Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Moderators: Sluggo, Amskeptic

User avatar
weisswurst
Addicted!
Location: NW Florida
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by weisswurst » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:43 am

Colin, please don't "beat yourself up" when you do that's MY friend you are talking smack about man! (implying you of course)
I remember lots of good vibes that day and even againes513 saying "You mean this means I'll probably get 50K more miles with this engine?!!?, I was thinking you meant like 5K!. I want to rebuild it way before then anyway!" :flower:

I received a positive txt message from our host when I arrived home too, so I know we were all having a good old IAC time together.
Safe travels Maestro! :salute:

please come back to Florida soon for a re-schedule with me.
Jeff
"I drink, therefore yes ma'am..."

Againes513
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Againes513 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:18 pm

Thank you Colin, even though it seemed like all we encountered was an unmitigated disaster, I had a blast working with you. It started out pretty smooth... but didnt take long for Murphy"s Law to catch us.

First few hours were spent on removing the engine, and that went well. Then we start adjusting my end play and things started heading south.... Like Colin stated, the end play was not terrible, .005" but it was a top priority on our list of things to do. Everyone knows how strongly Colin feels about end play. We remove the end play, and "surprise" only 2 shims... The mountain is getting steeper.
1.jpg
as you can see, these shims are totally worn down, and my engine only has 3,000 miles.

So, Colin and I work to find out that the mechanic who built this engine, used two shims due to the fact that my lighten fly wheel, would not of had enough play if he used 3 shims.

We decided that the best course of action would be to take the fly wheel to a mill shop and get .003" taken off to allow for 3 shims and the proper end play. Easier said then done, Saturday mornings are not the easiest time to find a mill shop. I took it to the only one I could find open, and we all know what happened... A little gouge and they took a bit to much off.

While I took the flywheel, there was still so much to be done, so Colin began with flipping the windows around to the "front"

We made all attempts to save this flywheel. Colin busted out his handy mirror, which is an old bus mirror, and 80 grit sand paper and attempted to sand down the fly wheel to remove the gouge. That was a success.

Flywheel installation begins, check end play and we are now at .009". We are heading in the wrong direction and the outlook for this flywheel begins to get very grim. We try all the combinations of shims that we have and none work, not even close.

I make a call and see if my good friend Enrique of "The Wizards" has a stock 1600cc flywheel we can pick up, and he graciously opens his shop for us.

Weisswurst was kind enough to drive us in his new ride, and that was great! We pick up the flywheel and head back to the garage.

This is when disaster strikes... Because I had 8 dowels, and the aftermarket dowels were off set we had to remove them. The dowels were impossible to remove and we went to great lengths to take them out with hand tools...Vise Grips, chisels, hammers, they just didnt want to budge. But after what seemed like an eternity, we all agreed to revert to our last ditch effort. The dremel. Colin begins his amazing surgical performance. It was incredibly nerve racking, we had taken all the possible precautions, but anytime there is a power tool cutting your engine, it is nerve racking. Extremely nerve racking...

Colin completes the removal of the of the dowels and goes to fit the new flywheel, and finds that it does not fit... Holy f***kin S**t...

It had already been a long day, but we were lucky enough Weisswurst was around to keep our spirits up and a cheer around. Weisswurst, if you were not there, I dont know if either one of us, Colin or I, would have been able to keep our spirts up enough to keep going! Thanks you so much for making the journey down!!!

Sitting there with one of my carbs in my hand, My head immediately went to worst cause scenario - Is my engine really done? Is this engine, with only 3,000 fresh miles on it, done for???
"Am I really going to have to start from scratch?"
"Is the silver bullet done for??"
"What the hell are we going to do??"
"This amazing learning experience may have just ended in tragedy...."

Colin and I reviewed the option and opted to go back with the only thing that would work... My lightened flywheel. So we made the necessary adjustments and started to but the silver bullet back together.

That night, Enrique stopped by for a quick visit and i had the pleasure of listening to Colin and Enrique reminisce about some of the greatest cars in history and share their amazing VW stories, the good and the bad.

Sunday was a fresh new start and we finally got it all back together and were able to test ride it. Like Colin said, its not the smoothest ride out there, but once it gets going its a pleasure to drive. It is not my ideal set up, but it is mine and I do love it.

All in all it was an amazing experience and I cant wait til Colin makes it back down again. I know this was a little long winded, but a lot went down in a short period of time. There are many things I left out, and there are many pictures to come.

But, anytime we get a chance to work on our VW's is a great time. Not matter what comes up, or what problems we uncover, we are still doing something we love!!!

Againes513
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Againes513 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:30 pm

Collin working on the windows....
Attachments
1.jpg
1.jpg (19.99 KiB) Viewed 8786 times

Againes513
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Againes513 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:32 pm

Weisswurst and the BobD
Attachments
1.jpg
1.jpg (23.75 KiB) Viewed 8786 times

Againes513
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Againes513 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:35 pm

Colin and I discussing which dowels to remove...
Attachments
1.jpg
1.jpg (21.02 KiB) Viewed 8786 times

Againes513
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Againes513 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:37 pm

Prepping the surgical area... Surgery did not go as planned
Attachments
1.jpg
1.jpg (20.1 KiB) Viewed 8785 times

Againes513
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Againes513 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:46 pm

My look of Holy S**t - what the hell are we doing????
Attachments
1.jpg
1.jpg (22.63 KiB) Viewed 8785 times

Againes513
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Againes513 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:49 pm

Colin with the tool of the weekend
Attachments
1.jpg
1.jpg (33.81 KiB) Viewed 8784 times

Againes513
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Againes513 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:52 pm

We did have a fun... There's a chuckle out of Colin in the middle of the dowel removal process..
Attachments
1.jpg

Againes513
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Againes513 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:54 pm

Sunday morning carb adjustments, just before we took it for a ride.
Look at the BobD - what a gorgeous VW!!!
Attachments
1.jpg

Againes513
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Againes513 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:57 pm

The one and only BobD
Attachments
1.jpg

Againes513
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Againes513 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:59 pm

BobD and the Silver Bullet on a beautiful South Florida Morning
Attachments
1.jpg

Againes513
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Againes513 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 7:02 pm

weisswurst wrote:Colin, please don't "beat yourself up" when you do that's MY friend you are talking smack about man! (implying you of course)
I remember lots of good vibes that day and even againes513 saying "You mean this means I'll probably get 50K more miles with this engine?!!?, I was thinking you meant like 5K!. I want to rebuild it way before then anyway!" :flower:
At that point I still had some serious doubts!!!

Colin - just like jeff says, please dont beat yourself up over this... it happened and with the good graces of the VW gods, I will get 50k out of it...

Jivermo
IAC Addict!
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Jivermo » Tue Apr 22, 2014 7:48 pm

Man, wish I had been in town to attend this event!

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

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Miami II

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Apr 23, 2014 6:10 am

Jivermo wrote:Man, wish I had been in town to attend this event!
Heck.
Thank-YOU for letting me stay at the Cottage On The Compound during this marathon.
Never have I been so gladly greeted on my way to the coffee maker as by your two dogs.
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

Post Reply