1986 VW Golf is now in my possession.

[Christ]

I was reading on another forum about adjusting the VE pump back to OE specs, including timing and "internal pump pressure", which sets/affects dynamic injection timing.

I ordered some injector cores to clean/rebuild, and when they're ready to go in, I also will check/adjust internal pressure and static timing.

I plan to pop test the injectors to 130 bar, the OE setting for N/A injectors. Turbo injectors are 155 bar, but the extra fuel pressure isn't necessary for fuel atomization, and takes a good bit more energy, which means more fuel burnt.

[Christ]

Put the rear brake lines in... Gonna need rubber lines eventually. Let the rear brakes gravity bleed, closed the valves, and let my 2 year old steer for a ride around the trailer park. Yes, he can steer the car.

Still have to swap master cylinder and remove booster, then brakes are all done, and suspension comes next. All of it. Struts, shocks, springs, mounts, bushings, all of it.

[Frank Lee]

Good times eh?

[Christ]

I remember my father used to let me sure on his lap and "drive" his F250. I never could actually street that beast, but I sure did move that wheel to both extremes of free play. Granny gear, creeping up the drive, probably the most fun a kid could have with dad.

Yeah, good times.

Fixing the car is fun, too.

[Christ]

I was working on swapping the master cylinder and deleting the booster, fought with over tightened brake lines (typical, everyone thinks they gotta be cranked in there...), finally got the m/c off and caught most of the fuel..erm...fluid.

While removing the booster, one of the 4 studs decided to spin in its bore, and given the relative difficulty of getting to the damned things to begin with, I gave up for the night. Tomorrow, I'll pull the bracket that it mounts to, if I don't just disassemble the booster to remove it, which is actually the more likely option, since I need to make an adapter anyway.

Since the turbo idea is long in coming, I am more than likely going to install my header temporarily (unless anyone needs a header for a mk2) and get a 2.5" exhaust built, just to make the exhaust note come from the right place... (as opposed to coming from the open manifold I'm running now..)

[Arragonis]

Quick question, I may have missed it before - why are you removing the booster ?

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Quick question, I may have missed it before - why are you removing the booster ?

Quick answer - power brakes are for girly men.

The diesel uses a vacuum pump driven by the engine, which requires power, which means more fuel, for something I almost never use anyway. I already disabled the pump, and the brakes work fine without it, but they'll be even nicer once the booster is gone, coz I won't be fighting the spring and lack of vacuum inside the canister.

[Arragonis]

That makes sense, carry on.

[Christ]

The oil pump is driven by the vacuum pump via the intermediate shaft, so my next goal is an electric drive for the oil pump, so I can delete both the balance shaft and oil pump drive altogether. Between the two, they can rob a significant chunk of energy.

[Christ]

Got the booster off today, cut it up to make an adapter, got something that might work, bit didn't have any hardware to mount it all together, and decided that I might take a chunk of alum to a machinist to get a plate made properly, shouldn't be too expensive?

Bought myself some tools today while we got lunch for mommy day.

Grabbed a craftsman "universal" tool set for $70, some gear wrench packs, $80, and a 3 gallon compressor, $90.