Sanchius and Tuna ride again...

[tencentlife]

Hadn't looked at this until now, but yes, for sure, that clean band around the #2 chamber mirroring the piston's squish band is the piston almost kissing the head due to excess rod bearing clearance, or a beaten-out wrist pin bore, but much more likely the former.

After the standard cylinder-cancel test points you to the suspect rod, a loosening rod bearing or wrist pin can easily be physically confirmed. Move the pistons to mid-stroke, put a metal rod as a probe against the crown of the piston in the suspect cylinder, and rock the crankshaft back and forth while feeling the probe; you'll feel the free play in the rod when the piston doesn't move immediately when the crank movement changes direction. You'll be surprised how well you can feel even very small amounts of free play this way.

This can even be done on complete engines still in the car with the head still on, just probe thru the spark plug hole.

The test is optimal at mid-stroke because there's the greatest amount of piston movement per degree of crank rotation there, but if you can't reach the crown thru the plug hole at mid-stroke, just move that piston higher until you can.

(And don't use pencils or wooden implements as probes inside the engine, folks. I've seen people do that and they find out how easily a piece of wood will break, and then they can't get it out because, surprise!, wood isn't magnetic!)
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Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

Experience is kryptonite to doctrine.

[sanchius]

It is always comforting when 10c weights in, it's like having a kind guru watching over your shoulder.

As expected, there was 5.85mm of slop in piston #2 at midstroke.
The engine definitely needs to be torn down.

I had successfully hand built my Jag XK engine years ago, instructed by a Jag-expert friend, so I am familiar with the basics, but I also recognize that there is much here that I will need to learn anew.
So I am starting to disassemble the engine, while reading every good WBX rebuilding thread I can find:
https://intrepidoverland.com/on-the-wbx-flywheel-seal/
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3711609&#3711609

The first thing is to remove the crank pulley while I still have something to lever against.
Since I wasn't planning to be doing big car work again, I had left all my heavy duty air tools back in Colorado with my son.
The 258ft/lb crank pulley bolt just laughed at my Dewalt 18v 1/2" impact gun.

OK, let's try the 2-foot 1/2" breaker bar.
I strapped one end of the engine support cradle to the engine stand and supported the other end with a floor jack to keep the WBX from rotating.
I constrained the pulley with a 1/2" impact extension through the pulley hole held against a stout part of the upper engine case.
Putting all my weight on the end of the breaker bar didn't do a thing.

I am hoping that the bolt hadn't been loc-tite'd in, like we experienced on my son's AUDI, where we had to use 700+ ft/lbs on it to free it.
Heat is always an option, but I like to go there last.

I went back to TheSamba to read some more and I saw this:

[Abscate]

Looks a bit dry too, did you PBB it ? I know oil get soaked up in Husky glitter easily
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.ssS!

[cek347]

Just wanted to say I have enjoyed reading your posts. Sorry about the engine. You use your van the right way and I hope to be using mine in similar fashion. Anyway, thanks for the inspiration. I just picked up mine yesterday. Back at it after 11 years from my last Westy.

Looks slightly familiar.... '86 Wolfsburg

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'86 Vanagon Wolfsburg Edition- tiico
'85.5 Porsche 944
'04 GX 470
'17 Prius Prime

[sanchius]

Nice van... Great color... And thanks for the kind words.
This thread is fun to write, it helps me document what I am doing for future reference, and I love the great feedback I get from the group as I go along.

That was a mystery engine that was running on borrowed time and it stretched a rod bolt right on schedule.
It was also the strongest WBX I've ever experienced, so I'm keen to see what it is like after getting renewed.
Since this is my first WBX rebuild, I'm going to keep it relatively stock, except for adding a 2252 cam (https://www.cbperformance.com/product-p/2252.htm) that seems to be so popular.

Right now I'm putting together the parts list for the rebuild and cleaning 35 years of accumulated oily sludge off the bottom of the engine before I crack the case open to see how bad the damage is.

When I parked the van in the garage to pull the engine, I wasn't thinking ahead and ended up blocking Mrs S's spot.
So I needed to translate the van sideways to the other side of the garage.
I've done this with just a floor jack before and it wasn't a pleasant experience.
My nice metal car dollys were back in Colorado so I thought I'd be clever/frugal and use 4 cheap HF $8 wood 1000lb furniture dollys.
It should be OK with 1 under each wheel (3000lb vehicle - 300lb engine)/4= 675lb per wheel.

It didn't go well

Fortunately I had some extra casters from another project and successfully beefed them up a bit

Ob.Tuna.pics from a recent petroglyph outing. I can't decide which one I like better, stalwart or happy, so here's both.

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[Abscate]

Woof, said the Husky. Im much prettier than any engine build, plus they only have glitter in the oil
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.ssS!

[kourt]

[dlb154]

[Abscate]

Sanchius...you forgot to take 59% off the specs....it’s in the fine print of the free flashlight coupon
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.ssS!

[sanchius]

A few weeks ago I split the WBX case and it was clear that #2 rod had stretched.
The big end was 1.5mm out of round, the rod/crank bearing was completely gone and the crank journal was galled and damaged.
I'm no expert, but I don't think that'll polish out.
I think I'm going to need a new crank

Luckily my brother had secured a free donor WBX from a conversion for me in his garage in San Francisco.
All I had to do was make the 4-hr drive from Reno to SFO to get it.

Easier said than done.
The first open weekend coincided with a big storm on Donner Pass; no go.
Then a busy week at work; no go.
Then another big storm dropped an additional 44" of snow on the pass; no go.

Finally, there was a clear 3-day window to get into the city and retrieve the donor WBX engine.

Of course, that day turned out to be the first day of the Bay Area's big COVID19 lockdown.
Both wanting to responsibly respect the intent of the lockdown and to avoid getting trapped in CA in case things really got bad and they closed the state borders, I resisted the urge to make a high-speed run in & out of the city to grab the donor engine.

So, rather than tearing down the donor engine and making progress towards reassembly during this quarantine time, the WBX project is on hold for a couple weeks until I can get into SFO to grab the crank out of the donor

** I should ask if anyone has a usable WBX crank they'd like to sell. That would get things back on track.

With the WBX rebuild on hold, we've been going snowshoeing up in the high country, doing stuff around the house and I've been working on other projects in the garage.

The XKR got a new valve cover gasket.
This entailed extracting the broken VC bolt the PO had left in the head, which was causing a small oil leak.
Gotcha, ya little bugger.

The last time I was at the pick-n-pull, I grabbed an nice threaded adjustable alternator tightener off an old Jag XJ6 to see if I could get it to work on the WBX in place of that OG cave-man slider bar tightener system.

I wasn't able to easily fit it to the WBX, so I retasked it to be the pivot for a cantilivered LED shop light to give extra light over my work space.

Ob.husky.covid19 picture for Abscate...

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The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
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[The Carrot]

Here is a link to an upgraded alt. Adjuster. Toothed bolt sold separately.


https://www.buslab.com/product-p/025903251.htm
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1990 Orly Blue Carat

[Abscate]

Ooooooooooowwwwwwwww!

I miss my Husky!

We had animal crisis here as my Russian Blue mix had to have emergency surgery. We drove up three times to say goodbye through glass.
,
Home now, doing well , down to 6 lives.
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.ssS!

[sanchius]

OK, Abs, before we get started, here's a Tuna & Daisies fix from our hike along the upper Truckee River yesterday.
She had lots of fun chasing butterflies and playing in ALL the mud puddles.

About a month ago, my brother secured a rebuilder WBX engine for me in his garage in San Francisco.
But I had to get to SF to disassemble it so the pieces were both liftable by one person and fit in the trunk of Mrs S's Acura sedan to bring it back to Reno to rebuild.

I missed by one day first the San Francisco quarantine order, then the general California don't travel request.
Being a responsible citizen with some experience in global public health, I respected that guidance.
So, instead we hunkered down in Reno, attending lots of Zoom meetings for work, going on neighborhood walks, baking cookies, and making afternoon quarantine coffee (coffee with a Margarita in it, but with no coffee).

But the clock was ticking and I have some deadlines coming up, so I wanted to get started on the rebuild.
Finally, with the SF infection curve flat and our own distancing/mask protocol in order, I made the run into SF to retrieve the engine.

The patient:

It's always great working with my brother.

This engine has been rebuilt before. Hopefully they did a good job.

Disassembly was very straight forward and surprisingly easy, only one nut needed to be cut off.

CLICK HERE for the disassembly timelapse video

We did have a mom and her kid from a nearby ranch show up to help.

So now I have all the parts back in my garage, including a good crank.

This is my first WBX rebuild and, without access to the race shop in Colorado, it will be pretty much a stock rebuild aside from a 2252 cam.

Now I need to finish putting together my parts list, keep studying my rebuild documentation until I'm confident with the process, and then get started on the rebuild.
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[Abscate]

Tuna helped lift my daughters spirits , still shaken by the Hades of having to go put her pet down three times in one week.

Woof, said the Husky.
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[coqcitywesty]

I spy a Volvo ES lurking in the shop - a Westy and an ES are a great COVID quarantine distraction, but then again, I might be a tad biased.....
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1991 Westfalia EJ251, 1972 Volvo 1800 ES

[sanchius]

I'm making slow progress on the engine rebuild and it'll be awhile before I'm on the road again.

So, here's a pic from a few years ago where we'd go summer evenings for a picnic dinner to catch the Colorado sunsets.

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[Abscate]

Woof said the Husky.

My Husky and I are both grieving over the passing of her best friend, the little 10 pound Russian Blue. She did come home for a month, and we had a wonderful life sunset together, but the Husk is still searching for her little buddy.


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.ssS!

[Abscate]

Woof woof woof Husky fix woof woof
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[jimf909]

^^^Hmm, I was hoping for another installment of Sanchius and Tuna...
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- Jim

[sanchius]

I'm moving slow, but I am starting to put assemble the crank shaft.

Mrs S picked me up a big old 6" bench vise the other week, which has proved to be essential for this part of the job.

I wasn't happy with the crank bolt threads, so they got cleaned up.
I have to confess that tidying up critical threads with a tap & die set never fails to provide me with a disproportional amount of satisfaction.

Before the new pully-side main bearing can go on, the distributor & cam gears need to come off.

The crank is in the freezer overnight to shrink and tomorrow I'll heat up the gears and slide them back on.

Here's Tunes catching her breath at the 1/2 way point of our Bike-joring outing tonight.

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The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
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