ABA 2.0 Rebuild

[Vanagon Nut]

hi all.

I'm active on the Vanagon forum here and am currently doing
another ABA to Vanagon engine conversion.

The ABA engine was free. PO said it ran, didn't burn oil, but block
was quite oily and dirty. Originally I was only going to renew the gaskets,
belt etc. but chose to rebuild it. I have very little rebuild experience but am
gleaning a lot from various forums.

Link to some images of crank journals, piston wear, bearing shells etc

https://goo.gl/photos/8sgVXp8JzKk3dVRg6

I'll measure the parts as per Bentley manual, but input on condition of these parts is most welcome.

So far, it seems the crank may not need machining, the bores only need honing.
I'll get the block deck checked for any warpage then go from there.

Neil.
_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[Vanagon Nut]

ok. I think I found a work around to google photo not allow image embedding.

rod bearing cap shells

examples of crank journal wear

example of piston scuff (wear)

main bearing cap shell wear

_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[ps2375]

Take the IM shaft to a machine shop and have them turn the cast shaft section on a lathe, it'll help with smoothness. And the new(have them replaced) IM shaft bearings won't get hammered either. You'd be surprised at how much wobble that have in them. It'll look like this when done:

[Vanagon Nut]

Thanks ps2375

I guess the machine shop didn't take off much?
Ya, it's a rough looking part the way it's built. (Cast)
I can see how it would impart some vibration.

The IM shaft bearings look ok but I was contemplating replacing at least
the outer bearing myself but I guess it wouldn't take much time for a competent machine shop to press those out.
I'd get them to do the frost plugs too.

Neil.
_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[ps2375]

The cast iron VW used for the water-cooled blocks is very hard and tough. I've rebuild several of these from the 1.7's to the ABA's and only ever needed to hone the cylinders and re-ring the stock pistons. And replace the main and rod bearings cause I had it apart. They are quite well balanced from the factory, but some additional work there only pays dividends in smoothness. It looks like you have an OBDII crank, so it is cast instead of forged, but for your purposes, it'll be plenty good. Those motors can take quite a bit of abuse and continue on.
The piston looks pretty clean for what it is, be sure to clean as much of the carbon out of the ring grooves before re-assembly. And a fresh oil pump will only be a good thing.

[Vanagon Nut]

Thanks.

The oil pump backlash is ok as is gap between gears and body.
I took the pickup tube face to some 400 emery on a thick piece of glass.
Did same to oil pump body face but just to clean it up.

The fetid bore measuring tool I made seems to work ok; I didn't see any noticeable differences at various points in each bore. They appear to measure just under the 82.51 mm spec.

Good to know the blocks are stout. The 1.8 RV I bought with all the required
diesel mount parts is kind of rusted inside but may well be worth saving.

And yes, it's an OBD2 engine. No oil squirters.
But I may install an aftermarket oil cooler.

I recalled the old reuse part of a compression ring trick for cleaning the
ring (lands?) in pistons. Everything is getting cleaned up.
Am hoping machine shop has a hot tank or similar.
_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[Vanagon Nut]

[ps2375]

Where in the bore is this flaw? If the motor wasn't burning oil prior to tear-down, it should be similar after rebuild.

[Vanagon Nut]

[ps2375]

I don't think that will be a big deal. since the compression rings never see it.

[Vanagon Nut]

[Vanagon Nut]

[Vanagon Nut]

So the rebuild is going slowly but here's a few things a newb might want to know;

- clean engine bores really well then ask machine shop to measure them. Inspect bores very closely for any obvious flaws. For me, knowing about the flaw in bore would've been a deal breaker. I would've installed a lower mileage used ABA. Though I am learning a lot and this engine should work "ok", machine shop costs really start to add up. And, there's no guarantee a once over over bore will remove the flaw. Depending on how the shop charges, one could be into two over bore charges.

- measure crank end play before removing crank, rods, pistons.

- the bosses at rod and cap face towards the pulley end of engine

- ~ 1/4" grooves on thrust shims face outward. i.e. toward each end of engine.

- though I haven't used it yet, a Lisle 33500 ring expanding tool should prove to work quite well. It's cheap and it holds the ring well though one should hold the ring while lowering it on the piston; as you expand the ring, it will tend to twist which in turn will likely spring it loose from the tool. Practice on your old pistons/rings first.

- in hindsight, I probably should've used engine assembly grease. That lube would likely stay put. A newb might take some time to reassemble the engine. Even though it's pretty viscous, the Lucas assembly lube does tend to drip out albeit minor amounts.

What I'm seeing with Plastigauge falls in line with what machine shop told me. Rod journals are within spec but one leans toward end of spec range for "new". #3 main journal seems to show the least amount of wear. Bottom line: measure everything you can even after machine work done.

The only real unknown with his rebuild is that flaw in a bore. As it turns out, all rings will pass by it. Engine will run but may eat a little oil at that cylinder.

#3 main

a rod journal

another rod journal

The thick assembly lube applied to thrust washers may have affected readings but I'm confident things aren't too tight here.

for the 1.8 8V. Rod position is the same for the 1.6 NA diesel.

thrust washers

_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[Vanagon Nut]

So the rings and pistons are in. It took a couple attempts at each cylinder to do this but what worked for me was to set piston in compressor so rings were about 1/2" above bore lip. What I did "wrong" here was to lift up piston while it was in the compressor. This ended up shifting the ring position a little.

Install of oil seals was pretty simple though I've read of two different schools on thought on applying oil at OD of an oil seal. Some leave it dry, some apply a little oil. In general, what I see in various Bentley manuals: 'apply oil to seal'. A very reputable WBX builder says to install the rear crank oil seal dry at OD. I chose to use a very light coat of oil at seal OD. Definitely apply oil to the seal surface that contacts the rotating part. That's pretty obvious but could be easily overlooked by a newb. Applying oil at OD likely only intended to help keep the seal from going in cockeyed. To my thinking, it would take an abnormally high crank case pressure to push a new seal out.

The screen on the diesel oil pump can be removed for cleaning. Dimpling the screen cover back on was a little tricky; to my eye, the pickup tube metal seems fairly soft, or possibly brittle. IIRC, screen cleaning detail is shown in an older diesel Bentley but not the newer A3 manual. This may be due to pick up tube design differences. Oil pump install was straight forward though I used a little blue Loctite on retaining bolts and made sure the surface on block and pump body were oil free. But of course, I applied assembly lube to gears and shaft.

I'm combining an aluminum diesel Vanagon oil pan and windage tray with this block (I used slightly longer pan bolts). I saw several pan bolt torque specs looking at Bentley manuals for the diesel Vanagon 1.6 NA, the 1.8 8V, and ABA. I used 10 ft lbs. The higher 15 ft lb spec for ABA felt aggressive. Threads at each aluminum oil seal carrier metal are obviously softer. Pan install is not rocket surgery but the higher torque value felt wrong to me. What I was feeling may have been due to compression of the thicker rubber gasket at the windage tray.

Once the head is on, I'll put some cheap oil in and spin the oil pump at dizzy hole. I hope to head south for the winter so the engine will sit a while. Not optimal but it should be ok.

A template was useful for ring orientation. The strip was used to position the lowest oil rings. Oil "track" shown seems to indicate shift in ring position. The rings apparently rotate, over time, and the gap position didn't change that much.

_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[ps2375]

Looks like good progress. It'll be an interesting to see a pic of the long block.

[Vanagon Nut]

^^

will post one for sure. That and video of it running! But that'll be months from now. Once I get the head on, I'll be away a month or two.

Neil.
_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[Vanagon Nut]

Sorry for the crappy pic but here it is ready for ancillary parts and install. I'm hoping it'll be ok to leave it idle for 2 months while I'm away. I lubed the cylinders (and bearings etc of course) with fairly "sticky" engine assembly lube.

Neil.

_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[ps2375]

Looks good. It should be fine.

[Vanagon Nut]

Thanks. Good to know.

But wait! There's more!

My reason for mocking this up likely isn't really relevant to this forum, but I've been considering ways to run an intake similar in concept to an SRI but with longer runners to keep the engine below the Vanagon engine lid. The idea being something an ambitious DIY type could do with a band saw ( ), time + Dremel to match ports at transition, then pay a weldor to finish it. I was warned that this most likely wouldn't be worth the effort or even possible but I had to see for myself; it seems its totally not feasible!

The runner spacing of the Mk2 manifold is close to the ABA head and the ABA lower plenum runs close to parallel for about 1.5 ". I figured I'd graft that Mk2 intake onto a cut ABA lower plenum. Part of the idea was to do an "ABF" type AC delete bracket to put the alternator closer to pan. Lucky me, I actually have an ABA AC delete bracket. But it appears this bracket keeps the alternator in the same location as a Mk3 with AC..... I think.

_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[Vanagon Nut]

It runs!

20 second 16 MB video of engine start, run:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Au5sZoc3VBwgubdv7

Thanks for all the help folks. Early days, but it starts and runs now. Lifters got quieter relatively quickly. Starts, restarts, no DTC's, and only one wiring fault which i caught before attempting to start it. (I deleted the round 28a connector so that added a bunch of wiring work). Even though I primed the oil pump and filled the new oil filter before install, the oil light still took a short second to go out, but it did and stayed off.

At first I had the timing belt set incorrectly (mark on crank pulley is wrong) but FWIW, the TDC mark on the Kennedy flywheel set me straight. After re doing crank, cam, dizzy alignment, it fired right up!

Still have work to do on it but I feel good about the sound of the engine. And, a compression test shows 160 - 180 so when rings seat, I'm sure the readings will even out.

Neil.
_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN