riceburner
Autocross Champion
the life expectancy of modded tracked TSIs is incredible! Cool work you're doing here.
6
2013 GTI - K04 Build
- Thread starter Roadrunner_GTI
- Start date
Roadrunner_GTI
Drag Racing Champion
Made some progress on the engine rebuild. Finished cleaning up the block deck surface and honing the cylinders. They all cleaned up well with a few passes of the 240 grit ball hone.
I made a makeshift head-work bench to make it easier to use my valve spring compressor. Removing the carbon from the intake ports and valves took a while but it’s done. I started lapping in the exhaust valves but noticed a little more pitting than I’d like. I decided to have a machine shop grind the valves and cut the seats to avoid any sealing issues. The head was going to the machine shop anyway for a resurface.
Pistons cleaned up nicely after soaking in degreaser. Ring lands and tops look good and I’ll be installing the new piston rings soon.
Cleaned up the upper / lower oil pans, the windage tray, and oil filter housing.
New waterpump, lower timing cover, and a few gaskets arrived today. Still waiting on all the timing chains/guides, new bolts, and the rest of the gaskets.
I’ll update as more parts arrive.
I made a makeshift head-work bench to make it easier to use my valve spring compressor. Removing the carbon from the intake ports and valves took a while but it’s done. I started lapping in the exhaust valves but noticed a little more pitting than I’d like. I decided to have a machine shop grind the valves and cut the seats to avoid any sealing issues. The head was going to the machine shop anyway for a resurface.
Pistons cleaned up nicely after soaking in degreaser. Ring lands and tops look good and I’ll be installing the new piston rings soon.
Cleaned up the upper / lower oil pans, the windage tray, and oil filter housing.
New waterpump, lower timing cover, and a few gaskets arrived today. Still waiting on all the timing chains/guides, new bolts, and the rest of the gaskets.
I’ll update as more parts arrive.
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Roadrunner_GTI
Drag Racing Champion
Most of the parts arrived and I’ve made some decent progress on the rebuild.
The Kolbenschmidt piston rings arrived and the gaps measured within spec when inserted in the bore.
Oil squirters, bearings, crank, rods, and pistons installed. Marks on the pistons were to indicate the piston ring gap 120* offsets.
Intake and exhaust balance shafts installed after freezing, which makes this an easier job.
Installed the upper oil pan, oil pump, windage tray, and lower oil pan. New waterpump, oil filter housing gasket, and course oil separator gasket as well.
Assembling the head after getting it back from the machine shop. I did have them go ahead and install new exhaust guides because the old ones were just barely within spec. They ground the valves, cut the seats, and resurfaced the head.
Installied the head gasket, new oil non-return valve, set the head completing the bolt torque sequence.
Next up is installing the lifters, cams, valve cover, and timing chains. More to come…
The Kolbenschmidt piston rings arrived and the gaps measured within spec when inserted in the bore.
Oil squirters, bearings, crank, rods, and pistons installed. Marks on the pistons were to indicate the piston ring gap 120* offsets.
Intake and exhaust balance shafts installed after freezing, which makes this an easier job.
Installed the upper oil pan, oil pump, windage tray, and lower oil pan. New waterpump, oil filter housing gasket, and course oil separator gasket as well.
Assembling the head after getting it back from the machine shop. I did have them go ahead and install new exhaust guides because the old ones were just barely within spec. They ground the valves, cut the seats, and resurfaced the head.
Installied the head gasket, new oil non-return valve, set the head completing the bolt torque sequence.
Next up is installing the lifters, cams, valve cover, and timing chains. More to come…
Roadrunner_GTI
Drag Racing Champion
Made good progress yesterday. Installed the cams and valve cover.
Next up we’re the timing chains, tensioners, and guides.
Set the timing and checked after a few rotations.
Installed the upper and lower timing covers.
Intake manifold and turbo installed.
I’m going to pressure test the coolant system before installing the engine. Have a few other odds and ends to wrap up on the car as well.
Next up we’re the timing chains, tensioners, and guides.
Set the timing and checked after a few rotations.
Installed the upper and lower timing covers.
Intake manifold and turbo installed.
I’m going to pressure test the coolant system before installing the engine. Have a few other odds and ends to wrap up on the car as well.
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Roadrunner_GTI
Drag Racing Champion
Had to wrap up a few items before the engine went back in…
Checking flywheel rock with dial indicator, it’s within spec provided by Luk.
Compressing the pressure plate to reset the self adjustment springs. I used an old flywheel to support the pressure plate during this process.
Engine and trans bolted together, ready to go in.
Engine in!!
Filling up with Motul break-in oil.
Pulled vacuum on the coolant system to check for leaks, then vacuum filled with 8qts of VP cooldown, distilled water, and enough G13 for -10C freeze protection.
Ready for the first start.
I unplugged the injector harness and turned the engine with the starter long enough to build oil pressure. No issues priming oil and engine started fine. Broke in the rings over a 100 mile period, varying RPM and load with no boost. Dumped the oil and it looked as expected. Changed the filter and oil to Motul 8100x-cess. Also performed a compression test after the first 100 miles to check the rings, and compression measured even across all cylinders.
After that decided to try a couple light pulls under boost. One issue I’m running into is random misfires under peak boost. All the plugs looked fine, but I’m planning on replacing them since they were a carry over from pre-tear down. I’m also going to dump the fuel since it’s a couple months old now and see if that helps. Logs show timing pull of about 2-3 degrees at 6 degrees total under 23lbs of boost. I’m going to send the logs to my tuner and make sure that I don’t need a tune update since I’m running slightly higher compression now.
More to come…
Checking flywheel rock with dial indicator, it’s within spec provided by Luk.
Compressing the pressure plate to reset the self adjustment springs. I used an old flywheel to support the pressure plate during this process.
Engine and trans bolted together, ready to go in.
Engine in!!
Filling up with Motul break-in oil.
Pulled vacuum on the coolant system to check for leaks, then vacuum filled with 8qts of VP cooldown, distilled water, and enough G13 for -10C freeze protection.
Ready for the first start.
I unplugged the injector harness and turned the engine with the starter long enough to build oil pressure. No issues priming oil and engine started fine. Broke in the rings over a 100 mile period, varying RPM and load with no boost. Dumped the oil and it looked as expected. Changed the filter and oil to Motul 8100x-cess. Also performed a compression test after the first 100 miles to check the rings, and compression measured even across all cylinders.
After that decided to try a couple light pulls under boost. One issue I’m running into is random misfires under peak boost. All the plugs looked fine, but I’m planning on replacing them since they were a carry over from pre-tear down. I’m also going to dump the fuel since it’s a couple months old now and see if that helps. Logs show timing pull of about 2-3 degrees at 6 degrees total under 23lbs of boost. I’m going to send the logs to my tuner and make sure that I don’t need a tune update since I’m running slightly higher compression now.
More to come…
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Roadrunner_GTI
Drag Racing Champion
I should have updated status sooner but it’s been crazy busy around here. So unfortunately the random misfires turned out to be more serious than I was hoping. The car started to run extremely rough after doing some WOT testing. Compression test found cylinder 2 completely dead. Scoped the cylinder and found exhaust valve marks on the pistons 2 and 4. This all happened after a 6500 rpm WOT pull. Pulled the head and found 3 exhaust rocker arms had popped off and wiped out the exhaust cam. After inspecting everything and reviewing my install sequence, I realized that I forgot to bleed the lifters prior to install. My thoughts are that the lifters caused extreme valve float on the exhaust side at upper RPMs.
I took the opportunity to upgrade the stock valve springs to Supertech.
Also had to replace the exhaust cam. 3 rockers, lifters, and exhaust valves. Lapped the new valves in and vacuum checked the ports to verify valve seats were sealing.
Bled all the lifters this time and reinstalled everything, retiming the engine.
As an added bonus, the driver side exhaust stud snapped when reinstalled the turbo. More on that here.
Happy to report that engine is running again and compression numbers are 200-205psi across all cylinders, so the rings have seated well. I’m putting some more miles low boost / load to allow the fuel trims to adapt and then I’ll attempt some more WOT pulls.
I took the opportunity to upgrade the stock valve springs to Supertech.
Also had to replace the exhaust cam. 3 rockers, lifters, and exhaust valves. Lapped the new valves in and vacuum checked the ports to verify valve seats were sealing.
Bled all the lifters this time and reinstalled everything, retiming the engine.
As an added bonus, the driver side exhaust stud snapped when reinstalled the turbo. More on that here.
Happy to report that engine is running again and compression numbers are 200-205psi across all cylinders, so the rings have seated well. I’m putting some more miles low boost / load to allow the fuel trims to adapt and then I’ll attempt some more WOT pulls.
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riceburner
Autocross Champion
great updates! except for the whoopsie daisy. hoping all goes well for you, sounds like the car should be a blast!
Roadrunner_GTI
Drag Racing Champion
Ran some 3rd gear WOT logs the past few days and the car seems to be running very well. Definitely pulls harder than before the rebuild, when #3 cylinder wasn’t 100%.
I’m seeing 14.25 degrees of timing at redline, with no timing pull on any cylinders. This is with aux fueling and 93 octane. Injector times are comfortable in the 5-6 second range, lpfp duty cycle mid-70s. I’m seeing peak boost of around 23-24 psi. So far I’m really pleased with how the car is running and can’t wait to get it back on track next month.
3rd gear data log
I’m seeing 14.25 degrees of timing at redline, with no timing pull on any cylinders. This is with aux fueling and 93 octane. Injector times are comfortable in the 5-6 second range, lpfp duty cycle mid-70s. I’m seeing peak boost of around 23-24 psi. So far I’m really pleased with how the car is running and can’t wait to get it back on track next month.
3rd gear data log
Roadrunner_GTI
Drag Racing Champion
I’ve decided to return the car to semi-stock form and use as my daily driver. Nothing specifically related to the rebuild, more just change in personal and family situation. If anything the engine build showed me I miss building traditional V8’s. I’d like to switch focus to restoring classic cars again, maybe take on a father son project. Here’s the last car I restored prior to getting the GTI.
That said, I probably won’t have any more updates for this thread. It’s been a fun ride for sure.
g-magoo
Autocross Champion
I can appreciate that decision though on multiple levels. Kudos to you, but I'd be lying if I wasn't a bit disappointed/sad to see that's the case. Always enjoyed reading your build thread/posts, it was always super informative; not many track-oriented MK6 GTI builds are this well documented anymore or still have photos/links that work.I’ve decided to return the car to semi-stock form and use as my daily driver. Nothing specifically related to the rebuild, more just change in personal and family situation. If anything the engine build showed me I miss building traditional V8’s. I’d like to switch focus to restoring classic cars again, maybe take on a father son project. Here’s the last car I restored prior to getting the GTI.
View attachment 265158
That said, I probably won’t have any more updates for this thread. It’s been a fun ride for sure.
Is that a Nova? I'm not the most versed in muscle car.
Roadrunner_GTI
Drag Racing Champion
Yes, it was a 1st Gen (1965) Nova that now resides in Germany ironically.
postbox
Passed Driver's Ed
Amazing thread, ty @Roadrunner_GTI!
Damn, this is not the first time I'm reading of various hiccups after engine rebuild.
Likely I won't try rebuilding mine (fortunately there is no need right now) before taking some classes - online, or - better - in the lab with some experienced instructors.
I'm assuming there is just too many factors of a second, third, etc order.
And trials are too costly and time consuming.
Which is always the case when working on cars wo sufficient background, but this takes it to yet another level.
Damn, this is not the first time I'm reading of various hiccups after engine rebuild.
Likely I won't try rebuilding mine (fortunately there is no need right now) before taking some classes - online, or - better - in the lab with some experienced instructors.
I'm assuming there is just too many factors of a second, third, etc order.
And trials are too costly and time consuming.
Which is always the case when working on cars wo sufficient background, but this takes it to yet another level.
postbox
Passed Driver's Ed
@Roadrunner_GTI , any recommendation for the oil cooler - model and radiator placement? Ty