Topic: Rebuild....
Friday May 8, 2009
I've been talking about this day for three years!
I took the day off work to get a head start on my first weekend of engine rebuilding. I have one last batch of parts on order which should arrive next week (rocker arms, and some small stuff) and then I'll have just about everything I need for the rebuild. I'm still sitting on the fence about weather or not to get some nice new chrome tin, but for the moment, I think I'll hold off. The body is not 'show car' quality, so I can't really justify getting chrome tin just because I don't want to spend the time cleaning the old messy tin 
I finally have a proper VW friendly engine stand...
I spent a few hours (and beers) getting the gears and associated hardware off of my old crank. Then I spent a good hour (and another beer) trying to get the first crank gear on. It didn't go smoothly. I guess my butane torch wasn't getting the gear warm enough, or I just don't have that mechanic's feel yet... (the bugme video made it look so effing easy!) After about the tenth try, I got it half way down and then couldn't get it back off before it cooled off too much. So I had to make a "tool" to push it down (bored some holes in a 2x6) and tapped it down the rest of the way.
There should be an adapter for the gear pulley tool that would allow it to press the gear back on again!!
Anyway, I finally got all the gears on and everything looks like it is secured in the right place. (Lightened flywheel under counter-weighted crank and a shiny AS41 case after align boring and tapping for full flow)
Saturday May 9, 2009
I had an argument with some connecting rods that wouldn't come apart... Then devised a novel way to use my weight to my advantage. Putting a box-end wrench on one bolt, I laid the con rod on some rags on the floor so that it made an 'A' frame out of the rod and the wrench. Then I stepped on it. There was a very satisfying clunking sound as the bolt gave way to 350 pounds of bignic. I then proceeded to do this with the other three and eventually got my rods onto the crank.
The first hour of trying to put the crank into the block made me want to call the guys at BugMe Video and declare them to be practitioners of voodoo or witchcraft, since they finessed the crank into the block within 5 seconds on the video... The next hour of trying to put the crank into the block nearly made me want to cry. So I did what any man would do... I got a beer.
What occured to me, while drinking my beer was something that I had been aware of months ago, when I first ordered my counter-weighted crankshaft - there may be some clearance issues. Why I had forgotten this fact and not had John's Bug Shop clearance the case for a larger crank, i dont know I think, because the stroke was still stock, I had assumed there would be no need to clearance the case, so I hadn't thought about it. While it is clearly a very minor setback, at the time, it felt like the whole project was a poor idea and that I should stick with computer programming.
But I manned-up and got out the grinder after a long hesitation (since there is BARELY enough room to get the grinder into the correct position and I really despised the thought of having to take the block for a nice power-wash again... Added to the fact that I have only used a grinder once or twice in my life, and never on something that was as valuable as this case is to me...)
After many (many, many, many) test-fittings, I managed to get the crank to rotate properly. The clearance work isnt pretty, but it seems to do the trick. In addition to the fact that the case has obviously seen some wear AND I'm going to be increasing the amount of stress on it, I'm worried that I'll take off too much 'meat' and weaken the case. So I just did what seemed necessary. After I did the case half on the stand, I did the same process with the other case half (each time, grinding a bit, vacuming and blowing out all the metal shreds, wiping, etc, etc) until I could set both halves together and rotate the crank without any issues.
I was very tired, but decided to press on, and locktite my cam gear to the cam (18ft-lbs as per Engle's instructions) I did a quick check to make sure that the 'custom' shorter body oil pump was going to clearance the flat cam gear the way they said it would (it does!) My brother Matt (expert machinist to the rescue!) has already tapped and sealed the output hole on the oil pump in preparation for the full-flow oil setup.
Sunday May 10, 2009
While trying to test fit the distributor gear, I managed to scratch the brass drive gear up... it looks salvagable, but I'm pretty confused about what was binding up. I tried to fit it in about a half dozen times and gave up. I decided to lift the crank back out and I'll try to set it on top of the distributor drive gear instead. I'm fairly certain I can line them up properly but I'm worried about smashing the gears together with the weight of the crank coming down. I really dont want to assemble the case and put it in after, because of the potential to lose the washers inside.
Another setback: I only appear to have one pinion shim for the distributor drive gear and every manual I have says that you must have two ... so I've ordered some from cip1 and am having it shipped overnight, so hopefully it gets here by the end of the week (grin). I was going to order it from Marks Bug Barn simply out of convenience (hah!) but after taxes and shipping costs, he wanted 30$ to ship two 68 cent shims that will fit into a regular letter envelope!!!!
So I wont be building for a while. I think I'll take some time to do a bit of touch-up work on the crank clearance grinding (that I did last night in haste) and take the case for one last power-wash.
Tuesday May 12, 2009
Today I hit a major brickwall and I'm totally exhausted with frustration right now. I got the distributor shims in the mail after work so with no hesitation, I got my grubby clothes on and went out to start building again. I have decided to put the distributor pinion gear in before sealing the case, so I don't run the risk of losing any pieces in the case. Everything was going smoothly, and I decided to go ahead and permatex the case and seal her up.
Long story short, I've wasted a bunch of permatex and I'll have to spend a few hours cleaning the case and nuts off whenever I decide that I'm ready to tackle this again.
Short story long, I guess my test fitting of the case halves wasn't very accurate, because when I actually started tightening some of the case nuts down, the crank would bind up. I removed the case half three times - not a fun task if you're trying to keep permatex off of the important surfaces when there is wet permatex EVERYWHERE... AND trying to keep the cam-followers from being destroyed or wiping off the burnishing compound. Each time I would actually get some pressure on the case, the crank would bind up.
I haven't got a clue what was binding, and I'm not even sure where/how to start looking. I'm just totally demoralized at the moment.
I suppose if I wanted to have a hassle-free build, I could have bought 100% stock components and just put it together. So I guess I 'asked' for this....
Friday May 15, 2009
So I was obviously premature on trying to slap the case halves together. Not sure what I was thinking. I've been spending the past few days doing cleaning and test fitting.
- I cleaned the case (again), washing out all of the bearing journals with degreaser.
- Chamfered the split bearing journals slightly at the top so the case-half edges have a bit of room to mushroom.
- reseated the split bearings
- used assembly lube on the bearings instead of oil
- attached flywheel with correct shims to take out end-play and rule out if I had to do more clearancing or not
The crank is turning a bit more freely now, but as soon as I torque down to 15 lbs, it binds up. After a lengthy series of tests, I have determined that its only the front main bearing (the large one closest to the pulley) that is binding up, and the rear two (closest to the flywheel) can safely torque to 20lbs without causing binding. I didnt want to go past 20 on the rear without also torquing the front two nuts for fear of bending stuff, but I think they would go to 24-25 without a problem. As soon as either of the front two large nuts get too tight, the crank binds up (and I start to get that sinking feeling)
I'm almost relieved some how, but I'm really not sure why since I still don't actually know what I'm going to do about the problem other than pull the gears off the crank, clean the bearing, and put everything back on again.
I booked the next week off of work for this rebuild, so hopefully I can get some gumption built up and make some progress.
So now the problem remains, but at least I have a more refined target of investigation.... that front main bearing.
Monday May 19, 2009
We be torquing! The case halves are together and although the crank 'feels' tight to me, I have been assured by two seperate machinists that it is in fact fine and that I'm worrying about nothing. The binding issues that I was experiencing on the front main bearing were resolved when I put in the oil pump before torquing!!!. I was unaware of the importance of doing so, but after the suggestion of my brother's girlfriend that "there should be a 'spacer' or something in there if its too tight," it dawned on me.... Since I knew I was only test fitting, I didn't put the pump in but under normal circumstances the case will tighten around/against the pump and it NEEDS to be in before the case is torqued.
Between the oil pump and the small amount of space that the permatex is now taking up around the edge of the case, I was able to torque all of the main bearing nuts to 24-25lbs without binding the crank at all. After tightening the case edge nuts and bolts, the crank got a bit stickier but as I mentioned earlier I was told that I was just overreacting. It takes a small amount of force to get the crank moving, but once it starts moving, its smooth. It feels as though (after settling) the crank is sitting on metal rather than oil/lube and once it is turned slightly that film returns and allows it to spin more easily. The amount of time I've spent "playing" with it is also starting to wear the lube very thin, so I'm going to have to make a conscious effort to stop playing now that the case is together and I can't re-lube everything again.
I know that people have posted that you should be able to turn the crank with your thumb and forefinger on the crank nut, but I just dont know how thats possible. I can barely do that with the crank just sitting in the case! I'm very curious why there isn't a quantitative measurement that I can take to evaluate this force (ie: see how much torque it takes to turn the crank in a case half, with case halves together, with heads on, etc) This is something that would be very useful for a first time builder since there is no way to know what relative terms such as "tight" or "loose" actually are.
I've got the head studs in after a few moments of thinking "oh no, wrong parts" ... There is one longer stud for the "deep socket" on #3 cylinder. They are on "finger tight" for the moment. I think they stay that way, and will essentially be torqued later when I get the heads on. If this is incorrect, please feel free to interrupt me
I've also done a quick inventory of some boxes that I hadn't opened yet (rocker arms, new pulley, oil filler gasket, etc...) and took a brief look at the dual carbs (scary and complex, not to mention they are setup for a stock 1600 engine and I have no idea how to tweak them for a 1776... oh learning....)
Tomorrow I'll be cleaning up my cylinders/pistons and heads.
Thursday May 21, 2009
As I figured, the decking on the case has caused the cylinders to be too short. At top dead center, the pistons actually come out of the cylinders about 1 - 1.5mm. Crap! So another day was spent on yard work and landscaping while I waited for barrel shims to arrive.
They arrived today, but unfortunately, there was a set-back. (Oh no... another one. yay. 'cause I love setbacks. I deal with adversity so well.)
The side of the shim that you can't see is aligned perfectly against the lip where the decking was done on the case. As you can see, the decking is not quite wide enough to allow the shim to seat properly, so it's always resting on TOP of the lip rather than beside it. Two possible solutions: 1) get the case machined again, or 2) start sanding down each of the shims so that they'll actually fit. Neither option appeals to me (as they're both a lot of hassle and effort) but having the case machined is just ridiculous. So I'm going to get a belt sander and slowly sand away about 1 to 2 mm of diameter of the edge of each of the shims.
Friday May 22, 2009
Got a belt sander and went to work on the shims.
Once they were all fitting nicely within the machined decking, I permatex'd them and dropped the cylinders on. Small victory... Now on to the next hold-up...
Pushrod tubes appear to be too long, but match the size of my old ones exactly. So, is the head sitting too low? Do I just need to get adjustable pushrod tubes? (what a pain!) For a while, I was thinking that its just the seals not seating properly since they seem to be sticking out. But I have tried placing them in the head, and putting the tube into the seals, but the seals just push their way back out of the head.... this is going to be a pain. Theres no way I will attempt to squeeze these in and try to torque the head properly when the push-rod tubes are going to cause grossly incorrect torque readings 
I cant even start threading the nuts on anyway because its lifted up so high...
I'm afraid that this is a warning sign that I'll have some shimming to do when it comes to rocker-arm geometry too (which, of course, I'm not looking forward to.... in fact... why am i doing this? what AM I looking forward to?!) I'm using stock ratio rocker arms but I have a mild performance cam. I have some math to do very soon, but I'm not going to worry about that until I can get both of the heads on and torqued down.
Tuesday May 26, 2009
Still waiting for adjustable pushrod tubes so I decided to put in my new transmission mounts and throw-out bearing. Come to think of it, I can probably do the flywheel seals also, while I'm waiting.
Heads are on finger tight for the moment. I'm not sure but I think I'll be able to put the adjustable pushrod tubes in without having to take off the heads. No loss, if not.
I'm getting excited to start her up, but I've still got one major hurdle (well, two, if you count the likelihood of having to play with rocker arm geometry for a thousand years....) ... the dual carb setup. Building and installing it is going to be a challenge since i've never even seen one setup in real life. Tuning it will be another issue...
Friday May 29, 2009
National Adjustable Pushrod Tubes Day!
Saturday May 30, 2009
It was a long day today but I had good weather, good luck, and a little help from above. I cleaned up my old tin a bit and did a quick coat of high-temperature black paint. I installed pushrods and rocker arms and it went surprisingly smoothly. I had to shim the rocker arms up (three shims on each side - included with the new rocker arms) to get it to the point where the pushrods would not fall out of the rockers, and everything had just a little bit of play to it when the adjusters were backed off completely.
I dropped the doghouse back on... Oops... remind me to tighten the alternator strap!
... and then I broke out the dual carbs. I was very afraid of this part, since I've never seen dual carbs in person and I had no idea how to set them up. I got all the parts out and laid them out and took a look at the instruction sheet. OH. ... MY .... GOD. The "instructions" are basically a list of steps that say "Install XYZ" ... which is GREAT if you already know what an 'XYZ' is and exactly how to install it. But if I knew that already, I wouldn't need the instructions, would I? They also don't provide enough fuel hose (go figure!)
I'm pleasantly surprised with my skills, however, since I managed to get it all together without too much head scratching. The one thing that I'm not sure about is where the equalizer/crossover tube is supposed to go: back or front? Since I mounted the manifolds (without thinking) having the equalizer bung pointing backwards, I was thinking I'd just put the tube back there but I don't think it'll work out. Since I have to take the carbs off again in order to install the engine in the car, I'll have to be able to tighten the tube clamps from the outside of the car. This means that the manifolds are going to have to come off, and be swapped. Not a big deal, I guess, since I'll be taking the carbs off anyway.
I also spent about 25 minutes ripping the exhaust heater box off the left side 'J' pipe but I haven't done the other side yet.
Sunday May 31, 2009
I took the carbs and manifolds back off, and put in spark plugs. (And thanks California Import Parts for neglecting to tell me that the new heads I bought wouldn't take stock sparkplugs... a small note on the product sheet on your website would be nice... and thanks for selling me stock sparkplugs anyway.)
...
No pictures today... just frustration! Ahhh!
Has anyone ever had to grind down transmission mount studs?! I've never heard of such a thing (but then again, I never searched any forums for 'tedious crap that you might run into and you never suspected would be a problem...ever.')
The new transmission mounts have studs that are about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch too long! I didn't notice this when I put them in, but I sure noticed when I tried to slide the engine into place. They're huge!
I had the engine mounts perfectly aligned and began to push it back into the transmission. It went so smoothly that I was surprised at my luck... until... after an inch and a half the case wouldn't go in any further. I tried for about an hour to wiggle it in, but nothing would help.
As bed time rolled around, I decided to lower the engine back onto blocks and wait for another day. I did a quick inspection to see if there were any metal fragments to indicate something being chewed up. There were some marks, but I'm 99% sure it was from when the case slipped backwards and dinged the edges of the studs when I was pulling it out. Then I noticed the transmission mount studs protruding and I compared them with the old ones. The old ones are at least half an inch shorter!
Just to be sure, I grabbed my old flywheel and tried to set it into the transmission. It visibly ran right into the transmission mount studs while they stood there, dumb, immobile, and grotesque, completely unaware that they had ruined my entire evening.
"Well, you oblivious little stud F***ERS, you are made of mere metal, but I am made of stronger stuff! (and so is my dremel!)"
Is it too much to ask that a manufacturer of transmission mounts (that are purpose built for a late transmission that will definitely have a 200mm flywheel on it) make sure that the thing doesn't interefere with the flywheel?!
I'm just shocked with the amount of cutting and grinding I'm having to do on this project. I suppose the silver lining of all this is that I'm learning not to be afraid of this kind of work. But I had no idea that building an engine would require so much 'fabrication' and modification to parts.
On the other hand, I'm a bit worried when things don't fit as designed, since I immediately think "what have I done wrong?" Quite often, this reveals that I have done something wrong. But in the cases of the crank/case interferance and the barrel shims, there was no doubt - machining would have to be done despite the fact that everyone said "there shouldn't need to be, since I've never run into it" I don't want to turn into one of those "hit it with a bigger hammer" guys but working on my own means that I just have to trust my judgement when it comes to hacking and slashing stuff. I'll have to deal with any resulting issues with honesty and full disclosure to myself that I may not have taken the most patient approach to fixing the problem in the first place.
I really don't want to be one of those people who whines about the quality of parts (as Sean has warned me about! but I'm not sure what other attitude to have when it comes to these things... After I reevaluate everything and find that I am not in the wrong and that machining is neccesary (ie: case/crank interferance, barrel shims) then isn't it acceptable for me to rant on the internet about it? Isn't that what the internet is for? (well, ranting, and porn?)
Short story long, I'll just dremel the ends of the studs off, and try it again.
Monday June 1, 2009
She's in!
The size of the transmission mounts was about 10mm too long. I cut these off and then ground down the nubs a bit more. Flywheel went in perfectly after that 
Tomorrow I'll tackle the carb and wire installation (which should be a real treat since there doesn't appear to be any way to tighten the rear manifold nuts...) and if I'm lucky, the remote oil filter mount.
Thursday June 4, 2009
Two batteries I had on hand were both fried. Bought a new one yesterday.
Carbs in. Not adjusted.. not sure how to adjust them now that they're in either.... IT was a real ordeal getting them in there too. Then pulling them out because I didnt put the rear sparkplug wires on before hand... and theres NO way to get them on after the carb is on the manifold.
Remote oil filter is temporarily installed on the rear lid, since its the only place I can think of at the moment and I dont have any metal or skills to fabricate a proper bracket. Its secure, and the lines seem to be holding pressure. I didn't tighten all of them enough, so there was a bit of a leak when I first started cranking.
Then the oil pump itself started to leak, and of course the rocker covers. Not too worried about the rocker covers - I'll just tak ethem off, clean them up a bit more and try to get a better seal. But the oil pump is going to have to come out in order to get it cleaned and sealed again and this poses a huge problem since the case is obviously torqued around it.... Not sure what I'm going to do about that.
Fuel pump appears to be dead (ordered a new one yesterday). Was not able to pump ANY fuel so I used a siphon pump and 'primed' all of the fuel lines just to make sure the carbs would have fuel and hopefully get the fuel pump to start working again. This didn't change anything because there was no spark...
I neglected to look at the wires carefully before I pulled them off the old coil.. I had a red and a black. Unfortunately the black was the power wire and the red was actually a ground for a tach.... so they went back on the new coil in reverse order and this, in turn, fried my points-free distributor module.
Going to be a few more weeks....
I thought I was disappointed before... no... I've reached new lows today.
Friday June 5, 2009
The clouds are starting to part, and heavenly rays of sunshine are beginning to emerge!
Got my new fuel pump and some filters to day and I slapped em on.
I put in a spare distributor that I had (brand new, but vaccum advance!) just to see if I could get a few pop's of combustion -- AND I DID!~!! -- It revved way up for a second, and I let my foot off the gas and it all came to a glorious halt.
The carbs are not setup properly and with no advance, I don't dare run it for more than a few seconds, let alone enough to break it in... considering the break-in should take 25 minutes and be a whole bunch of throttling up and down, I don't want to blow my engine up because the timing isnt advancing properly. I have a new distributor module on the way, so I'm thinking that I'll just have to wait until that gets here so I can install it and put the old distributor back in before I break the engine in.
During that time, I'll try to figure out how to setup the carbs. I know the idle isn't set right since the engine stopped as soon as i let my foot of the gas. I'm aware that it shouldn't idle during a break-in anyway, but I'd like to make sure that it wont just stop if I let my foot off the gas (or hand off the throttle linkage) during the break-in.
I also need to get some small oil leaks under control... the lines appear to be ok now, but the oil pump is definitely leaking a bit along with the rocker covers. I think I can clean those up a bit more and get a better seal, but the pump is going to be annoying, I'm sure.
Saturday June 6, 2009
LOLZ! We did a bit of a break-in this afternoon. It was short, since the oil leak started to get very bad approaching 10 minutes. I don't think she got quite up to temperature but I didn't really think there was any choice but to shut it down because the oil started to come out in a stream rather than the small drips that it was originally.... The carbs are tuned a bit rich and I cant even FIND the mixture screw on them yet... so I may need to take them off and take another look. (Wow I feel like a newb....)
Listen to an MP3 clip of the last few minutes of the break-in You can hear me say "its really vibrating, eh?" in reference to the air-cleaners on the carb shaking loose (which were loosened to take the cleaners off, and never re-tightened...oops) Just before the end of the clip you can hear me say "oh *explitive*!" as I noticed the oil pump leak turn into a stream. We shut it down a few seconds after that... This thing is loud! 
This is my brother and genius machinist, Matt, handling the throttle. Notice that we still don't have a vacuum hooked to the distributor but apparently there was enough initial advance so that it ran without any hiccups. Still waiting on my electronic module for my old dizzy which I'll likely put back in even though she appears to be running nicely already.
.... sometime later in June, 2009
Back in the garage after my first trip around the block. I tried to convince myself that I should be pride-filled and exquisitely happy during the first run, but I just couldn't relax. It was a VERY STRESSFUL RIDE... I felt like I was driving with an activated nuclear weapon in the car... very afraid of catastrophic failure... The throttle had two settings : IDLE and FULL.
Carbs are running VERY rich and because of the small space that they're in, its proving to be quite a difficult task to adjust them. Enter some questionable timing settings into the equation, and you have a very rough sounding engine. We've worked on it a bit since then (got the idle turned down and mixture set more appropriately) but still not sure about timing. Now begins the long process of 'tuning' an engine... and again, I am completely out of my element. Tuning seems to be somewhat more of a 'black art' than building, but I guess its something I'll have to learn if I want the most out of this engine. Its not a massive engine by any means, but with increased displacement (1776) and increased air intake (dual carbs + enlarged ports on the heads) and counterweighted crank and lightened flywheel... I should notice more performance compared to the old worn-out 1600.
Some notes on oil leak issues
I have been harassed by oil leaks for the past few weeks, mostly from the oil pump area. Up until present, I have identified 4 distinct leaks.
Leak #1 - After the first run turned into an oil spill, I went back to check the face plate and it was very loose. I tightened it up and this turned the flood into a smaller and more manageable drip.
Leak #2 - I did not seal the rear of the oil pump flange/gasket that presses against the case. Ordinarily this may not have been an issue, since there would not be so much pressure coming out there, but I'm running a remote oil filter. Because I did not plug the case inlet hole (only plugged the pump outlet hole) PRESSURIZED oil was coming back into the case after being filtered and squeaking out the old inlet hole, past the gasket.
Leak #3 - I wanted to remove the pump so I could correctly seal behind it. Because my pump was plugged at the outlet hole, a pump puller tool is useless. The only way to get the pump out is to loosen the case studs all around the front of the case, and then start gently prying the pump out by its edges. Unfortunately, I managed to snap one of the tabs off of the pump. This crack wasnt major in terms of oil loss, but obviously catastrophic in terms of moral. I wasn't about to run it for more than a few minutes with this setup.
Leak #4 - After getting another new oil pump installed (very carefully) I managed to over-tighten the outlet hose from the pump's face-plate which resulted in a cracked face plate. The oil-line connectors are tapered so its very easy to crack something if you don't have the feel for it.
So I'm currently waiting for a new face plate and a set of superior valve cover gaskets. With any luck, this will put an end to my oil leak issues and I might actually get a few weeks of driving in this year!
Last edited by thebignic (2009-06-24 17:06:58)
