Scirocco V.2

[Batrugger]

Back in August of 2007 I payed way too much for a 16V Rocco:



It was really scary to drive it in the state it was in so I had to do a lot of work to it. It needed a new steering rack, clutch, suspension, motor mounts, and a slew of other basic maintenance parts. After a lot work, some Bilsteins with H&R's, and a set of BBS RA's, it was looking ok and driving great:



I added some Corrado calipers and BBS rims, and found a set of Euro headlights:





I found out doing the headlight swap that it had been in an accident and the driver's side corner was in really sorry shape. I found a new bumper and front fender and got it all to work ok. I then tried to figure out paint and bodywork by shaving the hatch. I intended to someday paint it all the green that I used on the hatch:



I got the inside looking decent with junkyard parts, Corrado seats, and a MOMO wheel:





I even almost dropped a 20V 1.8T in it, but that ended up going into my 90 GTI. I took it to a few local events where it won some limbo contests:









I always wanted to fully restore it, but the time and money always got diverted. My son found an 81 diesel Rabbit with a bad motor. He then found a 16V motor and trans from a Scirocco, but didn't have the harness or axles. We tried finding some local 16V part outs to get the parts and also wanted to find the chassis parts to get the rear brakes and bigger fronts for the Rabbit, but unfortunately the rarity of these cars made it difficult to find. This semester I signed up for an Automotive Electrical Repair class at the local community college. I brought my Rocco in to refresh the headlight relay harness and as I worked, I was talking to my lab partner about how we were looking for another 16V for parts. As soon as I finished telling him this, a guy walked up and asked about the Scirocco. He said he had one with a blown motor that had been sitting for three years that he was thinking about getting rid of. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. Well I went out there that week and found one of the most complete 16V Sciroccos I had ever seen. It is a desert car like my son's Rabbit so it has no rust and all of the panels are straight and clean and despite the peeling clear coat, it was all one color. He had even kept the registration up and I was blown away when he accepted my offer of $300:











So after getting this car, it is time to say goodbye to the old Rocco. I am going to put my engine in the new car, as well as all of the other parts that I upgraded. The Rabbit will get the rest so I guess this will be a tale of two projects. I will also be parting out what I don't use. The old Rocco was a lot of fun, but I look forward to some new good times in this one and to helping my son get his Rabbit on the road.

[Batrugger]

I had a day off today so I was able to get some work done:





I pulled all of the front suspension and did a quick clean on the bay. I need to hit again with some real de-greaser and it should look pretty good. It is really hard here to not start shaving the bay and powder coating all of the suspension components, but I promised this would be quick and cheap. The wiring looks pretty good too and the previous owner was kind enough to label all of the connectors before he pulled the motor. I am going to refresh all of the motor mounts, suspension, and sway bar bushings with poly. I also added some door armor plates that I had laying around:



I'm pretty sure this car was stolen at some point because the holes were bent where the handles attach and the steering wheel lock is non-existent. More than likely I will be swapping steering columns. It is nice to finally have a rain tray though:

[Batrugger]

Here's the Rabbit that is going to be the benefactor of the Scirocco parts:







It has a diesel title so no worries about smog testing

[TBerk]

Dr. FrankenBerk Approves this thread...

[Batrugger]

Registered it inop and started pulling parts when I got the time so there is no going back now. Sunday morning it looked like this:



I need two outer CV boots and front passenger wheel bearings. I also ordered all of the poly mounts and bushings, neew ball joints, and new tie rod ends. Suspension will be nice and fresh. My dirty engine needs a valve cover gasket and a good scrubbing:



I used my new welding skills to transfer this to the rabbit to hold the airbox in place:



Here's my little helper:

[Batrugger]

Finally got all of the new suspension bits on:



Put the Bilstein Sports with H&R springs and my Corrado brakes on and then refreshed the suspension with new poly control arm bushings, sway bar bushings, ball joints, tie rods, and power steering boots and bushings. I also had the axles refreshed and then sealed with new OEM boots. We pulled the power steering rack from the other Scirocco and it went into the rabbit along with all of the other Scirocco suspension parts. The rabbit got all new bushings as well.

[Batrugger]

Well long time no update, but between the 100+ degree days, working 12 hour days, and trying to get my son's Rabbit and my other son's Jetta running plus trying to figure out how to pay the bills after I retire from the Army in November time has become very precious. No pics, but I completely rebuilt the shifter with NOS OEM boot, bushings, rods, and then some upgraded parts from missing links. Since the motor was out, I changed the timing belt, water pump, tensioner, and then cleaned it up:



It was real hard to not pull parts and send them in for powdercoat and polish while the motor is out. I got NOS upper and lower timing belt covers from the dealer:







The cool thing about the car I bought was the PO had pulled the motor and stripped it to go to a machine shop to be rebuilt. He went through and cleaned all of the accessories so all I had to do was pull off the old dirty parts and put his clean parts on it. Too easy. I also got one of dbots rain trays in the mail to wrap it up when it is finished. Next job is to pull the injectors and replace all of the seals.

[Batrugger]

Pulled the intake manifold to deal with the injectors and I was really surprised that the car was running before I pulled the motor. You can see here that the plastic seals are all cracked and on the other side some silicone was used to make a seal:





The injectors were also in horrible shape:



Here is the other clean manifold with all new seals and I cleaned up the other set of injectors and put new O rings on them:





Since I had a clean coolant flange i decided to swap it out and put a new gasket on, but I should of left it alone because the top center bolt broke off:





Not sure how to get this out without taking it to a shop. Next I need to get the front of the head cleaned up and wait for the gaskets to arrive.

[Batrugger]

Got the front of the head cleaned up and found a nut for the broken bolt:





The cheap POS harbor freight welder I had would not sustain an arc so the welding a nut idea didn't work out. Glad I didn't buy the welder. I tried drilling it out next and that was going well until the drill bit broke off and stuck in the hole. I just ended up cutting it off and smoothing it all out. Now i am waiting to get the intake manifold gasket and I can get it all put back together.

[Batrugger]

The other work I have been doing is with the 81 Rabbit. I got and installed a new front windshield from Safelite.



Here is the Scirocco power steering rack installed:



I also swapped over the complete shifter from the Scirocco and rebuilt it with all new OEM bushings. The front is going to get the OEM 16V sway bar and K-bar bracket and here are the bigger 16V brakes:



and the 16V rear beam with rear discs and OEM sway bar waiting to go in:



I also swapped over the complete harness and drilled out the holes to mimic the Scirocco bay:

[Batrugger]

Got the engine put back together minus the reconditioned injectors. Next step is to get the motor back in:







No one has said anything yet so I guess I am doing it right. What would be the best way to lift the car safely over the engine? When I pulled this motor, I just hooked the engine hoist hook into the front engine mount, but I am sure that is not the best way to do it. Any Suggestions?

[ANSAracingb]

Wow. With a project like that (multiple cars and engines) I would lose track of what I'm doing to what car really easy. Good luck!

As for the engine hoist thing, if you bolt a length of chain to the hook near the alternator, and another length to the casting hook near the distributor, I believe that the engine should more or less lift level when using a cherry picker. The weight of the transmission, though, will cause it to be heavy on one end. You may need to put a floor jack under the transaxle when you're getting close, to help lift that end of the assembly into place.

Put the engine on something that slides/rolls easy (and has a low profile) so that when you get the car lifted high and on jackstands, you can easily move the engine/trans assembly under the car. Get it angled roughly where you need it. Then, you can either raise the whole assembly using the cherry picker, or lower the car and use the cherry picker...or (if you're like me and have connections) put the car on a lift

[Batrugger]

Thanks, it can get confusing. My other son is pulling the motor on his 87 Jetta right now too so it is just more to worry about. I'm good with how to hook the hoist to the engine and wish I had a lift here. I was just wondering the best way to lift the car high enough to get the motor under it. When I pulled the motor from the other car, I dropped the motor on the ground, hooked the hoist to the front of the car, and then pushed the hoist and the car back until it cleared the motor. I guess I could just do the reverse. Hopefully I will have time to get to it this weekend.

[TBerk]

A VW jacked up on stands and the Motor dropped out the bottom will find enough clearance when you tilt the long block backwards a bit.

I found a scrap piece of shag carpet ideal to drop the motor onto and then drag out from under.

Cant get much more lo-pro than carpet.

[Batrugger]

Thanks for the tips. Despite the 105 degree plus heat this weekend, I got the motor in from the bottom. I Looped a chain around the front motor mount, and lifted the front, pulled the car over the engine, put it on jack stands and then lifted the motor into the mounts.



If i were to do this again I would remove the front motor mount bracket and shift linkage bracket because they were just in the way and i had to crawl under there and remove them to get the motor in. There were some casualties too. I dented the oil filter, broke a small part of my upper timing belt cover, and broke the distributor cap. I also thought that I dropped a nut into the the exhaust so I ended cutting it off in front of the cat only to find out it wasn't in there. So now I just need to get it all connected. Also while I was in welding class last semester, fabbed up a front motor mount bracket spacer:

[Batrugger]

It has been really hot here, but I have just about everything I need connected under the car. I got the torque wrench out wanted to get all of the mounts torqued to spec, but I am confused about aligning the engine. The Bentley says to do this with the car on the ground, but I would not be able to get underneath to do the rear mount if that were the case. Also, are there any measurements or guides, or is this just an eyeball it and tighten?

[Batrugger]

Getting everything connected and I have run into a snag. i have the self adjusting clutch cable and I can't figure out how to loosen it in order to re-install it. the bentley is pretty vague about it. Is there a trick to it?

[Batrugger]

Looking for some wiring help. I need to know what these four plugs plug into:



and also this one which is down in the bay by the transmission. It has a w/r wire and the bentley says it has something to do with the upshift switch

[Batrugger]

I figured out that the plug goes into the black plug with the vacuum lines. Can anybody help out with the other three, the red, white, and yellow?

[ANSAracingb]

As I don't have a 16v I can't help you with those plugs, but did you figure out the clutch cable thing yet?

The cable should have two side straps which allow the boot/inner spring to be compressed before you install that end onto the clutch arm on the side of your transaxle. I haven't done one in a while but I believe the procedure is:
*Compress the cable by pulling the straps up and hooking them to the anchors above them
*Use a floor jack (and block of wood) to gently raise up the clutch arm on transaxle, don't go all the way up, just enough to get the end of the cable thru and attach using the little bushing and metal clips
*Lower the jack, thus lowering the clutch arm
*Your clutch cable should now have a little tension on it. Depress clutch pedal at least three times to make sure the cable is fully tensioned
*release the holding straps from the cable, and depress clutch pedal several times
*Done.

(if anyone needs to add anything, feel free. I have done them before but it's been awhile; my car has manual adjusting cable)

[Batrugger]

Thanks for the advice here, I tried hooking the straps, but it just takes too much pressure. I should have done that when I removed it, but I didn't know that was the way to go so I am just going to get a manual adjuster since I have been told by a few people that they are easier and more reliable. Still looking for the w/r wire location. Bentley says it is for upshift switch vacuum, but it doesn't reach anywhere near the plug by the brake reservoir and I figured out that that one has a bl/r plug and the brake reservoir has the bl/br plug that is right there.

[ANSAracingb]

Thanks for the advice here, I tried hooking the straps, but it just takes too much pressure. I should have done that when I removed it, but I didn't know that was the way to go

I found out the hard way, myself. I was doing a 5th gear swap on my MkII Golf and simply disconnected the clutch cable from the arm when I needed to, and later on that day just re-attached it when I got to that point. All ready to test my new gear change, and when I pushed the clutch pedal in to drive the car, it simply went to the floor. It didn't do anything. I seriously started to panic as I thought I messed up something inside the transaxle when I swapped my 5th gear, but it was just the cable that needed to be "reset" by following the proper procedure.

I had some luck using a pair of pliers on the straps to pull them high enough to attach to the anchors. I was afraid I might rip the straps in using pliers but I didn't. I agree, the manual-adjusting cable works well and is less of a PITA to install (not to mention cheaper).

[8716vroccoMAN]

Looking for some wiring help. I need to know what these four plugs plug into:



and also this one which is down in the bay by the transmission. It has a w/r wire and the bentley says it has something to do with the upshift switch

Hey man, on my Rocco those three wire connectors go to nothing, I believe you can hook up a test light and get system fualt codes...maybe you can help with my problem I have a thread named "help?"

[Batrugger]

Sorry I checked your thread out and I don't have an answer for you on that since I take mine to a guy when I need CIS help.

[TBerk]

There are no 'Fault Codes' to read, but other than that he's right they dont connect to any thing except a test rig at a shop/Dealer.

(This pertains to the red ones and stuff, I cant be of much help at this point with Up Shift connections...)

[Batrugger]

There are no 'Fault Codes' to read, but other than that he's right they dont connect to any thing except a test rig at a shop/Dealer.

(This pertains to the red ones and stuff, I cant be of much help at this point with Up Shift connections...)

Thanks I think I've got it. There are three identical plugs, one for the brake reservoir, coolant reservoir, and upshift switch. I've got them all routed and connected now.

[Batrugger]

Well there is a reason I call myself a parts changer and not a mechanic. I got the motor in, hooked up all the wires and hoses an tried to start it and it was not getting any fuel. i changed the relay and fuse, I jumped the relay, and then using a power probe I verified that the pumps worked. I pushed it into the street and called AAA to have it towed to my VW mechanic that I have known for over 20 years. He diagnosed that the fuse box was bad. I swapped it with the box from the other car and we had fuel. Cranked it and no start and we determined that the gas in the lines was bad. Pulled the injectors and pumped it out into a can, reinstalled them and still no start. Figured out the distributor was too far off, got it lined up and then the car fired right up, better than it ever had. It still needs a couple of problem fixed. The radiator fan isn't turning on, the shift linkage needs to be adjusted, all of the vacuum lines need to be connected, it needs an alignment, and the downpipe needs to be welded to the exhaust. I should be able to drive this thing pretty soon.

[ANSAracingb]

well done! Even though you don't have all the bugs ironed out, it is running and running well; and that is the hardest part, imo.

[Batrugger]

Yes it is almost there. Can anyone tell me what the vacuum line that connects to the blue connector goes to?

[ANSAracingb]

IIRC it goes to the intake manifold. I don't have a 16v anymore but I looked thru my photobucket pictures and the pics I have show the hose coming from the blue nipple and it snakes its way in front of the block, under the intake manifold. I believe there was an intake port/nipple on the lower manifold itself? Been too long.

edit: pics in question...

[Batrugger]

Thanks again, that was exactly what it was for.

[Batrugger]

It has been running and I am trying to get everything wrapped up. I layed some wax on it and restored the front grill with some pre-Wow and Black Wow and red pinstripe:





Then I installed my Euro lights and relay and put the front end together:



If you ever do anything like this, make sure you install the power steering lines before you put the motor in. I spent over an hour trying to hook the rear line up and could not get it. I finally gave up. We have been having issues with the fuel ratio settings. We hook up the multi meter and it reads 20 and no matter where we adjust it it still reads 20. I swapped the grey module on the side of the dizzy (is it called the atmospheric pressure regulator) and still no change. I then swapped the computer, but wasn't able to get over to my friends house to check it. I also had brake fluid leaking out of the top of the master cylinder so I swapped it out. I was going to drive it to the muffler shop to get the exhaust welded, but I had a hose start leaking so I called it a day. Here's how it is looking so far:

[Batrugger]

Almost forgot that I had this dusty old thing:

[Batrugger]

and it is done:

[ziggirocco]

Almost forgot that I had this dusty old thing:

Was that made or the Rocco? I've never seen it before.