I recently completely rebuilt a VW1.6TD for my Samurai. I Also rebuilt the pump/injectors and did some mods. The engine is bored 1MM and everything has been machined and/or polished, I went all the way with this thing and it cost way more than I thought.
Its running great and I'm just wondering how long I should break it in till I start greasing? right now it has under 500 Miles (its an off road only vehicle and it does not get alot of miles put on it) I'm sick of smelling diesel and want to get it on veg!
There's a VW geek show coming up about two hrs North of me and I want to drive it up there, it'll be pretty much the first time it has seen pavement since I have owned for 4 years, its a real handful on the road. I wish it were inspected, but that ain't happening anytime soon.

I would recommend at least 5000 miles to ensure the engine is fully broken in. I'm sure you already know this, but just in case other folks may not you should also not run synthetic oil until after 5K. I also recommend the following oil change intervals for break in; 500 miles, 2500, and then again at 5K. You also want to avoid constant RPMs for the first 500 miles and during the first 500 get the cylinder pressure up by using WOT in a higher gear than normal for the speed and vary the speeds. This will help set the rings.

Thanks for the good advice.
Yea, thats what others have said too more or less. It'll be a while till I get 5K on it, I guess I'll be taking my chances sooner then that. I already changed the oil 2X and will continue frequent changes, especially if runnin veg. I like syn oil too, but I like to change my oil alot when greasing and don;t know if I can justify syn every 2.5K or less, but since I do not put many miles on it and it only takes around 4qt I'll probably do it after break in. I won't run syn in my Benz though.
Did some pretty wild off roading this weekend, ran well, it was fun.

Thanks

It's worth getting oil sampling done. I have done samples at 1000 miles over the recommended service interval with no contamination, of course when an oil change is 4 gallons it is cost effective to spend the $18 on a sample analysis. After you are broken in and running it might be worth a couple of samples to get your change interval down. Could save you a bunch of money.

that sammy will be a lot of fun. I've had a 1.6td in mine for about 2 years. The engien was old and wheezy when I put it in... it's really tired now. It burns so much oil I started using WVO for engine oil too.

I have a 1.9aaz w/ 80k miles and a 1mm overbore, ready and waiting on an engine stand. I've been putting it off for ages but I know the old 1.6 will be hard to start come october

We just put a 1.6 in a Sidekick and took it out on the road yesterday. Just works great, we just love it. We are going to use Pollaks and build a FPHE out of 2 VW transmission oil coolers. The Veggie filter be a converted VW oil cooler with hydraulic oil filter. Going to put the tank in the back(outboard motor tank) and run no heat to it, because the truck is in the garage overnite. Also using injector line heaters.Good to see these engines get bored, no worries about ring seating or adequate compression. We have a big long hill near here and as soon as the engine is warm, and head bolts retorqed, it gets flogged up that long hill. Phil