New (to me) 1965 1500 Variant S(!)

[Bobnotch]

Sounds like you should be good to go, other than knowing how thick of barrel shims you'll need.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[sjbartnik]

Yep will just have to re-measure and go from there.

Probably will do one last full mockup including heads and pushrods just to make sure nothing hits anything and then build it for real.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[Bobnotch]

[sjbartnik]

All right! Got the case back from the machinist today. Indeed the cylinder seating areas were not flat and parallel but they are now.

So I know what I'm doing this weekend
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[sjbartnik]

Did my final mockup today with crank, cam, lifters, distributor drive gear all installed in case. Installed cylinders, pistons (without rings), pushrods (without pushrod tubes), and rocker arms. Also set end play and installed flywheel with correct end play shims.

Rotated engine by hand, nice and smooth and no weird clicky noises like in the video of when I was tearing it down.

Still not 100% sure what that was but suspect it was related to the super excessive camshaft gear backlash.

My main goal for final assembly of the bottom end is to not forget the cam plug.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[sjbartnik]

Busy weekend!

Sunday started like this:

And ended like this:

And along the way I remembered:
- the cam plug
- the tins under the cylinders
- to insert the oil cooler bolts before installing the cylinders on the left side.

It all came together nicely.

Another view:

Those Goetze rings are nice. I loved the packaging, and they seem to fit nice and snug.

Also, easiest valve adjustment ever when it's on the stand.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[Erik G]

nice. I love nice original parts like those rings where everything just fits
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Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[sjbartnik]

Hey guys, I need an expert opinion. Is the profile at the rounded end of this fuel pump push rod OK? Meaning is it worn too flat? Should it be more rounded?

It measures 107.84mm rather than dead-on 108mm.

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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[Erik G]

I seem to remember the aftermarket crap being a little more blunt like that. I'd get a good used rounded one... but it's probably fine

did you see magnetic particles in the oil?
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Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[sjbartnik]

[Bobnotch]

Yup might try rounding the edges slightly. How was your fuel pressure before you took the engine apart? Just asking, as lengthening/shortening that rod affects fuel pressure. Check your pressure once it's in the car, then go from there. I only say that, because you're changing the distributor drive shaft too.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[sjbartnik]

Fuel pressure was fine as far as I know, it's a Pedro-rebuilt pump and I wasn't having carb overflow issues nor was I having fuel starvation issues.

I did manage to find a new German pump push rod and upon receipt it's not significantly rounder on the end but it does measure a bit closer to 108mm even. I measured the min. and max. height and stroke as per the Bentley and it's in spec, so I will use the new one and keep the original one as a good spare.

Also I think there may be an error in the Bentley there, as it says the stroke should be about 4mm, but then it specifies the max height of the push rod as 13mm and the min. as 8mm but last I checked 13-8 = 5.

Mine measures out at max height right at 13mm and min height right at 9mm which makes for a dead on 4mm stroke.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[sjbartnik]

Getting closer.

In the last few evenings after work I have:

- mounted breather stand
- mounted fuel pump
- mounted oil cooler
- mounted oil fill tube
- installed front main seal, torqued flywheel, mounted clutch
- mounted thermostat bracket
- mounted thermostat and adjusted thermostat linkage
- mounted fan housing and fan

We're getting pretty close to slapping the tin on and throwing it in the car.

Yes I remembered those pesky pieces of tin that go between the fan housing and the heads/cylinders
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[Bobnotch]

You're gaining on it. What thickness of barrel shim did you end up going to?
_________________
Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[sjbartnik]

[sjbartnik]

In an unrelated note, can anyone tell me (or better yet post a pic) about how the battery strap is supposed to be put together? This is what I have:

and it seems wrong. I have been able to jury-rig it like this but it's not super secure.

I have the threaded post on the floor in the battery area and the hook thing welded to the kick panel back there so I think those fitments are right. But this strap seems put together wrong. The owner's manual doesn't have a really good pic but it looks like it's supposed to be two pieces.

What is the end of the part that attaches to the kick panel supposed to look like?
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[sjbartnik]

OK I think I got the strap figured out. Found some pics, it's clearly supposed to be two pieces; for some reason mine was assembled this way as one piece.

I was thinking about it and I thought if I just had another loop piece I could switch around the right side (as seen above) of the strap and make it hook that piece on the kick panel...

then I had an a-ha moment as I had seen just such a piece floating around in my stock tool bag and had no idea what it was for.

Sure enough it was the square loop that is meant to go into the latch. So I found this pic on the samba, stolen from RHD Notch:

So I disassembled my existing strap. I flipped the right side portion around and I added the square loop to the latch. So now it looks like this:

The only problem, as you can see, is that the latch won't stay closed - there's nothing to keep it from just opening up again. I can't figure out why - whether there's not enough tension in the latch assembly because the parts are old and worn or maybe there's too much tension on the strap? How tight is this thing supposed to be? Seems it would need to be fairly tight to keep the battery from moving around.

So right now I've resorted to zip ties to keep the latch from opening on its own, but if anyone has any hints for me as to why the latch won't stay closed on its own, I'd love to hear them.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[sjbartnik]

OK it's back in the car. Tomorrow is the moment of truth. Wish me luck.

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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[Bobnotch]

[sjbartnik]

Here's the reality check video, for when you go to start your new rebuild but somehow you still managed to fuck up the order of the plug wires and realized it when it started popping through the carb:

(Even as I was stringing the plug wires I was saying "I don't wanna be that guy" that gets the order fucked up and yet I still managed to do it. Putting it here for realness points - it happens, check the basic shit first because people do fuck up.) Though I have to say with DPR counterweighted crank it does run very smoothly even on two cylinders.

(D/A/N came by to document the moment)


Link


Then here's how it starts when the plug wires are right:


Link


And here we are during the 20 minute 2000 rpm run-in:


Link


The VW 691 tool is very handy for the initial run-in.

Seems to run great, very smooth, no crazy oil leaks. Did catch a bit of seepage from one (just one!) pushrod tube seal which is very annoying.

It didn't throw a rod in that 20 minutes so I guess all is well. Done for the day but of course some breaking in and carb tuning is in order in the near future.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650