Project Slowly Underway: Berrien 295

Vanapplebomb · Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2015 12:56 pm Post subject:

Hahaha, fair enough. I think in May I will be moving back to Holland, at least for a while. Not sure how permanent that will be. Guess we will find out. Laughing

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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

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Vanapplebomb · Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 8:01 am Post subject:

Picked up the bottom end parts from the machine shop so I could start building the short block while I wait for the heads.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Took some time early this morning to assemble the crankshaft. T4 assembles just like a T1. Bearing, cam gear, spacer, distributor drive, and then the snap ring.

I like to use Sharpie marker to make "sanity notes." I set the bearings in the case and mark where they meet the case so it is easy to line up the dowel pins when dropping the crank in. I also draw a crank/flywheel on the surface so to orientation is more visible just for my sanity as things come together. Did the same for the cam gear. Those two dots are small, and when holding a hot gear (even with welding gloves) I don't want to have to look for the two little dots. I just want to see which side faces out, so I write Pulley, just to make it more visible.

A smear of assembly lube on the crank and inside of the bearing before assembling...

In case anybody was wondering how I get the cam gear and distributor drive on, I just lay a little aluminum foil on an electric stove top, place the gear on it, and turn it on med/low until the gear is just hot enough to boil a drip of water dropped onto the surface. The heat expands it a couple thousandths of an inch which is just enough to pick the gear up with welding gloves and slip it on the crank. Doesn't need any pounding or persuasion. It just slips right on. Once it is in contact with the cold shaft your time is limited for making adjustments, maybe a couple seconds at best before it starts to shrink up on the cold crankshaft.

Anyways, back to the chain of events...

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Vanapplebomb · Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:47 am Post subject:

Getting the case ready to start dropping stuff in once I get the notches cut in the rods and assembled on the crank.

Removed all the hardware from the case parting lines, gave them a final wipe down, sealed the parting line raygreenwood style, and reinstalled the hardware with a drip of red Loctite 271 on the threads.

Installed the cam bearings. Good old Metal Leve (Brazilian) with internal oil grooves.

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Vanapplebomb · Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 5:03 pm Post subject:

Reground cam and lifters from European Motorworks came in the mail. Also got a a couple replacement valve springs and a pair of funky M9 x M8 stepped exhaust studs. Machinist can finish off the heads and get those back to me by Monday.

Checking the endplay on the thrust. Factory spec is 0.0016 - 0.005" when new. A 0.0015in feeler gauge was an easy fit, but a 0.002" was a tight fit, so endplay was well within factory spec.

1.5mm deep notches cut in rods as per the VW tech bulletin from the 80's. Notches help splash oil on underside of piston for additional cooling. Although VW originally intended this modification for hot running 2.0 bus engines, 1.7 and 1.8 engines benefit from the modification as well. Top picture shows stock rod at left and rod modified with piston oil cooling notch on the right. Bottom is a close up of the notch. Simple, but effective.

This is (at last) the 3rd engine this crank has been in. After polishing the journals they are still well within new factory specification. For sanity's sake I plastigauged all the rod journals to make sure the rods don't have any tight spots. Every one had an oil clearance of 0.0015" both on and 90deg to the plane of the crank with standard sized rod bearings.

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Vanapplebomb · Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:03 pm Post subject:

Got the heads back from my engine machinist. They have a nice 3 angle cut on the seats. Since wear was minimal the intake valves were reground. For the exhaust he used new single piece stainless exhaust valves from SI Valves. The valve guides were replaced as well. One of the spark plug bosses had a chunk missing from it in the combustion chamber, so it got welded up, profiled, drilled, and tapped. Good as new.

Rod bearings installed.

I was missing some dowel pins for the main bearings, so I turned some out of M5 bolts to match the length of the original dowel pins. The fit nicely in the case. I assembled the rods on the crank. The rod nuts/studs must be lubricated to get proper torque and keep the threads from galling. A lot of people just use oil, that that is fine. I use Lactate 271 (red) out of habit since it is how I was taught. The 271 is a good thread lubricant, so it works well. With the rods torqued down to 24 Ft*Lbs I dropped the crank into the case using the marks I made on the main bearings to align the dowel pin holes.

Next I dropped in my reground cam making sure the timing marks aligned with the crank. Once seated in the bearings nicely I turned the crank until #1 was at top dead center, aka, cam lobes pointed away from the cylinder. Then I lubed and slid the distributor drive into place. T4 engines use one shim underneath the drive gear. The fat section on the top faces the crank, and the slot angles away from the crank/pulley at approximately 12 degrees.

The next step was to build up the other half of the case. The oil pickup tube got a fresh o-ring from the gasket kit. The ring was lubed up well and the pickup tube pushed into the case until the hanger bolt hole lined up with the hole in the case. The windage tray seals were glued in place with a dab of Permatex Ultra Copper to make life a little easier. I found that if not stuck down, they have a bad habit of popping off the windage tray as you are trying to fit the case halves together. There is a small bolt that is run through the oil pickup tube into the windage tray to hold them together.

The cam lobes were lubed up, cam plug installed, and the case halves bolted together. I started with the six large through bolts, 25 Ft*Lbs each. Then I went around the bottom studs and torqued them to 14 Ft*Lbs each. I left the two on either side of the oil pump off until the pump was installed. It makes it easier to slide the oil pump in. Oil pump gasket get a very light coat of Permatex Ultra Copper to both sides, then the oil pump was filled with assembly lube and pushed into place. Once it was pushed in I torqued the nuts on either side of it, and then torqued the oil pump studs which seats the oil pump against the case.

The top M8 case through bolts I had were pretty corroded so I will be getting some fresh ones to finish off the short block, but for now this is where it is at. Project for tomorrow is to wash the cylinders, set the deck, ring the pistons, and install the piston, cylinders, and heads.

For the record, don't use assembly lube sparingly. Everything that moves gets a good dosage of it. I nearly emptied a 4 ounce bottle of Lucas Assembly lube in the short block alone. Just make sure everything is squeaky clean before applying it. I went through two 14 ounce cans of brake cleaner to clean all the parts before assembling. Wink

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BUGGUTZ · Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 6:13 pm Post subject:

LOVE IT!!!
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flashho · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 6:16 am Post subject:

Pressing the LIKE button. Thanks for another great write up.
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Vanapplebomb · Posted: Mon May 04, 2015 11:58 am Post subject:

Vanapplebomb · Posted: Thu May 21, 2015 9:21 pm Post subject:

Things have been pretty busy lately. Most of the mess from the move has been cleaned up, thank goodness. Still have a few boxes of stuff to sort through, then that will be over and done with. Been going to job interviews the past week with a couple more coming up in the next week. Hopefully I can find a decent engineering position at a good company in the area.

Had some spare time last night and earlier today that I was able to work on some stuff. Cool

Last night I glued the oil sump gaskets to the oil strainer with a small bit of Permatex Ultra Copper. The gaskets have a raw side and a waxy side...for lack of better words. I applied a thin smear of the Permatex Ultra Copper to the raw side of the two gaskets with my finger and then stuck a gasket on either side of the oil strainer. I had cut a couple slices of 3inch schedule 40 PVC pipe to apply even clamping pressure on the gaskets and oil strainer as the Ultra Copper set up overnight. I took a sanding drum and opened up one of the slices of PVC pipe so it would fit over the strainer. Didn't take much, just a little light sanding. I used lots of clamps to try to keep clamping pressure as even as possible. No need to crank them down hard. You don't want to crush the gaskets, just snug them up lightly to keep some light pressure on the gaskets as the Ultra Copper sets up.

I undid the clamps this morning and trimmed any squeeze out off the oil strainer. The gaskets/oil strainer are good for several removals and installations. Gluing the gaskets on just makes life easier down the road by combining three separate parts into a single assembly. Wink

Installation time. Slide the oil strainer up into the case, then use the fancy sump cover nut with an aluminum crush ring to attach the sump cover. The aluminum crush ring comes in the gasket kit. The sealing rings, both aluminum and copper varieties in the gasket set, are made by encapsulating a rubber o-ring with a thin sheathing of either aluminum or copper. They crush against surfaces to create a long lasting leak free seal. Since they crush beyond all recognition, they can only be used once. Once you remove any fastener sealed by a crush ring, you must get and instal a fresh crush ring.

VERY IMPORTANT!!! DO NOT over torque the sump cover nut. 9 Ft*Lbs is the absolute maximum torque you should use. VW provides a very specific torque value to this nut for a reason. If you crank it down like some Bozo at a service shop that doesn't use torque wrenches, you have a very good chance of cracking the case where the oil pickup tube hanger bolt crosses though the case halves. The high frequency of cases cracking around the oil pickup tube hanger bolt is NOT a weakness of the case, it is the result of some bonehead using the wrong tool for the job. This is why you must inspect this area of the T4 case so carefully. If someone over torqued it at some point during it's former life, and a crank hardly even visible developed as a result, the next time you torque your sump cover nut it is game over. I have never seen a single case crack at the oil pickup tube hanger bolt location when torqued using a proper torque wrench at the specified torque value. VW engineers knew the limit of how much stress that area of the case could withstand and provided a torque value accordingly. USE IT or it is your own dang fault if that boss lets go! Sorry, end of my rant.

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Brian · Posted: Thu May 21, 2015 11:22 pm Post subject:

Give 'em the CLAMPS

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Vanapplebomb · Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 11:47 am Post subject:

Controversial, I know, but I stake in oil galley plugs. They rarely ever blow out on these cases to begin with, but a little extra insurance isn't a bad thing.

Oil pressure relief and control valves reinstalled. I couldn't dig up any specific torque values of the two funky kinds of bolts retaining the springs and pistons. I asked around, but no solid answers. Since they have crush rings, I didn't want to over do it, so I did things a little bit by eye. The first pressure relief assembly adjacent to the oil pump has a large slot in the bolt. I set the crush ring in place and used a chisel and hammer to tighten it until it was tight and the crush ring smushed out nicely. Don't want to take it too far or the side will rupture and the rubber o-ring on the inside can squeeze out and the crush ring will loose its squishiness and will not seal properly. Because of the low torque on such large threads, I used just a dam of medium strength blue thread locker fluid to help prevent things from backing out. Also has the benefit of doubling as a sealant.

Same went for the oil pressure control valve between the #1 cylinders lifter bores. It is an M16 thread. I was suggested to start at 15 Ft*Lbs and then tighten from there until it looks good. I eventually ended up taking it to 20 Ft*Lbs when things looked and felt about right. The head is a 14mm triple square, but a 3/8in drive socket extension is a perfect fit believe it or not and works great when you don't have to kill it with torque.

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Japzster · Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 9:00 pm Post subject:

Vanapplebomb: i'm new to the forum and VW's in particular and have been reading through your build. I just want to say THANK YOU! This has been an excellent walk-through guide with great info and helpful pointers.

Most of what you've posted here are things i'm finding need doing on my project. I was hesitant to crack the steering knuckle till i saw your pictures on it...needless to say my ipad screen got a fair covering in grease as i referred back to it to get that beast apart (your pics of the inside could have been mine...they were eerily similar...though mine was smoothly functional and clean outside)

Your electrolysis tank was such an awesome idea i went straight out to the store to grab some sodium carb ($3 at walmart). As i was turning the garage inside out to find a donor power supply i stumbled across my battery charger.... 2A and 10A settings...DC output....pos/neg terminals already identified with aligator clips...any reason not to use that?

Vanapplebomb · Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 8:16 pm Post subject:

Older or simple battery chargers work great. Some of the newer ones that have a smart charging feature or automatic shut down can give you a bit of trouble because they occasionally power down because they "think" that the "battery" is charged. Laughing

Should work fine though. Nothing wrong with trying it. Just monitor the current draw with an ammeter to make sure you are not over working whatever power supply you use. Not really an issue with smaller parts, but with larger stuff with more surface area, yeah, check before you just leave it and walk away. On the plus side, a battery charger would probably trip before any damage to the power supply would be done.

Thanks!
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Vanapplebomb · Posted: Thu May 28, 2015 2:02 pm Post subject:

Started work on setting stuff up for the oil filter and cooler. The oil filter mount wasn't sitting flush against the case and would rock a bit, which is great for oil leaks. A little Sharpie marker and some fine sandpaper revealed why. The oil filter mount flange wasn't flat. I gently sanded the surface down until all the Sharpie marker was gone. Test fitted it back on the case after resurfacing it and it sat nice and flush. Also dug up a pair of 105mm long M6 studs for the oil cooler and used Loctite 271 to secure them into the boss on the case.

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Vanapplebomb · Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 4:25 pm Post subject:

Hardware run tomorrow. Got to find some more of my favorite concave serrated washers, nuts, and bolts. Then I can get the case buttoned up and bolt the oil filter buttoned up. Also going to replace the washers on the oil pump since I am not happy with how much spring was left in them, and find better quality hardware for the blower and blower hub on the crank. Need some more Permatex teflon thread sealant while I am out too.
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Vanapplebomb · Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 8:20 pm Post subject:

Vanapplebomb · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 10:28 am Post subject:

Schnorr washers came in, so I finished installing a few bits of case hardware including the oil filter mount. I really like Schnorr washers, but you do have to be a little bit careful because they are directional in certain instances. The concave side must face the aluminum case. If you install it with the convex side against the case, the force will be concentrated over a very small area at the center, and the resulting high pressure will indent the washers center into the case, and you forfeit some crush of the washer. These are probably not a great idea for Type 1 engines with softer magnesium or (slightly tacky) sand cast aftermarket aluminum blocks. Best to stick with wavy washers for those applications. So there you have it, your public service announcement for the day. The more you know. Cool

Oil filter mount got the gasket glued to it using a very small amount of Ultra Copper. More is not better. Easiest way to put a very thin film of it on a small area like this is to rapidly stipple the surface with a finger. Ultra Copper is non-Neutonian and thins as it is sheared. With the gasket glued on the the mount, I torqued down the two M8 nuts against the washers in a several steps up to 14 Ft*Lbs to keep pressure on the gasket somewhat even. Threads are UNF 3/4in * 16 threads/in, so there are loads of oil filters that will fit. Having an internal bypass isn't so important because the mount has a built in ball and spring pressure reliefs bypass valve. Original equipment were Mann filters which are good, but I get American made Bosh filters that are good for a 99% filtering efficiency at 20 microns, which is quite good considering they can be had for less than $7 a pop.

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Vanapplebomb · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 10:44 am Post subject:

Bosch DVDA distributor refresh if anyone is interested in looking at it. I originally wrote this for TheGoodVolks members, but figured I would post a link to it here.

http://thegoodvolks.proboards.com/thread/6830/distributor-refresh

Maybe some of you will find it useful if you have an old sticky gummed up DVDA.
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Vanapplebomb · Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 7:45 pm Post subject:

The type 4 engines from the factory usually had a 0.008-0.010 inch shim benieth the barrels, and then a 0.030 inch thick aluminum gasket between the barrels and cylinder heads. Although the head gaskets were hardly ever an issue on the 1.7 and 1.8 engines, following a series of 2.0 engine failures, the factory recommended removing the head gaskets. There were two problems that appeared most significantly on 2.0 engines. The big issue, and the reason the factory sent out a bulletin recommending the removal of the gasket, was that the 2.0 94mm pistons were seizing in their bores shortly after start up because they heated up so much faster than the cylinders. The head gasket is a pressed together three layer wafer, and it slowed the heat transfer from the hot heads to the cooler cylinders. By removing the gasket, the heads which warm up fast-ish, would help heat the cylinders up faster so things would expand in a more synchronized manner. Also in the bulletin was the rod notching piston oil cooling mod to reduce piston temps. The other problem that crept up on 2.0 engines especially was the gasket burning and causing a bad head leak. Although only specified for 2.0 engines, it has become pretty standard practice to pitch the head gaskets on all type 4 engines and lap the cylinders to the heads.

With no head gaskets or cylinder base shims, the deck hight was only a couple thou on my engine, so I had to increase the deck to keep the piston crowns from smashing into the cylinder heads. Two practical options to achieve the desired deck hight. Use a barrel spacer, or trim the pistons back a bit.

United States spec 412/914 1.8 engines had a wussy compression ratio compared to the 1.7 engines or Euro spec 1.8 engines for emissions related issues. Fortunately I have pistons from the 412/914 1.8 engines which had a much smaller dish than the later 1.8 engines adapted for use in busses, so a little shave would take an already small dish down to Just 3 or 4 cc.

The first thing I did was measure the height of the piston in four places and scribe the height on the insides of the piston where I measured. The tip of the skirts were all 80.01 a 80.03 mm from the crown and the bottom edge of the sides were 61.24 - 61.26mm. I used these sanity measurements so I could confirm the cuts were made parrellel to the original face. Example of before and after crown to skirt measurements. Same piston, just opposite sides of skirt (note slight scuffing on one side), but you get the idea:

Side by side comparison of shaved piston at right vs stock at left:

Side view of dished face with 1mm shaved off the top gives a better perspective of the resulting smaller dish.

I measured the piston dish and head chamber volume, and I found I had increased the compression ratio to my 8:1 target goal. In my opinion, that is a respectable improvement given the alternative. I measure dish and chamber volumet by weight. 1cc happens to conveniently be 1gram. Triple beam balances are handy for making fine measurements. Put the tub of water on to beam, weight it, use eye dropper to move water from tub to head or piston, and weigh tub again. Difference of weight in grams is the volume in cc. To eliminate some of the guess work, trim a blank clear CD protector. Most blank CD packs come with one clear CD that covers the top of the pack to protect other CDs from scratches. Then lightly oil the perimeter, and fill water from hole in center. When bubbles are gone, your done. I dyed my water green to make it easier to see.

Pistons got sent out to a coating shop to get the skirts built up. They all fit nice and snug in their jugs now. I'm really happy with the way things came out. Coaters added 0.0035 - 0.0045 inches of a special ceramic to the skirts, and then a ptfe lube top coat. Looks good. The piston pin bores were honed for a nice fit. Ring side clearance is great and ring gap is still within spec despite cylinders being slightly oversized by a few thousandths of an inch.

Once I had the compression ratio figured, I weighed all the
pistons, pins, clips, and rings. Rings and clips were all bang on. Pistons and pins varied slightly. I put the heaviest pins with the lightest pistons, and everything worked out to within 1.1 grams. That is far better than I actually need, so I left it alone and didn't do any more balancing.

Everything got cleaned with soap and water to remove any water based coolant/lube from honing. Then everything got hosed down with WD40 and wiped clean with rags and sprayed with acetone (brake clean) to remove any oily residue and trapped grit. Took about three repetitions to get a spotless rag after wiping off the parts. rings were particularly bad.

All rings a cast iron. Oil control ring is two pieces. The coil spring nests inside the cast ring. I put the ends of the coil spring opposite the gap in the cast outer portion. Then I installed with gap facing up at 12:00. The other two rings I installed at 4:00 and 8:00. The top and bottom faces of each ring were very lightly moistened with oil. I used a single drop on a lint free rag and wiped all the rings with it. Just enough to make the full cast rings shine, but not enough to run. I don't like the idea of having lots of oil in the compression rings

Pistons were installed "V8" style...well, that is what I call it anyways. I lather up the cylinder walls with oil, compress the piston rings, and insert the piston from the top of the cylinder. The oil control ring scrapes excess oil off the walls and the other two rings get all the oil they need. Once all the pistons were in, I put a thin bead of Permatex Ultra Copper on the cylinder bases, slid the assembly over the studs, pushed the piston pins through and inserted the circlips. With Type 4 engines, you should instal #4 before #3 because of the oil cooler boss. Slide the #4 piston pin in from the flywheel side. Nuts and pieces of tubing were used to hold cylinders in place while turning over the engin. Once one side was done I torqued down the heads and moved to the other side.

Once both sides were done, I installed the oil cooler, oil filter, distributor, and breather chimney to keep dust out. I also have lint free rags stuck in the lifter bores and spark plug holes to keep dust at bay. Before I do any more, I need to get three pieces of cooling tin cleaned up and installed. Then I can instal the lifters, pushrods/tubes, and the rockers/rocker shafts.

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Vanapplebomb

I took a break from the project for a few months to focus on more important things in life. Now that I'm getting settled in again I decided it was time to take up the project again.

Time to start buttoning up the engine. I decided I am going to make a rear engine hanger that will clamp to the frame and help support the engine. So hey, why not use the existing engine mounting parts? Suprised surprise, Autozone Duralast engine mounts are repackaged German Mahle parts.

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