1971 Deluxe

[blue72beetle]

Last year with 428 miles on the Megasquirted engine so far, it developed a bad oil leak. Oil was running down the block between cylinders 1+2. Tired of the constant fiddling and messing with this thing, I said "That's it. I'm going Subaru".

Out it comes. Still haven't torn it apart so I don't know what caused the leak.

I found a 1995 Subaru Legacy EJ22 locally, "200k miles, ran when removed". Came with an ECU and a mess of wires. Kids, do not do this. BUY THE WHOLE CAR. I should've listened.

I knew at the very least I'd be doing head gaskets, water pump, timing belt. I burned up the credit card at Rock Auto and parts.subaru.com. Pulled the heads off and things didn't look too bad.

I took the heads to a local machine shop and had them cleaned and milled.

By this point I read some threads in the Vanagon section that people had some luck with replacing the rings in high mileage EJ22's to cure excessive oil consumption. Not knowing what this one was like, I figured 'while I'm in there' I might as well replace the rings. It certainly was interesting getting the pistons out, there's access ports and you have to push the wrist pins out with a long screwdriver from the front and rear of each side of the engine.

And of course I bent one, so I had to buy a whole set again to get one ring.

Since the engine came out of an automatic there was no timing belt guide. The old oil pump didn't even have the bosses on it, so I installed a new one.

Installed the kennedy adapter and flywheel and Outfront Motorsports oil pan. And as it sits today.

I also had the 002 trans rebuilt, and the R+P replaced with a 4.57 R+P.

Now why did I say earlier to buy the entire car? Because of this. DON'T BUY PEOPLE'S PROJECTS!

_________________
-Andy-
-1970 Ghia-
-1971 Bus Ongoing EJ22 Conversion-

[blue72beetle]

Having a heck of a time getting the idle dialed in on this megasquirt setup. But I'm learning more every time I mess with it.

Went out to dinner and stopped by a park for some frisbee.

_________________
-Andy-
-1970 Ghia-
-1971 Bus Ongoing EJ22 Conversion-

[airschooled]

That's going to look great when you're done! Nice to see it isn't made of mud like mine

Robbie
_________________
One-on-one tech help for your vintage Volkswagen:
www.airschooled.com

Road trip reports and tech blog:
https://www.patreon.com/airschooled

[aeromech]

I believe you have pastel white over Niagara blue. It’s not hard to find the paint codes
_________________
Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[SGKent]

what is the obsession with original paint? It is a 51 year old car. The original paint chalked badly within 10 years, even with care.
_________________
George Carlin:
"Most people don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it."

Skills@EuroCarsPlus:
"never time to do it right but always time to do it twice"

[blue72beetle]

In my spare time this year I've been stripping the paint off the bus to get back down to original paint and see what's underneath. I had to get through a layer of primer, then a layer of some ugly green, but I'm pretty happy with what I found.
Some previous owner took a grinder to some spots all over the bus and took it down to bare metal.

I discovered the front right dogleg, B pillar, and the nose has a slightly different blue painted over the original paint. This was a better quality paint, not as durable as factory paint, but it didn't want to come off with the stripper I was using. The nose is the worst of course, but I keep reminding myself to be happy that it's not covered in an inch of bondo and isn't rotted at the bottom.

I'm going to try to get some paint matched to the gas filler door, and blend all the spots the PO ground down. I think I'll eventually strip the nose and repaint the whole front. Unfortunately the passenger door was smashed in the front and covered in bondo, and I further ruined it when I got a different door by practicing welding on it.

_________________
-Andy-
-1970 Ghia-
-1971 Bus Ongoing EJ22 Conversion-

[aeromech]

I need your oil bath stand for a project I’m working on. Doing you mind cutting it out for me?
_________________
Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[blue72beetle]

Right, the air filter is from a Mexi-bug. I wanted to use the oil bath, but I'm just not sure what effect it will have on all the intake sensors.
I want to build/buy a breather box that will then get plumbed to the intake, the red plug you see on there is where it should go.
_________________
-Andy-
-1970 Ghia-
-1971 Bus Ongoing EJ22 Conversion-

[aeromech]

Oh, I see now. You’ve installed some kind of plastic housing for the air cleaner. Still, just like all modern cars. You need to plumb the breather air back into the intake system not only for the environment but to keep your engine tidy
_________________
Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[aeromech]

A proper breather box? What’s more proper than the original oil bath air cleaner? Most of those filters like you’re using or “breather boxes” dump oily mist all over your nice engine
_________________
Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[blue72beetle]

[blue72beetle]

I drove it a bit, did some tuning, ran the auto-tune a couple times, gradually made it better getting it dialed in. Still have a long way to go, but it drives great.

I was happy the engine wasn't going to blow up (so far) so I installed Z-bed hinges that I've had waiting for a few years.

I have a cheap chinese diesel heater I want to install, and I was hoping to take it camping once before putting it away for the winter. But cold weather came quick and I never got to go. So now it's put away until spring. Winter plans include: welding in rust repair panels, pulling all the door handles and ignition to have matching keys made, maybe install that heater.

_________________
-Andy-
-1970 Ghia-
-1971 Bus Ongoing EJ22 Conversion-

[aeromech]

Question. Where is your breather hose next to the oil filler plumber to? Seems like you have it going to the charcoal canister behind your oil bath air cleaner. Or am I wrong?
_________________
Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[blue72beetle]

Update time. I decided that I wasn't smart enough to mess with jets on a stock carb with a non-stock longblock (1776 with a different cam). But I do know how to use a laptop, so I dove into the world of Megasquirt.

Throughout 2021 I took the longblock and built it into fuel injection using some Mexican parts and mostly stuff from The Dub Shop.
Mexican intake, throttle body, and fuel rails
IGN-4VW coil
The Dub Shop fuel pressure regulator
The Dub Shop standard crank trigger
Walbro fuel pump
Bosch 2 wire IAC
Innovate LC-2 wideband O2 sensor and controller
Microsquirt ECU
Most all sensors came from The Dub Shop too.

While the engine was out I got a case of "while I'm in there" and replaced all the CV joint boots and pulled the transaxle to clean it and replace some seals.

Got everything re-installed, had to home-brew a few things due to the unorthodox engine configuration. I put the O2 sensor controller and the Microsquirt ECU in the spare tire well. There's a serial to usb cable that runs to the front of the car so I can have the laptop in the passenger seat while driving. And almost exactly a year after starting it with a carb, I started it for the first time with Megasquirt fuel injection. To be honest I couldn't believe it worked.

Link

_________________
-Andy-
-1970 Ghia-
-1971 Bus Ongoing EJ22 Conversion-

[busdaddy]

Not always, add an extra shim or two and tighten the gland nut so the crank locks up, if there's any endplay then it means the case has issues, if it's tight (no movement at all) reshim according to Bentley and see what happens. Running with excess endplay can distort the rod bearings, since it's apart it may not hurt to slap in a fresh set (if the locked flywheel test passes).
_________________
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!

[blue72beetle]

It had a ton of end play with the flywheel and three shims installed. Robbie said it was one of the worst he'd ever seen. I was kinda hoping the shims were gone but there were three there when I took it apart.
Is that the kiss of death for a case?
_________________
-Andy-
-1970 Ghia-
-1971 Bus Ongoing EJ22 Conversion-

[busdaddy]

That's normal endplay for no flywheel in place, what was it like before you took the flywheel off?

Cracks between the seats isn't a death sentence, but if they lead to the spark plug holes it's toast.
_________________
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!

[blue72beetle]

I was curious so I took the old engine part to see if I could find anything obviously wrong. I knew it had a ton of endplay, you can see the bearing moving here, but is this connecting rod play normal?


Link


The previous owners told me they had a guy "rebuild" the engine. I found out the guy was an idiot after I got the bus home and found the lower sled tins on backwards. But I think all he did was put new pistons and cylinders on and call it good. The pistons look good and I can still see cross hatching in the cylinders.
All of the valve seats had cracks between them except for one.

_________________
-Andy-
-1970 Ghia-
-1971 Bus Ongoing EJ22 Conversion-

[blue72beetle]

Well I got it running but it won't idle.
And there's the catch 22. I can't set the timing if it won't idle, and I can't get an idle if the timing isn't set.
And at this point, I don't really know what to do. It also seems the choke isn't coming off the last step.


Link

_________________
-Andy-
-1970 Ghia-
-1971 Bus Ongoing EJ22 Conversion-

[airschooled]

Hey Andy, looking good! Congrats on getting the engine finished.

Definitely check the fuel pump rod, (4.25” or so for that pump.) I have found that some factory-style pumps don’t deal with an empty tank/lines well during cranking, so you may need to fill the carb bowl manually. I use the same graduated syringe for CC’ing heads to inject gasoline into the diagonal vent pipe at the top of the carb opening. This feeds directly into the bowl and won’t flood the engine.

Also check that your fuel pump stand drops easily all the way into the case. Most new stands require a few minutes of coarse sanding to prevent pinching of the rod.

Avoid prolonged cranking on a new build, the lifters need all the splash oil they can get during break-in.

Good luck!
Robbie
_________________
One-on-one tech help for your vintage Volkswagen:
www.airschooled.com

Road trip reports and tech blog:
https://www.patreon.com/airschooled