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Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:12 am

And the award for understatement of the year goes to my Father when he said "All this van needs is a new clutch!"

Not knowing much about cars and nothing about Vanagons I figured it was a bargain. So I gave it to our mechanic friends and they replaced the clutch... Then there was a coolant leak... Then they had to replace the water pump. Then they said the head gaskets were leaking. Then the ignored my van for a whole month before I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands.

As you all could have guessed, this head gasket job turned into new heads. Then a head stud snapped. Then I read about the engines self destructing in the 160k range. So before I knew I had a GoWesty 2.2L rebuild kit in my lap and am looking at my first engine rebuild.

I figured I would try and document it as best as I can on this forum to possibly help others, maybe get some advice from you, and definitely let the pros laugh at my mistakes and lack of Vanagon knowledge.

Any very substantiated suggestions to have a professional do this for me will be politely ignored.

I have the bentley, I have tons of tools and I have a few weeks of undivided attention. I have yet to even drive this thing but for some reason I am determined to make it run. I am all about doing it right the first time and not cutting any corners.

Pictures and questions will be up shortly

Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:14 am

Get at it.
Looking forward to seeing the build.

Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:23 am

Welcome to the herd.

First, your DIY attitude is to be lauded.

Have at it.

If you have never rebuilt an engine and like to gamble, hold on to your wallet.

Our family was in the professional German Car repair biz for over 50 years.

We helped and reworked all sorts of attempts by DIYers.

Frequently it cost them more than had they just dropped things off with us to begin with.

The safe bet is to buy the long engine and bolt it all together.

That, in my mind, is the smart thing.

The nitty gritty engine rebuild has more pitfalls than, I believe, are prudent to tackle, IMHO.

But, have it, there is PLENTY of advise to be found here and elsewhere.

Have you found a trusted place to do the machine work, or will you do that too?

Keep having fun!

Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:44 am

if you need any advice, I would contact 10cent. I believe he is in NM too. And he has probably the best reputation of all WBX'r engine builders. If I was close by to him and was doing my first WBX'r build, I would be knocking on his door for advice and encouragement!

Paul

Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:57 am

X2! on the tencentlife advise.

I forgot.

I believe he is in or close to Albuquerque.

I can be wrong, too, of course.

It would be prudent to contact him as soon as you can.....

Fri Aug 10, 2012 10:02 am

I don't do the advice thing so I'll save you the time. My contributions are already here, help yourself.

Fri Aug 10, 2012 10:25 am

tencentlife wrote: I don't do the advice thing so I'll save you the time. My contributions are already here, help yourself.

I bought all this stuff from GoWesty and would really appreciate you helping me figure out how to install it.
GW seemed to forget to add the instructions to the order :roll:

Ah the life of a waterboxer Guru :wink:

Fri Aug 10, 2012 10:26 am

Wow its amazing how fast people respond on this site, it's great. tencentlife I have read many of your contributions and they have been very informative. Advice was probably the wrong word, but I have some pretty specific questions people might be able to help with.

This is my 88 Vanagon GL

Here is a before shot of my engine case

A couple cans of degreaser, a scrub pad, a brass brush on a dremel, and a heated pressure wash later... this is as clean as it's going to get

This major pitting around the water pump is the biggest problem I see on the case. I already read filled it with JB weld and will be sanding it with 400 grit. I was also planning on pulling those studs and replacing them with bolts. Apparently GoWesty does this and claims that it saves substantial time when changing the water pump.

Fri Aug 10, 2012 10:27 am

Good on you for tackling this yourself.

When I did my first engine rebuild I figured I'd learn some things and with a bit of luck get a few years of driving out of it. Reagan had just moved into the White House and mood rings were popular. I'm still driving that car and that engine every day. Also still learning.

I'm sure you realize you can't expect someone who does this for a living to spend time giving you personal guidance but Chris/10c has always been very generous with his postings here so mastery of the search option will answer a great many questions.

Best of luck.

Fri Aug 10, 2012 10:37 am

insyncro wrote: tencentlife wrote: I don't do the advice thing so I'll save you the time. My contributions are already here, help yourself.

I bought all this stuff from GoWesty and would really appreciate you helping me figure out how to install it.
GW seemed to forget to add the instructions to the order :roll:

Ah the life of a waterboxer Guru :wink:

Haha I'm trying not to be that guy. They also forgot these... I couldn't really believe it

Fri Aug 10, 2012 11:04 am

Welcome. You have definitely come to the right place.
Kudos for diving right into an engine rebuild.

Im thinking about starting my first rebuild soon.
Partly to get a fresh engine, and partly to learn alot.

Knowing how an engine is put together and works,
also helps when diagnosing problems :)

Fri Aug 10, 2012 11:15 am

Please don't be shy about taking photos of this process, I see an engine rebuild coming in my future. Best of luck.

-Rob

Fri Aug 10, 2012 11:21 am

Awesome! Sounds exciting. I hope to try and do a rebuild or two in the near future. I am looking forward to seeing your posts. What do you have in mind for preparing your case? are you going to replace the head studs or try to find a different case?

edit: read the rest of your post and saw you already cleaned the case. What about the head studs?

Fri Aug 10, 2012 11:28 am

It looks like something exciting happened here on Main bearing No. 4. I probably did it somehow while pulling the case apart. I was planning on replacing the main bearings anyways.

There are four main bearing sets on gowestyauto. I'm not sure how to know which set I need or if it even matters.

My old bearing 4 has "STD Ck" engraved on it and bearing 3 says "STD Eg" which makes me lean towards the Std. set but I am putting the new GoWesty crankshaft in so there might be some sort of adjustment needed.

Fri Aug 10, 2012 11:34 am

the man with the van wrote: A couple cans of degreaser, a scrub pad, a brass brush on a dremel, and a heated pressure wash later... this is as clean as it's going to get

Do your self a favor and clean the oil pickup and oil galleries.....lots of evil tends to lurk in there, even if it looks spotless.

Fri Aug 10, 2012 11:37 am

vanagonjetta wrote: Awesome! Sounds exciting. I hope to try and do a rebuild or two in the near future. I am looking forward to seeing your posts. What do you have in mind for preparing your case? are you going to replace the head studs or try to find a different case?

edit: read the rest of your post and saw you already cleaned the case. What about the head studs?

With 16 head studs each running about $30 I'm going to try to get away with the old ones. Luckily my local shop was able to pull a replacement for the one I broke from another waterboxer. I have heard that a broken stud serves as a clue that the rest should be changed but I think I might have just torqued it down too quickly. It snapped right at 33 lbs.

Fri Aug 10, 2012 11:57 am

Franklinstower wrote: he has proif you need any advice, I would contact 10cent. I would be knocking on his door for advice and encouragement!

Paul

Good luck, I had directions and gps cooridanetes and I couldn't find his front door. Leaving in the middle of nowhere has it's advantages.

Fri Aug 10, 2012 12:02 pm

Tencent and others have made many careful and considered posts here. From my recollection and falling back on years of type 1 engine builds and rebuilds from my drag racing years, here are just a few things to think about and search on this forum for the complete posts:

- While you are in there, add some compression. Tencent shows how he machines his pistons to achieve desired deck height. It may be too late for this step with your GW kit, or the kit may have some compression increase built in. Regardless, carefully measure your deck height and CC the heads. A good deck height to shoot for is 0.040". If your deck height is too great, you will lose an important element of the anti-knock features designed in to the WBX piston/head design and you could get some knock.
- See TenCent's comments regarding oil pump installation.
- Install an air-to-oil oil cooler.
- Use "the Right Stuff" (by Loctite) as a sealant when installing your heads. Ben from Montreal prepared a good video on the point;
- Don't use synthetic oil until the rings are seated.
- Be very careful on first start up to raise the RPM to the recommended speed for camshaft/lifter break-in (typically over 2,000 rpm). Use the special cam break-in lube. It's also a good idea before the first start up to turn over the engine with the spark plugs removed (but grounded) to prime the oil system.
- AMC heads are preferred, but only with good quality (ie non-AMC) valves and keepers. TRW makes decent valves.
- Install your distributor drive shaft before bolting the crankcase halves together. This is much easier than playing with it later.
- Maybe I'm picky, but I used to remove all the factory-installed oil galley plugs, tap the holes for NPT plugs, and plug them, using a bit of sealant (like Loctite 518) on the threads.
- Get Tencent's WBX exhaust system (manufactured by Rocky Mountain Westy) to wring out all the torque available in that WBX.

To ensure you don't screw up, you really do need to be aware of all the potential pitfalls. WBX main bearing selection is a particularly picky matter and you should read Tencent's posts on the point.

Old type 1 hacks like me often line-bored type 1 cases, which led to a bunch of hacks (undersized cam and distributor drive gears, etc etc). A WBX case basically is good or it's garbage. Don't let anyone talk you into a line-bore job. Most likely, unless the engine was seriously over-revved or oil starved, the case will be fine - - the WBX case and crank are very stout. But do measure and check. If you do need machine work, (even something as seemingly "simple" as polishing the crank - - don't try this at home) use someone very familiar with WBX engines.

The cool thing is that when properly assembled, the little WBX purrs a long, long time. Mine was still purring a few weeks ago when I removed it, at 235,000 MILES (no rebuilds), to install my SVX engine. I know I will need to do a timing belt change on the SVX at 60,000 miles. The little WBX needs no such "maintenance".

Fri Aug 10, 2012 12:08 pm

:bay_blue: Welcome and good luck. Did my first engine when L. B. J. was in office. But when you get old time is more important ! So my last one I let GO WESTY do it all. But now I have more money! So now I can go out and enjoy my syncro. PS Chris aka 10 cent has a lot of great posts here use them when you can. PSS my next engine will be done by 10 cent well worth the wait! :D

Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:47 pm

r39o wrote: Do your self a favor and clean the oil pickup and oil galleries.....lots of evil tends to lurk in there, even if it looks spotless.

Thanks I'll be sure to do that