Sanity Check: Time for new muffler and intake boots?

[SirDorfsalot]

[Cusser]

[davidw99]

[SirDorfsalot]

I worked on it again an hour or two after work.

First I removed my preheat stove pipe. I think I have an older version that is too wide to fit against the preheat tube on the exhaust being on the right side. I think there is a skinnier later version that may work? I'm not sure. Worst case I'll plug the hole in the breast plate and figure it out later.

Next I hooked up my exhaust couplers after I got the breast plate to finally fit without the stovepipe binding it. The right side wasn't bad:

But the left... has a pretty large gap. I really don't want to take it all apart and take the welder to it but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. It might seal well enough to work OK? I don't know.

Next I decided it was time to do the intake.... those of you watching may realize I have made a mistake before I did. I 100% should have done the intake BEFORE bolting the new muffler on as the heat risers are keeping me from being able to move the intake any left/right to move out of the port castings to the head. I'm going to have to disconnect the heat risers from the exhaust and try again on my next day without rain. Honestly the boots may not be cracked, just covered in goo. I'm going to replace them anyway though (And when I do, I'll remember to lube them a smidge).

In the mean time hares a spark plug I had to pull to be able to get at the front port casting nut. I think it looks OK?

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1974 Type 1 Standard Beetle (stock-ish), 1985 Pontiac Fiero GT (3800 swapped), 2012 Honda Civic (daily)

[Eric&Barb]

That left side coupler to the HE is not going to work that way. Might try taking it to a welder and having the tin bubble welded to the exhaust pipe in a few spots. Then take the muffler back off and insert a round object like a close fitting piece of pipe or better wood like a bat and bend that lower tube so it aligns up with the HE opening.

You really need to also have the HE sheet metal welded up around where exhaust pipes come out each of the sheet metal holes to seal them to the inner exhaust pipe. Without that when you let up on the gas pedal suddenly any exhaust leakage can be sucked into the heaters and thusly to the interior. Plus loss of heating air to the interior and cooling for the engine....

Almost certainly same welding will need to be done up front of the HEs where the exhaust pipes come out the front. Welding does not need to weld the tin shell to the exhaust pipe, just trying to make a thicker area built into the tin to be snug to the pipes. Ends up looking like a turtle neck sweater. At same time you need to align the sheet metal to the pipes. Since the sheet metal hangs off the pipes the upper edge of each hole has slowly worn more and more at the top. While the lower edges of the holes will be pretty much as new.
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[Eric&Barb]

Spark plug looks good. Adjust the gap, add a little anti-seize to the thread and reinstall. Repeat to the others. Then every other 3,000 mile tune up pull them again for cleaning if needed, adjust gap, anti-seize, etc...
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[davidw99]

For the connection from the muffler to the heater box use a 1 1/2" diameter x 2" long pipe clamp. Remove the rubber insert. The one in the pic is not the correct size but it gives you the idea.

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Dave

'73 Saturn Yellow Sports Bug that has undergone a full pan off restoration. "Herbert IV."

'67 Sedan. "Bellamy." Currently being "refreshed" and recently repainted.

[SirDorfsalot]

More work update!

I did find those plumbing couplers and installed them onto my car. They were a little tricky to thread in and get the worm clamps started, but with the aid of a zip tie to hold the band shut I got them in. Much better coverage than the stock style. The Left one is a bit bunched up but its sealed much better than before. The right one looks great.

Right:

Left:

Then I installed the intake boots. I had to trim my gaskets to fit but I used one of the old metal gaskets as a guide and everything went in the same as it came out -- by holding my mouth just right and wiggling everything till the intake ports fell into place. They're stubborn!

I honestly don't think the old ones were bad. They looked OK on the inside and I didn't see any cracks but I already had them off so new silicone boots from CB performance went on.

While I had so much apart and I was ordering parts anyway, I bought a new pulley and shiny chrome nut for my alternator. The pulley has an integrated "fan" on the alternator side. I don't think it was necessary at all but I thought it looked nice so on it went.

For the life of me I couldn't get the preheat stovepipe to fit. I think its jamming on the heater riser pipe on the exhaust that was moved to the right side from the left to clear the later style VW engines with the screw-on filters. I'm going to have to cut up the pipe and modify it or come up with a different way to draw in air. This wasn't installed previously so its just a side project for the future for now and I'll plug the hole in the breast plate with something.

So... on to where I ran into problems:

I left the coil wire to the center of the distributor off and cranked the engine over a few times to get some oil to the new pump and filter. Then I plugged the wire back in and cranked the engine. It started without much fuss but sounded awful and made a lot of smoke (I thought the smoke was just antiseize, oil, etc. burning off).

1. The Alternator belt was wayyyyy too tight. I had 9 spacers in it and I think I have 13-14 in it now. I suspect this is just a side effect of the new pulley.

2. The dang crank pulley was grinding on the tin. I thought I had it clearanced enough but apparently not. I'm going to have to take the crank and tin back off and grind some more on the pump but I haven't done any of that yet.

The engine did seem to run OK for a couple minutes but then it stalled and died and wouldn't start back up. For some reason it seemed like my coil didn't have spark anymore so I swapped on an old one and it fired up just fine but then it also stalled and died and won't start again for some reason.

Did I cook something in my alternator that is now killing coils or is the binding crank putting too much load on the engine to allow it to start?
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1974 Type 1 Standard Beetle (stock-ish), 1985 Pontiac Fiero GT (3800 swapped), 2012 Honda Civic (daily)

[SirDorfsalot]

Still no spark.

I swapped coils and the motor did start but then it stalled and won't start yet again. I checked all the connections at the coil and they're tight. I checked the old coil with a multimeter and it checked out OK so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I think I have a loose connection somewhere? I need to check my fuel pressure too but I poured a splash of gas down into the carb with no effect so I don't think I'm out of fuel.
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1974 Type 1 Standard Beetle (stock-ish), 1985 Pontiac Fiero GT (3800 swapped), 2012 Honda Civic (daily)

[clockworkbox]

[SirDorfsalot]

[SirDorfsalot]

I had a couple hours after work and checked some things over.

Problem number 1:

The car will turn over but not fire. I did some searching here on the samba and it could be anything from bad rotor, bad coil, bad condenser, bad points, bad ignition switch, bad wiring.

I replaced the wire harness last year, the coil is new and tests good, the distributor was rebuilt about 4000-5000 miles ago so as of now I'm trusting those components although the points may need to be cleaned or adjusted at this point.

I decided the easiest thing to check would be to jump the coil from the battery post B+ on the alternator. I bought an alligator clip test jumper at Harbor freight, clipped it to the B+ on the alternator and the positive 15 on the coil and the damn thing started right up! Yay!

As of now I think I have a bad ignition switch in the column. Does that jive out and make sense? Or would installing a hard start relay do anything to help me? There was one on the car when I got it but I didn't put it back on after I replaced the wiring harness as I didn't think I'd need it with fresh new wires and connectors but maybe it was there because of this problem.

Problem Number 2:

The crank pulley is still rubbing the tin that sits against the Maxi 2 oil pump.

If I had a lathe I'd just chuck the pulley in it and machine off a couple millimeters off the back of the pulley and I think I'd be in business. I removed the tin and will be going after it with my Dremel again though.

I feel like I've shaved a lot off already and I don't know where the oil passages run. Anyone that's cut one apart, how much space do I have to trim before I'm in danger?

Are the aftermarket aluminum crank pulleys wider than the stock steel pulleys? I never had a stock pulley to compare against but if its considerably thinner than I'd consider going back to a stock steel pulley. [/u]
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1974 Type 1 Standard Beetle (stock-ish), 1985 Pontiac Fiero GT (3800 swapped), 2012 Honda Civic (daily)

[Marcdeb]

I had a stock pulley that rubbed on the tin. It was caused by the top studs on the oil pump being too long and in turn the pulley tin was being pushed towards the pulley.
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Marc
68 Karmann Ghia Cabrio Autostick
71 Karmann Ghia Cabrio

Previously Owned:
2011 VW EOS Hard Top Conv
2008 Saab 9-3 2.0T Conv
2003 Saab 9-3 SE Conv
2001 Saab 9-3 Conv
1998 BMW 3 Series Conv
1997 Saab 900 Conv
1997 Mazda Miata

68 Ghia Vert Survivor with 22,350 miles: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=768107&highlight=
71 Ghia Vert Restoration: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=726710&postorder=asc

[SirDorfsalot]

[Cusser]

[SirDorfsalot]

It does spin over fine from the starter but just no spark. I replaced the entire harness so there isn't an in line fuse for the coil although that wouldn't be a bad idea to add at some point if I find a VW style fuse holder.

Looks like I'll focus on searching for faulty ignition switches and options to repair or replace next then.

I wish I could find a cross-sectional view of the maxi pump so I could know how much I can trim before I get too close to the oil passageways but surely it can't be much more than I've done already.
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1974 Type 1 Standard Beetle (stock-ish), 1985 Pontiac Fiero GT (3800 swapped), 2012 Honda Civic (daily)

[SirDorfsalot]

I found a photo of a cut pump in this thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

It looks like I've got quite a bit of meat before I hit the passageways.

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1974 Type 1 Standard Beetle (stock-ish), 1985 Pontiac Fiero GT (3800 swapped), 2012 Honda Civic (daily)

[Cusser]

Mine, stock pulley

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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[SirDorfsalot]

Huzzah! It runs!

I had to pull the crank off another couple of times to get enough metal shaved off the pump but I finally got there. I ended up having to shave the tops of the center top bolt head some and that finally got me home.

I re-assembled my tins as best I could and took it for a ride. Its significantly quieter with the stock style exhaust. It was almost hard to tell if the engine was running at stop signs. Neat!

Issues to resolve now:

1. Ignition switch is bad. I've determined that I need a 74-79 style switch so I'm in the process of getting one in. In the mean time I'm starting the engine by jumping the coil to the alternator positive post. I have an aftermarket ignition key that doesn't fit my door handles so now is a good time to replace the key tumbler and swap out my broken turn signal arm too.

2. My pre-heat stove pipe will not fit past the new exhaust. I need to block off the hole temporarily or cut up my existing pipe to adapt to flexible piping or figure something else out. Its not critical as I haven't had the preheat system hooked up since I got the car anyway but I would like to get it working for the winter.

3. When I got back home and popped the decklid I noticed a ticking sound so I think I need to adjust the valves (its been about 4000-5000 miles since I've done that) or its just some other noise I've never noticed over the louder aftermarket exhaust. Alternatively, the ticking could be the dang crank pulley just barely tapping the tin still.

4. I think I need to re-adjust the carb as my idle seems off (I may have adjusted it to a leak with the old exhaust/intake boots) but otherwise it ran OK around the neighborhood.
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1974 Type 1 Standard Beetle (stock-ish), 1985 Pontiac Fiero GT (3800 swapped), 2012 Honda Civic (daily)

[SirDorfsalot]

I went through my list:
1. I've got a lead on a new switch but for now the car is starting just fine. Go Figure. Maybe I jiggled something or my battery was just barely low enough?

2. I just drove it a bit with the pre-heat hole open. Its not ideal but I've got some parts to fix it now.

3. I adjusted the valves and the ticking is gone! Its possible it was just my pulley just barely scraping the crank tin but whatever it was it stopped.

4. Carb and timing was adjusted, although I think I may need to revisit it as it seems to be running rich.

I got it running well enough to be comfortable driving it 20 minutes to a local VW car show last weekend. While I was at the show I scored a few parts!

-Plastic air filter box with all intact vacuum fittings (I still need to get some vacuum line to hook up to the preheat and I have no idea if the diaphragm flap is any good so I need to figure out how to test it)
-Exhaust coupler that I'm going to use in place of preheat stove pipe (I'm going to just connect flexible aluminum tubing to get around the exhaust preheat tube that the factory pipe can't)
-M Code door handles (I mostly just need the tumblers to have enough to rekey all my locks the same as I've got a lead on an M code ignition key tumbler)
-Small tin behind crank - mine has a couple holes cut in it so I need to replace it
-....and a bicycle that my girlfriend won in a raffle

I went ahead and installed the better air filter box. I did have to scavenge the mounting clamp and a couple lid clips from my original but it all went on fine. I hooked up a hose to the pre-heat inlet and down to the opening in the breast plate tin. I used a heater exhaust coupler to connect to as it fits in the tin perfectly. I need another clamp and a short length of hose but the plan is to just clamp the hose to the other end of the coupler from under the hose and then just... jam the other end near the head where the stock stove pipe would be? I'm not sure on that part yet. I may get another exhaust coupler and rivet it to the tin below the pushrods so that I have something solid to mount the hose to but I'll figure that out eventually.

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1974 Type 1 Standard Beetle (stock-ish), 1985 Pontiac Fiero GT (3800 swapped), 2012 Honda Civic (daily)