roo

Someone briefly mentioned this in a post a while back and I'm trying to get some more info on it. I have a 9A block with KR head that i'm rebuilding at the mo and what i'm wondering is wether it would be a relatively straight forward swap to ditch my K-Jet in favour of a Golf Mk3 16V injection system. Any thoughts would be appreciated chaps :) Cheers.

riley I think I know what you mean, there is another bracket not in the bentley pic that also fits onto the same double ended (ooh er!) fixing bolts that the waterpump uses, this supports the alternator and power steering pump too. Bonding the broken tab with some Loctite liquid metal sounds like a good plan, i've used their retaining compound before and its amazing how strong it is. :shock:

It could be the belts that drive the alternator or power steering pump that's making the racket, mine did this when I bought it IIRC. It may be worth spraying a bit of WD40 on them (not the cambelt though) to see if it stops the noise. I think I had to get new belts to fully sort it though.

not quite, the two bolt holes below the snapped off bit definitely fix the water pump to the block. I'm not sure how sturdy it'd be fixing the bracket with just using one hole, probably not something i'd want to try either :)...i'll have a look around halfords tomorrow, probably cake it in fibreglass or something! Cheers for the pic GIXXERUK, looks like the bently actually has usefull information, unlike a haynes.

A-ha! you've sussed it riley, ta. I've just had a fish around the shed in my box of parts and theres an aluminium bracket that fits with a couple of cutouts to clear the sump (still don't remember taking it off though)...now it's just a question of how to fix it...

Ok, so this is completely my own fault and probably why it's never a good idea to start work late at night!. Basically, I had a slight handling incident with my block as I was stripping it down and managed to snap off a small part of the casting near where the waterpump/thermostat would be :mad: , its a 9A block btw. I really don't remember unbolting anything from this bit when I dismantled the block, but can anyone help me out and tell me for definite what it's for as i'm sure it's not for decoration. Could it be for cars with a/c fitted maybe? Cheers.

Trevor, in my case the temperature gauge worked as normal and the readings made perfect sense in terms of relating to the loss of coolant, i.e. when i'd filled up the header tank and driven for a few miles the gauge read normally, but as you'd expect, as the coolant gradually leaked away the readings on the temperature gauge also increased. I'd suggest that based on the fact you're losing coolant and the temperature gauge is not moving normally, that you also have a thermostat/temp sender/wiring related problem as well. :( Either way, my head gasket finally gave up all of a sudden and my temp gauge was the only thing that was telling me something was seriously wrong, luckily though I was very close to home and managed to get back before any damage was done to the engine. At the very least, I wouldn't recommend driving anywhere in your C until the temp gauge was working properly.

Thats true, but it really depends where the gasket has failed. Certainly in my case and possibly also in the case of Trevor here, there may not be any oil in the coolant system, due to the fact the gasket has only failed from the water jacket passages to the outside of the block.

No. I was really lucky as I was only about 2 minutes from home when the head gasket finally went, consequently the engine never got sufficient time to really overheat and do any damage to the head. How many miles does yours have on the clock?

My 1990 16V with 140,000 miles had the same symptoms as what you've described i.e losing loads of coolant, system pressurises normally and no apparent source of leaks. In my case it was the head gasket that was leaking between the blocks water jacket and outside. Unfortunately though it was never obvious until the head gasket gave up and I could actually see a stream of water jetting out from the back of the block. It could be that your head gasket is leaking in a similar way. :(

Ahh, it sounds like I should be ok 'as is' then, just thought i'd see what other peeps are running. If go the VSAM route i'll let you know Gavin, cheers for the offer mate.

Chaps, i'm getting really into rebuilding my KR valver engine (although its more dismantling and cleaning at the mo) and i've just got hold of a 9A bottom end which i'm intending to have re-honed and fit new bearings, rings to etc. What i'm wondering, is since i'm making the effort to do all this work, I don't want the bind of having to use Optimax petrol to potentially avoid pinking and so ideally i'd like to 'upgrade' to a system with knock control. Am I right in thinking that I can keep my current K-Jet as it is and just basically swap the KR wiring loom (crispy in places!) and ECU for a 9A one, or is it a bit more complicated than that?. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Cheers, Andy

Hey chaps I'm just in the process of rebuilding my tired 1.8 valver engine (including a 9A bottom end hopefully) after my headgasket went kaput. Anyway after taking out the battery I discovered a couple of pretty big holes hiding beneath it javascript:emoticon(':shock:') Shocked...anyone else have this problem or is mine just a victim of a leaking battery at some point in its life?? Ta Andy