Itinerant Air-Cooled

1200 mile update....running like a swiss watch. I need to lean out the mixture some more, and the friggin' exhaust is leaking between the manifolds and the heater boxes..... I spent HOURS filing, shaving, fitting, etc. I double coated the gaskets with high temp RTV, and they still leak. Sigh. BUT! I did 70 mph 250 miles home, fully loaded, no issues.

I refer you to your earlier statement: "If I get lucky, and it doesn't leak, bonus. If it does, I can replace the exhaust fairly easily." Maybe you didn't really mean that?

I personally would never use RTV on an exhaust junction. New gaskets, flat surfaces, and slow tightening of all the junctions should be enough. Keep everything a bit loose until all the bolts are fitted, then tighten everything up like you would a cylinder head - a little on this bolt/nut, then a little on the next and so on so you don't have alignment issues.

Satchmo

I meant it at the time, as it did seam easy to access the exhaust as the engine sat on my engine stand and I could easily rotate it into any position.

Some of the bolts that hold the heat exchanger to the fan shroud were extremely challenging....spent quite a bit of time getting things lined up, and once I did, I could not get a socket on the (10mm?) bolt, so I had to turn it an eighth of a turn at a time with an open end wrench. One thing standing up in good light on an engine stand, another laying on your back underneath an engine trying to both balance and reconnect heavy exhaust components.

I've read in several places (I'd have to research where..) recommending using high-temp RTV on the gaskets and letting it cure over night, which is why I did so.

I'm afraid dropping the whole exhaust will introduce more leaks...currently just between the manifold and the exhaust elbow. What I will probably try to do first, is loosen just those two joints, replacing the gaskets, and seeing what that does.

That sounds like a good plan. May need to loosen the next joint downstream as well to give you enough play to get everything lined up.

In any VW job, there is always at least one nut that is nearly inaccessible, and it must be tightened with a stubby box wrench, usually by feel alone.

Satchmo

Mike, on challenging flanges, I have used two (2) gaskets glued together with UltraOrange RTV to excellent effect. But this new Technical Service Bulletin has the better solution yet. Yes to UltraOrange on flanges as you assemble.
Colin