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Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:02 pm

yep, its a little late in the season, but my no3 intake is reachng for the valve cover. i pulled the rockers. counted adjuster threads and no3 has 3 more threads revealed than its brethren.

so i'm thinking 3mm. thats gotta suck for that cam profile effectiveness also. it all sucks.no wonder my exhaust had this wrong kind of rich caustic?smell
but would anyone care to weigh, as I wonder how long can I drive this.right now Its needed and funds are low. luckily I have a great shop, so I can spend plenty of time in it. it seems.

So far of the 4000 miles I've logged on the engine I did a "make run" after vehicle aquisition(GETTING!)I've had the #3 go tight alot. once a week?
now maybe more.

I'm hoping to take this head to local expert aircooled machinist and try to afford what he can do. :shock: I don't want remanned heads expense at this juncture. at some point a Camper Special might be a thought..But for now i have a line on some lightly used 1.8 p&cyls, fugure I can put in new rod bearings at least, and then reassemble the damn fine sealing exhaust system I did first make run go round.pertronix, and new dual circuit head temp gauge.and stock Ljet FI//003 Automatic

any thoughts?
Thanks for Reading
Eric :shock:

Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:33 pm

boxxcar wrote: I've had the #3 go tight alot. once a week?
now maybe more.

any thoughts?

I think you should go buy a lottery ticket, but don't drive the bus to the store to go get it.
Stop driving it now and have a look, you may get away with just a new valve but if you keep driving it and it lets go you'll be buying a lot more new parts.

Fri Jan 08, 2010 1:28 pm

busdaddy wrote: boxxcar wrote: I've had the #3 go tight alot. once a week?
now maybe more.

any thoughts?

I think you should go buy a lottery ticket, but don't drive the bus to the store to go get it.
Stop driving it now and have a look, you may get away with just a new valve but if you keep driving it and it lets go you'll be buying a lot more new parts.

2X what Busdaddy says, you are moments away from a much more costly repair.

Fri Jan 08, 2010 2:35 pm

and dont drive there in the bus.FUNNY THKS!

Sun Jan 17, 2010 6:59 pm

I've got a set of take off pistons/cylinders coming. 93mm with 20k miles.Chinese Brazilian German-not sure. How to tell? should I weigh these pistons and see if there is a weight range?

Would I be able to at least put in rod bearings without splitting cases?

Is it a must to remove both heads though I hope to have a new timesert plug thread in no3, and fix the valve, guide and seat in number 3. The other side has gone a long time-maybe should get new exhausts>how necessary after how many miles?
thanks
Eric

Sun Jan 17, 2010 9:37 pm

A friend of mine had that issue with a Dino he dropped off one day. I pulled the heads. Several valves looked like salt water taffy being pulled. Who knows but maybe one more mile would have killed it in a very expensive way.

I agree with the prior posters. If you are sure this valve is tightening up (you indicated 3mm) I would not drive it or even start it. Either the valve is stretching or the seat is sinking into the head for some reason. If you meant that the clearance is increasing, that is just as bad because a valve seat may be dropping.

Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:14 am

That I drove so long for transmission test, and this last shake down after painting was just dumb luck.

Changing rod bearings without splitting cases is just tedious but possible?

Thanks for your post SGKent!

Have a good week!

Eric

Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:49 am

No on the rod bearings. How would you get to the nuts that bolt the two rod haves together? The crank has to come out.

Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:03 am

Sawsalesman wrote: No on the rod bearings. How would you get to the nuts that bolt the two rod haves together? The crank has to come out.

I haven't done it but with the jugs off I would suspect. The issue I see is that you really have already done 90% of the work at that point. Why not split the case, clean it, and inspect things? You won't even know what bearings you need until you mic the crank. It may not be standard.

Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:05 am

if you had to you could re/re the rod bearings without splitting the case. why you would want to do this is another question.

Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:11 am

Okay, now that I think about it you probably could put in new rod bearings but I wouldn't do it. I'd split the case like SGKent said and see what else inside may need replacing.

Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:16 am

Avoid this by all means.

Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:37 pm

If at all possible don't want what's in Nica's photo.

Just looked through pprwork. Last exhaust valves of note happened possibly in 1984. Intakes then might be original. (#3 Intake now the prob! )To think of it more... the main,cam,rod brgs are this old too.

To answer Scott's question- why I would want to just change rod brgs?Just to get in and get out quickly. IT's winter, I'd like to have this engine together and back in in two or three days.My last case split took a month. Awful but true.Doing it in winter is less than optimum planning.

I'd like to have a year of trouble free driving . Hence my incomplete rebuild- enhanced repair. Though spending repair money on 30 year old heads is tossing it out of the window a little as Camper Special Heads would be the best idea. Just not affordable now. I should look into this however. In any case they would still work with my 93mm jugs I've heard...Hmmm

and having written this,if it looks as stupid as it sounds, once opened up
i'll probably be doing crank and cam brgs as well since this would be the best insurance. I just have to improve on the 30 day turn around.

Thanks for all your thoughts
Eric

Thu Jan 21, 2010 8:16 am

Just reviewed descriptions and history of LE 180 Bus heads from aircooled.technologies. Certainly impressive development chronicled there.
They have a lead time listed, so I won't be pulling my engine apart immediately. Cost also is worthy of consideration. Though local machining of old heads would not have resale value/engine hp enhancement like the A/T heads/parts either I would think. Though resale is not my plan, if my engine somehow swallowed 5K$ it's nice to know it might be recognized.

Still thinking.....

Thanks for Reading!
//Eric

Thu Jan 21, 2010 8:18 am

Talked to Rick at Bus Depot about the AVP reman heads. 12mo/12K mile warranty, "revised welding in the seat area",and a three week lead time (15 working days). I guess I'm in! They report no issues so far. I guess I'm in! I ordered at lunch time. :) time for any decision now, thinking time over.well THIS PHASE of thinking time I mean!!

So the repair is morphing into a rebuild. Costs more on this end, and likley makes the other end happen later! I certainly couldn't have had work on the 1/2 head happen for much less than 200, it should take valve guides, intakes and exhausts since they were last replaced in 84. Intakes/guides are original. The 3/4 head needed #3Int. seat reconstruction, and another more oversized plug sert on #3. That much work and parts would have exceeded the AVP head cost I'm sure.

the machinists I know would be good to show the AVP heads to-but doesn't it fuddle up warranty from AVP /and machinist's responsibilities pint of view?
Or are things easily changed or checked below the radar?

So, now I clean up some space in the shop and stock up on fire wood for shop heat!

Thanks for reading. If there are any more ideas of what to look for on the AVP heads please chime in!

Eric

Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:34 pm

number three intake seat. this must be really close to dropping the valve in no?

4 and 3 compared

barrels look overheated?[img]http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/640320.jpg

Is the blued barrel tops typical?

Glad I caught this. Thanks for viewing, comments welcome.
Eric[/img]

Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:51 pm

just click on the photos you uploaded, then at the top it says "forum code" copy-paste that into your post.

and wow, look at that valve go - good catch!

so,- how is it that the seat recedes like that? where is it going?

Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:52 pm

Nica wrote:
Avoid this by all means.

Are you back up and running Nica?

Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:59 pm

rustbus wrote: just click on the photos you uploaded, then at the top it says "forum code" copy-paste that into your post.

and wow, look at that valve go - good catch!

so,- how is it that the seat recedes like that? where is it going?

I'm a newbie with this aspect of aircooled head life. I'd say that mapquest directions to Alaska I found meant the previous owner got alot of life out of this east coast engine.

the receding starts with? it overheating and dropping a little and hammering back a million times or so? something incremental.Before I pulled it apart it could loose 006 in two hours worth of driving.then i figured it out.pretty lucky in the end really. This happens with the 100.00 $Bus. Nearly there though!
Eric[img][/img]http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/640320.jpg

Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:30 pm

boxxcar wrote: Nica wrote:
Avoid this by all means.

Are you back up and running Nica?

Will be very shortly :lol: