It's finished!

[dtrumbo]

I apologize (or you're welcome, depending on your point of view) for keeping this to myself, but over the past year and a half I've been rebuilding a Type IV 2.0L GE engine I bought from a Craigslist ad. This engine replaced the original GE in my 1978 Riviera Camper. I can't believe it took as long as it did yet I can't believe I'm finished either!

My experience seems to pretty much follow what others have shared about their rebuild experiences. The biggest issue was (of course) the availability of main bearings. The machine shop inspected my case and I was fortunate to not need any case work done so off I go on a quest for standard/standard main bearings. I found a set of Mahle's at AutoAtlanta.com. Well the fun began when I got them installed and the case sealed up to find that I had nearly 80 thousandths of end play! After my breathing returned to normal, I called my machinist and he promptly instructed me to bring the whole sh**in' caboodle back to him and he'd take a look. As it turns out the thrust surface of the #1 bearing was a whole bunch thinner than the bearing I removed and all the bearings he had ever seen before. I called AutoAtlanta and their response was "yeah, another guy called last week with the same problem. Must be a manufacturing defect, but the bottom line is, we have no others to exchange/sell you". Such is the situation when you're living in an era of bearing shortages. So back to my machinist and we decide (well he decides and I agree since I have no other knowledge to argue) that we will now have not three, but six end play shims in my bus. This is where I'll pause for you all to gasp in horror! Yep, my bus has six end play shims. Point and laugh. We'll let AAA decide if this ever makes a difference. From the arguments I've read, three is the minimum, but no one has made a valid argument for why there couldn't be more. So enough about that.

The rest of the build moved at a snail's pace largely due to the fact we moved right in the middle. Amazingly enough I didn't lose any bits and pieces. I had my heads rebuilt by Adrian and he did a fantastic job! The only thing that was odd was he included a set of barrel shims when he returned my heads. The shims he sent were .060". How could he possibly know what thickness shims I would need? Well I'm glad I checked as I ended up using .020" shims to get the deck height I wanted. Either that or Adrian DOES have a crystal ball and I've completely screwed up my measurements. Meh, again, AAA will tell.

The next minor issue was when I installed the new engine. I can't say I purposely checked, but I thought it would be fun just to turn the engine over by hand. Boy I'm glad I did as the new clutch was making contact with a high spot in the bell housing. After taking the engine back out I could see where the problem was. Right where the release arm comes through there's a little mound of material and that was just enough to cause the clutch to whack on it. I can't imagine the carnage that would have ensued had I used the starter to turn the engine over rather than my hand. After checking that I had the clutch and flywheel on correctly and that there was no other apparent reason for the interference I used my $15.00 Harbor Freight angle grinder and took care of the problem. I doubt removing a 1/16th of an inch of material from the bell housing will be an issue, but again, we'll let AAA be the judge.

So the engine is in and can spin freely so I do the oil pump prime, the fuel pressure prime and finish installing all the other bits and pieces. I even installed the bumper and heater tubes for the simple reason that I figured I was jinxing myself if I left those parts off. Kinda like I was secretly betting I would have to take the thing back out. Well so far, so good. I came home from work last Friday and it was such a nice evening we (my lovely wife and I) decided it was time. She sat in the driver's seat in charge of turning the key and watching for the oil pressure light. She performed both tasks flawlessly. My God new engines make a hellacious racket! Ignoring my ears and trusting my eyes I made sure to try and keep the RPM's up over 2000 for the longest twenty minutes of my life! No leaks, either oil or fuel and after awhile, it seemed to quiet down nicely. After the cam break in I backed it back into the garage and drained the oil. I've never changed the oil on an engine that has only run for twenty minutes. I can't say it looked any different than when I poured it in. I didn't catch it in a container where I could see it clearly as quite frankly, I didn't want to know. It was what it was and now it's in the recycle tank at O'Reillys. The strainer did have some interesting tiny bits of black rubbery looking stuff, bits of paper towel from the ten thousand rolls I used during assembly and what appeared to be Vaseline from the oil pump. So with new oil and filter (again), I'm in my 100-mile bearing break in period. I took it back out of the garage, washed it and my daughter and I gently took it to get gas and to NAPA to buy more oil and filters. It's soooooo smooth! The only issue is I think the exhaust is rattling against the bumper due to the fact I have one of Jamie Rivers' trailer hitches which even before the rebuild I had to monkey with to keep it from rattling. If that's all I need to deal with, I'll be over the moon.

So before Sylvester asks, here's a link to my Photobucket album which has over 300 photos of the entire process and 2 videos of first engine-start. I'll let you all feast on them as you like.

http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll23 ... =slideshow

I don't want to turn this into an Academy Award speech, but among all the people who have helped (without even knowing it via their shared wisdom on the Internet) I have to publicly thank Jim Hayden (aka The Air-Cooled Ranch) for all the hand holding he provided over the past year and a half. This man is a prince among men and I never would have had the courage to work through the issues I encountered without his help. Of course he'll be the first one I throw to the lions when things go horribly wrong and AAA gets involved! Seriously, thanks Jim. I really appreciate it!

So the one thing I'd like to tell all of you other ACVW owners is YOU CAN DO THIS! Rebuilding an engine empowers you like you wouldn't believe and the added bonus is you will KNOW how all the parts inside fit together and how they work together to get you down the road on this great adventure we call life!

[jonyem]

Excellent write up. I'll be looking at your photos with the "can I do this?" question looping in my mind. Thanks for the inspiration.

Jonathan

[vistacruzer]

I would check that you have 50th clearance between the barrel sholder and the head. that may be why he supplied the shims. what compression are you running? just courious

[ruckman101]

Ohhhh, I am so close.

Congrats!! And I have to agree. Nothing like it. Got a fresh build to get through all the jitters myself here. It's been an embarrassingly long process, but I know what's there. Once it fires, you're committed. It's yours. Bullock the balderdash!

My first experience with that was over a decade ago. So many lessons learned. Still I feel blessed to have had the experience to run that engine into the ground, and am looking forward to tearing it down and diagnose it's demise.

Just have to say congrats again, and thanks for sharing.



Run long and prosper,
neal

[Bleyseng]

Nice job! So the engine is stock?

[dtrumbo]

I would check that you have 50th clearance between the barrel sholder and the head. that may be why he supplied the shims. what compression are you running? just courious

How does the relative thickness of the barrel shim (which goes between the case and the bottom of the cylinder) affect the clearance between the top of the cylinder and the head?

If I've done my math correctly (and I did have it independently double-checked), I'm at 7.4:1 CR.

Thanks Neal & Geoff. Yes, the engine is stock (except for it's extra testicles).

[poptop tom]

Nice work, Dick!

I hope the shims work out well for you!
I wouldn't worry too much about the .060 shim Adrian sent you. When he did my heads
(with Raby supplied parts) he sent that same shim to me as well. I also read on the samba where
someone recently mentioned they also received that same .060 shim when their heads were returned
from Adrian redoing them.

Good luck and congrats,

Tom

[dtrumbo]

Thanks Tom! I appreciate the "Adrian gives them out to (apparently) everyone" explanation. Maybe that's Adrian's Koan. A random part that YOU have to figure out what it's for, where it goes and if it's the right one for your application.

[Sylvester]

So before Sylvester asks, here's a link to my Photobucket album which has over 300 photos of the entire process and 2 videos of first engine-start. I'll let you all feast on them as you like.

http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll23 ... =slideshow

I looked at them all! WOOT! Holy crap where did that come from, that Bus on Lost? I was looking for a large carcass in the oil cooler vents! Was this to original oil strainer?

[poptop tom]

Thanks Tom! I appreciate the "Adrian gives them out to (apparently) everyone" explanation. Maybe that's Adrian's Koan. A random part that YOU have to figure out what it's for, where it goes and if it's the right one for your application.

I was confused myself when I saw them!

With that said, I would like to hear his reasoning for sending them!

[dtrumbo]

Holy crap where did that come from, that Bus on Lost? I was looking for a large carcass in the oil cooler vents!

The guy I bought the engine from had acquired the bus from a repair shop that had basically impounded it since the then-owners couldn't afford to fix whatever was wrong (he implied fuel pump, but who knows for sure). I bit my lip, tongue and anything else I had handy when he proudly unveiled his beautiful brand new turn-key engine he had just purchased from... GEX . I just drove away with my new-to-me and better-than-what-he-had engine and said a silent prayer for him. I never contacted him again so I don't know for sure how it all turned out.

[vistacruzer]

I thought that being given to you with the heads that they were head to barrel.

[dtrumbo]

I thought that being given to you with the heads that they were head to barrel.

When I talked to Adrian, I believe he told me they were to be used (as you would guess) between the barrel and the case. My belief is backed up by the fact he told me to use black RTV to seal them. I used Permatex Aviation seal instead. It's highly possible I misunderstood him, but that's my belief.

[Gypsie]

It's the quiet ones, I tell you.

they just lurk there , all quiet like, engaging in nefarious acts of dismembering under the glare of shoplites using all nature of devices and goop as they breathe life into the lifeless...


Way to go Dr. FrankenTrumbo...









did I say dismembered?...I meant dismantled....


Or did I....?

[dtrumbo]

Way to go Dr. FrankenTrumbo...

Thanks, buddy!

So tonight when I get home I'll be doing the ring break-in. Then starting tomorrow I'll be replacing the clutch on my wife's bus. She just called and told me that the noise it has been making has turned into a shudder, but that will be addressed in the other thread I've already started. I have three human children and three VW children. They're quite similar as if one gets attention the others line up for some love as well. That's o.k. I've got enough for everyone.