86 Rocco Beater or not?

[Tread64eight]

I found this beauty on CL for $800, sent him a message, got a reply to the effect of: you can have it for $400. He has no camera, so he couldn't post or send any pictures I bounced emails back and forth for a week or so. Decided to go up to look at the thing, and found this:














So, it has it's uh.... qualities, which include but are not limited to,
starting,
running poorly,
good ride (nice'n firm),
new tires,
awful spray paint job... (he painted over MUD on the body),
good brakes,
dies when cornering/braking hard (something is amuck in the electrical, possibly the battery not being bolted down? ),
no idle...
slower than a turtle, (no power)
won't rev higher than 4500-5000 at WOT
has bolts sticking through the roof for the "wood roof rack I made"

The best part?! I'm getting it for $200!
I could use some hints on some of the running issues here

[vwdaun]

Initial thoughts on the running issues in no particular order:

-Clogged cat.
-Timing belt slipped a tooth or three somewhere, throwing off timing between crank / intermediate shaft / cam.
-Clogged fuel filter.
-Dead in-tank pump

[Tread64eight]

Initial thoughts on the running issues in no particular order:

-Clogged cat.
-Timing belt slipped a tooth or three somewhere, throwing off timing between crank / intermediate shaft / cam.
-Clogged fuel filter.
-Dead in-tank pump

Do VW engines need the valves adjusted from time to time? I had a honda that needed to be adjusted every 10,000 miles

[cuppie]

Here, no - assuming that the car has its original engine (or, at least, its original head.)
Hydraulic lifters came along in (someone feel free to correct me if I'm off..) 84, as I recall.

One way to check what you have:
Take the valve cover off, and take a peek. A hydro head is "missing" the middle cam bearing.
(Presense or absense of the oil baffle (visible thru the oil filler) isn't reliable - the baffle can be added to a mech. lifter head, and might not have been reinstalled on a hydro head.)

[Roc'N'Green]

Do VW engines need the valves adjusted from time to time? I had a honda that needed to be adjusted every 10,000 miles

Sure do man, barring the 16v all stock rocco's have a solid lifter head. Your looking at an 8v so I check my valves every 10,000 miles or roughly once a year.

I bought a similar condition rocco for 250 bucks in 2008. Honestly with a little know how lot of elbow grease and plenty of patience you can polish that turd into a respectable daily driver.

vwdaun threw out some great starting points. When i get one of these cars the first thing I do is set the timing and throw on a new belt and tensioner (just so I know an exact date when it was replaced). Nine times out of ten the timing is incorrect. I will also change the fuel filter for the same reason as the belt, I like to have a set date on when this was replaced. The in tank pump is a quick and easy job and will pro long the life of the main fuel pump, so if its questionable its not a bad idea to replace it.

The cat is don't usually worry about, but I do check the exhaust for dents and pinches. Pinches in the exhaust are pretty common on the mk2 bad motor mounts plus broken exhaust hangers plus sway bar = pinched exhaust.

Here, no - assuming that the car has its original engine (or, at least, its original head.)
Hydraulic lifters came along in (someone feel free to correct me if I'm off..) 84, as I recall.

Scirocco's are the exception to this rule, the A2's got a hydro motor. The Scirocco never hit the A2 platform. However it is interesting to note that the Cabby was always on the A1 platform (well until the 90's bug eyed version) and it eventually got a hydro 8v...

[cuppie]

Another new thing learned today (I like knowledge!)
And.... taking a look at cabby-info.com, I see (I think) the error in my thinking. The Cabby didn't get a hydro head until '88.
And, being on the same platform... Not too likely, then, that VW would certify that motor in the 'rocco for its last year (hell, were there even any '88 'rocco 8v cars sold in the U.S.?)

[Tim Chunks]

Looks like a pretty solid start to me.

[Tread64eight]

Honestly with a little know how lot of elbow grease and plenty of patience you can polish that turd into a respectable daily driver.

LOL made me think of when Mythbusters polished a turd, and it turned out very shiny!
Would the battery sliding around cause the car to die? I've heard the the ecu having a bad pin can cause this too. ( I have an 87 8v ECU myself and a 86 coming in the mail from Ziggirocco.)

[BluDemon]

Check to make sure the fuel pump in the tank is working for the fuel/stall issue. That's where I'm putting my bet.


oh in if it were me I would scotch bright (green scratchy thing) the entire car and then paint bomb it flat black. Lower on coil overs and get some cool kick ass rims. rat ride here you come.

[MrPill]

Here, no - assuming that the car has its original engine (or, at least, its original head.)
Hydraulic lifters came along in (someone feel free to correct me if I'm off..) 84, as I recall.

....

Scirocco's are the exception to this rule, the A2's got a hydro motor. The Scirocco never hit the A2 platform. However it is interesting to note that the Cabby was always on the A1 platform (well until the 90's bug eyed version) and it eventually got a hydro 8v...

Unless of course you have a Slegato model which was produced for the Canadian market in 1988 with the 8V and does have a hydro head!. But there were only 127 of them, right John?
-Dan

[TheTimob]

Here, no - assuming that the car has its original engine (or, at least, its original head.)
Hydraulic lifters came along in (someone feel free to correct me if I'm off..) 84, as I recall.

Hydraulic lifters were added to the JH 8v Scirocco engine in mid 1987. Since there were no 8v Sciroccos imported to the US market in 1988, this makes hydro lifter 8v Sciroccos VERY rare in the US.

The Cabriolet's JH also got the hydro lifters in mid 87. When the Cabriolet switched to the 2H 1.8L 8v, it's just a hydraulic lifter JH with Digifant electronic fuel injection. (where I got most of the pars for my Megasquirt conversion)

On the other hand, ALL VW 16v engines have hydraulic lifters. (except for the Oettinger 16v!)

I adjust my valves in my solid lifter Sciroccos every time I have the valve cover off. I've almost never had to change a shim though, they seem to stay in adjustment for a long dang time!

[Tread64eight]

Cam timing, fuel pump and filter, belt tensioner, exhaust check, did I miss anything?

Oh, BluDemon I'm was planing on painting it the "right" way, sand it down, mask and paint it with a gun: Dupont base/clear dark grey. You bring a good point, I think I might just do it the easy way first. and save the $300 for parts.

[Beakersloco]

Nice find ..I am digging the red on black ... just need to find set of steelies or flat black some cheap wheels to rock while you get the mechanicals fixed. The shutoffs are more then likely breaks in the wiring going to the battery or a wire is not completely in the battery clamp.

I had a similar issue (no battery clamp) that was caused by the previous owner putting the incorrect size battery in and they stretched the wires causing breaks in several of them.. the blue wire. I cut the blue wire back about an inch and this fixed my problem along with making sure that it was firmly in the battery clamp.

I believe what Bludemon is saying is in-till you get things mechanically right to do that as a temp solution rat rod it while youfix the mechanical issues then spring for a nice paint job.... but I could be wrong.

[Tread64eight]

I'm liking the rat rod idea, now that I looked it up and understand a bit more. What is the idea behind using cheap wheels? it has those 13" American racing clones... I'm a bit worried about stealth with the flat black. I can't afford what a ticket would do to my insurance bill. I don't want to be a cop target like those dreaded DSMs It's got brown paint underneath, so would sanding carefully bring an ok finish that a can make do with rather than black?

[Tread64eight]

Bump! Anybody have an coolant temp sensor on the cheap?

[SciroccoPowered]

if its a cheapo job a pressure washer may actually take it off for the most part, otherwise yes sand it, but if there is mud under there i better a pressure wash will work.