1982 VW Rabbit

Broke4speed · Post by **Broke4speed** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:01 pm

I'm not convinced I'll be slower actually. I have a suspicion that I was over-carbed for my nearly-stock engine. I could have choked it down from 32 to 30, but I found that my top end pretty much flattened out at 5000, leaving me another 1500 rpm without any oomph at all. The HP peak of the stock cam is 5600, and the mild upgrade cam I'm using is similar in peaks. I don't expect miracles, just pursuing a theory. The last time I tried a single carb on my motor, I was VERY surprised at how much quicker the car felt below 4000, and I wasn't even on MJLJ yet at that point. Either way, the sale of the Dells paved the way to a future engine build that will require 45s at the minimum

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Broke4speed · Post by **Broke4speed** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 3:32 pm

Snagged a nice Estas 272* cam today, gotta round up some HD valve springs now.

Broke4speed · Post by **Broke4speed** » Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:54 pm

Project updates:

The carbs are gone (

), and my automotive A.D.D kicked in a ways back. I converted to Digifant-1 (factory VW EFI from a 1990 Corrado), figured out how to custom map the chip, and have been happily tuning away...sorta. I miss the ability to datalog, and my LM-2 Wideband is a huge piece of isht ($600 USD down the tubes) so it won't read RPM or a 5v in even though it's supposed to. I'm thinking of converting the car back to Megajolt for the spark (since the trigger wheel and sensor are still installed) and using the digi-1 for fueling. Does it make sense? Nope. Would it be fun to do...yep

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Just prior to my swap back to EFI, I ordered a MAP conversion and hard-cut rev limiter. They've been sitting in a drawer at work, and now I think they'll get installed. This might make a cool weekend project since it's getting too cold to actually drive the car anymore

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Can MJLJ log a 5v in? I can't remember...

Broke4speed · Post by **Broke4speed** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:26 pm

Fingers crossed my gorilla (as in the ape kind) soldering works, and that I cut the R6 trace properly. If all goes well, I hope to be back on the Jolt by the end of the weekend.

Oh yeah...how long does it take for soldering iron burns to heal? Lets just say there's a reason I don't do that for a living

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Post by **brentp** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:38 pm

When I was a kid, soldering together my first AM radio kit from Radio Shack I picked up an iron backwards. Nice burn marks across my palm. Like a steak on a grill. Smelled good too!

Yours will heal soon.

NITROPIXIE · Post by **NITROPIXIE** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:38 pm

Broke4speed would you mind getting your triggerwheel design and setup put up int the triggerwheel design post http://www.autosportlabs.org/viewtopic.php?t=2434

I keep threatening of doing my sisters 1.8 cabby with a jolt and would like to know how you have done it.

Ryan

Broke4speed · Post by **Broke4speed** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 11:32 pm

Certainly! Although I have to say, my pulley is less than impressive

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Broke4speed · Post by **Broke4speed** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 10:55 pm

Well...possible change of plans on my project. 14 months ago, a local shop got the ball rolling on importing a shipping container full of euro-spec parts for the local VW crowd. I finally got the goodies that I ordered...three 1.3L small-block (smaller than the usual watercooled engine) engines

. I have a small-displacement engine fetish, so I will be running one of them in my car next summer. I have not yet decided on how I want to manage the engine, carbs or EFI. Obviously a carbed setup will require the use of my now-converted-to-MAP MJLJ (which was very easy to do btw...although I'm not sure it works yet, lol).

It's too cold right now to work on the car, so any real decisions are a long time off...but I'm torn between roarty carbs, or the easy power of EFI

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Broke4speed · Post by **Broke4speed** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 12:51 pm

Updates:
Well, I converted my 1.8 8v to VW's Digifant-1 EFI to further my knowledge of hacking and custom mapping it. After getting the hang of it, I decided to add a turbo into the mix. Long story short, when I finally fired up the car again...the turbo let all its smoke out

. I'm not too beaten up about it, since it was a fairly...'resourceful' setup (ie: built out of scrap). I did end up putting some fabrication time into it, which is what I like doing the most, so I'm a little gutted that I can't drive it. While pondering my next move, I happened to snag a set of non-emissions Dellorto DHLA40s on Ebay.co.uk...so you can perhaps see where this is going...

Now I just have to get this turbo stuff off my engine...

Broke4speed · Post by **Broke4speed** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 10:23 am

The car is back to carbs, and it's got a brand-new hard-cut limiter board too

. Fired it up last night...or more accurately, after thirty minutes of troubleshooting reversed coilpack wires (doh), it burst into life. I forgot how loud this thing is, and now I've added a 4-1 header and 2.25" exhaust into the mix. I'm going to need earplugs to drive it

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Funky Diver · Post by **Funky Diver** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 4:22 pm

Nice setup!! I may have to blag your MAP off you as a start point on mine. Spec is slightly different though, but at least it should be a good start

I'm going 2E bottom end (so 2 litre) with port and flowed 1.8head, carbs off an ZX9R and custom inlet manifold, 4-2-1 header and sticking with 2" zorst (free flow).

One thing to note though, if you ever do the conversion to 2litre, you can shove an ABF oil pump, drive cog and blanking plate into the bottom end no worries and end up distributorless.

Broke4speed · Post by **Broke4speed** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:25 pm

I don't mind sharing, although it's not really a 'perfect' map. I was averaging 30+ US MPG, and hit 105whp/119tq with a mild cam, stock dual downpipe, and 1.5" exhaust (dynoed with 94 octane, which is 98 octane overseas). It's a 10:1 1.8, and the thought of building a 2.0 has crossed my mind quite often...especially since I'm beginning to see the oil pressure light coming on after short drives now

.

Broke4speed · Post by **Broke4speed** » Sun Aug 29, 2010 7:41 pm

I've taken the car out for a few spirited drives (only to the speed limit

), and the ham-fisted soldering job I ended up doing when installing my hard-cut limiter apparently worked out fine...because everything works great! I haven't tested the limiter yet (mainly because the car isn't insured, and my neighbor is a cop in my county

), but I'm sure it works. The car fires up at the wave of an oily rag, I'll never take my MJLJ for granted, EVER.

Now...the big question is, do I upgrade to MJLJ2 when it comes out? If there's 60-2 wheel support in the future, I might upgrade to a nice 2.0 bottom end that comes with an internal wheel

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NITROPIXIE · Post by **NITROPIXIE** » Sun Aug 29, 2010 7:42 pm

Spunds like your having fun

Broke4speed · Post by **Broke4speed** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 7:20 pm

To much fun, to be honest

. I really need to focus on one setup and stick with it. It's more about the challenge than it is a genuine desire to switch engines. I seem to have 'management A.D.D', since I've jumped from standalone EFI (numerous types) to carb, to stock EFI (hacked), and back to carbs. Every day I have to fight off the urge to swap the carbs out (and they've only been there a few weeks this time around), to my latest obsession: hacked Mitsubishi management/wiring. I had a VW 16v engine running that wiring and ECU a few years back, and still have all the parts I'd need to convert again. The difference this time would be the addition of the hacked code.

See what I'm up against? The only thing that brings me around is the sound of my car with those dual carbs. One ride with those 4 trumpets blaring away under the hood, and everything is right in the world again

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