Got another one! Project: PolarXJ

[6DoF]

got a little distracted last night with a local auction site, but was still pretty productive.

[6DoF]

holy crap! i might not have won the $1.9B lotto ... but i won the XJ bushing lotto! 14 bushings front and back for the control arms and leaves. 14 opportunities for a seized bolt and bushing to not come out. i remember fighting these 20 years ago in college! only 1, one single bushing froze ... and it was the spring to shackle, but the shackle was too rusty and needed scrapped anyways! i just gota buy a new bolt.

i did however break off 3 of the 4 rear upper shock mounting bolts ... so that brings the suck.

[xj_man_646]

I do not miss messing with crusty XJ suspension bits at all . I was always jealous of the guys on here from rust free states.

[6DoF]

so far so good, and i'm digging the new bits that weren't available the last time i built an XJ! at this point the rear is holding it's own weight and the front axle has all the bolts, but no springs just yet.

drilling thru the shock bolts turned out to be not bad once i found sharp bits. the bolt plates should make a nice fix/update

also feeling pretty luck about the front bump stops. i was missing one of the bump rubbers, so i bought these extra long poly inserts. they turned out to be the perfect height alone to keep the axle off the oil pan! no extra pump pucks or nothing, just snap em in and assemble. full weight, no springs, i'm about 1" from the pan.

[xj_man_646]

Those plates for the shock bolts are slick.

[6DoF]

after a short vacation south to visit some family and my sisters new boat, back at it. the 3" skyjacker lift is all finished up and i gained over 4.25" from stock. hopefully it settles some, and i still need to add a steel front bumper. not the highest quality lift i've ever used, but was nice for the money and had dual rate front coils. the dual rate really are the way to go.

not sure when i'll get the 31s, sooner if the inspection mechanic hates on the dryrot starting in these

got the injector seals and got the .216's installed ... ran basically the same as with the stock injectors. was really hoping that would smooth things out. maybe a little, but still doesn't run well. actually drove the jeep around the house and driveway a bit, then even down the road a little to check things out. once i get it running like it should, this thing is going to be awesome.

found out on the TDI forum that the Hans pump and injectors i bought are probably bad. he's a swindler who's been around for over a decade with like 100 different websites as they get shut down. before i send this pump/injectors to someone who knows what they are doing for rebuild/recalibration i want to make SURE it's nothing else. compression tester shows up on Wed, and i re-checked the crank-cam timing while i swapped the belt tensioner to be correct, and all that was good. to get the vac pump off the cam for the timing lock i had to get a little creative, i love it when custom tools work really well!

i am having one big issue though ... i can't keep the pump timing! obvious witness marks from the bolts on the pump sprocket moving around on the hub. it's slipped on me a few times and I'm obviously missing something cuz i've only run it a few very short times. i have even found it both advanced and retarded from where i set it before running. worst case i'll have to pin it into a non-adjustable.

[Cobound]

Nify lil tool fab

[6DoF]

still got some good time out there this long weekend and knocked a few things out.

crank to cam timing ... cherry.
Compression #1-4 ... 365/360/360/320

any weird running is officially a pump issue. however i'm also still having issues keeping the pump adjustable sprocket to stay put. i'm to the point that i'm going to drill the sprocket/hub for a dowel pin, or drill and tap more holes at the ends of the slots to really lock it down. any other thoughts on this? my only conclusion at this point is that the 12mm pump is just too much for the factory deal. some of the weird running might be the timing just jumping around all over the place while running.

reverse lights wired and working, the alternator is the only electrical thing left. was shockingly easy to get all the gauges to work.

head pipe painted and wrapped ... because race TDI ... and finished connecting it back to the old factory xj muffler/tailpipe. hopefully this muffler doesn't kill to many of those cool turbo noises.

[xj_man_646]

I am a bit confused by the pump setup...is it not a factory TDI pump? I missed something somewhere.

[6DoF]

Originally Posted by xj_man_646

I am a bit confused by the pump setup...is it not a factory TDI pump? I missed something somewhere.

NOPE!!

i ditched the factory 10mm electronic TDI pump for a 12mm fully mechanical pump, better known as M-TDI. it's just a Bosch VE, same 12mm as the one on my Cummins, but only 4 outputs instead of 6.

to work with this VW ALH, there's no factory Bosch pump that'll bolt on ... but there are factory Bosch parts that will all combine to make it. mine however, as i later found out, was assembled by a scammer selling total junk he assembles from new, used, and chineseium parts. generally out of tolerance and not set up correctly.

now, mine does run, just kinda rough. and there are reputable rebuilders that can recombobulate the jokers junk into a good unit too. i just don't really want to send my "new" pump out for rebuild just yet!

[6DoF]

james ... did you work for the same Bosch that makes the injection pumps? know anyone who might get a sick deal on a new 4bt VE?

[6DoF]

well ... : poop:

The good:
-exhaust finished up n good to go.
-timing fixed in place

in the 2 unused slots in the pump sprocket, opposite the TDC lock slot, i installed 2 more M8 bolts. this is adding clamp load and surface area, but also to make things basically non-adjustable i put the bolts hard against the opposite edges of the slots. i pinned the hub to set timing and re-torqued the 3 factory bolts. then with an 8mm drill bit against the edge of the slot, i drilled a dimple to make a center. switched over to the m8-1.25 tap drill size and ran em thru. the hub tapped easy, got bolts in, and no more timing wiggle!

The bad:
as expected, it still runs like dog-sh!t : poop: it starts and runs easy enough, but the idol is rought ... then it's smoother ... then it's violent ... then its just rough again. higher R's it smooths out a bit, then while holding a constant RPM, it will just shutter. once bad enough it made me jump back.

thought screw it, i'm guna try driving it anyways. labored backing out of the garage, mind you it's already warming up, and proceeded to turn around and bring it right back in. it's worse than the last time i tried this ... it's getting worse ...

hopefully i can call around talk to a bunch of good shops today to get more info and make a real plan. also have a buddy who works for Cummins looking into what he could get me too.

[xj_man_646]

Originally Posted by 6DoF

james ... did you work for the same Bosch that makes the injection pumps? know anyone who might get a sick deal on a new 4bt VE?

I did work at that Bosch but was not involved with anyone on the fuel pump side of things, unfortunately. I wanted to try to get a box of P7100s

[xj_man_646]

How much of a pain would it be to run on the electronic pump? I assume you went the mechanical route to make the electrical integration that much easier? If feasible...might be worth running on that pump to verify you don't have a deeper issue within the engine.

I'm guessing this won't be easy though

[6DoF]

i actually have a harness and ecu for the factory TDI pump ... but it's a drive-by-wire throttle i'd have to wire up, and i'm missing the mass-air.

fakk ... a box of p7100 would be goooollldddd.

i emailed Franz in The Netherlands again, see if he had any Rover 300TDI pumps around cheap. even still, they aren't that bad new if i had to start over. i think it's actually way easier than i originally thought it was to swap on. the more i look into it, the more it's really just the tuning bits i'd have been changing anyways.

[6DoF]

well ... i'm doing it ... i'm going back to emailing tunes rather than turning screws. getting a complete stand alone harness, tune, and injectors from the same guys in CA. Fast Forward Automotive.

cross your fingers for me!

[xj_man_646]

Best of luck! I think you will ultimately be happier with the stand alone electronic set up.

[6DoF]

[6DoF]

just dropped the core harness/ecu/injectors of at USPS to ship to Canada ... we'll see how long til i get the finished goodness back

[xj_man_646]

They're converting it to stand alone?