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Fri Aug 10, 2018 6:00 pm

I have this bug hear that has a rattle in the engine. Pulled the belt off and its still there so I know it ws in the engine. I pulled it apart and found a few things. One , the arrows on the pistons were pointed away from the flywheel. What would that do? Second, I can push the valves side to side a little on the spring end with the springs on them. The heads look all nice and new but they ay vw so im assuming there stock heads and needed valve guides but thy just threw it together anyway. What would that do? 3rd, the distributor gear on the flywheel is chewed up. the distributor drive looked fine. Why? haha thanks for the help if you can!

Fri Aug 10, 2018 9:22 pm

Someone turned the engine over without the distributor in place and chewed up the gear, that's probably the noise as the distributor pinion will hammer up and down on the gear. Not sure if the pistons are offset but put them on the right way. Valves usually don't make that much noise, they just carbon up the pistons and combustion chambers or blow a bunch of smoke out the tailpipe.

brad

Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:04 pm

The pistons probably are offset (hence the arrow). They will slap less if put in the right way, though according to formula Vee lore, you will lose a few horses... :lol:

Loose valves/guides is a recipe for disaster. That rocking you could discern is probably too much. Measure the valve stems for wear limit, change the exhaust valves if you suspect anything, high mileage, anything. I skimped out and it cost me 2 months of my life rebuilding an engine in strained conditions.

If the valve doesn't sit squarely on its seat, because of play in the guides, the valve can't evacuate heat like it wants to, and overheats. Plus, by tring to set the valve on the seat while cocked in the guide will get the valve head to start bending, amd eventually break off.

Now that you have if apart, take your time and build something nice!

Sat Aug 11, 2018 11:21 am

Ok cool. It has Mahle pistons so I think the arrows there tlfor that reason. I will measure though

Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:40 am

Quote: 3rd, the distributor gear on the flywheel is chewed up
You probably wanted to type "crankshaft", not flywheel.

Do you remember seeing the narrow, long spring about an inch long between the bottom of the distributor and the top of the distributor drive when you took the engine apart? Should've been one there. It fits into a hole in the top of the drive and pushes the drive down against the brass gear on the crank when the crank is spinning.

Mon Aug 13, 2018 8:46 am

Quote: 3rd, the distributor gear on the flywheel is chewed up

btdt....what a mess. brass bits everywhere, make sure you clean and clean and clean before assembly.

Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:08 am

Isn't there supposed to be a spacer between the cam and distributor gears?

Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:10 am

Someone just slapped that together to get it on the road. Putting the pistons in backwards it's probably causing the noise you're hearing. Valves all sloppy in the guides means old heads we're used, and not rebuilt, or the rocker geometry was way off side loading the valves.

At tist point, a complete teardown, measure, clean and rebuild is in order.

Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:12 am

tripicana wrote: Isn't there supposed to be a spacer between the cam and distributor gears?

Uh, yea...it's the thing marked "VW" in the picture above :lol: !

Mon Aug 13, 2018 10:45 am

slalombuggy wrote: Someone turned the engine over without the distributor in place and chewed up the gear . . .
brad
At first glance, I would have agreed, but take a closer look . . .
My bet is "Mr Goodwrench" used a drift (or one of his screwdrivers or his wife's butter knife!) to beat the gear off of the crank during the last "rebuild" . . . before installing the piston bassackwards! :roll:
How does the other side of the cam gear look?

Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:02 pm

57BLITZ wrote: slalombuggy wrote: Someone turned the engine over without the distributor in place and chewed up the gear . . .
brad
At first glance, I would have agreed, but take a closer look . . .
My bet is "Mr Goodwrench" used a drift (or one of his screwdrivers or his wife's butter knife!) to beat the gear off of the crank during the last "rebuild" . . . before installing the piston bassackwards! :roll:
How does the other side of the cam gear look?

looks the same all the way around

Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:22 pm

demon1018 wrote: 57BLITZ wrote: slalombuggy wrote: Someone turned the engine over without the distributor in place and chewed up the gear . . .
brad
At first glance, I would have agreed, but take a closer look . . .
My bet is "Mr Goodwrench" used a drift (or one of his screwdrivers or his wife's butter knife!) to beat the gear off of the crank during the last "rebuild" . . . before installing the piston bassackwards! :roll:
How does the other side of the cam gear look?

looks the same all the way around

I figured as much . . . the brass gear (drives the distributor ) looks to have been beaten off of the crank during dissassembly . . .
What I was wondering is . . . what does the other side of the STEEL GEAR look like? The one that drives the cam . . . . does it show signs of abuse?
When the proper tool is used for disassembly, the gears are not damaged.

Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:33 am

you have it appart,so..you tell us what the issue is.it's a lot eazer for you to see than us. fix it, do it right, forget about it and go have fum.

Tue Aug 14, 2018 6:46 pm

Rome wrote: Quote: 3rd, the distributor gear on the flywheel is chewed up
You probably wanted to type "crankshaft", not flywheel.

Do you remember seeing the narrow, long spring about an inch long between the bottom of the distributor and the top of the distributor drive when you took the engine apart? Should've been one there. It fits into a hole in the top of the drive and pushes the drive down against the brass gear on the crank when the crank is spinning.

I double checked today and the spring is there

Tue Aug 14, 2018 6:47 pm

57BLITZ wrote: demon1018 wrote: 57BLITZ wrote: slalombuggy wrote: Someone turned the engine over without the distributor in place and chewed up the gear . . .
brad
At first glance, I would have agreed, but take a closer look . . .
My bet is "Mr Goodwrench" used a drift (or one of his screwdrivers or his wife's butter knife!) to beat the gear off of the crank during the last "rebuild" . . . before installing the piston bassackwards! :roll:
How does the other side of the cam gear look?

looks the same all the way around

I figured as much . . . the brass gear (drives the distributor ) looks to have been beaten off of the crank during dissassembly . . .
What I was wondering is . . . what does the other side of the STEEL GEAR look like? The one that drives the cam . . . . does it show signs of abuse?
When the proper tool is used for disassembly, the gears are not damaged.

the steel distributor drive gear looks fine . I dont see anything wrong there

Tue Aug 14, 2018 6:50 pm

mark tucker wrote: you have it appart,so..you tell us what the issue is.it's a lot eazer for you to see than us. fix it, do it right, forget about it and go have fum.

I did say what was wrong with it...Just wasnt sure how that could have happened.. well at least the gear part. I know what to do ...Start over with all brand new and the best parts but thats not gonna fix this engine and the owner just asked me to figure out what the noise was