Bus type 4 engine end play shims-Availability?

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Jivermo
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Bus type 4 engine end play shims-Availability?

Post by Jivermo » Thu Mar 13, 2014 9:39 am

https://plus.google.com/photos?pid=5990 ... 1456876336

I have been corresponding with Colin about the difficulty of finding thicker flywheel end play shims for our aging fleet of bus engines. I'm about to purchase some tooling in order to fabricate these shims in the thickness of .38mm or .39mm (or .40 or .41mm - ed). Before I go to the expense of doing this, I'd like to know if there is any source for these shims that I might have missed. Raby, Bus Depot, Bus Boys and German Supply have all informed me that there are no more .38mm shims to be had. I would appreciate feedback on this. Second, since I'm going to need to try to recoup my investment, do you all feel that there is a market for these, if I can get them out at a reasonable price? Once I get the tooling, I can make them pretty easily in different thicknesses. Thank you.

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airkooledchris
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Re: Bus type 4 engine end play shims-Availability?

Post by airkooledchris » Thu Mar 13, 2014 11:54 am

I have ordered them directly from classic parts VW in Germany without any issues.

http://de.vw-classicparts.com/bestand/b ... pl?lang=en

the .38mm spacer is part number 021105289 (enter it here without spaces or dashes)
021105287 - .36mm
021105285 - .34mm
021105283 - .32mm

It's a little over $5 for just 1 in .38mm, the rest are cheaper than that.

If you can make the .38mm ones for less than $5 a pop (not to mention international shipping) - go for it. It would probably take a while to recoup the costs, but if they were high enough quality you could probably sell them in bulk to all of the US and Canada based vendors and engine builders.
1979 California Transporter

Jivermo
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Re: Bus type 4 engine end play shims-Availability?

Post by Jivermo » Thu Mar 13, 2014 2:43 pm

Thank you. I've requested info from them. If it's that available, and cheap, I'll place on order with them instead of messing around making them.

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asiab3
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Re: Bus type 4 engine end play shims-Availability?

Post by asiab3 » Thu Mar 13, 2014 3:32 pm

I can't vouch for them, but http://vanagain.com seems to have them. You have to search yourself for AC Van parts, I used "shim" as my keyword and selected "80-84 Air Cooled" as my parameters. They have all of them, it looks like.

(1972 Type 4 bus all the way to 1983-1/2 Vanagon are the same - ed)
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

Boxcar
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Re: Bus type 4 engine end play shims-Availability?

Post by Boxcar » Thu Mar 13, 2014 4:58 pm

last shims I got via Porsche, or Worldpac.
1975 003 Auto Westy L90D

repair!!!!aug2015
Jan/16 Bumped mixture a few notches richer. finally developing HP.


1.8L/LJet/Pertron DVDA+PertronixCompufire 42/36Ham Heads/AA 93mm pistons/barrels.Porsc.Swiv.Adjusters/CromoSteel pushrds/ Web 9550Cam/55cc chmbr.,035 squish,8.6:1CR/German Supply VWCanadaReman Rods/Schadek 26mmPump/vdo dualOP8/10#low sender/Quart Deep Sump
Backdate Htr bxs,reflanged 914 4into1. Two and three eighths inch collector,magniflow*muffler

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asiab3
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Re: Bus type 4 engine end play shims-Availability?

Post by asiab3 » Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:42 pm

airkooledchris wrote:
Jivermo wrote:Thanks. I'm wondering is that shim listed will work for the '78-'79 bays also, as well as the '80-84 Vanagons.
It's the same engine.
Yes, I'm not a T4 owner (yet…) but when I help friends with them, I often ask parts houses for 1980 Van parts when looking for T4 engine parts. Many lackeys at several well-known shops around here just want to sell you T1 engine parts "cause don't you know they have a bug engine, dood?" :pukeright:
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Bus type 4 engine end play shims-Availability?

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:30 am

airkooledchris wrote:I have ordered them directly from classic parts VW in Germany without any issues.

It's a little over $5 for just 1 in .38mm, the rest are cheaper than that.

If you can make the .38mm ones for less than $5 a pop (not to mention international shipping) - go for it.
Our discussion actually veered from this ^ known arena to our potential future needs.
Over time, my shim stock has been slowly migrating to thinner from what used to be thicker, because you all seem to need thicker and thicker shims to get that lovely and important minimal endplay, meaning that our old engines, most particularly the flywheels, are slowly eroding at the shim contact area.

I asked Jivermo if he could possibly see about going beyond the Known Shim Stock Sizes up to
.39mm
.40mm
and beyond.
Sorry I did not make myself clearer.
Colin
(p.s. who came up with $5.00? I would pay the full $10.00 or $12.00 for a .40mm/.41mm shim)
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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airkooledchris
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Re: Bus type 4 engine end play shims-Availability?

Post by airkooledchris » Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:36 am

that's a really good point, it would be nice to have some larger sizes than the usual offerings.
1979 California Transporter

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airkooledchris
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Re: Bus type 4 engine end play shims-Availability?

Post by airkooledchris » Sun Aug 28, 2016 8:08 pm

We still need shims. =)

searching, it would be great to get some made in .40!
1979 California Transporter

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Amskeptic
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Re: Bus type 4 engine end play shims-Availability?

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Aug 28, 2016 8:40 pm

airkooledchris wrote:We still need shims. =)

searching, it would be great to get some made in .40!
You looking for what size for what engine? I have one .40 waiting for use in the BobD, and maybe a .37 or .38 with me, haven't even checked this NaranjaDoesLA engine yet.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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asiab3
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Re: Bus type 4 engine end play shims-Availability?

Post by asiab3 » Sun Aug 28, 2016 10:47 pm

I tried buying two .40's from Vanagain last year, and they emailed saying they were low on stock at the moment. Now their website says the shims are not available… Van-Cafe seems to have them for $12-ish.

Gotta find out if Vanagain charged me or not……
Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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