EG33 Vanagon Adventure

[JWPATE]

Yes, my ej22 has the same style of metal gasket and it does indeed crush the raised rib and it provides the seal.
I warned you that I couldn't stop looking at this thread. [/quote]

Thanks for the confirmation.......

[JWPATE]

No answer yet to yesterday's question-of-the-day. Hmmm, lets try it with multiple choice.

a. During early production testing it was discovered that an air bubble tended to form inside the pump housing during initial coolant fill-up. The 6 mm hole was added to provide a path out for air and thus partially prime the pump.

b. During high engine rpm the water pump tended to overpressure, leading to turbulent coolant flow and reducing the service life of the pump bearing. The 6 mm hole was added to prevent pump overpressure during high engine RPM.

c. On cold engine start-up, with the thermostat fully closed, it was found that the return coolant flow from the heater and bypass circuits was insufficient for high engine speeds, resulting in pump cavitation and noisy operation. The 6 mm hole was added to provide additional flow during the "closed thermostat" portion of the operating cycle.

d. The 6mm hole was a requirement during engine casting. It was used to position a casting die and has nothing to do with the cooling system.

e. None of the above

[insyncro]

My understanding is it is a bypass in the cooling system.
Never really asked why.

I guess C would be my answer.

dylan

[JWPATE]

I'm with you Dylan. Let's just call it a bypass hole, and loosely defined, that will cover a,b,c and some others to boot.

If I had to guess at the actual function, again I agree that probably it is related to extra flow during closed thermostat operation - answer c.

Or as we used to say in the Navy; "If in doubt - Charley out".

[JWPATE]

So the other case half (1-2-3) has also been cleaned, at least to my satisfaction. Here there were no issues with corrosion or other problems.
And my engine-cleaning fun-meter has just about pegged out for now, so I will move on to smaller matters.

These are the various plug types and sizes used on the EG33 engine case. Except for the access plugs for piston pin removal (upper right), there is no mention of them in the service manual. At least I could find none. And even with the access plugs, the manual contradicts itself by directing the use of fluid packing on the sealing washers on one page, then installing them dry on another.

The parts illustrations I have available, do not show other than the largest five. So ordering replacements is not an option.

And the photo points out further contradictions and adds to the confusion. Notice that the threads of every plug is coated with what appears to be plumbers paste. Was Kilroy here? Maybe this was an attempt to locate an oil leak in the past? I dunno. Oh yes, and with the two large coolant plugs (lower left), the aluminum sealing washers were missing altogether, creating further suspicion of a Kilroy visit somewhere along the way.

With the crush washers, my past experience has been to torque them down dry, and I don't remember any of them them ever leaking. Or were these Japanese washers not soft enough for an effective seal?

Seems strange to me, and as I said, the manual doesn't help. Can anyone shed light on this issue?

[insyncro]

I have only replaced the crush washers if they were leaking.
As you know they are a one time use item.
As stated earlier, I use 518 to seal up everything.
I know that it will change torque specs, so adding 15% is what I have been told to do for all added chemicals.

dylan

[JWPATE]

Thanks Dylan. I really appreciate your view on these issues, and I have a tube of 518 ready.

With no part numbers, I couldn't order new plugs if I wanted to. Would be wasteful anyway because this set are fine except for the clogged up threads and the surface rust on some. So I have cleaned them all up and here have them in for a protecting coat of zinc. I like nickel for most things, but not here where I have no die to fit those large plug threads.

While cleaning the old plug threads I became more convinced that someone along the way had coated them after leaving the factory. Under the cream plumbers paste, the large plugs all had factory sealant on the threads. I wasn't able to detect it on all the small ones, but feel it is fair to conclude that the factory did use silicone on the threads in addition to the crush washers.

So after they are ready, I go in to look for new crush washers in the overhaul gasket kit and what do I find? Only the washers for the five large plugs are included! I suppose the drill usually doesn't include taking out those small plugs, but I felt it necessary in order to be certain about the oil-gallery cleaning. Not a worry, as I have plenty of aluminum crush washers. Just interesting.

Oh, and remember that #3 phillips I busted while getting the oil separator off? Well Snap-On stood behind their guarantee even though that model is no longer available. The replaced it with the new version.

[insyncro]

Snap On has never let me down!
I see my local rep once every two weeks.
He was coming once a week but it became a bit spendy.

Those plugs cleaned up nicely.

[JWPATE]

Last step in cleaning the case halves for me is dealing with the cylinder bores. So this morning I launched my attack on them, armed with this flex hone. It is 3 3/4 inch in 220 grit (fine).

I started with the plan of giving each bore 20 seconds with the hone, and I stuck with it. The idea was just to clean them well and renew the cross-hatch pattern (which could still be seen from the factory honing).

Use plenty of a light oil. I chose ATF because it was handy. Takes only a few minutes to do them all.........then another half hour to clean up the mess.

Then back outside and repeat the cleaning routine. Hot soapy water, then rinse, dry them well and quickly get on a coating of light oil.

With that step completed I can get on with the real testing of the case halves, starting with the question of whether they are flat enough on the case to head mating surface.

Use a straight edge that you have confidence in, for the feeler gauge being used here for go/no-go is only two thousands inch thin.

The case passed, I took some time and tested it from all angles.

We can then move on to the important question of the bores themselves. I will not list all the readings for it is a long string of eight measurements in each cylinder; four taken across the piston pin direction and four taken across the thrust direction.I first set the bore gauge for about a turn of pre-load and zeroed at the high end of the standard cylinder bore diameter. There were three ranges chosen by the factory and each cylinder has a letter stamped on the front case top. In this particular engine, they were all group B with a high range diameter of 3.8151, except for number four, which is group A. That's where I set the gauge and just took readings to determine how much they were worn beyond that. The wear ran from zero to just over one thousands inch.

The readings are then compared to see what the taper wear and out-of round wear were. In most cases they were outside the new-engine standard, but in every case they were inside the factory wear limits for standard B bores.

So far -so good.

[JWPATE]

Now here is a pretty image to pick up the spirits.

The delivery van dropped off a package today from England, and containing these items from Richard Jones. High quality in every case. I wish I were nearer to actually needing them.

Maybe one day.........

[insyncro]

I have one sitting here next to me as well, RJES bellhousing that is.
I have installed two.
Check the infestation thread for the part numbers we used for Derek's clutch.
Like butter Baby.
A true work of art!

When you get to the install pmail or give me a ring.....the instructions are good but I can give a few pointers to help it go a bit quicker.

[JWPATE]

Looked for that clutch part number Dylan, but oh man, that is a long thread. I never found it, but was planning to order a turbo clutch. Already have the turbo flywheel.

Today was piston day for me. Took off all the old rings and cleaned the pistons one at a time to be sure not to mix them up. Again we are impressed with the Subaru assistance in getting things together right. Cast into the piston top is the R to indicate that it is for either 1, 3 or 5 cylinder. The R should go uppermost when installed, but just to make sure there is an arrow pointing to the engine pulley end. In the center notice that it is stamped B indicating the group size for the piston and bore.

Next, with everything clean, and working one piston at a time, put the top two rings back in and check them for groove wear. Every one of these pistons were still mid-range in the standard range for new pistons. I was happy to see it.

Then I check them for size. Wear will show up first here at the thrust skirts, and again they are still in the range for new B standard pistons. Amazing to me.

Finally I have a look at the ring gap to see how much wear there is there. The gap here is 0.016 inch, which is just about half way through the allowed wear limit. I will order new rings of course.

Altogether another encouraging day.

[JWPATE]

Finally, I have made my way to the crank. It looks good. Ah, but is it? I would be willing to have it turned 10 thousands, if need be.

Even before cleaning it, I checked the side clearance on the rods. Just took the 0.013 feeler blade and checked whether I could get in beside any of the rods. I couldn't. That thickness is the high end of the new standard so I know we are OK and do not even need to look at the wear limit.

The rod bearings were showing wear as expected, but I checked a couple of them just to see how badly worn they were. They were still within the wear limits.....but not by much.

Here I am looking at the run-out and checking for a bent crank shaft. It measured right at one thousands inch. I don't know whether that is more or less than average..........but it is inside the limit of 1.4, so we will press on.

I took some time inspecting this flywheel end. This of course, is the seat for the rear main oil seal and if there were a persistent leak here all would be sad indeed. With the VW waterboxer, this seal is made on the flywheel and therefore easier to deal with. I suppose one could take a little off the crank here without problem, but it looks OK to my inexperienced eye. So I will accept the crank condition as OK and move on.

Later today, I will get a set of standard rings, mains and rod bearings on order.

[wolfsburg4x4]

Like Mario, I can't resist watching this thread, amazing work
I'm more of a "replace the whole motor with another one if it's no good" kind of guy, but you will have more satisfaction out rebuilding one yourself

The clutch Derek chose and one I plan to install as well is the FJK 1002, although you might also consider the FJK 1000, both are pull to release 240mm turbo clutches. You will need to grind down the rjes bellhousing a little for the pressure plate and there are some other minor issues.

Let me know if you want to take apart a 3.0, I'll send one over for free

Eric

[JWPATE]

Thank you for that information. I am ordering today the rings and bearings, and so will add the clutch you are using.

[JWPATE]

Late yesterday I learned that a package had arrived from our friend at Burley Motors. Ah, if that doesn't encourage one to pep it up then nothing will.

You want to talk about masterful welding, well here it is!

A masterpiece if I've ever seen one. Seriously this is nice work Burl.

This is a plate added to the coolant manifold and drilled/tapped for both the Subaru ECU sensor and the VW temp gauge sensor. I have not yet worked out the coolant issue on this swap, but I know I want to use a reversed manifold......and here it is.

My Westy sets down in the back already, by 1/4 inch and another 1/4 inch down on the port side. Could just add some more pads under the stock springs, but have decided to try this setup. The springs are on order but not here yet, otherwise I would get into this part right away. As it is, I plan to get the new springs in and everything level before swapping the engine. Then I will adjust as necessary.

The new spring length and poundage are something of an educated guess as I do not want any extra lift, but just back to the same height as the front. More later on how this goes.

Nice work Burl, I am anxious to use them.

That shortened oil pan requires that the pickup also be shortened. With the cases still apart I took this unique opportunity to check the relationship of the new pan depth and the oil pickup tube. Right away it is clear that the pickup is nice and parallel to the pan bottom in this photo.

And then bolting the pan on the case half provides an opportunity to actually look inside there and see the pickup inside the pan. It is parallel as expected, and is positioned about 3/8 inch off the pan bottom. Nice.

Of course, we cut the pan off to gain additional ground clearance, but it doesn't come free. Burl has reshaped the sides of the pan in order to retain about the same volume of oil. There is no low-point sump any longer though, making it even more important to keep the oil level right up there. Also, with a flat bottom there will necessarily be more oil remaining inside it during oil changes. I tested it for that, first with the pan level, and found that just over a pint remains inside the pan after draining is complete. If I elevate the pan's rear end 8-10 degrees, as would be the case in changing oil at home with jack stands at the rear, then the oil remaining is only 1/2 pint. I expect Burl thought of that when deciding where to put the drain plug.

[JWPATE]

Waiting for parts now, before starting to build up the block, I have turned back to the heads. They were just placed to one side while I determined whether the case, crank and etc. were going to make it worth the rebuild.

Subaru at one time made a head table available to use in a press while taking down the valves, and for pressing out/in new guides. It is no longer available except on the used market, and I have so far not located one. If I decide to press out the guides, it will be necessary to make a suitable table, but for only the valves, springs and seals it is easier to use old methods as seen here. The Subaru valve spring tool, seen in foreground, is still available new.

I have taken down the 1-3-5 head for inspection, and here am looking at one of the intake valves. Keep them organized, for if only cleaning will be done then they need to go back to their original positions.
So far they have all measured right at new part standards, in this case 0.2349 inch. Not surprising, for there was no evidence of wear just looking at them, although the exhausts particularly were well crusted with carbon.

The valves and seats have the now-standard three-angle grind, and it is the center portion which does the sealing. Subaru refers to this dimension as the "H" value, and the new valve standard for the intakes (as shown here) it is .8 mm. For the exhaust it is 1.0 mm. So far, all have been just as shown here, with no need to look to the wear limit values.

After I checked each one, I smeared on a little grinding paste and used it to further clean the seating surfaces.

While I was prepared to replace guides and regrind the lot of them, I have now decided (unless there is a surprise on the other head) to just thoroughly clean everything and build them back up with new oil seals.
There is a special tool to get the seals on without damage, and I am backordered - expecting it in April.

[furrylittleotter]

Excellent "Old School" meticulous rebuild done just the way I would, replace what's needed. Love the commentary as well. I'm enjoying my 84 Westy SVX as well. I built it completely untested and, in fact, it still has the same sparkplugs it came with 10k later. I did have to replace the separator plate, and valve cover gaskets, both of which leaked after 2000 miles. I have been up and down the east coast, al over the south, cross country towing a Bugatti replica, down to Baja and up to Oregon and love my van more every time I drive it. This is a remarkable motor. Thanks for posting for future reference.

I ended up buying a beefed up AA tranny with Peloquin diff., coarse 3rd and 4th, and oil plates and Burley's 930 axle conversion kit and highly recommend them both.

p.s., it's nice to know who has a stack of SVX motors, in case, God forbid, mine blows.

Neil

[JWPATE]

Niel,
Yes, I have also thought ahead about the transaxle, and have already acquired a spare and the necessary tooling to rebuild it along the lines you suggest. My plan is to get the engine completed and in there with the current transmission first, and drive it like that while I sort out the probable engine bugs. Then I will start on a transaxle project.

[JWPATE]

There was no surprise waiting for me on the 2-4-6 head. It seemed identical to the first in overall condition. So it is time to clean them up following the same routine used on the case halves.

Do not imagine that the heads, being smaller, will therefore be a quicker and easier job to clean. They are not.

If one wishes to make the best possible job of cleaning the water chambers and oil passages, then it will again be necessary to take out the case plugs. There are several sizes used and I see that one of the smaller ones rolled out of view in this photo. There are 13 plugs in total, and that is for a single head. They will be nasty indeed when first removed. This set has been cleaned and replated.

These small allen plugs are from the oil passages. Again one is missing in the photo. Actually there are five in each head, two inside and three on the outside. You may not feel the need to remove these, if you have knowledge and experience with the particular engine being refreshed. If you do decide they need to come out, then exercise care. Go at them like a ham-fist and you will likely have problems. Notice inside the threads there was a locking liquid used. Looks like locktite green, and it is firm. To get them out, hold a reasonable pressure on them while heating up the metal boss they are living in. Locktite takes around 300 degrees F. to give up its grip, then they come out easily enough, allowing one to clean out the passages they are plugging.

Careful also when chasing out the threads. These small allen plugs are threaded in 1/8 inch. British Standard Pipe.

But what is this?

The threaded hole in the center of this photo is one of the two inside locations of the small plugs found in each head.

Todays Question is related to the item at the end of that pointer. It blocks the end of one of the long oil drillings, running end to end. Look closely and see that it is a steel ball, inside a steel cage. I can only wonder at it. Why a ball? Why not just plug the passage with a solid aluminum plug?