Itinerant Air-Cooled

I have recently acquired a 1974 basketcase from a local scrapper....before casting aspersions on my insanity, and after chuckling at my expense... I have some questions:

The engine was formerly locked up. I attempted to drain the oil, but very thick, nasty, black goo chunked out. So, I pulled the engine, squirted MMO in the plug holes, and tapped my biggest wrench with a hammer until it started to turn. It is now turning more freely.

So, the question is, what all should I check before putting the engine back in? I plan to strip it to the long block and clean and paint everything.

Can I check compression without a starter?

The valves are maladjusted, but the engine is suspiciously grease free...like cleanclean. Other than the thermostat, everything else seems intact.

Sounds like it ran hard and was put away wet..or dry in your case.

Since you got it freed up.If nothing else was obvious, nothing to lose by sticking it back in. Rig a temp fuel tank, put oil in, and kidnap a battery?

Eric

cegammel wrote: Can I check compression without a starter?

On an engine with oil in it that isn't rusted in place, you can feel for compression by rotating the engine by hand with the plugs in.

TDC marks on pulley? Feel carefully for resistance up to 90* then easy breezy spinning back to TDC. Repeat this for two full rotations of the crankshaft. That will give you a tactile impression of whether or not the engine has compression, but it will not give you any numbers. If you can feel it though, that is generally enough to will it to run.

I don't know if I'd trust such an engine on the open road...they are pretty delicate machinery all in all.
Do you have the red "how to build a VW engine" book? It tells you how to inspect things for wear, etc. Tom Wilson. The Muir Idiot book is pretty helpful with that stuff too, but the Wilson book is vastly more detailed on the subject.
I have wasted so much time chasing my tail with old worn out stuff. It just never works right and you go crazy.
Take things apart, check them out so at least you know where you stand. Ask lots of questions if you don't know.

I've read so many threads on The Samba where people ran un-known, semi locked up engines like this and then posted pictures of the rod thru the case a few days or weeks later. Personally, I wouldn't trust that engine and if you're tearing it down to the long block, why not tear it completely down all the way? If everything checks out ok, you can clean it real nice, maybe throw in some new bearings and know you have a decent engine.

If you don't want to do that, you should at a minimum test run it on the floor or a stand before going thru the BS of reinstalling it in the car.

I do have the books, and I have rebuilt the type iv before. I am torn between the ease of disassembly and the ease of engine removal.

Is a leak down test a worthwhile expense?

The other side of this thing is that the body will take me months to repair anyway, so perhaps I should just tear it down.

Here's a silly question: how does one take apart the tail light to free the wires?

cegammel wrote:I do have the books, and I have rebuilt the type iv before. I am torn between the ease of disassembly and the ease of engine removal.

Is a leak down test a worthwhile expense?

The other side of this thing is that the body will take me months to repair anyway, so perhaps I should just tear it down.

No, neither a hand-on-a-wrench test for compression, nor a leakdown test is going to work, too much friction until the rings have made a new slippery surface on the cylinder walls.

I personally enjoy the challenge of resurrecting an engine like yours, but I do make sure that the engine has everything it needs to get up on its feet immediately. I think the examples that wcfvw69 brings up occur with people who are way too excited or clueless. If you want to gamble a little (why not?) get fresh oil in there, crank the engine on the starter with no plugs (listen of course for a nicely turning engine) then fire it up with an eagle eye on the correctly functioning oil pressure light, be at the ready to shut it down if you hear weirdness or sense that the engine is suffering from a lot of drag. Be ready for an engine that gives you 60,000 miles or less than six minutes.
Colin
(tail lights, remove lens then metal bulb plates from housings)(get Bentley)

Thanks.. as for taillights, Bentley says to remove the wires, then remove the housing.... I'll look under the bulbs in a bit. Maybe I'm missing something obvious.

I am also going to work on the body for a while, and clean up the engine. Then make a decision after I get down into it.

Figured out the lights...they just pop apart...

cegammel wrote:Figured out the lights...they just pop apart...

The lights? They just pop apart.
Colin

Wiring:

As for my engine compartment wiring, in the last 6 inches or so of each connection, the insulation is melted...Behind the last 6 inches, it seems good. The fuel lines are old, but not melted. So, I can't really tell if this is actual fire damage to my wiring, or something else...There is also no obvious fire damage to the underside of the engine cover. So, do I cut the wires back to something good, then crimp in new tails, or just soak it in liquid tape and move on? The copper itself is intact, just the insulation is messed up. Also, is there some severe electrical short that would have cooked all of the engine wires?

Regarding your fried engine compartment wiring, I had a similar malfunction. The wire from my ignition coil (15) to carburetor heater unit was pinched between the carb and firewall. Smoke, drippy hot insulation and blown fuses resulted. The point is that when I tried to do the "snip it at good copper" trick......there was no good copper. The hot insulation had insinuated itself in and around the strands. In your case, I'd check for volts at 15 on the coil to see how far the damage has spread. It may be all the way to the front of the car through the harness. At least. if you do find "good copper" Scrape it bare and do the patch (I solder not crimp).

Psucamper wrote:Scrape it bare and do the patch (I solder not crimp).

I don't like soldering any auto wires that ever need to move, (like those in an engine compartment when you remove the engine,) or those near the crimp connectors. The metallurgy of the copper changes with the tin influx, and it becomes brittle when bent or moved over and over.

Just my two cents,
Robbie

I will be mildly perturbed if all of my wires are fried...