TheSamba.com :: View topic

Mon Nov 09, 2009 8:21 am

Look to see if you still have the cooling flaps in the fan shroud, hooked up to the thermostat underneath

Look to see if you still have the rubber seal over the oil cooler

Look to see if you still have the little flap doors at the outlets of the fan shroud into the heat exchangers.

Look to see if you still have the air seal for the alternator opening, and the cover for the alternator adjusting bolt

Look to see if you have all the rubber seals for all the openings in the tin.

All of those things are frequently missing. I wouldn't worry about chips on your wiring connectors so long as they still connect. I like to reassemble those with dielectric grease smeared onto all the connections.

When you remove the heads and cylinders, you may need to hammer on them a bit to break them loose. Be careful not to break fins, hammer gently straight down, not sideways on the fins.

Mon Nov 09, 2009 10:03 am

Quote: Is the temp sensor II the little tiny thing that bolts onto the drivers side head? Also, some of the plastic on my female connections of the wiring loom are beginning to chip and break from age, is this normal or should I be worrying/searching for a new loom?

You're correct about the the TS2.

You can buy replacement female connections but they're probably ok.

It's a good time to clean and repaint all the engine tin & to make sure it's all there. Have a look at www.bus-boys.com, click on 'air cooling system 72-83', and scroll down to the diagram of the necessary tin.

Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:52 pm

[quote="patayres"] Quote: It's a good time to clean and repaint all the engine tin

Hahaha, you can say that again, everything is filthy! I'm going to take a scrub brush, degreaser, soap and water, and probably a wire brush to just about everything I can get my hands onto! Then get myself a couple cans of high temp paint (black, as I seem to remember reading white = bad). Are there any specific brands of paint that anyone has used? do they come in rattle cans (as that would be much easier)?

Thanks for the link too, I know I'm missing the alt bolt plug but have just about everything else (Woot!). I'm also missing 75% of my tin screws -_- Some pieces were just held on by 1 screw! No wonder my engine loved to rattle so much :evil: I'll fix that too while I'm at it!

Thanks so much! I'll probably order all the parts tomorrow and start work again this Saturday.

Edit: Just went to check, and I'm missing my thermostat... Are the new ones any good? I also recall some posts saying bad things about them :?

Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:40 pm

Update!! Well, I got everything taken apart now and see that I'm missing quite a few things.

I'm missing the whole thermostat with all the connecting gear, the only thing left are the flaps and a half eaten pulley. I'm also thinking I'm missing the rubber seal around the oil cooler (the tin is there however), and also the adjusting bolt cover for the alternator. I'm going to need to get some new pushrod tubes, I ate 3 of the 8 because they simply would NOT come out; the others were very nice and popped right out with just a couple bruised knuckles.

As Far as my heads go, I've got some questions, and Pictures to go with them!

My heads have these holes on both of them, are they for CHT or temp sensor?:

Here are the valves, complete with head gaskets (going to get rid of those asap). Both sides look almost identical:

And last, but not least, I don't know who made these heads, any guesses? Here are the numbers:

The Number matches the 2.0 head number in the books and it say's BVW (Does that mean these are Brazilian Heads?)

Parts List so far:

-fuel line kit
-breather hose kit as mine are toast
-fuel tank breather kit
-Cat Converter/exhaust (pretty much everything past the crossover...)
-replacement thermostat with everything (I have no idea how I'll scrape
that together)
-misc heat exchanger parts (Flaps, top covers for flaps) also need 1 new heater valve, as my passenger side one is broken
-Piston set
-Heads looked into
-EGR tube that connects from tin to exhaust
-3 pushrod tubes
-probably some instrumentation (CHT, Oil pressure, temp etc etc)
-Gaskets, Seals, Nuts/Bolts, Screws etc etc

Unfortunately funds are going to be even tighter than I thought as my new daily driver is a 2001 Ford F-150 crew cab, and eats gas like a hog! The sooner I get my bus back on the road, and those MPG increase, the better!

What do you fellas think? Thanks for the help so far!

Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:57 pm

mam89 wrote: At the beginning of this year, Jan 09 the engine dropped a valve and I had new heads put on.
From page one...

No freakin' way those heads were "NEW" 10 months ago, lest you burn't the shit outta your engine....which is possible. :wink:

if you doubt me, I'll post a pic a 40,000 mile head.

Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:14 pm

73kombi wrote: mam89 wrote: At the beginning of this year, Jan 09 the engine dropped a valve and I had new heads put on.
From page one...

No freakin' way those heads were "NEW" 10 months ago, lest you burn't the shit outta your engine....which is possible. :wink:

if you doubt me, I'll post a pic a 40,000 mile head.

?????????

Those heads don't look "burn't" to me, they look OK. Just a little carbon. But I'm no expert. From his description of the piston, I expected worse.

They are original VW heads and the "BVW" I believe is the stamp of the place that rebuilt them. They are not "new" heads, someone rebuilt them. All new heads are AMC, not VW.

Oh, and the larger of the two holes is for the Temp Sensor II on Cylinder 3. The small one is just a tin screw.

Sun Nov 15, 2009 10:46 pm

WhirledTraveller wrote: They are original VW heads and the "BVW" I believe is the stamp of the place that rebuilt them. They are not "new" heads, someone rebuilt them. All new heads are AMC, not VW.

Now I'm even more confused... Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I looked long and hard at everything, and there isn't any welding, cracks, nothing that I can see on the casts (with my untrained eyes).

And thanks for the replay to the temp sensor, without the tin on I couldn't remember what hole went to what! LOL Now, the strange thing is, both heads have holes like that in them...

73kombi wrote: mam89 wrote: At the beginning of this year, Jan 09 the engine dropped a valve and I had new heads put on.
From page one...

No freakin' way those heads were "NEW" 10 months ago, lest you burn't the shit outta your engine....which is possible. :wink:

if you doubt me, I'll post a pic a 40,000 mile head.

I like pictures :twisted:

Sun Nov 15, 2009 11:06 pm

Where did you buy the heads?

Two Options -

One - BVW probably stands for Brothers VW Machine shop in Ontario. I don't have personal experience with them but some people here like them very much. There appears to be a ticket number on the head and if you call Brothers they may be able to confirm that - in which case you can have them look at them and tell you if anything looks out of the ordinary. They may also be able to look up the ticket and tell you what was done to them.

OR

Two - take both heads down the '91 freeway west until you hit the 55. Then take it south to just past the 5 until you get to 1st Dyer Road exit in Santa Ana - 30 minutes from you. Get off on Dyer and turn left off the offramp T, then go right on Dyer. (Offramp goes to a side street so you have to turn left to get to Dyer.) About 2 minutes down on the left is RIMCO, you have to make a U turn to get back to it. When you get there see Todd. Let him look at the heads and tell you what he thinks. That is what I would do. A machinist will have to see them up close. I see some small things that might prompt me to pull the valves and look deeper but from the photos they look pretty good. Most likely he will also tell you they look Ok. If he can't tell whether the guides and seats have been replaced or not, find out if they can just stake the valve seats.

Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:54 am

WhirledTraveller wrote: ?????????

Those heads don't look "burn't" to me, they look OK. Just a little carbon. But I'm no expert. From his description of the piston, I expected worse.

I wasn't speaking of the combustion chamber side, as that side gets 'dirty' looking pretty fast...but the valve train side. New or rebuilt shouldn't matter, as they should both start off the day looking the same...very clean.
mam89 wrote: I like pictures :twisted:
You called me out, so here is a fresh pic of a 40,000 mile valve train...rebuilt by AVP (taken five minutes ago)

Is there a piece of the right hand intake valve missing in your pic mam89? or is that an optical illusion?

Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:57 am

I was referring to carbon leakage from the combustion area of the heads, the oil on on side is possibly from the rings and there are some areas on the one exhaust valve that could be a sign of excess carbon building up under it. But I would have to see it up close and touch it. Hence take it to BROTHERS or RIMCO. They can look at it and see if it is flat and if the valves are sealing, especially that one.

Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:09 am

Jake Raby wrote: There are two primary groups of modern VW Bus Enthusiasts..

1- The group that drives the Bus around on its last leg with shit falling off of it, running on 3 cylinders and burning more oil than fuel. They deal with break downs and accept engine failures that occur fairly often, because they feel "Its just a Volkswagen" and its supposed to leak oil and break.

This group of people and I are not on the same page and they don't like me or my attitude of doing things rights or simply not doing them, because they are generally described as "minimalists". (Last time I checked I didn't care what they thought, they can love me or hate me but their input won't change me)

2- The group that doesn't want to be a part of the the horror stories they read about the same engine problems popping up time and time on forums like this one. Most of these people have families or at least a Wife that would not accept a mechanical problem leaving them on the side of the road. This group of people is generally willing to spend the required amount of money to create a vehicle that will take them on their adventures to various parts of the world R-e-l-i-a-b-l-y without the need for spare parts or hundreds of pounds of tools.

The second group of people are the next generation of VW Enthusiast, and the group that most appreciate what we have created with the Camper Special and what it brings to the Vintage VW that is to be applied in the modern world of 70 MPH speed limits. To create a vehicle that can be applied in today's modern world effectively takes more than a good power plant, it takes the proper gearing, tires, sway bars and brake upgrades all applied with the correct mind set.

One thing is for sure, you'll never see a CS powered bus with parts falling off it. The people who join the Camper Special Club are generally organized professionals who love to D-R-I-V-E VWs more than they like to work on them.

Engines wear evenly.. When the top end is worn; guess what? So is the bottom end... Because they both have the same mileage. I have emails directed my way multiple times per week that come from people who have attempted to save a dollar or a few days of time and have ended up spending 3 more dollars and wasting weeks of time by half ass patching an engine up. Thats why we say the "quickest way to spend a thousand dollars is to try to save one".

BTW- The CS combination was derived from knowledge applied with imagination and outside the box thinking. It's flawless reputation was earned honestly.

listen to raby he is the type 4 guru for a reason. a rebuild should be just that a rebuild.if its a driving car and not some racecar you are doing a rebuild the only engines that get refreshed are race engines do to the fact you dont need to replace alot of parts cause they havent seen enough wear during its short time in the vehicle. your engine was in there a loooong time,you dont want to skimp and have a major failure do to it. but its not like you need to buy race parts and super heavy duty this and that look how long it ran the way it was.if you have it apart its apart you may as well take a look around just to atleast check it out.

P.S. i think there are 4 groups of vw people the 2 decribed and 2 grey area groups,but now we are just talking semantics.lol. :D

Sun Dec 20, 2009 11:55 pm

Anymore news on this rebuild? It was just getting interesting, especially since I'm about to start rebuilding my engine as well this winter.....