1988 Festiva LX 'Red' (diesel conversion)

[MetroMPG]

How come you didn't want to keep the Golf?

[Christ]

It was junk, basically. Id had so many problems with it while driving it that it became more of a nuisance to get 46-50MPG than it was really worth, and all the problems were attributed to chassis problems, not the engine.

Lots of weird chassis wiring issues, an oil sensor that would never shut up, speedo worked when it wanted to.... and then rust. Lots and lots of rust in places that made it basically a terrible chassis to keep long-term.

I'd always planned on pulling the engine/trans and putting them into another [newer] VW, but had never gotten another chassis [that's a lie, I have a '97 Jetta VR6 but I'm not allowed to touch it, so says Her Highness], and decided it was time for the Golf Chassis to stop sitting atop a stack of tires in the bottom of the yard.

[deejaaa]

good engines, esp if you put a turbo to it. i had one for 4 years in a Rabbit. never let me down. there are tips if the front IP seal leaks. can be done in 10 mins or less with the pump out.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by deejaaa

good engines, esp if you put a turbo to it. i had one for 4 years in a Rabbit. never let me down. there are tips if the front IP seal leaks. can be done in 10 mins or less with the pump out.

Lol. I can do it in about 30 minutes without pulling the pump. You don't end up with 5 of these engines without doing some maintenance along the way!

Oddly, the IP seal is about the only place this particular engine /doesn't/ leak from.

[deejaaa]

that is funny.

[Pu241]

What happen to this build?

[Christ]

Oh, it's still sitting in the driveway. It's been so ridiculously cold out, and I ran out of money for projects awhile back. I'm back to working full time now, so once it gets a little warmer out, I should be able to restart progress on it.

I changed the design idea slightly - I'll be using the VW OE trans with the engine and mounting it somewhat differently than I'd originally planned.

[Pu241]

Christ,
I understand on both accounts!
Another FF.com member and I discussed this long ago, at Madness, and neither of us has attempted this.
I'm interested enough to want to assist with this project in some way.
Drop me a PM sometime and see what we can workout!

[Christ]

I can't think of much that I'd need help with on it at the moment, other than maybe once it's set to be installed, some welding to create a hybrid front [nose] engine mount and perhaps some help with machining adapter pieces or something.

I talked about this in part and piece on FF.com about 2 years ago when I had my first Festiva [before buying 3 more immediately afterward] and never got around to it... I'm kinda slow at these things until I've done them once or twice and then I can do it no problem. lol.

I have this same thread on FF.com, I'm sure you've seen it. I gotta get pics for that one, too. Been slacking on that a lot lately, mostly because my phone sucks at taking decent pics.

I was sort of thinking that since I'm swapping VR6 brakes/suspension onto my B4 TDi, I can use the front hubs and axles from the TDi and have the axles shortened if necessary, or grab some MK1 VW axles, since they should be closer to the correct track width for the Festiva.

One of the first problems I have to deal with is that the Festiva ball joints are straight/notch style, and the VW [all] ball joints are tapered/thread style, which clearly are not compatible. One 'fix' for this I may have an option for is to line drill the VW hubs [machine work] and slot an opening in the edge, then drill in the appropriate place to 'mock' the Festiva hubs. We at FF.com know that VW and Festiva front struts are similar enough to each other that some easy handwerk with a file will clear up any confusion there.

Another potential issue is the discrepancy between tie rod ends for both cars. I'm checking into whether I can make the VW rack work in the Festiva... shouldn't be too hard.

It's sad, but I'm more or less going to end up converting the front end of the Festiva into a VW in doing this swap, making things 'easy' for other DIY'ers who also want to do a similar swap happen upon a wrecked IDI/TDI vw parts car. So many of the VW parts are basically interchangeable that no matter what sorts of parts I use on the swap, the basic principles will be the same for taking all the parts from the same car.

[Cobb]

I had hoped to get an 85 golf diesel, but it too had rust. The drivers seat was sticking through the floor and countless other problems. THe bracket that held the petals was broken, front engine mount busted, alt bracket broke, 5th gear stripped. Now when it was driving the owner said it got 43 mpg.

Think Ill go back surfing diesel generators....