Itinerary Appointment 06/01
Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 8:39 am
Had a nice/interesting visit with Colin and Naranja in sunny, warm Delhi, NY. And yes lets get this out of the way I failed my post visit exam with flying colors, I think the time of evening had something to do with it, 10:15PM. I'm old, not Colin old, but old nonetheless, my brain was mush by the time the exam was administered, why this, why that, blah, blah, blah... Note that several visitors throughout the day thought that Colin's Naranja was actually my bus FatBoy, I wish!
On a more serious note was proud to be told that one of my issues was a 'first', unfortunately I think he will be posting pictures of the issue at some point (his term for the damaged part was "slightly compromised". The day before his arrival I was adjusting the valves and changing the oil on my Super Beetle only to find a crankcase full of a wonderful gas/oil mix. Knowing that my carb had been rebuilt and only had a few miles on it I immediately suspected the original fuel pump (had the built-in filter, already miss it...), after fighting the rear bolt to remove found that everything below was drenched in fuel, diagnostic correct (my last correct one for a few days).
Called multiple local parts places (20+ miles is close right?) and actually found a cheapo replacement. Installed it, tightened the bolts down and was off to the front to install a fuel filter under the tank, once installed, turned it over all was good... but no start. Turns out when installing I found out that my fuel pump rod was defective , oh and a little long for the new pump, and actually bent it severely while tightening. Colin determined this once we took the pump back off. Neither of us are sure of how this could have happened but Colin ventured to guess that it might have to do with lack of feeling in my fingers, i.e. not knowing my own strength. Apparently should have felt the resistance as I was tightening it down, easy for him to say.
While a bent rod is not the end of the world try getting it out of the hole, clearly our first battle of the day, which we eventually won but not without a few choice words and using a multitude of tools to finally remove the phenolic block (the upper part at least) and then were able to remove the rod by taking some of the bend away. Unfortunately the lower portion of the phenolic remained, Colin came up with the idea of using a properly sized lag screw to tap into the remnants then pull out, it actually worked!!! We are both hopeful that nothing else is damaged and the remaining small pieces of phenolic won't cause any issues, my comment "Colin don't worry that crap will just get chewed up when I start it...", we shall see. When the comment "split the case" came out I suggested we move on to the real task the Type 4 engine that is waiting to go back in my bus. Yesterday ordered a new, I say phenolic you say plastic, block and both length pushrods as I am still somewhat confused as to the proper height, 108mm or 100 mm for the replacement pump. I'll know soon enough.
We were both optimistic that the engine would be quite straight forward as compared to the fuel pump issue but not to be. First a few minor adjustments had to be made; re-indexing of the distributor gear (I was only 12-15 degrees out), adjustment to the throttle stops, chokes and fast idle links and then finally set static timing. Once we fired it up demonstrated same characteristics of lousy idle which Colin was able to overcome to some degree, actually ran continuously by itself for several minutes, impressive. We also determined that I was missing the pressed in angled vents that go to the float bowl, my two other carbs also did not have these parts, huh? Do these routinely fall out of carbs as I am 0 for 4 ? Anyone have one or two floating around? By the way we can attest that these are difficult to remove and replace, enough said...
At the end of the day and multiple diagnostics later the engine was running but timing was wandering, too say the least. The final diagnostic was that we would need to rebuild or replace the distributor as most everything else seemed to be in reasonable shape, especially after Colin had completed his adjustments and evaluation. He was especially impressed that I had broken in the engine without a method of checking oil pressure... NOT! My bad, for some reason never even crossed my mind . The good news is that everything appears to be fine in other words I was very, very lucky. I also apparently have to go back a few steps, remove the muffler and heat exchangers and actually replace the copper gaskets on the exhausts. I fought the good fight with these and lost so went forward with the build, the only positive is that we actually used the exhaust leak in number one for diagnostic purposes.
I have actually found an NOS distributor that was recently posted to the classified in the other site which based on a conversation, pictures, and VW/Bosch part numbers appears to be the exact part I need. While a little pricey I WANT MY ENGINE TO RUN AS INTENDED, a small investment to make to finish the job.
Colin thank you for joining us in wonderful upstate NY and look forward to your next visit either in FL or NY...
Also, by the way I am serious about the need for the angled vents if anyone has any they would like to share let me know.
Finally a picture of Colin, apparently my stand was a little tall... funny it was fine for me
On a more serious note was proud to be told that one of my issues was a 'first', unfortunately I think he will be posting pictures of the issue at some point (his term for the damaged part was "slightly compromised". The day before his arrival I was adjusting the valves and changing the oil on my Super Beetle only to find a crankcase full of a wonderful gas/oil mix. Knowing that my carb had been rebuilt and only had a few miles on it I immediately suspected the original fuel pump (had the built-in filter, already miss it...), after fighting the rear bolt to remove found that everything below was drenched in fuel, diagnostic correct (my last correct one for a few days).
Called multiple local parts places (20+ miles is close right?) and actually found a cheapo replacement. Installed it, tightened the bolts down and was off to the front to install a fuel filter under the tank, once installed, turned it over all was good... but no start. Turns out when installing I found out that my fuel pump rod was defective , oh and a little long for the new pump, and actually bent it severely while tightening. Colin determined this once we took the pump back off. Neither of us are sure of how this could have happened but Colin ventured to guess that it might have to do with lack of feeling in my fingers, i.e. not knowing my own strength. Apparently should have felt the resistance as I was tightening it down, easy for him to say.
While a bent rod is not the end of the world try getting it out of the hole, clearly our first battle of the day, which we eventually won but not without a few choice words and using a multitude of tools to finally remove the phenolic block (the upper part at least) and then were able to remove the rod by taking some of the bend away. Unfortunately the lower portion of the phenolic remained, Colin came up with the idea of using a properly sized lag screw to tap into the remnants then pull out, it actually worked!!! We are both hopeful that nothing else is damaged and the remaining small pieces of phenolic won't cause any issues, my comment "Colin don't worry that crap will just get chewed up when I start it...", we shall see. When the comment "split the case" came out I suggested we move on to the real task the Type 4 engine that is waiting to go back in my bus. Yesterday ordered a new, I say phenolic you say plastic, block and both length pushrods as I am still somewhat confused as to the proper height, 108mm or 100 mm for the replacement pump. I'll know soon enough.
We were both optimistic that the engine would be quite straight forward as compared to the fuel pump issue but not to be. First a few minor adjustments had to be made; re-indexing of the distributor gear (I was only 12-15 degrees out), adjustment to the throttle stops, chokes and fast idle links and then finally set static timing. Once we fired it up demonstrated same characteristics of lousy idle which Colin was able to overcome to some degree, actually ran continuously by itself for several minutes, impressive. We also determined that I was missing the pressed in angled vents that go to the float bowl, my two other carbs also did not have these parts, huh? Do these routinely fall out of carbs as I am 0 for 4 ? Anyone have one or two floating around? By the way we can attest that these are difficult to remove and replace, enough said...
At the end of the day and multiple diagnostics later the engine was running but timing was wandering, too say the least. The final diagnostic was that we would need to rebuild or replace the distributor as most everything else seemed to be in reasonable shape, especially after Colin had completed his adjustments and evaluation. He was especially impressed that I had broken in the engine without a method of checking oil pressure... NOT! My bad, for some reason never even crossed my mind . The good news is that everything appears to be fine in other words I was very, very lucky. I also apparently have to go back a few steps, remove the muffler and heat exchangers and actually replace the copper gaskets on the exhausts. I fought the good fight with these and lost so went forward with the build, the only positive is that we actually used the exhaust leak in number one for diagnostic purposes.
I have actually found an NOS distributor that was recently posted to the classified in the other site which based on a conversation, pictures, and VW/Bosch part numbers appears to be the exact part I need. While a little pricey I WANT MY ENGINE TO RUN AS INTENDED, a small investment to make to finish the job.
Colin thank you for joining us in wonderful upstate NY and look forward to your next visit either in FL or NY...
Also, by the way I am serious about the need for the angled vents if anyone has any they would like to share let me know.
Finally a picture of Colin, apparently my stand was a little tall... funny it was fine for me