh?

[rho]

What's that ignition you have there? Looks pretty spiffy!

Thx.. It's a Compudyne(sp?) made specifically for VWs. I did some research and all I had to do was change the firing order of the wires and it was essentially plug and play. The pickup senser replaces the dist. cap and a magnetic wheel replaces rotor... for just a little more than a Pertronix setup I thought this was a nice upgrade.

[BAhyow02]

Robert,

Nice to see you back. I have always admired your car from the old faq gallery.

Smells like exhaust/carbon....I'd bet too rich/burning oil. But make sure the car is sealed up well as others have suggested. Maybe tune up and or rejettin the carb is in order. I doubt the header slip fit's are causing exhaust leaks, they look pretty good and are done such that they will such air in then let exhaust out from the direction of the slips. Some high temp silicone as previously suggested wouldn't be a bad idea.

For those about ignition try www.compufire.com .

BTW where did you get those cool headers? I have some ansa bundle of snakes but yours look like they have larger tubes. Any idea if they are still available?

Thanks and goodluck,

Bernard

[rho]

Compu-fire I was at work and forgot....

Thanks for the good words...

The PO had the header custom built so I think it's one of a kind 4-2-1 design... the whole exhaust system is jet coated with a flowmaster as the center resonator and another muffler/glasspack at the rear...

The paper work, if I remember correctly, had the exhaust system parts and dyno work to equal over $3K !!!

[rho]

Drove it for a couple of weeks and forgot how fun this car was/is.

There was too much smoke on decel for my liking so I decided to yank the head and check it out... OMG!!!! A huge gouge in the #2 cylinder wall..

Anyway the head is in great shape and saw that it was ported on the intake and manifold along with the 292 Ireland regrind.

Just pulled the motor this morning and now will be hunting for another candidate. I'm getting good at pulling and installing motors now.. kinda like changing oil for me at this rate

Here is a pic of the bad cylinder... hopefully when I break the motor down the piston will be re-useable and not a paper weight or nice 9.5 Piano top ashtray.

[GregR]

Removing the head off my car tomorrow and will be looking for simular cylinder involvement.

"Dear God of the realm of 2002, giveth me the patience and fortitude to endure the hardships that may lay ahead"

-Greg

[rho]

Removing the head off my car tomorrow and will be looking for simular cylinder involvement.

"Dear God of the realm of 2002, giveth me the patience and fortitude to endure the hardships that may lay ahead"

-Greg

Hope all goes well...

I found another motor!

284 Ireland regrind with 9.3 pistons... picking it up tonight

This will be me temporary motor while the other one gets rebuilt.