S3 E3. Will this abandoned 1985 Volkswagen 1.6L diesel run and drive again?. Let's find out ! 

As someone who daily drives a 1986 Volkwagen Golf with the same engine, I totally approve of this project!

That Liquimoly Diesel Purge DEFINITELY works, your Mercedes just wasn’t dirty enough to have a noticeable effect, same issue with this VW. I’ve run it through engines that turned the returning purge fluid black immediately and required several cans to clean out the fuel system.

Thanks for showing us the condition of the car. I saw the thumbnail and was holding my breath hoping you weren't about to butcher a classic VW. Seeing what you showed I'm now glad to see at least the engine gets to live. I had an 82 rabbit convertible (with an engine swap!) and never should have let it go!

I'm very impressed with your caution and approach on the timing belt. You have (perhaps unwittingly) created the best how-to guide possible for timing belt replacement.

This is the kind of stuff I like to see. Saving perfectly serviceable engines from being scrap. Greener than a Tesla

I always thought those original 1.5 and 1.6 liter diesel engines from VW sounded so happy. Glad to see this one getting some attention

You should try efficiency tests on different kind of fuels, like used (and filtered) veggie oil, new veggie oil, motor oil, hydrodiesel, biodiesel, kerosene. Anyway I'm stocked about this project.

I love the little tips and tricks. Using a drill to prime the fuel pump rather than pointlessly spinning the whole engine over and wearing the starter is genius.

Great score on the VW 1.6. They are decent little motors. Another good one is the Mazda 2.0 w/5-speed manual. They came in a few mid 80’s Ford Escorts and Rangers and the Mercury Lynx. Me and some buddies had a few of them. Would run them on used motor oil, transmission fluid and fryer grease. Any who, don’t feel bad for scrapping the Rabbit, that shell was gone. Not to mention getting rid of the very real hazardous risk of Hantavirus. Good job Jimbo!

I'm 50 and I only wish I had taken the time to learn and understand about engines and mechanics. Then I too could spend lots of time just dicking about with cars like this!!

Once you drop the diesel in the insight might as well just keep it in there and turbo charge it. You can always use that 670 on something else. Anyways im enjoying the projects!

That little diesel sounds great. Wonder how long before it gets a turbo :)

For anyone wondering what those pieces of mud are along the timing belt. Yes, it is in fact mud. What those are is mud dauber (mud wasp) nests. Insanely common here in PA where I live. When a vehicle sits for awhile they tend to nest in the weirdest of places. I've found them on air cleaners, in carb barrels, and I've even found them beneath the rocker cover on a small block.

I rebuilt a 1.6 VW diesel Rabbit nearly 30 years ago. Only paid $150 for the whole car as the engine was shot. But I brought it back to life. that's where my love for diesels began.

I work nearly 20 years on these VW engines and your style to prime the diesel system is very genius!!! I’ll do the same in future. You’re a very very good mechanic 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

My first Diesel car rebuild was an '84 VW Quantum turbo diesel that had been sitting under an oak for 9 years. Love how Diesels get up and go after sitting for years. Looks like you don't need it, but I have a non turbo 1.6 injector pump and a few new injectors. Since then, I've rebuilt 2 Diesel VW Jettas with the 1.9L ALH engine and three with the 2.0L CJAA engine. Great cars to drive. My next project is to put a CJAA from a wrecked Jetta into a VW CC with a bad engine. Diesel CCs were available in Europe, but as far as I know, none were available in the U.S. Can't wait to see more on both of the Diesel projects. (I've also rebuilt a 3 cylinder Kubota and have parts to rebuild atleast another one.)

Here, in europe, 1.6d is like holy grail of engines. Nice catch. Now use that engine with cvt transmission and you have a winner

For some reason, it gave me a lot of joy watching you cut the golf up with a sawzall. I love those cars, but that one just needed it

Cool video! You'll find that there is a spring-loaded piston under the forward-facing cover at the bottom of the injection pump. Kind of a football-shaped cover with 2 screws, maybe partly under the corner of the bracket for the compressor. There is a vane-type transfer pump built into the injector pump housing, and it moves more fuel than is needed. The excess fuel builds pressure in the housing, and acts on that piston to rotate a part that changes the injection pump timing. The banjo bolt for the return line has a built-in orifice, and this allows the transfer pump to build the pressure in the housing (or at least mine did - but it did not have that hex-shaped extension that yours does). Anyways, if your banjo bolt has the tiny hole in it that mine had, you can drill the head of the bolt and tap into it to measure the pressure inside the pump housing - and this represents the timing change! You can change the hole size or use a bypass valve to reduce the pressure and retard the timing, or change the spring to advance the timing earlier. This is where my experimentation ended, as my car was completely totaled through no fault of mine. I am looking forward to what you do, and I'm sure you'll do a much better job than I would have. I can't wait!!

You chose wisely my friend! Knew a Marine that daily drove that car from Jersey to base in NY! He did it with waste jet fuel...prop fluid and a little diesel! Had a 77 gas Rabbit in Spain (from US) and wished I never sold it! Got it for free but needed the $700 for my young family. That Marine wouldn't sell me his 😔

sometimes the newer diesel fuel tends to eat the seals on the injection pump head and the injection pump will loose some pressure, just something to keep in mind. I also hear that a lot of people have been running a small amount of 2 stroke oil mixed with the diesel to give it more lubricity and to stop the diesel from eating the older style seals in the fuel system

That clitter-clatter sound is so soothing. I wish modern diesels sounded like that.

Previous owner of that car here. I can give you some more information on that car if wanted

Back from the day when a VW was easy to work on! Great project. Looking forward to the results.

That rear axle would be useful for a diy trailer, but it might be too late to retrieve that now. I built one from a Honda Civic of that era, and it worked well.

Back in 1998 this was my 1st car. But 2 door. 85 was the 1st year of the golf name in North America(MK2). Before that they used rabbit. (MK1) Mine had a 5 speed. There also should be a handle to the left of the steering wheel to advance timing to help with cold starts. This needs to be pushed in when setting timing with a dial indicator. Can’t wait to see more.

My dad used to drive a similar Volkswagen when I was a kid. Man that old diesel sound takes me back.

I have an old 87 diesel Jetta that I've been using for parts. I'm not sure if the engine will run, but now I really want to try my hand at getting it running. Thanks for the entertaining content.

I had a 1980 Rabbit GTI 2 door. Great fun to drive and practical, you could remove the whole rear seat in one large assembly by releasing 2 pins. Electrical gremlins forced me to sell it. It was a common problem for the left corner of the windshield to leak water on the electrical junction box located on the firewall. In the rain the car would try to self start! I sold it to a mechanic who fixed it a got 300k kms on it.

A simple explanation of what an interference engine is, is that the valves that let the air/fuel mixture (in a gas engine) or inlet air (in a diesel) into the engine and the exhaust out, are designed so that their movement overlaps with that of the piston underneath each set of valves -- so, if the timing belt (or, often, timing _chain_) is particularly awfully adjusted, snapped clean in half, or just plain missing, then as the engine tries to turn, the valves and the pistons make the attempt to occupy the same area of space. Because physics, this doesn't work out very well, and because the piston is a HECK of a lot larger and heavier than the valves, it kinda schoolyard bullies the valves away, and in the process of taking them for their lunch money and all they're worth, the valve stems -- the long, narrow 'stalk' bit of the valves that ride up and down on the cam rockers -- end up either badly bent or in multiple parts. Because of the speeds that the engine rotates at, the pistons usually also take a fairly pronounced beating from all of this... and the inevitable result is that you kind of wind up needing a whole new engine, because the finding out about the cost to rebuild something like that leads to you and your mechanic each doing to your respective pair of pants kind of what Jimbo was doing there with the hose and all just above the engine bay ;) it's not a pretty sight, all around.

HELL YEAH!!!!! NEW VIDEOOOO!!!! In all my years of youtube watching, I've never had more anticipation for a video than those from your channel!!!! Good shit man, keep it up!

Welcome to the next episode of "Frankenstein's Car"! - Don't get me wrong, I love it!

I don't know if you noticed after the video, but the can that you thought said Diesel Purge actually said Diesel Prune. I was happy to see that you went with the Walmart battery that was a step above the Value Walmart battery. I also see that it didn't make it through to the end. Hopefully you were able to return it before the twenty-three day warranty was expired. Best wishes and thanks for the video!

I'm glad I stumbled across this channel about a year ago. Such cool projects.

I had an 81 I used as my commuter car back in the day. Acceleration was measured with a calendar. However, it was a great car to teach someone how to drive a stick.

Hi Jimbo, love how quick an engine removal actually is. Will be back for Episode 4 for sure! Cheers and thanks.

Hi , these engines run really well on on new veggie oil . People swear by used veggie oil being the next best thing to sliced bread , well you’ve seen that white fat mess in the pan after frying up a couple burgers , well that’s what happens to the injection pump if the used oil is not cleaned correctly . So I lived in Austria for 17 years and these 1600 diesel engines were in all my VW cars . All through summer I ran them on new veggie Oil . Veggie oil puts more out BTU’s than diesel so with the better bang leads to better fuel economy . The bad with veggie oil is the cold . Do not use it below 60 degrees . The Bosch pump can handle it but you can blow a seal . If you go to a system where you shut it down running on diesel and start on diesel with copper tube with coolant running through it inside the veggie oil tank to heat it up a bit first . Ya diesel was .97 cent a lt , veggie oil was .79 cent a liter . Well you can get a hold of me if you want more info . Facebook messenger is a good way . Paul Nolz

Thanks for dropping the gnome bit and the "BIG BLOCK!!!!" sounds - much more enjoyable to watch now. On the positive side, you create great content. . . . thanks for sharing.

I drove a 1.6 in a rabbit growing up. I’m in the process of putting a 1.6 back in a vanagon. Watching this I learned a big o pile of stuff.

‘97 TDI here. It’s a great car and I’ll cherish it until it rusts into the earth. Which will likely be soon.

At first I was a little disappointed, because I was excited to see a turbo on the Kubota, but this is little VW engine promises to be a lot of fun. I personally would love to see the VW swapped into the Saturn wagon.

The good thing about “The Plan” is it is your plan Jim, and you can do whatever you want in whatever order you like and we will watch anyway because you are the man with the plan 😂😂! I have found fuel additives work in both petrol & diesel engines and have no problem using them. One of the best petrol additives in my opinion is the Subaru branded fuel additive. Other OEM vehicle manufacturers service centres use it also. As far as diesel additives go, I prefer to use a product designed and manufactured by a local Australian family company Cost Effective Maintenance. It is brilliant stuff. The only oil additive I use is a flushing compound from the same company just before a service. I don’t use “glug” to reduce oil consumption or power steering seal rejuvenators, they make repairs a nightmare. In my younger day I did, especially when money was tight and I knew no better.

I can confirm the diesel purge works. My commuter is a 2001 Jetta TDI. Last May I ran a can of diesel purge through my system before I serviced it. My fuel economy that next tank was 58.46 MPG, up from 51. MPG. That fuel economy didn't last forever, stating the condition of the pump and/or injectors with their high mileage. But the stuff works.

oh boy. bring back memories. I had a 1985 Jetta, turbo diesel w/5 speed manual trans. I loved that car, saddly in a tbone collision 2002. had on brothers farm after and motor still ran fine and trans still good. I think he scrapped the car. thanks for your video

I like where this is heading!

I can smell the postman coming… West Germany, 1987. Deutsche Bundespost had them in thousands running around in the 1980s.

Remember to remove the chrome trims from the door handles, IIRC they were only fitted to higher trim-spec GL models and they’re sought after. Even GTIs only had plastic inserts so pop them off if you’ve still got the shell and someone will buy them.

Oh wow, that was unexpected. By the way, friend had a golf like that and made a really quick sleeper out of it, that engine has tons of potential, around tripling/quadrupling the power

A new robot cantina video is a great way to start the day.

These are prime examples for a turbo or supercharger. With a little intercooler you can increase hp by 50% easily.

Those are great engines, friend of mine has a Komatsu mini hoe and when they wanted $12,000 for a new Yanmar, after the old one joined the space program he fit a 1.6L and had the pump tweaked, been like that for years and has more jam then it had stock. Seen more than a few in home built welders, gen sets and band saw mills.

You're in for fun! 1982 vanagon 1.6 owner here, swapped an '86 td engine in, added a Saab intercooler and some boost. Am now wondering about a 2-way cat to get rid of the night time haze. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Thanks for Your effort You put into these videos! I learn from those so much, i really understood how evertything works in a car from Your channel.

I have a 1990 VW Fox with the 1.6 diesel and a 5-spd. Before i started replacing the floor pans over a year ago... i could get 36 city and 59 highway. They arent powerhouses but they sound beautiful wifh what they do.

we have a 1989 golf mk2 and my dad swapped in the 5th gear in it, good to see this golf getting its engine repurposed, good video👍👍

I have to say, you're full of surprises and never disappoint! Good episode! I guess we'll be revisiting the Insight in the next episodes :-)

I love these videos fella. These projects seem simple in idea but show us all the trials and tribulations in getting them done too. The sense of humour is always a bonus! 👌 And, is it me, but does the Xylophone player in the music after each episode seem to just have that one more beer too many, with errant notes here and there? Hahaha I LOVE IT! Catchy tune! 👍. Anyway, look forward to many more weird, wacky and entertaining videos. Cheers guys! 👏👏👏 😎🇬🇧

These are the kinds of things I want to do someday. Your videos are always fun and entertaining, and I really enjoy they way you do your voiceovers.

Enjoying your content. VW sometimes used plastic in dumb places on these engines. The oil dipstick tube and the clutch adjustment spring to mind (not to mention the plastic door handles that break when it gets really cold). Looks like bunches of fun.

great idea, it looks like the saturn is to slow to bother with at this point, i can see your looking for a daily driver, an a insight with that motor will do just fine :D thanks again jim !

I figured it out! You're the Chef John of mechanics. 😃

I can't wait to see this project in the Honda! The internet got excited with plenty of articles about the HF 420CC motor in the Insight, I know they'll also go nuts about the HF 670 V-Twin! Thanks for sharing!

Bizarre how rusty it is underneath given how nice the outer shell is. Good donor powerplant at least, like you said.

No way. I Own 6 VW jetta diesels! 88, 98, 98, 01, 01, and 02. I turbod my 88 1.6 diesel and i wouldnt trade it for anything!! edit: that thing is ROUGH. be careful with those tiny diesel engines. next thing you know you wont be able to live without them

I’ve always run an electric, low pressure lift pump. It’s very common for these injector pumps to not have enough strength at this age to pull the fuel and pressurize the injectors.

Put a intake throttle butterfly on the VW diesel as a emergency shutdown. Because they can run away on the oil blow-by mist. This happened to two friends that owned early golf diesels.

Great to see a Golf and another Diesel. Cannot wait to see the engine in the Insight

This brought back so many good memories... I drove a 1983 VW Rabbit diesel in college, boy I'm getting old :)

I knew a mechanic when I was growing up that had one of those and it had like 960,000 miles on it. He was really proud of that car and his license plate said 900k.

I love those old vw

VW diesel guy here. The swap you showed on the insight that someone else does looks like the ALH engine, 1.9 turbo variable vane. Pretty much the holy grail of VW engines. I'm most shocked to see how the timing belt procedure is identical to my own ALH, don't change what's not broken I guess. Also my engine has 230,000 miles and the inside looks spotless like that. I've never really seen a diesel engine out of an automobile that is "dirty" under the valve cover. They seem to keep fairly clean.

When I was first looking I thought what a shame it’s so solid. Then you showed underneath. Hahaha.

Great video! Keep it up! The only new car I ever bought was a 2002 vw tdi I drove to 280k miles. Nice. Look forward to where you go with these parts. Thanks for the videos and your channel.

Please keep this channel going! Been enjoying all these videos and looking forward to the diesel in the insight and seeing an old vw used under the hood. I would like to see similar build swapping an old mechanical system in a 5 speed insight with all the hybrid pieces removed.

One of my first cars had the later Turbo version and upgraded it with an oversized turbo and intercooler. The stock dieselpump could be upgraded easily. Love the project!

Imagine that car with 2 doors. We used them for MP patrol cars in Germany in the late 80's. Sad little rides.

Good engine. If you want to, that VW is running fine on straigt vegetable oil. I ran a similar power plant (IDI engine with Bosch VE pump), for 9 years and over 170'000km.

I love the Rabbit and the Saturns.

There's ofc always the possibility that the diesel flush dissolved some of the fuel hoses

Awsome! i love old VW engines sadly even here in Germany we dont see them that much anymore.

You sure make a bored cabinet maker in Belvue Kansas happy.... stop by sometime . I really enjoy your crazy show... for sure.

I really enjoy your channel. y ou do the sort of things to cars that some of us only dream about. I love the way you provided working room to the other wise tight engine bay of the Golf.

These are a pretty common swap into the Suzuki Samurai, Sidekick, and Geo Tracker. With the Samurai gearing they will climb a wall no problem. It may not be a seat of the pants swap like you usually do, but it would be cool to see.

Yeah lets do this!

Ah I know these engines well as me & my good friend used to change them on a regular basis on his VW van lol, gutless isn't the word so you'll have great fun with it.

Very cool engine, reminds me of a Volvo red block, but that is my only frame of reference, great video!

Your videos are so good everyone should around the world should watch it with subtitles on

Amazing ideas and beautifully put together video showing the visions you have here, Jimbo. As someone who had a 1.6 IDI TD in a 92 Jetta, this is going to be awesome to watch! I recently picked up 2 2001 black TDI Golfs, 1 a wrecked parts car, and 1 a car that was given up on and left for the scrap yard, and that one left for scrap, is becoming my daily driver because life is too short to drive boring cars, a concept you're skillfully aware of. 👏👏👏

Fantastic video! I've owned and worked on many an 80s VW. And you are spot on, you can make all the tools you need, and there is very little plastic used on these simple SOHC engines. Gas and diesel are almost identical.

Good German Engineering. I loved this video. Been following for a few years.. I'm not surprised that Diesel fired right up.. These videos are awesome!! Thank you!

Tough little beasts those diesels. It is wise changing the timing belt, borrowed the mother in law's old diesel for a few months and nobody told me the belt needed changing and sure enough the belt snapped and sheared off the end of the camshaft. Yep I was popular as had to scrap the car.

Glad to see you took the hint on the TDI in an Incite swap. Am sure several threw that idea out at you as it had been done at lease once before. Appears it was a very successful swap, yet.. ol's saying of " trust but verify" fits here.. and your build of similar will help verify that one swap spoke of in the netispher was really successful.

I'm loving the Vice Grip Garage references. Great job on this video. I'm sure there are exciting projects in the future for this engine.

I agree! But remember to turbocharge, supercharge or "multicharge" the little 1.6L It goes ways faster if you give a little more fuel and breathing help :D

I love your sense of humor! "For the metric crowd, thats 71mph.....but in metric" 🤣🤣

Hmmm, Millenium Falcon? "I don't think so, Jim". Nice reference though. No chops busting, just admiration. Keep up the good work.

I've loved my golfs. I am so excited by the stuff yo are working on. I'm currently working on bringing back a Mercedes 300d with 383k on it. It's worse for wear but I'm hoping to see what I can get it to do.

Fantastic engine. Common in Europe, well done!

Its a shame to see and old diesel vw in such poor shape, but at least its heart is going to a good home!

That engine looked pristine