OK, big update here from the weekend.
The upshot - it works.
Started Friday night as I said before with getting the block back in and hanging on it's mounts. Even with the front end off, not an easy job as the ****** engine into the box is tighter than a gnat's chuff.
Got that in a happy with the new belt on ready to fit and decided to pack it in for the night as was 10PM and getting dark. Also my Mum now runs a Bed and Breakfast and there were people staying so couldn't stay hammering in the garage until stupid o clock like last time annoyingly.
Back on it on Saturday afternoon once my nipper had gone back to her Mums. Went down to the local Motorworld (lush) to get some cheapo oil. Managed to get some 10w 40 Mineral and 10w 40 Semi Synthetic from there as well as a few other bits and bobs.
Then on to the local hardware joint to get 6 x M6 bolts to replace the rocker cover studs. This was for 2 reasons. Firstly, the on closest to the turbo is a problem as it's too tall and you can't wind a nut onto it when the turbo is there. Secondly, UK mail must have dropped the head in transit (****ers) and bent some of them.
Then made my way up to the car and made a start.
Started like this on Saturday:
Then this:
Then the head went on complete with turbo:
Anyway, so the head is on and timed up by this point so I was interested to see how my planned aircon delete was going to work.
Fitted the bottom pulley, and then the tensioner. Belt fits like a glove basically, really pleased with how well.
Interested to see what happens with this to be fair, the air con compressor isn't the lightest and there is now a ton of pipework missing from the engine bay. Sadly I couldn't remove the air con rad from the front end as there are bits of pipe everywhere and my grinder has gone pop. Decided to just leave it - not that fussed really so stuff it.
Left the car like this on Saturday night when rain and lack of light stopped play. So close to being finished it was annoying...
Sunday morning got up and got to the car early. Filled with fluids and it was fluid tight which was a massive bonus...
Fitted the remaining engine bits and bobs of which there weren't many, mainly charge pipework and various other little bits and bobs.
So, the time comes to spin it over to build some pressure before start up. Disconnect the injectors and go to turn the key - Click and nothing more.
Battery has been on charge so I know it wasn't that. After much faffing about turns out I hadn't reconnected the main earth to the gearbox. Fail. Got that sorted.
Engine spins over fine, nothing out of the ordinary. Reconnected the injectors ready for start up - engine turns over and over and over, but won't fire. :-/
Out comes VAG COM to find that the Crank Speed Sensor in this new block is dead. What a PITA, they aren't fun when the engine is on the stand let alone in the car. The one in the new block was NOT keen on coming out at all, but got it out eventually. Swapped out for a working unit.
Cleared codes and tuned her over and fires up first turn which was good.
Usual slight blow from the exhaust system following rebuild but that soon shut up. Engine really does sound sweet as a nut so really pleased with that - much better than the tat tat tat that I had before.
Took it out for it's 20 mile run in drive, lots of acceleration and overrun coast down - then came back and dropped the 10w 40 mineral out. Refilled with 10w 40 Semi. I disconnected the actuator completely from the wastegate penny valve so that there was no boost at all for the initial run. I plan to remove the actuator after 150 miles and replace the spring with a yellow to give some boost but not too much.
Need to change over my insurance today and then she'll be back as my main car.
So - observations....
This flywheel is noisy. Very noisy. It really chatters, both on idle and overrun. Not unexpected to be fair, I was aware that this would be the case, and now that it's fitted I just hope that the benefits show themselves. Clutch feels very nice on it to be fair, so time will tell whether it was a worthwhile investment or not.
Haven't got a clue on performance at all at this point - what I do know is that a non turbo 1.8 20v must be DOG slow.
Need to check for faults and check that all my Unisettings settings are still there and in place, and then I shall begin to run her in.
Will keep you posted....
Finished product: