The "Old Red" thread.

[ryans65]

This is now the thread dedicated to this rusty old 62 myself and a few of my friends affectionately call "Old Red"

Searched but didn't come up with anything-

I removed my engine from my 62 to replace a worn out generator and just do some general tidying up and decided to just put on a doghouse shroud I had complete with the flaps, thermostat, rod, cooler, etc. I removed the long rod thing that the 40 horse fan blocker ring pivoted on and replaced it with a nut and bolt however I seem to now have a steady drip from the 1/2 side of the case from up top somewhere. Thinking back I realized I didn't do anything to seal that area but it seems odd oil would make its way out of the case on top like that. Can anyone chime in here with what they have done with regards to sealing that? Keep in mind this engine was rather leak free before pulling it and that's the only area I've touched that I can think of to develop a drip of any kind.

[AirHead1966]

You could have bumped the oil cooler when replacing the shroud. The cooler seals might have gotten dislodged.

[KTPhil]

Cooler is on the 3-4 side, not 1-2.

[BMFBMF]

Hi, Is the steady drip with the car running, or off?
_________________
-----Slava Ukraini-----
1971 Stock South African Beetle 1300 : My mom's european "Thin Chick" spec. Completely stock with torsion bar front, swingaxle rear, smooth hubs, single MC, 40 mm shoes, 31PICT3 carb and 5 bolt drums all round, currently Running a 1976 SF:AS engine with the original SF:AD engine overhauled in a box, waiting to go back in one day.

[ryans65]

I thought about that but it's only on the passenger side and only when it's running.

[Dougy Dee]

You may have dislodged a pushrod tube when installing the thermostat rod..

[zerotofifty]

you installed a different cooler, added the doghouse cooler adaptor, those are both places that can leak. four new seals, plus the cooler itself my be holed. many places where a leak may be introduced.

[ryans65]

Yeah, I guess any way I slice it it's gotta come out again thanks everyone

[ryans65]

upon closer inspection it appears to be weeping from cylinder 1 jug, maybe all the gunk caked on there had sealed it up! Didn't leak at all overnight just residual from running it prior, that's what I get for cleaning it up I guess!

I can see, with a mirror, the bolt I used to replace the previous thermostat and it is dry, I'll run it again tonight up in the air after a good cleaning to pinpoint it.

[ryans65]

pulled the fan housing in the car, which as we know is not ideal but it was rather serendipitous as I could clearly see a broken clutch spring and change it rather easily from up top

upper center case nut wasn't very tight, I removed it, slathered some RTV on the stud, washer and nut and torqued it down, gave it about 6 hours until I started it and to my surprise it's still leaking

I may try the lower center nut next, if it's not that then its time for the heads to come off I guess.

[KTPhil]

Another potential source on the right side, given you changed the generator, is a leak where the pedestal mounts to the case. There is a deflector which is sometimes installed wrong. And some manuals do not call out a paper gasket both above and below it.

By the way, not leak-related, but did you also put the correct thicker fan on the generator when you went to the doghouse setup? The thinner non-DH fan will bleed air and not cool as well.

[ryans65]

I did remove the generator stand and clean up the bottom surface, I actually have an early 40hp case with the small hole but the tube style baffle was missing, I found a correct baffle for it and installed it, with gaskets, which I dressed with a light coat of RTV as I've done for basically anything I reseal on these things.

I did put the wider (36mm?) fan in, shimmed correctly. The most frustrating thing is dealing with these type of "whack a mole" problems, one thing gets fixed and two more issues arise! But hey, I got a new clutch spring in?!

[Cusser]

[ryans65]

I hate them too, it's such a pain but wasn't too bad with the rear tin off.

[ryans65]

Success, it was the center lower case nut. I mananged to unscrew it enough to smear some sealant behind the washer and nut then tighten it back up. Now with that issue resolved I have yet another new issue, randomly misfiring and breaking up under load. I can't win. At lease the engine is cleaner

Still need to get my preheat hose on

[Eric&Barb]

Good job getting that sorted out! Do get hose clamps on both ends of both fresh air tubes to keep those from popping off. Have had that happen and it makes that head on that side run real hot.
_________________
In Stereo, Where Available!

[ryans65]

Those are next on my list, I had a couple of old VW clamps but I've moved recently and they are packed somewhere. Tomorrow I gotta get after this misfire, I have a feeling either the float valve is sticking or there's a plug wire or two that are bad and it's acting up intermittently. These new junk aftermarket clips for the plug wires are really really tight and since I had to take this dan shroud off about 75 times messing with the thermostat flaps I may have messed up the wires. Who knows. It ran fine prior to taking it apart though

[ryans65]

I've got a square top pierburg for this thing too but I need to send it to Volksbitz along with two others so Tim can work his magic!

[ryans65]

I've never had a thread on old red so I might as well make this one the old red thread.

This is old red, it's a rusty 62 I bought from a friend in about 2016. I fixed a whole bunch of crap on it, drove it around for a while then sold it to a friend in FL after buying my 912. After I got my 912 back on the road and a year or so later my single cab sorted I wanted old red back so I bought it back. It
sat for a while so needed all the usual stuff, brakes, brake lines, fuel tank, carb cleaned etc. When I got it I put a used shockless 6 in narrowed beam and basically set it as low as I could stand to drive it but since buying it back I raised the front and re-indexed the rear and added some poly bump stops. It now clears most things laying in the road and actually rides pretty nice. Yeah I know it's not for everyone.

Here is old red when I removed the 40hp for the generator and doghouse swap

Here is old reds engine prior to the work that apparently messed up the fine balance of grease, filth and who knows how old random parts that made it run so well, I guess.

This is old red at work, taking us to the beach and back. Right after I took the second photo I drove through a flooded section downtown and salt water came in through the holes in the floor pans but promptly drained back out of the same holes. I've counted 7 pieces of pan sections that comprise old reds current floor pans.

[ryans65]

hesitation was yet another failed set of bosch points, I had a set prematurely fail on my 912 also, both had a couple thousand miles on them tops, stuff is junk!!