71 Beetle engine pull adventure

[Zundfolge1432]

Rods look great I wouldn’t change a thing

[mg50]

[67rustavenger]

Those are what I use in my latest build. Except .010 undersize, I had DPR repair my crankshaft.

Likely, cold temps are affecting your rod drop test.
I tried STP on my rod bearings. When cold , the rod drop was almost non-excitant.

Run it!
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
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There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
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[calvinater]

[Rickf1985]

Commercial food cans, Didn't think of that. Good idea. Those cans come in very handy for all sorts of things from small parts storage to parts cleaning.

[69aircooled]

Could be cold that’s causing the rods to fall slower as mentioned above. You should be ok as is. Sometimes light hammer taps with a soft faced hammer at the bolts cans loosen a slower dropping rods to be like the others. With your rods there I think you’re fine. I’ve built/rebuilt quite a few of these. All the best with your build.

[mg50]

Before setting the crank back in, a few questions to establish that I'm still an amateur.

When setting the crankshaft back in, should I be concerned at this point with the timing dots location, rods stroke location, and with the distributor gear location? Such as having rods and distributor gear at what will be TDC? Or is all that established later when I lay in the cam?

And is it advisable to have the distributor gear in place at this time, or does it get placed later to establish where you want TDC? To make sure my distributor ends up oriented as standard instead of out of standard rotation as it was before.

[Pruneman99]

You don't need to worry where the rods are. You just need to make sure the crank seats correctly by lining up the bearing dowels.

Set the crank in the case half. When you think the crank is set in properly, take the second half of the spilt bearing and lay it on the crank. It should sit down on the crank, and not be able to wiggle back and forth. If it does wiggle, you have a bearing that's not aligned.

After that's done, lay the cam in where the dots align. If you need to move the crank to get them to mesh, then check again with the bearing half the crank goes back in.

You are not worried about where TDC is. If the dots on the cam and crank are aligned, your good.

You can install the distributor drive now, or later when the short block is together. Just make sure you install a distributor also. Without a distributor, the distributor drive can walk up the bore and chew up the brass gear.

Point of note: you can place on a crank pulley to turn the crank to TDC when you drop the distributor drive gear in. The crank key will be facing left as you look at the pulley end.

The dots on the cam gear and crank will NOT be touching at this point. Don't worry. The only thing that matters is when you do spin the crank around, they meet. The pulley will tell you where TDC is and you can orient the distributor drive gear like the photos.

[Zundfolge1432]

^^^^^ this because if you follow Tom Wilson’s way it will be wrong, it is a mistake in his book.

[mg50]

[67rustavenger]

IMPORTANT!
Don't forget installing the cam plug at the flywheel end of the case, before closing it up for good.
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[mg50]

[mg50]

and don’t forget the slinger before seating! DOH

[vamram]

And carefull when putting the case halves together. I somehow managed to destroy the oil slinger, crushing an edge, when putting the cases together on my 1st (or 2nd?) build. Fortunately I didn't damage the case.
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[67rustavenger]

[67rustavenger]

You must have a very fuzzy shedding dog.
There are a lot of stray white hairs in your engine pics.
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[mg50]

[mg50]

[67rustavenger]

The bronze dist drive gear is non-directional. You can't install it in error.

Set your crank to TDC, insert the dist drive shaft until it meshes with the bronze crank gear.
You may have to wiggle the drive shaft or the crank, GENTLY, to get the drive shaft to mesh with the crank gear.
Be very careful. You don't wanna damage the bronze gear by rotating incorrectly.

Beautiful dog you have there!
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[vamram]