The Garage of Love™ - 1979 Beetle - Murbella Project Work

[MuzzcoVW]

Something caught my eye. Those new valves...are you sure those are new, they sure don't look it! I rebuilt mine with new exhaust valves and they stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rest. One of those exhaust valves even looks like it has some erosion on the side, the right side in the picture.

[Naladahc]

Murbella – Day 54 – Rear Driver Suspension

Murbella – Day 55 – Driver Trailing Arm

Murbella – Day 55 – Driver Side Rear Wheel Bearings

Murbella – Day 56 – Passenger Side Spring Plate

Talk about a pain in the ass. Trying to get the spring plates and the torsion bar splines to get to the baseline in the Bentley Manual took forever, and I had to settle for getting them more or less close right now to get the suspension back on.

Goal for remainder of the the year is to get Murbella at least back as a roller so I can get her off the stands and out of the garage to replace the garage door opener that got fried during a storm.
_________________
Toddmichael
The Garage of Love™
-------------------------------------
1979 VW Beetle - Murbella
1972 VW Super Beetle - Żuczek

Current Work: The Garage of Love™ - 1979 Beetle - Murbella Project Work

https://thegarageoflove.com/
https://www.facebook.com/murbellaandzuczek/

[Naladahc]

Murbella – Day 53 – Rebuilt Transaxle & Heads

Finally got my rebuild heads and transaxle back from Jim's Custom VW in Colombiana, OH.

The heads look great for at least 137,000 miles on them. All new valves and new valve guides. If I can make some progress on the engine I can at least have the long block done by winter.

I already learned when I dropped of the transaxle that it was in fact not the original one, which kind of pissed me off and made me realized I really did not have a 79 survivor. Well, not as much as I'd thought.

However, when he cracked it open they also discovered it had been rebuilt sometime in the past and was also built incorrectly.

All of that has been sorted out and the following was done:

New Pinion Bearing Nut
Rebushed 1&2 and 3&4 Shift Rods
New 1 & 2 Slider Hub
New 1st Gear Syncro
New 3rd Gear
New Nose Cone Inner Bushing
New Thrust Plate
New Gaskets
New Outer Drive Seals

Goal is to get Murball back as a roller, with suspension, transaxle, axles, and new brakes on by end of October.
_________________
Toddmichael
The Garage of Love™
-------------------------------------
1979 VW Beetle - Murbella
1972 VW Super Beetle - Żuczek

Current Work: The Garage of Love™ - 1979 Beetle - Murbella Project Work

https://thegarageoflove.com/
https://www.facebook.com/murbellaandzuczek/

[Naladahc]

The frustrations of rebuilding the aftermarket crank and gears, not to mention the general summer heat and this whole COVID thing made me take a break from my rebuild work.

However, I've had to reset my goals to getting Murbella to at least a rolling status so I can temporarily move her out of the garage.

We had some major electrical problems due to a tree falling on the line, and the subsequent surges fried many electronics in the house (cable box, clocks, coffee pot, oven, printers, etc.) and also fried the garage door opener.

Unfortunately, with Murbella directly under the garage door opener, there's no way to replace the unit so she needs to get rolling, regardless of if the engine rebuild is done or not.

Murbella – Day 51 – Rear trailing Arms

I had done the driver side arm back in May but had not gotten to the passenger once.

While the remaining soda from the blasting helped, it did start to get some surface oxidation.

The KBS Rust Blast product took care of that. I was shocked how well it worked.

I was able to get a 2nd coat on the driver side arm, but mid-way through painting the passenger one our entire block lost power, so I could not really see and without the fan, the garage becomes uncomfortable to work in.

I did get get the passenger arm coated and curing but no doubt there will be a lot of fine touchup tomorrow.

Hopefully, I can get the suspension restored and the new disc brakes on and new bearings and such in by the end of the week, depending on how hot it is.

The rebuild cylinder heads and rebuild transaxle should be ready to pick up from the vendor next week. I took the entire week off to work on the car and the house so with any luck, I'll have her rolling by by end of month.
_________________
Toddmichael
The Garage of Love™
-------------------------------------
1979 VW Beetle - Murbella
1972 VW Super Beetle - Żuczek

Current Work: The Garage of Love™ - 1979 Beetle - Murbella Project Work

https://thegarageoflove.com/
https://www.facebook.com/murbellaandzuczek/

[Buggeee]

[Naladahc]

One thing I did not do is try to chill the crank itself.

I'm thinking of chilling the crank a bit and then the hot gear.

It is frustrating.

I've never had issues with getting crank gears on before on other cranks.

What I noticed yesterday is that unfortunately, I think I pinched the #3 bearing enough during one of my frustrated removed of the partially installed gears.

It doesn't spin smoothly around the shaft anymore.

I'm going to order a new one since I don't want to risk having a remotely off circular bearing on that if I get the gear on.
_________________
Toddmichael
The Garage of Love™
-------------------------------------
1979 VW Beetle - Murbella
1972 VW Super Beetle - Żuczek

Current Work: The Garage of Love™ - 1979 Beetle - Murbella Project Work

https://thegarageoflove.com/
https://www.facebook.com/murbellaandzuczek/

[Naladahc]

[Naladahc]

[Buggeee]

Here's how I warmed the gear, in an electric skillet without oil.

_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[Tom K.]

I've always just used a simple blow torch. About 60 seconds under blue flame should be enough to get it on.
_________________
'91 Vanagon Westfalia
'70 Beetle Convertible
'71 Super Beetle Semi-Automatic: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=714131&highlight=
'65 Ghia: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=762478&highlight=

[Naladahc]

Murbella – Day 50 – New crank gear!

My new timing gear arrived from Moore Parts and I was surprised it varied so much from the one I damaged from AA Performance Products. That one was very close to the original VW one I pulled off Murbella's crank.

I put them down to compare them and was shocked at how different the cut of the concave (bearing facing) part is on this one.

I'm trying to find someone with an electric stove burner to use that method to heat it up to see if that fairs any better than the boiling oil method that did not work.

-------------------------------------

AS41 Engine – Prep to get it running and tuned up!

And unrelated to the Murbella work, I'm going to try to get the 2019 New Build engine working again. I re-jetted the dual EMPI EPCs in April and hopefully, based on the jets used and the configuration of the engine I can get this finally running with a decent idle.

It has run many times before after build, but I could never get it to idle at less than 1200 RPM or so. Hoping this helps with the slightly larger valves and the C20 cam in it. (I hate non-stock carb tuning!)

I really want to get this running, idling well, and install into the 72 to fully break it in.

I've more or less decided to sell the 72 as I just can't handle so many cars taking up the driveway and garage and I know now I'll never have the funds to properly restomod it into my dream Beetle. Rather have it sold as a running car with lots of new stuff and a 0 mile engine than a rolling project.
_________________
Toddmichael
The Garage of Love™
-------------------------------------
1979 VW Beetle - Murbella
1972 VW Super Beetle - Żuczek

Current Work: The Garage of Love™ - 1979 Beetle - Murbella Project Work

https://thegarageoflove.com/
https://www.facebook.com/murbellaandzuczek/

[Pruneman99]

[Naladahc]

My 2019 new build (with mostly new parts) had a gear set from SCAT and a SCAT crank and no probs.

Since this time I got the gear set and the crank from the same vendor, I didn't give it much thought that it would be so problematic.

However, this whole crank build has been problematic and in hindsight, since I ended up buying a whole new case too, I should have just bought a short block from a reputable builder and been done with it.
_________________
Toddmichael
The Garage of Love™
-------------------------------------
1979 VW Beetle - Murbella
1972 VW Super Beetle - Żuczek

Current Work: The Garage of Love™ - 1979 Beetle - Murbella Project Work

https://thegarageoflove.com/
https://www.facebook.com/murbellaandzuczek/

[Naladahc]

[Pruneman99]

Just out of curiosity is the gear CB and crank EMPI? I had to get the gear scorching hot to get it on there. I wasn't too happy about it. But when I was putting it on I dropped the gear, picked it up quick, and installed it backwards.

After a very loud and brutal session with a puller, I just decided to try a OG used gear that was in decent shape. It went on MUCH easier.

[Naladahc]

Murbella – Day 49 – Oil stud installation complete!

I got all the longer oil stud work done and I think I'll be far happier than the stock length. I just wanted them to be slightly more exposed and about 12.3mm seems to really be the sweet spot for me. I mocked up the strainer and plate with all of the gaskets and washers and there's just a bit more thread now for the acorn nuts to bite into. As long as I don't accidentally damage a thread during regular maintenance I'll be happy. And if this engine gives me even remotely the long life like the 41 year old engine I removed then I'll be happier in the long run with oil changes.

- - - - -
Murbella – Day 49 – Crank gear failures.

I wasted about 4 hours trying to get the timing gear hot enough to get my crank assembly done and failed 5 times, ultimately damaging the new gear.

It just never seemed to get hot enough to go onto the crank. I tried a few different methods of heat but nothing I have available was working at all. I checked the woodruff key and it appears to be in as far as it can go and the exposed depth does not seem to be an issue.

I've had no problems or difficulties in the past getting hot gears to go onto cranks before this one.

So I went ahead and disassembled Murbella's original 41 year old gears and cleaned them up but there's a lot of wear on the timing gear.

I'm walking away from the engine build for a bit to focus on other suspension and wiring issues that are outstanding for the project. I'm too angry and how difficult this crank has been to want to deal with it right now.
_________________
Toddmichael
The Garage of Love™
-------------------------------------
1979 VW Beetle - Murbella
1972 VW Super Beetle - Żuczek

Current Work: The Garage of Love™ - 1979 Beetle - Murbella Project Work

https://thegarageoflove.com/
https://www.facebook.com/murbellaandzuczek/

[Buggeee]

Cool tip. Thank you for the video references as well.
_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[Naladahc]

[Buggeee]

I am enjoying the engine build, thank you for sharing. This is the first I've heard of checking the bearing oil supply alignment and that offset has my eyes wide open. Did you happen to take a picture of what the notched bearing looks like? Do you use some kind of machinist's dye for the mock up?

I'm up here on the northcoast.
_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[Naladahc]

Murbella – Day 48 – Rod installation

Got the recon rods mostly balanced but not as much as I'd like. I try to get as close to .05g between them all but this set of recon rods I had bought some time ago, and that were supposed to be balanced, had a 6g difference between the lightest and the heaviest. It appeared they previously had material removed on some of them, so I am guessing that the vendor did not in fact gather up 4 very similar weighted ones.

They all seemed to be within tolerances so I got them all installed.

I was just about to complete the crank when I realized all of my propane tanks were out and I had no way to easily heat up the timing gear nor the distributor gear. I don't have a small electric plate either so I put those aside for tomorrow when I can get another tank. (I've seen people essentially heat them up on motor oil on a stove but I do not have a pan to ruin.)

Murbella – Day 48 – Oil sump plate studs

The new longer oil plate studs went in without issue but of course, I also realized I did not have the nylok nuts to secure them on the inside of the case.

I set them at the slightly longer length and did a mockup of the strainer install and the added length let's the acorn nuts really bite down better. Not much. But enough to make me happy.

I'll get the nuts and a new propane tank or two tomorrow and complete the crank assembly and finish off the install of these longer studs.[/url]
_________________
Toddmichael
The Garage of Love™
-------------------------------------
1979 VW Beetle - Murbella
1972 VW Super Beetle - Żuczek

Current Work: The Garage of Love™ - 1979 Beetle - Murbella Project Work

https://thegarageoflove.com/
https://www.facebook.com/murbellaandzuczek/