Engine Rebuild: 3

With most of the major components now re-installed on the engine, it was time to start putting in and on all the ancillary pieces, like the engine tin, the manifold and heat risers, the alternator and stand, the carburetor and fuel pump.

Clutch alignment tool

Before I could put all those pieces on, however, I had to take care of some alignment/adjustment issues with some of the key components like the clutch.  Although I had managed to install the clutch plate correctly in round two, it turns out that I needed a clutch alignment tool to make sure it was perfect.  Fortunately this is a cheap plastic tool and I found one for a couple of dollars at Austin VeeDub.  It only took a minute to remove the pressure plate and install it correctly.

Oil Pump gasket seal

Another problem that had to be fixed was the oil pump cover plate.  This was leaking, and long before any serious pressure had been applied to the engine, so I knew it was a problem.  The specs call for a paper gasket between the pump cover plate and the pump housing, but for some reason this wasn't actually sealing the oil in.  I did some reading on the Samba and it seems this is a common problem.  Many old timers swear it just takes a gasket and the proper torque on the bolts; many others say it's a common problem best solved with a gasket compound like the stuff I used to seal up the case.  After a couple of wasted gaskets, I decided to go with the latter procedure. After all I had plenty of the gasket compound left over, and I figured that if this doesn't work I can always go with the 'belt and suspenders' approach and install both the gasket and the compound.

Engine tins

With the oil pump cover solved (for now) I moved on to installing the engine tin.  I have been cleaning, buffing, blasting, priming and painting all these bits for weeks.  Whenever I don't want to pull the cover off the car but I have some time to work, this has been my task.

...and painting.

Lots of buffing...

Lots of the tin is pretty banged up, but when I started looking at the cost of replacing it, I decided to keep to my original plan and re-use as many pieces as I can, especially when they are still functional.  Another factor--quality--also has influenced me.

I like seeing it...

The VW mark...

Most of the aftermarket products, including the engine tins, are just not as well made as what was already on the engine.  In fact, most of it is cheap crap that wouldn't even last.  In addition, the sight of the VW mark is enough to make me want to keep a piece if at all possible, keeping as much of the car a 'real' VW.  This has happened a number of times now.  I get some new pieces that look good, but when I compare them to what came off the car, I always choose the original piece, even if it's a bit beat up looking.

All set to install the tin

Pieces go on slowly

So I came to the conclusion that even though brand new tin would look a little nicer, it wouldn't be that substantial a difference because the tin is functional, not decorative.  Most of it won't even be visible.  Of course, I also want even the invisible parts of the car to be right, so this seems fair, and in keeping with the plan to 'refurbish' rather than 'restore' this car.  This meant a lot of time spent getting all the pieces straight and painted, but eventually I had them all done.

Most of the tin is on

Time to install the rest

Getting all the tin painted was just the first step.  Next I had to get it all to go back together and fit.  Just general wear and tear has taken its toll on the shape of these flimsy pieces, and getting them out distorted them even a bit more.

New screws 

Painted fan shroud

It was not until finally I tried to line them up and bolt them together with all the shiny new sheet metal screws I bought that I realized that they were getting a bit scratched up, and that a second coat of paint would be necessary after I had gotten them all in.  This was a small price to pay, though, for getting it all lined up well in advance of installing the engine in the car.

Buffed up alternator

Oil cooler is in

With most of the tin on but before I took it all off for a re-paint, I went ahead and mounted several other key components, like the alternator (now buffed and painted), the intake manifold and heat riser, the oil cooler and the fan shroud that covers it.  After those pieces were back on, I installed the muffler and one of the heater boxes.

Muffler goes on

Although I have purchased some shiny new chrome valve covers, I decided to put the old painted steel covers back on.  They don't have the bling of the chrome, but they do have that VW mark on them.  I found the same mark on the oil cover cap and the hose clamps that hold the fresh air hoses to the fan shroud.

With everything on, the engine is finally starting to look like it will work!

Almost done!

Engine Rebuild: 2

Phase two of my engine rebuild took me from a short block to a long block in an afternoon.  Essentially this meant adding the cylinders, pistons and heads.

Flywheel shims are first

The very first thing to go onto the short block were the shims.  Before the flywheel or the main oil seal could be fully installed--torqued down--I had to check the crankshaft endplay.

Crankshaft endplay is perfect

Endplay is the distance that the crankshaft moves from one end to the other --front to back--now that it is seated on the main bearings inside the freshly sealed case.  Too much endplay and the crankshaft will chatter and tear up the insides of the engine.  Too little endplay and the crankshaft will bind in its bearings will and freeze up the engine.

Just like Goldilocks would have wanted, the endplay has to be just right.

In goes the main oil seal

No more leaks here

It takes a set of three shims, which yield a total of no more than 7mm and no less than 3mm of crankshaft endplay.  I bought a set of six shims in varying thicknesses and a micrometer for measuring the endplay.  I chose a set that matched what came out of the car, figuring this would be a good place to start.  The shims go on under the flywheel, which is then torqued down and measured.   It was good sign for the previous state of the engine that the three shims I chose were perfect.  The endplay was just over 5mm.

The 'Torque Dude' in action

Flywheel lock is simple

Once the shims were in place, the next piece was the main oil seal.  This rubber ring is reinforced with a steel spring, and it fits tightly into the gap between the crankshaft oil slinger washer and the edge of the case, keeping oil from leaking and spinning all over the back of the flywheel, which goes on next.  The oil seal went in straight and easily, with just a  few taps.

Case studs ready to go back

Ready for some pistons

Next came the flywheel.  Using the two miracle tools that helped me get it off, I had no trouble installing and torquing down the flywheel.  The simple little flywheel lock and the ingenious 'Torque Dude' made this task like the proverbial piece of cake.  In a few minutes I had the flywheel on and torqued down to 270 ft lbs with just a torque wrench.  Tasty.

First piston is in

Cylinders are in place

Now it was time to put the 'long' in the long block, adding the bits that make it an engine.  This process began with the re-installation of the case studs, which hold the cylinders, heads and pushrod tubes in place.  These sixteen rods went back into the very holes that they came out of months ago.

Cooling tin between cylinders

Head test fit

With these in place, the pistons could be mounted on the connecting rods, and the cylinders could be mounted over the pistons, all of which took place in fairly rapid order.  Since this was at least the third (possibly the fourth) time to do this, it went rather smoothly.

Now for torquing

Pushrod tubes are tight

Pushrods tubes and heads were next, allowing for the shims at the base of the cylinders and the spacers on the top, next to the heads.  Bolting on the heads takes some patience and care, circling round the bolts to tighten it evenly.  The pushrod tube seals fit perfectly, as did the little cooling tins that fit between the cylinders before the heads went on.

Next is the rocker arm

Finally, some bling!

After the heads were toques down, I slid in the pushrods and bolted the rocker arms back into the heads.  It's too soon to check the valve clearances, but it looks good so far.  Nothing is binding or too loose, and everything is lining up the way it ought to.  The last step of the day was to put on a bit of bling: the chrome head covers look real slick!

Engine Rebuild: 1

My list...

All laid out ready to assemble

After over a month of cleaning, and organizing, it was finally time to reassemble the engine.  I had been rebuilding this engine in my mind and on paper for at least as long as I had it apart, so by the time the day rolled around, I felt ready.I had my list, my 'Bentley'--the official VW service manual--and all the parts, either cleaned or brand new and all ready to go.  I laid out everything carefully on my work table and with a deep breath, set to work.

The relief springs and nuts

Pressure Relief Spring

The first thing to go in was the last to come out: the oil pressure relief springs and the nuts that hold them in.  One unintended consequence of the engine rebuild was that I learned what these springs actually do.  This is just one example of the things I've learned from this experience.  I as rebuild it, I see just how the engineering design comes together, and how the various pieces have been organized in an assembly process.  It's amazing, really to see how practical solutions are achieved in steel and aluminum.

Case stud o-rings

Originally these were notched

The next step was to begin putting in the interior pieces.  First came the case stud o-rings, followed by the cam bearings and the main bearing dowel pins.  The o-rings were easy to slip on, and the cam bearings were no trouble either.  These thin bits of steel fit into the carefully polished saddles with a push of the finger.

Cam bearing fits perfectly

Cam bearings ready to go in

I marked the dowel pins so they could go back in their original spots, with the same orientation.  Then I put in the two halves of the number three split main bearing.  After this, it was time to put in the crankshaft.

Main bearing dowel pin

Split main bearing #3

I elected not to rebuild the crankshaft or replace the main bearings because a) the bearings looked fine and b) rebuilding the crank is a pain in the ass.  It requires heating up gears and pressing them into place, which is not something I am prepared for.  So, I just lined up the dowel pins with the corresponding holes in the main bearings and dropped it into place.

Crankshaft ready to go in

One half of the split bearing is in

At first, it didn't fit.  This has to be unbelievably precise.  There can be no movement in any direction, but when I put it in, one of the bearings was slipping slightly.  I took the crank out, checked all the dowel pins and holes and tried again.  It took a couple of half turns and a gentle tap or two, but when it was in correctly there was no mistaking the feeling.  It was rock solid and rotated smoothly.

Flywheel dowel pins are marked

The crank is in

With the crankshaft in, the next part to go in was the camshaft and gear.  This just dropped right in, no problem at all.  I lined up the marks on the gear with the marks on the crank and was finally ready to put the case back together.

...and the short block is done!

The case halves are mated...

First, I applied the sealant--Permatex Aircraft Sealant--to the mating surfaces of the two case halves.  Then, I stuck some wooden clothespins into the cam followers through one half of the case so when I picked it up and turned it over to place on the other half, the cam followers would not drop out.  It's a tricky step, and there's no doing it twice.  Once the sealant is down, you must mate the case halves immediately or start over.  With a lift and one simple and smooth turn, the top half was lowered onto the case studs and the two halves were reunited.

Next came all the case bolts, each tightened in sequence and torqued to the proper spec.  Months of cleaning and polishing came to this.  The short block was assembled.

Next: Long block assembly.

Tools

I saw this on the net today and it reminds me that I am not alone:

"Originally from England, this is an old list that's been floating around for generations."

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate expensive car parts not far from the object we are trying to hit.

MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on boxes containing convertible tops or tonneau covers.

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning steel pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age, but it also works great for drilling rollbar mounting holes in the floor of a sports car just above the brake line that goes to the rear axle.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS: Used to round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXY-ACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting those stale garage cigarettes you keep hidden in the back of the Whitworth socket drawer (what wife would think to look in there?) because you can never remember to buy lighter fluid for the Zippo lighter you got from the PX at Fort Campbell.

ZIPPO LIGHTER: See oxy-acetylene torch.

DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against the Rolling Stones poster over the bench grinder.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans rust off old bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprint whorls and hard-earned guitar callouses in about the time it takes you to say "Django Reinhardt."

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering a Mustang to the ground after you have installed a set of Ford Motorsports lowered road springs, trapping the jack handle firmly under the front air dam.

EIGHT-FOOT-LONG DOUGLAS FIR 2x4: Used for levering a car upward off a hydraulic jack.

TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters.

PHONE: Tool for calling your neighbor Chris to see if he has another hydraulic floor jack.

SNAP-ON GASKET SCRAPER: Theoretically useful as a sandwich tool for spreading mayonnaise; used mainly for getting dog doo off your boot.

E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool that snaps off in bolt holes and is ten times harder than any known drill bit.

TIMING LIGHT: A stroboscopic instrument for illuminating grease buildup on crankshaft pulleys.

TWO-TON HYDRAULIC ENGINE HOIST: A handy tool for testing the tensile strength of ground straps and hydraulic clutch lines you may have forgotten to disconnect.

CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 16-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large motor mount prying tool that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end without the handle.

BATTERY ELECTROLYTE TESTER: A handy tool for transferring sulfuric acid from a car battery to the inside of your toolbox after determining that your battery is dead as a doornail, just as you thought.

AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.

TROUBLE LIGHT: The mechanic's own tanning booth. Sometimes called a drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, "the sunshine vitamin," which is not otherwise found under cars at night. Health benefits aside, its main purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate that 105mm howitzer shells might be used during, say, the first few hours of the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is somewhat misleading.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the lids of old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splash oil on your shirt; can also be used, as the name implies, to round off Phillips head screws.

AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty suspension bolts last tightened 40 years ago by someone in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and rounds them off.

Engine Teardown

The flywheel is marked

Well, I suppose that worse things have happened during this project than having to rebuild the engine, but if I count this as a learning--and therefore enjoyable--experience, then I will consider this to have been fun.  In any case, after finding the broken fuel pump guide, it was inevitable, so there's no point in thinking of it in any other way.  In fact, it will give me peace of mind, knowing that I didn't leave the engine as a question mark.  Now I know it will work.

Flywheel off the engine

The first thing I did was to remove the oil sump cover and drain out whatever oil was left in the bottom.  To my surprise and dismay, in addition to the bit of oil that I expected to see, I also saw a lot of water.  Not gallons or even quarts, but it was a pint or so.  It was clear, so it wasn't mixed in to the oil when the engine was running.  That means it got in somehow while it has been sitting outside.  I thought I had covered all the inlets, but obviously I missed something, somewhere.  Oil I want in the engine; water I do not.

The intent was to break down the engine and split the case, so the first step in this process was to remove the flywheel.  This very heavy steel disc is attached directly to the crankshaft with a very large steel nut, called the flywheel gland nut.  I have no idea why it is a gland nut, but I do know that the damn thing was in there tight.  So tight, in fact, that I just couldn't get it to budge, even with a breaker bar.  Part of the problem with loosening a very large and very tight nut is securing the engine so the whole thing doesn't flip over when the torque is applied to the nut.

A series of Rube Goldberg attempts to secure the engine and loosen the nut convinced me to do some searching/reading on The Samba (a VW fan site), where I discovered a good alternative called The Torque Dude.  Essentially this is a torque-multiplier tool that uses the teeth of the flywheel to loosen the nut with an ordinary breaker bar and a minimal amount of force.  It was $50 and worth every penny.  I removed the gland nut in less than a minute and the flywheel came off shortly after that.

Underneath the flywheel

An inspection of the flywheel showed it to be in good shape, so it can go back on the engine with a new o-ring.  The three spacers looked good, though I may replace them just because I can.  Getting the flywheel endplay correct is probably the most critical aspect of rebuilding the engine, so I bought a dial indicator to measure the endplay when I put the flywheel back on the crankshaft.  That won't be used until I get the case back together, though, and that won't happen until I get the case apart in the first place.

A few drops of oil on the main seal

With the flywheel off (and properly marked for re-installation) it was time to crack the case.  There was a tiny bit of oil accumulated at the bottom of the main oil seal, which means it may have been leaking a bit, but because the space between the case and the flywheel was relatively clean, it meant that the engine had not been abused.  In fact, the oil may simply have been from all the turning about that I've subjected the case to over the past few weeks and months.

The oil pump comes out next

Next to come out/off was the oil pump.  The cover and the two gears were a cinch, but pulling out the pump itself requires a special tool.  I did some reading/searching again and found that the oil pump would simply fall out when the case halves were separated.  Doubtful but with little choice, I proceeded to remove all the case bolts and get to cracking.

...and the case is open!

Case nuts come off...

At first, even with all the bolts out, the case wouldn't budge.  I pounded on it pretty good with a large rubber mallet (as per instructions, mind you) and still nothing.  The oil pump came out, as predicted, but the case halves themselves were still less than a centimeter apart.

Then I discovered the last bolt.  The last two, actually.

With those pesky bits of hardware removed, the case came apart with no trouble at all.  A couple of whacks with the mallet and voila, the two halves were side-by-side on my table.  The camshaft and gear came out without difficulty, as did the crankshaft.  I pulled out the distributor drive gear, the cam followers, the cam bearings, the split main bearing and the main bearing dowel pins and set them all aside.

Cam followers are good

Cam bearings are good

Crankshaft is out

Now it was time for an inspection, especially to see if the bearings were any good.  The state of the bearings would tell the story for this engine.  If they were intact and unscarred, then it meant the engine was good and would not require anything more major than a clean up and reassembly.

In fact, the bearings looked perfect.  It's as if this engine was rebuilt, then run for a very brief bit of time before the car was simply set aside.

Some gunk under a cam bearing

Lots of wiping & polishing

There was no discernable wear on any of the bearing surfaces, though I did see a faint line on one of the cam bearings and decided it was an easy and cheap enough fix to replace them.  The main bearings have to be replaced as a set and I couldn't see any reason to go through the difficult procedure of tearing down the crankshaft to replace the bearings.  So I didn't.

A hot bath is coming

Next up was cleaning.  Lots and lots of cleaning.  First came wiping down.  Then I washed both halves in soapy water and did a lot more wiping down and blowing off/out with compressed air.

Bearing saddles are polished

Then I started polishing.  Although they merely need to be clean, I resolved to actually polish the bearing saddles just to be absolutely sure of a good fit.  This resolution cost me many hours of polishing with steel wool, but the results were worth it.

Cylinder mating surfaces, too

After all the saddles were polished and as many of the surfaces as possible had been wiped clean, I polished the case studs and finished with all the mating surfaces on the two halves.  Then came another bath in soapy water, then two rinses in clean hot water, and another blow out and wipe down.

Pushrod tube ports also

After a few hours of drying, I masked and painted the two case halves again, just hitting those spots where I'd failed to reach in my first pass.  For the most part, it was painted but after touch up, it was a good as it was going to get.

Now, with all the parts clean and ready to go, I am ready for round two:  assembly.