Engine Build - Type1 1969 Westfalia

hambone · Post by **hambone** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:48 pm

Are you removing part of the skirt?

I think mine are close enuff as they are, but perfectly blanced wouldn't hurt. 3g is a lot of material to remove tho.

tristessa · Post by **tristessa** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 12:30 am

chitwnvw wrote:Why bother painting the cylinders?

Rust prevention. Iron oxide is an insulator, so if we can keep it at bay with a thin coat of flat black paint, the engine will stay cooler. Cooler engines are happier engines.

I suggested painting the case to prevent the magnesium from oxidizing (which insulates and keeps heat in the engine) and Hammy got this crazed look in his eyes .. glad there wasn't a beer bottle handy.

So cutting the skirt back a bit is OK? I've never had to worry about it, the Cofap's I've used in the past have all had nice big balancing pads .. which was handy, one time I had to shave 7g off a piston just to get it within the 5g factory spec.

vwlover77 · Post by **vwlover77** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:36 am

The shop that balanced my pistons ended up removing material from the ID of the wristpin to get the piston/pin combination to match within a gram. They enlarged and tapered the hole at either end of the pin.

chitwnvw · Post by **chitwnvw** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:52 am

tristessa wrote:Iron oxide is an insulator, so if we can keep it at bay with a thin coat of flat black paint, the engine will stay cooler.

I'd of thought paint was an insulator also.

hambone · Post by **hambone** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:11 am

It's a thin coat of thinned paint, so at the very least it'll keep the cast iron purty.
Yeah I'm gonna leave them alone. Maybe if I get crazy I'll balance the pair that is off but 3g doesn't seem like enuff to worry about. Especially because the rotating mass will get balanced.

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:25 am

Can't wait to hear this thing run!! I gotta couple o SP manifolds sitting arouns as well in case ya need one.

hambone · Post by **hambone** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:36 am

That's good to hear, I think my heat riser may be clogged...but we'll see.
What the heck you doin up so early on a Sun?

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:52 am

Dang body likes to wake me up early....happens while camping, as you know. "coffee?, ya want some coffee?" "BAH!! GRUMBLE"

The one I have is brand new (CIP1 crap) that I could not get to fit, you know the deal on these things I went thru 3 of the damn things trying to get them unclogged, some have said that water will work.....start soaking yours as soon as you can to see if you can't get it unclogged. Clara over on TS split bus forum has cleared many of them, she must have patience cause I almost went hulk on mine and turned it into a horseshoe.

You at werk?

hambone · Post by **hambone** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:59 am

Yep, 7am Sun-Wed. Bah.

tristessa · Post by **tristessa** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:25 am

chitwnvw wrote:I'd of thought paint was an insulator also.

It is.

But a thin coat of paint isn't as insulating as teh layer of rust that will inevitably form on the cylinders otherwise.

Post by **Amskeptic** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:43 am

tristessa wrote:
chitwnvw wrote:I'd of thought paint was an insulator also.
It is.

But a thin coat of paint isn't as insulating as teh layer of rust that will inevitably form on the cylinders otherwise.

It's all bullshit, this argument about rust versus paint as an "insulator".
Paint is tidier. Paint might help keep things a little cleaner until your first oil spewing event that coats everything with a layer of dust/oily lint crap ANYWAYS. . .
And while we are here, we will not be painting the crankcase. That is silly. Silly. Silly. Silly. When I see painted crankcases after a few thousand miles of real life, they look like hell. Magnesium and aluminum do a little surface oxidation to protect themselves and it has been working well the world over in the VW family for over 50 years.
Thank-you.
Crablin

hambone · Post by **hambone** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:59 am

I agree. I like to look at a fresh engine and pretend that it's 1969. I've always enjoyed accurate functional restorations. It's fun to mess with your head.
Magnesium seems fine after it's oxidized, like corten steel. And it certainly looks stock.
I wasn't going to paint the cylinders but decided what the hell. I gotta say, after spending a day carefully splattering paint over everything, the parts are infused with a careful love that wouldn't exist if I just bolted em' up. Are ojects that we fondle and admire and carefully prepare for an imagined life charged with that spirit? "I think therefore I am"
It either case they look pretty cool flat black. Wonder why the factory didn't put an oxide coating on them? I guess to keep costs down.

ruckman101 · Post by **ruckman101** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 12:17 pm

Dipstick handles were orange in 1969. well I never.

It's looking good, and I agree with Bookwus, nice crank.

neal

hambone · Post by **hambone** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 12:38 pm

Funny that you noticed that!

Yeah there are little subtleties that will make me smile. I have a particular fondness for orange. Was thinking of painting the spare tire rim orange too. Maybe that would be too garish tho.
And of course the Blue Coil...even considered painting it black and getting the Bosch sticker but that would be ridiculous, wouldn't it?

Elwood · Post by **Elwood** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:06 pm

Hammy, the pictures are so inspiring, the one of the shinning cylinders, next to the earthern, blue striped bowl, full of orange citrus ,just cries out to me to PAINT a still life

And I may even put your dip stick on the table for color balance

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Engine Build - Type1 1969 Westfalia