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Wed Mar 16, 2005 5:39 am

Best thing I ever did was buy the cheapy $69 blast cabinet from HArbour Freight! I have a powder coating system also, just need an oven I can put outside to bake my stuff in.

Fri Mar 18, 2005 10:21 pm

Well, I discovered a friend at work has a 4 hp heavy-duty Campbell-Hausefield compressor (240 v, 15 amps!), and he let me borrow it . Man oh man, that made all the difference in the world! The sandblaster is now dissolving the old paint and rust almost instantly, and I don't have to stop and wait for my 1.5 hp compressor to catch up. I'm going through that pile of engine tin really fast now. Won't be long before I'll have all the tinwork prepped for painting, then it's waiting for the humidity to drop below 50% long enough to get it all shot . I've got both heads off and ready to lap the valves, and after the sandblasting, the jugs come off for a light glaze-breaking hone. Progress!

Sat Mar 19, 2005 6:16 pm

The jugs and heads are off! The crosshatch is still visible in the jugs, and the pistons still have the machining marks on the skirts from the factory. Yep, they're Mahle. The inside of the crankcase is squeaky clean, too. No signs of any trouble, no sealing problems, no scuffing, no scratches, just the usual amount of carbon. Good news! :D :D :D

Tue Mar 22, 2005 9:24 am

Okay Lane, I got your messages and I will be getting with you one evening after work this week or maybe Saturday morning if that's open for you. Should be able to get the parts back to you pretty quick. I'll have to as I will be heading out of town for my job on April 2nd.

Tue Mar 22, 2005 6:22 pm

Much appreciated Keith! I'll be out of pocket Thursday night, but most any other time should be OK.

Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:38 pm

When the boot (trunk) is full of parts and painted tin, it's time to put it all back together, no?

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?search_author=anglodeutsch4

Thu Mar 31, 2005 2:04 am

I'm back!!!

Today I pulled the pistons, and started cleaning the carbon off them. I've got the crankcase openings stuffed with rags to keep the rods from contacting the openings, and to help keep crud out. After I got all the pistons out, I covered the engine with sheet polyethylene to keep dust out. Now it's clean slowly and carefully time, and finish painting engine tin on Friday when the dew point goes down :)

Sun May 22, 2005 10:54 am

First, the good news :)

The tin's all done.

The Auto transaxle's been rebuilt (by me), and is completely reassembled.

The rear of the engine's clean.
The rear crank seal's been replaced.
The fan impeller marked for TDC #2 (180 degrees out from the factory TDC mark) and 7.5 degrees (static timing for initial start-up).
The oil cooler's been cleaned out and reinstalled (thin smear of Hylomar HPF to keep the seals in place).
The oil filter bracket's been cleaned and reinstalled (thin smear of RTV on the gasket), new Mahle filter installed.
The oil filler tube's been installed (thin smear of RTV on the gasket).
The oil pump's been pulled, disassembled, cleaned, inspected, lubed, reassembled (with new O-ring), and bagged awating check of the case flange for flatness.
The distributor has been disassembled, cleaned, relubed, and reassembled with new stuff and a good vacuum can from a '71 411, new O-ring, installed on engine. Tested for vacuum can operation, and bobweight free motion.
The oil pressure relief valve's been cleaned, polished, lubed, and reinstalled (a 3/8" drive extension fits in the 12-point 3-square socket on the valve plug just fine) with a new gasket.
The oil cooler bypass valve's been cleaned, polished, lubed, and reinstalled with a new gasket.
The breather box has been reinstalled with a new gasket (Hylomar HPF on the bottom, RTV on the top so it stays with the breather box when removed), the PCV valve's been gutted to act as a hose fitting (I'll install an inline PCV valve when I get to that part of engine assembly).

Now the bad news :( ...

The valve guides are worn out. There is cylinder head work in my future. Oh, well.

Sun May 22, 2005 1:49 pm

You lurking DB?

Sun May 22, 2005 2:37 pm

nah just came in from welding a new nose on the 72 Bus, whats up?

Sun May 22, 2005 6:24 pm

Welding a nose on the bus :shock:

Who is that avatar?

Sun May 22, 2005 6:37 pm

anglodeutsch4 wrote: Welding a nose on the bus :shock:

Who is that avatar?

Oh yeah that poor thing has been run into 30 different things, time to reskin it.

The guy in my avatar is a rapper from the late 80's early 90's named Biz Markie

Sun May 22, 2005 7:48 pm

Looks like Chubby Checker on 'droids to me.

You're an adventurous soul DB, welding a new nose on the bus...which one, the DB or the poopie?

Sun May 22, 2005 7:55 pm

anglodeutsch4 wrote: Looks like Chubby Checker on 'droids to me.

You're an adventurous soul DB, welding a new nose on the bus...which one, the DB or the poopie?

Oh the DB it's down for a full on Resto.

Mon May 23, 2005 8:03 am

Gonna keep the Flying Tigers shark-nose? I like it personally.

Mon May 23, 2005 8:10 am

anglodeutsch4 wrote: Gonna keep the Flying Tigers shark-nose? I like it personally.

Yeah but this time I am having a graphic artist do it instead of a drunk Army Ranger!

Mon May 23, 2005 9:04 am

Where's the fun in that?

Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:17 pm

Today I installed the horns and wiring to same (my car toots now!), and pulled the left front strut assembly. I wasn't expecting damper oil in the strut tube, I got a hydraulic oil bath ! I guess I should have expected a wet strut from reading some past posts. Anyway, the KYB KC4017 struts I've had on the shelf for a good while appear to not fit correctly...the center rod is too long for the strut mount dimensions. From mining the dissertations of Dr. Greenwood, I think I know what's up. I got these struts for cheap as a Plan B, thinking I'd do the Greenwood Mod as Plan A. Well, it looks like either option is going to take some work, so I'll be doing some flavour of the Greenwood Mod, after reading the 15 pages of posts I've gathered on the topic. Progress, though slowly.

Sat Jun 04, 2005 6:39 pm

Today I did some more front suspension prep work, and attempted installation of the rear dampers. I thought I had enough washers to act as spacers, but alas, not so. Also, the VW lower bolt is a tiny bit too small for the KG5406 bushing, and I'm not going to rip up the KYB's rubber bushing to get the steel bushing out so I can replace it with the OE VW one, so I'm going to Lowe's tomorrow to get some spacers for the KYB's on the rear, and a bigger through bolt and nut (Nylock, of course!), I'll post what I come up with later.

I put the two side by side, and it's amazing, the KG5406's are exactly the same length as the OE Sachs dampers, both extended and fully compressed. The extra stiff damping characteristics should make the rear behave itself quite well.

Oh yes, we also cleaned out the filthy garage. It's great having twin teenage sons!

Sun Jun 12, 2005 12:57 pm

Today we bled the brakes (again). After replacing the right rear WC that had two different sized seal cups :shock: :evil: , and pulling the two front calipers to install anti-rotation plates, it needed another bleeding. All that's left to do (while awaiting various parts) is...

Grind the burr out of the RRWB bore
Hone the jugs
Check the ring gaps
Lap the oil pump sealing flange

After I get the rear wheel bearings and seals (7-30 days, depending on if Bus Depot comes through with bearings)...

Replace the RRWB's and seals
Check and repack the LRWB's, replace the seals

Once I get the heads, I can lap the heads and jugs, clean everything, assemble the engine, and get it back on the road!

It's getting closer!