After going up a hill, motor now makes noise under acceleration

[Dubbin68]

I got my AT squareback back together and was taking it for it's maiden voyage yesterday and as I was going up a hill I noticed it start to make a knocking/ticking noise under acceleration. I babied it the 1/2 mile home and shut it off. I went back out this morning and started it up and around 3000 rpm is starts to make the noise-doesn't matter if the engine is hot or cold. Also, the engine does not make the sound at idle whatsoever.

I bought the engine secondary with the car and torn it down to a longblock to inspect it. It honestly looked like it had never been run/freshly rebuilt, so I put it back together and put it in the car. I have not yet had a chance to check the valve train. It was my first time setting endplay, so I am a tad nervous that the endplay is not set correctly-would this cause noise under acceleration? It does not sound like a rod knock (I have heard it before), but instead is more like a metallic ticking. The noise also doesnt seem to be left or right, but instead dead center, which makes me think it has something to do with clearance with the flex plate and case.

I'm running an FI distributor with twin weber 34 icts. I statically timed the engine to 7.5 BTDC and have not yet had a chance to check advanced timing. Running 91 octane fuel.

on the test drive it was running fine for the first 5 miles or so, until the acceleration up the hill (I live in Duluth, so the hills can be quite steep).

Anyone have any ideas on what it could be? What kind of noise does excessive end play cause? I'm going to try and load a video tomorrow.
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68' Westy Weekender
73' Squareback
69’ Beetle

[Multi69s]

You usually do not hear a noise from two much endplay, unless it is REALLY excessive. Pull off the gen belt and see if it makes a difference. Also check the tightness of the fan bolts and the flex plate to TC bolts.
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69 road Bug 2110
73 Squareback - 2L, T4, Automatic W/ AC
Gone, but many fond memories 69 Baja Bug 2010 - 5 Rib Bus Transaxle
Gone but not forgotten 72 Baja Bug 2010
My builds
T4 into Squareback http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=458944&highlight=
Auto Trans Rebuild http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=516066&highlight=
AC in Squareback https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=

[Dubbin68]

checked the valves and they all were fine and no loose fan/engine tin. So, I pulled the engine and found it to have excessive endplay. I don't own a dial gauge (borrowed one last time i set it), so I wont know what the spec is until I go buy one tomorrow.

I have no history on the engine, but before I originally put it in the car I gave a it a good once over and I bet that the engine doesn't have more than 10-15 miles on it since a fresh rebuild. I do believe however that it sat for some time. So, my question is, could the thrust bearing have walked from the short test drive the other night?
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68' Westy Weekender
73' Squareback
69’ Beetle

[Clatter]

[Bobnotch]

[Dubbin68]

Well I pulled the flex plate and found that there were no flywheel shims! I should have pulled the flex plate the first time around to inspect. Oh well I guess you learn.

Anyways it measured .034" as is stood without shims, so I added 2 shims I had laying around and got it to .009". I just ordered the shim kit from aircooled.net and will have it Friday. I'm not fully convinced the engine is toast yet. Who knows though. If anything I guess I'll just get really good at pulling an AT type 3 engine. Also drained the oil and found that it was as clean as a whistle as well.

When I rebuilt my bus engine the machine shop told me that they couldn't set the endplay; that it was out of spec (too tight). So they shimmed it with just 2 shims and got it as close as possible. Well nearly 12K miles later is is still running strong after many long distance drives with no signs of wear.
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68' Westy Weekender
73' Squareback
69’ Beetle