Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Ground 0 II

Moderators: Sluggo, Amskeptic

Post Reply
User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Ground 0 II

Post by Amskeptic » Thu May 14, 2009 7:23 pm

I thought I might look at my poor engine a little more closely, since it has had three full summers since I threw those Ebay heads on. I was going to mike the exhaust valve stems to look for any signs of "necking" (stretching that narrows the width of the stem near the valve face), but as I looked around, the heads were perfectly sealed to the barrels and I thought not to disturb this happy circumstance, particularly the left "Itinerant Scissorhands" head which is sporting those horrible .060 copper sealing rings from EMPI: So I decided to port-n-polish my heat exchanger outlets and muffler inlets instead:
Image




Then I thought to decarbonize the intake valves. I used a small regular screwdriver to scratch the carbon junk off the stems and back of the valve faces, then I vacuumed out the particles. Then I used a pipe cleaner and a bath of GumOut to wash down the stems, guides and seat walls. Pre-wash on the left, post-wash on the right:
Image


Pulled the lifters to find that my second replacement set from Bus Depot (Febi) has pitting all across the faces and one lifter was concave. You can see it catching the light from the open garage door on its far side. I put in four new Mahle lifters, and we will see how they do. . . .
Image
Image


Then the Timesert came out with the spark plug again. I had to ViseGrip the Timesert off the plug and laboriously file each thread of ViseGrip tracks. The threads in the head were chewed up horribly from the removal of the failed Timesert. So I JB Welded the Timesert back into the head, and will be wondering all summer if it is going to blow. Then I saw cooked wiring from the heater blower to the starter. Had to install a new double helix replacement wire (my wire did not have sufficient amperage capacity, so I doubled it up). Then I looked at my fuel hose which was dried and cracking on the ends. I bought Made In Germany Conti braided 5mm fuel hose from AustinVeedub (good people down there!) and it is totally better quality than the crap I got from Bus Depot. Replacing the fuel hose gave me an opportunity to remount the fuel pump I had to buy on the fly last summer. Then I removed the flywheel to see where the oil was coming from. Front seal was perfect! BUT, the flywheel bolts were drenched in oil. That is caused by the graphite o-ring seal that resides in the recess in the flywheel. Do not reuse these things . . . like I did last time the flywheel was off. Washed the clutch plate with Softsoap and Chlorox and a scrubby sponge, worked like a charm to get the mild contamination off. Then found my pilot bearing was totally lumpy to turn. With memories of VWBusrepairman's extraction difficulties, I borrowed an Advance Auto Parts puller which popped that thing out with quite a bang. It took some real force to pull it, I had to use two pieces of wood to prevent the push piece from damaging the soft aluminum crankcase:
Image

And here the engine is ready to be reinstalled with a fresh pilot bearing and flywheel o-ring. It was 120* in the sun inside the garage, and my floor jack, not minutes after this picture was taken, decided to spontaneously drop. I think it was an expanding air bubble inside that reached the valve, because all I had to do to retore function was to bleed the air from the fill plug hole and it recovered. I had to pump the jack handle, run to the spare wood, come back and pump the handle, and slowly build up two stacks of wood under each exchanger:
Image

Did some decorating and repainting too. I painted my black plastic scale with white paint to more closelyu approximate the original painted scale that came with the car, scratched the paint off the numbers, and used red finger nail polish on the timing marks:
Image

Then thought I might try red fingernail polish on the dipstick and receptacle too. Looks good, we'll see if it holds up under engine heat:
Image

By the way, the muffler heat shield which I finally put on after 30 years last spring? Took it right back off. I have never had blistered tins under the fan until this shield was put in, so I took it back off. My engine likes lots of fresh air around the muffler, seems to be cooler that way. Lost four pounds in five days out in that broiling afternoon sun, but I loooove the heat, I do. Must try to depart on Saturday or Sunday, but there is much yet to do.
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

User avatar
Sluggo
Wishin' I was Fishin'
Wishin' I was Fishin'
Location: Portland, Or.
Contact:
Status: Offline

Post by Sluggo » Thu May 14, 2009 8:40 pm

You never cease to amaze me.:compress:

And when I replaced the fuel pump on my Beetle last week I noticed my Bus Depot hose was cracking on the ends too.
:vwgauge420:

1977 Bus with Sunroof - "Lucky '77"
2000cc Type IV w/Dual Weber 36s,
Aircooled.net SVDA w/Compufire,
Redline Weber Fuel Pump,
Holley Regulator,
Half Ass Brush & Roller Rustoleum Paint Job,
Incomplete Custom Interior,
Dual Batteries,
Crunched Slider Door.
------------------------------------------------------

User avatar
spiffy
IAC Addict!
Location: Walla Walla, WA
Status: Offline

Post by spiffy » Thu May 14, 2009 9:25 pm

Maybe some tool steel lifters?

I am haunted by my lifter choice already. Wish I would have put the cash down for the good ones. Udo Beckers are what I am doing if my case comes apart. $400 for a set but you save the pitting, cam, no break in required. Only available in the solid flavor.
78 Riviera "Spiffy"
67 Riviera "Bill"

User avatar
dtrumbo
IAC Addict!
Location: Mill Creek, WA
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Ground 0 II

Post by dtrumbo » Fri May 15, 2009 5:15 am

Amskeptic wrote:Image
Sexy! I'm still enjoying the 'basic' service you gave to my timing scale last summer. It's so simple, yet so damn helpful to have the numbers you need highlighted and to have the tick marks on the pulley.

Here's wishing you safe and successful travels this summer. See you in Maupin!
- Dick

1970 Transporter. 2015cc, dual Weber IDF 40's
1978 Riviera Camper. Bone stock GE 2.0L F.I.
1979 Super Beetle convertible.

... as it turns out, it was the coil!

User avatar
Mr Blotto
IAC Addict!
Location: Northern Burbs / Chicago
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Ground 0 II

Post by Mr Blotto » Fri May 15, 2009 7:10 am

dtrumbo wrote:
Amskeptic wrote:Image
Sexy! I'm still enjoying the 'basic' service you gave to my timing scale last summer. It's so simple, yet so damn helpful to have the numbers you need highlighted and to have the tick marks on the pulley.

Here's wishing you safe and successful travels this summer. See you in Maupin!
Hey - is that a new fan, or did you spruce up your old one? Looking good.

I still need to get a new fan......
1978 Sage Green Westy - 2.0 FI - SOLD WITH 109887 miles :-(

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Ground 0 II

Post by Amskeptic » Sat May 16, 2009 9:42 am

Mr Blotto wrote:
dtrumbo wrote:
Amskeptic wrote:
Sexy! I'm still enjoying the 'basic' service you gave to my timing scale last summer. It's so simple, yet so damn helpful to have the numbers you need highlighted and to have the tick marks on the pulley.

Here's wishing you safe and successful travels this summer. See you in Maupin!
Hey - is that a new fan, or did you spruce up your old one? Looking good.

I still need to get a new fan......
That is my half-million mile+ fan. It is no longer indexing securely to the fan hub, so I clearcoated the hub and fan mating areas to close down clearances. Then when I bolted it up, I knew that it was correctly centered.

It is running very well, but I can hear the sloppy stuff anyway, the loose wrist pins, the sloshy main bearings, the end-play, but the exhaust note at a stop light is a perfect hum.
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

User avatar
hambone
Post-Industrial Non-Secular Mennonite
Location: Portland, Ore.
Status: Offline

Post by hambone » Sun May 17, 2009 7:40 am

Save travels, will be sending you positive-vibrations for the journey.
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

User avatar
zblair
The Zster
Location: ATX
Status: Offline

Post by zblair » Sun May 17, 2009 4:04 pm

Colin's plan was to head out by 2pm today. He actually left at 3pm. Nice, warm, sunny day. If you would have seen the array of boxes he had to pack and stack in the Road Warrior, you wouldn't guess that they would all fit, but they did just like always.

Six months flew by fast - faster than we thought it would. And in the interim, we had a lot of laughs and other sundry emotions coloring our days.

Remember how last weekend we had the marathon CV boot swap, clean and install? A couple of days ago, Jeffrey was about a block away from the house getting our mail when one of the boots failed. One of the just installed boots. Colin again saved the day by having another spare in his box o' magic parts. :cheers: So Jeffrey had a chance after a long day at work to reinstall a CV boot and axle again.

God bless Colin. God bless the Road Warrior. God bless Phred. God bless Jeffrey. And God bless the box o' magic parts for wherever it will next bestow VW magic!
1974 T1 Super Beetle "Fweem"
2017 Honda HRV "Domina"


"Love something? Serve it."
~Roshni Mitra

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Post by Amskeptic » Tue May 19, 2009 6:41 pm

zblair wrote: one of the boots failed. One of the just installed boots. Colin again saved the day by having another spare in his box o' magic parts.
And God bless the box o' magic parts for wherever it will next bestow VW magic!
Erp. Ehhh, we must change the tense on that sentence to an actively passive verb.
One of the boots was "failed upon". We were both driven by fierce curiosity as to what could have possibly bent the cap from within? It was a almost like a Stephan King mystery horror, what odd entity could cause the cap to bulge outwards and even trap the locking plates while the joint just sat there working perfectly smoothly as we checked it?? We think it was due to an errant ball escape attempt that ended with the ball falling right back into its pocket.

Folks, do not allow the outer hub to bend more than 20* once everything is assembled, even if getting it proffered to the flanges requires something very close to 20*.
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

User avatar
Gypsie
rusty aircooled mekanich
Location: Treadin' Lightly under the Clear Blue!
Status: Offline

Post by Gypsie » Tue May 19, 2009 11:52 pm

Amskeptic wrote: We think it was due to an errant ball escape attempt that ended with the ball falling right back into its pocket.
I've used this line before,



it doesn't work... :geek:
So it all started when I wanted to get better gas mileage....

Post Reply