Sealing rings at top/bottom of cylinders

[Clatter]

I'm kind of obsessive about checking that my exhaust manifolds are tight to the heads.
What with those expensive heads, and all of that work to properly fitting the exhaust manifolds...
Like was said earlier, it's an ounce of prevention makes all of the difference.

For this reason, I might be disturbing my exhaust manifold nuts more than the average Joe.

And this is the #1 reason why I like my double-nutting technique.
These actually weren't just plain plain as I mistakenly typo'ed above.
They were regular nuts, but high-grade of some kind, and maybe hard chromed?
(certainly not just zinc).

Anyways, there might be some mythical ancient solid copper nuts out there,
but,
I have never seen any.

Have tried a few of the common 'copper' kinds sold by our normal vendors,
and my experience with these has been less than satisfatory.

Ever since double-nutting, and keeping them tight,
The often-problematic area of exhaust studs has given me no further greif for many years and miles.

My advice is given here for you to try if you would like to.

A good friend of mine, Lee, always said:
"I do what works for Lee".
_________________
Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[Hoody]

I would like to add that a certain “Head Guru” told me that you never use loctite on the studs when you insert the studs into his works of art. Just high temp antisieze. I also do the double nut method on the studs. Also learned from Mr. Raby. But I use the copper nuts.

[Volswagon]

Len said to slather the copper on the studs to keep them from rusting.

Not surprised Jake doubles them, he worked on flying boxes of part numbers that are always trying to separate from each other.
_________________
I know the pieces fit, cos I watched them fall away.
Wanna hear God laugh? Just talk about your plans.

'75 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=697183&highlight=

[HAM Inc]

An added benefit of double nutting is the second nut helps shield the stud threads from the elements.

Copper, or the more expensive nickel, anti-seize slathered liberally over the entire stud and all exhaust hardware is effective. Use it on brake hardware, too. I put that $hit on everything but my toast!
_________________
Len Hoffman
Hoffman Automotive Machine Inc.
www.hamheads.com

[RalphWiggam]

Got about another 25 miles on it today.

Oil pressure question....

Once the oil is good and hot (210 or so) I notice that my oil pressure never really goes above 20psi. When cold I get upwards of 40 to 50 psi. When everything is hot I no longer get the desired 10psi per 1000 rpm. I do still have about 10psi at idle but regardless of how high my rpms go, the psi never goes above 20-22psi. Is this normal?

Maybe it is my sender getting hot and changing resistance or something? Could it have to do with my remote sender setup?

[SGKent]

10 psi per thousand regardless.

What weight oil are you using?

Is your case single relief port or dual?
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[RalphWiggam]

[Wildthings]

Have you checked the lengths of your relief valve spring(s)? If the springs have collapsed a bit over time your oil pressure will be lower than it should be. If this is your problem you can either get new springs or shim your old ones.

[Tcash]

Oil Pressure FAQ

[RalphWiggam]

Got my old rebuild alternator swapped in and it's working perfect. Lesson learned on that one.

Here are some installed pics...

[busdaddy]

Nice work!, looks good.
Except I can't see the hanger strap on the LR exhaust to muffler flange, or is it just out of sight in the pic?

[raygreenwood]

SGKent…I think we were talking about two totally different products here.

You are talking about something like these….

These are about all that is sold these days….that I can find. This is not saying these are bad.
But they are NOT great for VERY high heat….depending on their manufacturing quality…which is all over the place from the third world

True copper “plated” high temperature nuts are EXPENSIVE. Less expensive than solid copper nuts….but expensive…because:

1. True….COPPER PLATED….high temperature nuts….. are double plated. This means that they get a copper “strike” first…which is a high voltage/high amperage “bump” for a few seconds to form a seed layer.

Then they get controlled voltage for “x” amount of time to form a controlled layer thickness. Then they get rinsed, tumbled and plated a second time.
They do this because trying to put the whole thickness of copper on at one time makes it soft and flaky and it comes off.

2. And based on that last note….the copper plating thickness is the key to high quality PLATED nuts. That word plated is in caps…for a reason I will get to in a minute.

In cheap single plated nuts and fasteners…which can really almost be said to be decorative….they are “flash plated” or “strike” plated at worst….which is about 0.00005” thick or about 1.27 microns.

That means that the total growth of copper is between 2.5 to 3.0 microns. As the copper thickness grows…the threaded hole gets smaller.

This is important now….and why flash plated nuts are so “third world” CHEAP…and ineffective…..3.0 or even up to 5.0 microns of copper or any kind of plating will not affect how the nut fits on the stud or bolt threads…get it?

So that means they can use any old basic steel class 5, 8 or 10 nut…and flash plate it…and sell it to you for $1-2 each.

You can tell these thinly plated nuts…by placing them in a baggy and throw them in the tool box for a few weeks and when they rattle around….the plating chips through to bare steel.

3. And based on that last note….in order to put 5-8 microns of plating on a nut….which closes up the threaded hole by about 10-18 microns…and remember that 25.4 microns = .001”….it requires an OVERSIZED NUT to start with to not affect thread fit. And….that is a special nut…and more expensive.

The third world is not going to produce that....for what the low demand is and for what most are willing to pay

Properly plated nuts though…are NOT what I was speaking of. I have rarely found those since I got out of high school.

I am speaking of MANIFOLD NUTS. These are taller…because they need to be…..because the pure copper alloy…generally “110” alloy is so soft that the nuts are low strength if used in standard thickness.

Your basic 8mm x 1.25 class 8 nut (DIN 934 standard) is about 6.5mm high (note the chart below)

The classic copper (or brass in high strength…but still malleable metal) are a tall nut like this

These are 8mm high. Some I have seen are even thicker out to 10mm (too thick for muffler nuts but nice for exhaust studs)

The proper solid copper manifold MUST be higher/thicker….because the 110 pure copper alloy is so soft that without the extra thread length they will not hold enough torque

By the way…I mi-spoke earlier about the alloy. It’s not a 182 alloy (that’s Chromium/copper alloy)….it was “172” alloy I meant to say…sorry for the error.

The top one circled is the 99.9% pure, soft, annealed copper…which does work harden some from heat cycles…which is why the threads shatter out when you try to remove them….and also why they do not “gall” and stick to the exhaust studs.

The next one down is the "172" I meant to say and is your common beryllium copper…actually not so common…but it’s all I was finding back in the late 90’s….and they are VERY hard….over 3X harder than the pure copper nut….and they do stick to the threads after heating cycles. They were also stupid expensive.

The closest thing to what I used to be able to buy…are these….but they are thicker. And…brass. I do not know what alloy brass and I have not used any yet.
But….they are designed for aircooled Continental aircraft engines….so we are maybe on the right track.

By the way....Busdaddy...you are the MAN! If those are solid copper nuts you found....that is excellent and I will buy and try...thank you!

Ray

[Tcash]

[RalphWiggam]

[busdaddy]

[RalphWiggam]

[RalphWiggam]

I've been driving the bus all weekend. I've got about 85 miles on it and everything is still running great. The old rebuilt alternator is working perfectly.

Checked my timing tonight and it was a little bit high. Was registering 32 at 3500 with the vacuum pulled off the distributor. I set it back to 28.

Oil consumption has dropped to basically nothing. It is still exactly where I put it 3 days ago. I'm sure it will still drink a little bit when I get some serious miles on it.

I'll probably hit 100 miles tomorrow and change the oil tomorrow night with the last fill of break in oil that I have. I'll probably run that for 200 miles.

Any ideas on what oil I should switch to next? I plan on going full synthetic at some point, I just don't know when that proper time is.

[Xevin]

[Tcash]

Did someone say OIL

A little reading.

Official "What oil / additives should I use" topic
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=220755

Good luck
Tcash

[raygreenwood]