Summer engine into 68 Westy - questions

[soissisc]

Sorry for the absence, I had some crazy amount of work that had to get finished up (real life adult type pay bills kind of work haha).

Anyhow, per Tom Wilson first thing I did with the pistons is measure them for skirt collapse. And although the pistons "look" nice the skirts measure out otherwise. The best is a measurement below the oil ring that is .0003" smaller than the skirt (#1 Piston). The worst is a measurement at the skirt that is .0014" smaller than the measurement below the oil ring (#4 piston). Tom Wilson says throw these pistons out.

Knowing that I would like to run this engine for the rest of the summer (quickly turning to FALL), are these totally junk at this point? Would you continue on and clean them all up, and measure the ring lands to see if the pistons are beyond even new rings? (I do not have Bentley right in front of me right now).

I am not past buying new P/C at this point and if I do that maybe I should just throw new rods on it too, but from what I see an engine tear down and rebuild should occur this winter with this engine for sure.

If the ring lands are still in spec could I still put new rings on and run it as is for the rest of the nice weather driving season then tear it all down come winter and rebuild then? I mean if I put new rods and P/C could they be reused when I rebuild this winter?

I value your opinions.

Thanks
_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[busdaddy]

It depends on how much work you want to do later, you can slap it back together and have something that will run but be clattery and use some oil, if that's OK with you carry on and do it right this winter.
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Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

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Слава Україні!

[soissisc]

That is about what I was thinking Busdaddy.

If I put money into new P/C and rods now, with limited miles and barring a mechanical catastrophe, those could be reused come tear down time this winter?
_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[busdaddy]

Sure they could, unless you have excessive endplay on the crank, that will wear the pistons in all sorts of odd ways.
_________________
Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

Слава Україні!

[soissisc]

OK, getting back into this again, (I know a year has gone by.... but what are you going to do?)

I pulled a rod to check it out. What am I seeing here?

My thought was to maybe mic the crank and maybe get new rods and pistons / cylinders and put it back together. Is this a total waste of time? I can pull the rest and see what I find.
_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[soissisc]

New part frustrations

_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[soissisc]

Removed duplicate post
_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[soissisc]

Ok, so I ended up rebuilding. The further I got the more it seemed like throwing good money to bad.

Anyway... What are your opinions on the oil cooler? Right now it is stock. Should I convert to doghouse? I have a shroud etc. This is a camper as well....

Let me know what you think.

I am collecting parts to go back to stock air cleaner as well and may have some questions on the pre-heat ducting.

_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[Spike0180]

Yes, you should concert to a doghouse cooler.
_________________
Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp

Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic"

[airschooled]

What is your case serial number? (Or gallery size if you know it!) I don’t think you’ll want to stick a 10mm doghouse cooler into an 8mm gallery case without other oiling system modifications.

What are your intentions for this bus engine? Life span? Cruising speed? Longest possible road trip?

There’s no way I could answer your doghouse conversion question without knowing way more details.
Robbie
_________________
Learn how your vintage VW works. And why it doesn't!
One-on-one tech help for your Volkswagen:
www.airschooled.com

[soissisc]

Case number is B6316159.

As far as expectations for the engine? Light cruising, 60-65 for extended periods on trips, camping, 1-2-3-?? hour drives to NYC or the coast? Who knows? I would like it to last as long as possible.
_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[soissisc]

It is a dual relief case. Not sure of the gallery size, but I will get into it.
_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[soissisc]

OK, yes 10mm oil passages.
_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[soissisc]

OK I originally posted this in my stock air cleaner thread, but I took it out of there and moved it to this engine related thread, as it seemed more related.

I was doing fitting of the tins etc, and snapped this picture.

Got the pipe and the tin piece, and got those installed.

Once I got the picture onto my computer and studied it a little bit, I noticed this, it looks like the valve guide is cracked and extending beyond the boss much more than all of the other exhaust guides.

Upon further investigation, when the crank is rotated, the tapered area on the new exhaust valve stem does come back and interfere with the valve guide when #2 is on TDC. These heads had new valves installed, I am not 100% sure on if the guides were replaced. It looks like this head needs to come off and that valve guide shortened or see why it protrudes so far out into the port.

I took a look under the valve covers and the offending #2 exhaust looks like this:

And the intake valve guide on this side looks like this (more correct I gather)

So, fallen or sunken valve guide? Definitely looks like pulling the head is in the cards here.

Any comments or suggestions?

Thanks,

Mark
_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[SGKent]

I'd go back to whomever did the heads and talk with them. They may not be willing to fix it if it has been awhile but it is obvious from the photos that the heads don't look used. Did someone paint the valves with black paint? It looks that way in the photo. Don't know why someone would do that if they did. If the guides are replaced, the valve seats will need to be done again because no two guides are perfectly concentric with one another.
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Abscate]

Blech. The shop that reworked those heads has a barrel of monkey tails out back ....horrible work.
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.ssS!

[soissisc]

Yes guys, bummer for sure. It was an "economy" rebuild, so I guess how far can you throw it?

The valves look brand new to me, maybe the light makes them look black in the photo.

I don't think I am going back to this guy, he sort of screwed me on taking the core engine which he agreed to for reimbursement.

I started a thread on this guide issue in the engine forum so we can jump there for further discussion of this.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=743164

Thanks!
_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[soissisc]

Welcome back, slowly getting this bus nearer and nearer to back on the road. I have gotten all of the engine problems settled, hopefully, and I have a question. I am getting all of the accesories attached and I have had the fuel pump refurbished. My question is what type of fuel line works for this fuel pump with the threaded inlet and any ideas on where would I get one?

Mine is like the fuel pump exploded on the left.

Thanks!
_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[airschooled]

https://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/DetailsList.cfm?ID=111127521
_________________
Learn how your vintage VW works. And why it doesn't!
One-on-one tech help for your Volkswagen:
www.airschooled.com

[soissisc]

Thank you I will check it out.
_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)