1977 2.0L FI Teardown

[my59]

Springs for hydro lifters are stiffer than those used in solid lifter heads. Might that have contributed to the problem?
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my59: Well son, my grandfather died before I got to drive it, so does that answer your question?
our79: sunroof bus w/camper interior and 2.0 FI
Other:'12 Jetta, '77 Benz 300D, and a 74 MG Midget.

[D52E]

[SGKent]

/E springs are what you need for solid lifter and they are very hard to find new. The height and pressure specs are in Bentley. Too bad you and Len couldn't work things out on rebuilding those, he has a replacement spring that is very close to the /E that he uses. My guess is that he is probably worn out like the rest of us are due to all the political and covid problems out there. Good luck.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[D52E]

The cylinder heads have been dropped off at the shop. It’s probably going to be a couple weeks before I hear back from them.

in the meantime I decided to order a replacement piston. It turns out the replacement piston is about 17 g lighter than the other pistons on the engine now. I am probably going to call the company on Monday and see if they can get me a better weight match piston. I don’t believe it is acceptable to be any more than 5 g at worst.

In the meantime I decided to give the original piston a small grind and polish to see how bad it would be. It looks to be about 0.057” deep at the worst spot. The weight is within 1 g of other pistons despite material removal. I’m hesitant to install this piston back in the engine but it seems to be the most viable option at the moment.

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1977 Bus
2.0 fuel injection
Solid lifters
Manual transmission
GM 105A Alternator

[cmonSTART]

What weight are you looking for? I have a couple old pistons laying around - be happy to weigh them (after cleaning) and can send one your way if it works.

I personally wouldn't use that piston.
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS

[D52E]

I weighed #3 piston on the same side if engine. Looks like 463 grams clean with no pin or locks (piston by itself).

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1977 Bus
2.0 fuel injection
Solid lifters
Manual transmission
GM 105A Alternator

[cmonSTART]

I have 2 Mahle 94mm pistons - one weighs 482g, one 506g. (The 506g has a bit of shelf rash on it.)

I'm actually a bit surprised they're that much heavier.
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS

[D52E]

Thanks for looking. I’m going to keep trying to see if the piston manufacturer can help me get one that is closer to the weight.
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1977 Bus
2.0 fuel injection
Solid lifters
Manual transmission
GM 105A Alternator

[SGKent]

better check the rod for being bent also. Having to remove that much to clean it up makes me concerned for the rod. You can use the other rods to do a quick check by placing them against each other.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Bleyseng]

With a 9590 cam you need to get better heads is Camper Special or ones with 42x36 valves to get to 100hp. Better 4 to one exhaust too. You’ll have head temps in the 350-400f range going 70 mph. 17-30 mpg
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70 Ghia Black convert-9/69 build date-stock w/133k 1600 SP-barn find now with a rebuilt tranny and engine
77 Westy 2.0L w/Ljet, Camper Special engine-95hp and with LSD!(sold)
76 Porsche 914 2.1L L20c, 120hp Djet (sold)
87 Syncro Westy Titan Red 2.1L 2 knob 100k miles

[Tvättbjörn]

since there was talk about solid vs hydraulic lifters. Can somebody tell me if the pushrods are the same between solid and hydraulic lifter? If not, how can you tell the difference. Thanks for input.

[SGKent]

solid are aluminum. Hydraulic are steel. There is a slight difference in length I believe too.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Tvättbjörn]

[orwell84]

Is it ok to replace 1 damaged piston if the others were ok? I would think that if it was a similar style, matched for weight, yielded a deck height close to the others and had the same dish volume in t would probably be fine.

[SGKent]

[D52E]

Progress update:
-Rod looks ok compared to others by laying next to each other. I don’t believe it was bent.

-Weight matched piston was not possible. I ended up ordering a new set of 4 from pistons from AA (requested to be matched within 1 gram).

-Heads are still at shop. No obvious cause was found for the broken valve. The shop did indicate a potentially unrelated increase of similar incidents of broken Chinese valves over the last couple of years. The shop also observed the fit of the keepers to retainers seemed suspect. There was some looseness of the retainer/keeper assembly. I don’t know if the parts are type 4 or possibly type 1 parts used. I plan on ordering a new set of type 4 stock intake valves, springs, retainers and keepers. I have contacted Europeanmotorworks for replacement parts.
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1977 Bus
2.0 fuel injection
Solid lifters
Manual transmission
GM 105A Alternator

[D52E]

I finally got the bus running again. I put 200 miles on it keeping it under 55 MPH and change the oil (previously changed after 20 min cam break in with Lucas break-in oil and Rotella T4 Diesel engine oil). I cut the oil filter open and did not find any significant metal shavings (just a couple of small specs). I also adjusted the valves. The lash had loosened up approximately .002” to 0.003” (new TRW intake valves, springs and valve job). All valves seem to take the same amount of adjustment.

Oil pressure seems to settle at about 12 psi at idle (~800RPM) after warmed up with Rotella 15W-40 60F ambient.
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1977 Bus
2.0 fuel injection
Solid lifters
Manual transmission
GM 105A Alternator

[SGKent]

sounds good
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[D52E]

The saga continues. After about 2,000 miles of fun driving - #1 intake valve seat dropped. Fortunately, the seat did not completely drop and grenade the engine (no piston contact luckily).

I noticed it was low on power and burning some oil between fuel stops. There was also a rattle noise under load. I checked compression on all cylinders and found #1 was very low. Further investigation revealed #1 intake valve lash tight. The engine ran much better after I re-adjusted the valve lash. Oh no... the dreaded valve seat coming loose

Cylinder leak down showed about 7% to 10% on 3 cylinders. #1 intake side showed significant leak (about 40%). I pulled the heads and found the valve seat just dropped out on #1. I had a cylinder temperature gauge installed on #3 and never noticed temperatures above 375F even when climbing grades. AFR gauge was installed and set to 13.5:1 at cruise RPM.

Edit: I also set maximum timing at 27 degrees with ported vacuum disconnected and plugged.

My hypothesis indicated a potential lean cylinder so I checked the fuel injector on cylinder #1 and found it to have similar resistance as the others. Fuel flowed from the injector when pulsing.

I have ordered a new set of AMC replacement heads, fuel injectors and second cylinder temperature gauge for #1 bank.

I'm hoping to save the heads as spares and have then rebuilt with new intake valve seats if they can be saved.

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1977 Bus
2.0 fuel injection
Solid lifters
Manual transmission
GM 105A Alternator

[SGKent]

failed valves and seats are common but random in air cooled engines. It happens.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin