TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Aug 05, 2003 6:36 pm

Ok...After a few four letter words, a pack of cigs, and a couple of dozen beers I got the 1915 all together. Everything was going great. I was reving it up and letting the whole nieghborhood know that I am the master of my domain (Yes it's loud). All was going great. I broke the cam in and called it a night. The next day I wanted to adjust the valves, change the oil, and add my new reomote oil filter. I completed all the maintenance and started the engine again. Once again, everything was sounding fine. Just then, it started to make a cluncking noise, and the car began to vibrate violently. Pissed off, I quickly turned the car off to investigate the noise and racket. After doing a compression check and looking everything over, I tried to start the car, but there was the cluncking noise louder then ever. So I then pulled the motor, only to discover the f%$k'n flywheel came loose. It didn't do any damage to the tranny, but it jacked up the crank pretty good. four of the eight dowels are completely egged. Of course if those dowels are egged on the crank, then so is the flywheel. I now have destroyed my rebuilt crank, and my new flywheel. I don't know what the happened, or where I went wrong. I torqued the gland nut to 250 ft. lbs. as it stated in the manual. I guess I should have put locktight on the thing HUH? Well it's back to the drawing board. I guess I'll get a counterwieghted crank from DPR this time (that way I can some what justify trashing a perfectly good crank).

Wed Aug 06, 2003 7:40 pm

That sucks man... sorry to hear it.

just curious... what method did you use to get the"250" ft lbs?

was it a stock gland nut and washer or an aftermarket

or stock nut with bigger washer???

Thu Aug 07, 2003 8:19 am

If you did not install a new gland nut, then that was the problem. We always recomend using a new HD Gland nut when building any thing larger then stock. You might be able to have the crank and flywheel drilled and reamed for 11/32 dowels. If 4 dowells are bad and 4 OK then the 8-dowell job was bad to begain with. If the all fit correctly, when one dowell moves then the outher 7 do the same thing. You can not move one without moving the outhers. When installing a new gland nut always be sure to make sure it does not bottom out before getting tight.
Check out these pages -> http://1800vw.bizhosting.com/tool_drill_jig_45_95.html
and -> http://www.1800vw.bizhosting.com/flywheelpuller.htm and -> http://1800vw.bizhosting.com/gland_nut_hd_19_95.html

Thu Aug 07, 2003 4:16 pm

Who did the 8 dowel job on your flywheel/ crank and what kind of crank is it? I have seen quite a bit of bad 8 dowel jobs lately. The previous owner of my current project paid big money to have a engine built. A few thousand miles later the engine was junk. Then I bought the blown up car, and pulled the engine apart. The crank and flywheel had bad 8 dowel jobs. 4 of the crank dowel holes were drilled to deep, so 4 of the dowels were sticking out farther than the other 4. And you could see that the 4 short ones only went half way in the damn flywheel, I could also see that that the flywheel holes were not correct because the dowel pins had to scrape there way in, there was metel flashing in the flywheel holes.
It is a miracle that the flywheel stayed on, half of the flywheel had clutch burn on it and the other half was spotless. It beat the case all to hell the crank gear was even hitting the case.The guy that built his engine would have been better off just useing the stock 4 dowels than a bad 8 dowel setup! But then I would have never got the car.
Sorry for the long story, but be glad that that the flywheel fell off instead of staying on and destroying the rest of your engine! If a bad 8 dowel job is at fault.

Thu Aug 07, 2003 11:45 pm

Well, I did use a new gland nut and washer. It was a Bugpack one. I used a torque dude to get the 250 lbs. I probably should have used some locktight on the thing, but it could have been a bad eight dowel job. I purchased the crank at a popular Sacramento Bug shop. I tell you what, I've learned alot about cranks thatnks to this experience and I now know whst to look for when I purchase my next one.

Sun Aug 10, 2003 12:38 pm

Are you positive there wasn't a small chunk of residual crap under your flywheel/crankshaft mating flange? That can cause an out of balance condition that will loosen a glandnut rather quickly.

Mon Aug 11, 2003 8:36 pm

The crank was a stock rebuilt model (not counter weighted) and the flywheel was made by Bugpack. Both were in excellent shape and none of the dowel pins seemed to be out of round. Everything went together pretty easy and seemed to be going fine. I really think a dab of lock tight would have saved me $300 bucks. Then again, I could be wrong. I know when I put together the next crank and flywheel assembly, I'm putting locktight on it to be sure that SOB isn't coming off anytime soon! Well, I found a crank at DPR, and flywheel. I talked to Jose over there and he's going to bring one up to Bug-o-rama for me. Since I need a flywheel as well, he said that they would balance the thing for me. I am still undecided if I want to get another 69mm though. Now would be a good time to stroke that SOB. I have the money to buy a 78mm as well as the machining, push rods, cly shims, ect. to make a 2165. I'm looking into a Scat 78.8 forged, anyone got one? Do you like it?

Mon Aug 11, 2003 8:42 pm

If you stick with a 74mm stroke, you will have little to no clearancing issues. Above that, and you will be at least case clearancing, maybe rod clearancing and in larger strokes, even have problems with rod to cam clearance. If you're up for it, by all means go for it!! Not many mods can impress like a stroker crank.