Monday, August 30, 2004
Ok, some catching up to do. When last I left you informed I was pulling parts off the engine.
Here's the engine with the cylinders still remaining:
The book says that those should slide off with a little tug. HA! I wish someone was there with a camera while I did this. But two of the cylinders came off with a lot of tugging and wiggling. The other two I first tried this: I sat on the floor, put both feet on the engineand pulled back on the cylinder with all my might. It didn't budge but man did I pull. Since I have brand new cylinders waiting to go in, I reached for the hammer. And I pounded, and pounded, and pounded unitl they came loose. I broke some stuff off of the cylinders, but like I said, I've got new ones.
Once those were off it looked like so:
Notice the pesky flywheel is still on there. That was supposed to come off earlier. My neighbor loaned me his breaker bar and a piece of pipe to get the giant (36mm) nut off that holds the flywheel. It's supposed to be torqued to 300 ft/lbs. That's a lot. And it takes a lot of leverage to get it off. I swung by AutoZone and picked up a 36mm socket. Right next to it was a 2ft breaker bar. Well, I rationalized that I should have it. I never hesitate to buy tools. They last a long time. With that, I had my friend Carl stand on the engine while I pushed with great effort on the breaker bar and sho-nuff the nut came loose and the flywheel off.
Now, splitting the case. The book makes this sound easy. It isn't. There's a lot of nuts that have to come off and then you have to strategically force the engine apart as prying is out of the question. Turns out the German's engineered the case halves to fit together so perfectly that no gasket is necessary to keep it from leaking. Prying would certainly destroy that seal. Again, I reached for the hammer and pounded on some less critical parts of the engine case to pop it apart. I made little headway. A couple of days later Steve came over and we tackled the case-splitting-situation. Let me point out a brief moment of idiocy as I had forgotten one nut. Duh. How annoying. More annoying that Steve found it. Once that was off, a little more pounding and wa-lah! The case is apart:
The case is split and now....clean!!!!!!!
Of course, the pic of the CLEAN engine case is coming. Steve and I each took a half and sprayed it with some Engine Foamy Brite (that's the name of the product) and scrubbed it with wire brushes. It's nearly like new, I shit you not. Wait 'til you see the pics.
More soon. (with a brief interruption by Labor Day weekend)
Here's the engine with the cylinders still remaining:
The book says that those should slide off with a little tug. HA! I wish someone was there with a camera while I did this. But two of the cylinders came off with a lot of tugging and wiggling. The other two I first tried this: I sat on the floor, put both feet on the engineand pulled back on the cylinder with all my might. It didn't budge but man did I pull. Since I have brand new cylinders waiting to go in, I reached for the hammer. And I pounded, and pounded, and pounded unitl they came loose. I broke some stuff off of the cylinders, but like I said, I've got new ones.
Once those were off it looked like so:
Notice the pesky flywheel is still on there. That was supposed to come off earlier. My neighbor loaned me his breaker bar and a piece of pipe to get the giant (36mm) nut off that holds the flywheel. It's supposed to be torqued to 300 ft/lbs. That's a lot. And it takes a lot of leverage to get it off. I swung by AutoZone and picked up a 36mm socket. Right next to it was a 2ft breaker bar. Well, I rationalized that I should have it. I never hesitate to buy tools. They last a long time. With that, I had my friend Carl stand on the engine while I pushed with great effort on the breaker bar and sho-nuff the nut came loose and the flywheel off.
Now, splitting the case. The book makes this sound easy. It isn't. There's a lot of nuts that have to come off and then you have to strategically force the engine apart as prying is out of the question. Turns out the German's engineered the case halves to fit together so perfectly that no gasket is necessary to keep it from leaking. Prying would certainly destroy that seal. Again, I reached for the hammer and pounded on some less critical parts of the engine case to pop it apart. I made little headway. A couple of days later Steve came over and we tackled the case-splitting-situation. Let me point out a brief moment of idiocy as I had forgotten one nut. Duh. How annoying. More annoying that Steve found it. Once that was off, a little more pounding and wa-lah! The case is apart:
The case is split and now....clean!!!!!!!
Of course, the pic of the CLEAN engine case is coming. Steve and I each took a half and sprayed it with some Engine Foamy Brite (that's the name of the product) and scrubbed it with wire brushes. It's nearly like new, I shit you not. Wait 'til you see the pics.
More soon. (with a brief interruption by Labor Day weekend)
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Now I've begun pulling the pieces off of the engine. The book I have is very clear and methodical and so far it's been awesome. I've got cups labeled with every part and screws and nuts and bolts and things go in each cup. I've got piles of engine parts in front of the car and I'm ready to go.
Then the landlord calls.
See, the owner of the building happened upon my makeshift auto workshop. He wasn't too happy. Apparently, and I checked, it says in the lease that one cannot work on one's car in the parking area of the building. Yeah it says that. And that sucks. But what can I do? I must continue on in the face of adversity. While continuing on, one of the nice neighbors we have stopped by to chat while I was dismantling. I told him my plight and he offered up a storage space next to his parking spot. Well, how about that? Now I can put all of the parts in there and worry just about the engine. Well, the carport looks much better now...here's what it used to look like:
But now all of that stuff is put away. Let me list off what I removed from the engine thus far: Clutch plate cover, clutch plate, distributor, carbeurator w/ manifold, fuel pump, exhaust system (muffler and heater boxes), sheet metal, generator & fan housing (previously mentioned in removal process), and the oil cooler (also previously mentioned).
It looks like this now:
Nice huh? Oh, lest I forget, while removing the clutch plate cover I had to loosen some mighty tight bolts. When loosening mighty tight bolts a wrench can sometimes slip off at high velocity. Well, mine did so and I dragged my knuckles all along the clutch plate cover. Ooooo did I rip a big chunk of skin from my middle finger's middle knuckle. Funny thing, there was no pain. None. It bled like a mofo tho. After cleaning it out and trying a band-aid I knew I needed something more. I wrapped the finger in paper towel and masking tape and kept on workin'. Can't be slowin' down cuz of a little scrape. Here's a blurry pic of the little scrape:
The dismantling continues soon!
Then the landlord calls.
See, the owner of the building happened upon my makeshift auto workshop. He wasn't too happy. Apparently, and I checked, it says in the lease that one cannot work on one's car in the parking area of the building. Yeah it says that. And that sucks. But what can I do? I must continue on in the face of adversity. While continuing on, one of the nice neighbors we have stopped by to chat while I was dismantling. I told him my plight and he offered up a storage space next to his parking spot. Well, how about that? Now I can put all of the parts in there and worry just about the engine. Well, the carport looks much better now...here's what it used to look like:
But now all of that stuff is put away. Let me list off what I removed from the engine thus far: Clutch plate cover, clutch plate, distributor, carbeurator w/ manifold, fuel pump, exhaust system (muffler and heater boxes), sheet metal, generator & fan housing (previously mentioned in removal process), and the oil cooler (also previously mentioned).
It looks like this now:
Nice huh? Oh, lest I forget, while removing the clutch plate cover I had to loosen some mighty tight bolts. When loosening mighty tight bolts a wrench can sometimes slip off at high velocity. Well, mine did so and I dragged my knuckles all along the clutch plate cover. Ooooo did I rip a big chunk of skin from my middle finger's middle knuckle. Funny thing, there was no pain. None. It bled like a mofo tho. After cleaning it out and trying a band-aid I knew I needed something more. I wrapped the finger in paper towel and masking tape and kept on workin'. Can't be slowin' down cuz of a little scrape. Here's a blurry pic of the little scrape:
The dismantling continues soon!
Friday, August 13, 2004
It has begun.
The rebuild kit awaits a removed, cleaned, and disassembled engine.
And on the day of the 12th, the Bug's engine was carefully extracted.
It goes like this:
Steve came over to help remove the engine. We inspected, jacked up the car, then inspected some more. We carefully read the instructions in the book and then began pulling cables and labeling them.
Each wire and hose that was disconnected got a piece of masking tape marked with its respective connection.
Oh yeah, we disconnected the battery too as to eliminate the possibility of the electrical shock.
Next we drained the engine of the remaining oil (far more than I thought would be in there), placed the jack under the engine and began searching for the engine mount bolts.
This is where things got sticky. See, we undid what we thought were the two bottom bolts, then went after the top. Now the top, right bolt was easy enough but then we encountered this strange headed bolt on the top, left. Well, after a lot of deliberation, removal of the alternator/fan/fan housing/oil cooler we found that the strange-headed bolt was no bolt at all, but a round piece of metal welded onto the engine mount that provided for a longer bolt. The bolt itself? Missing. So, three bolts were holding the engine on. We then also came to the realization that the two bottom bolts we removed were not the engine mount bolts but something else (very minor) all together. After finding the lower bolts the engine was finessed from the chassis.
Check back soon for the beginning of the dismantling process!
The rebuild kit awaits a removed, cleaned, and disassembled engine.
And on the day of the 12th, the Bug's engine was carefully extracted.
It goes like this:
Steve came over to help remove the engine. We inspected, jacked up the car, then inspected some more. We carefully read the instructions in the book and then began pulling cables and labeling them.
Each wire and hose that was disconnected got a piece of masking tape marked with its respective connection.
Oh yeah, we disconnected the battery too as to eliminate the possibility of the electrical shock.
Next we drained the engine of the remaining oil (far more than I thought would be in there), placed the jack under the engine and began searching for the engine mount bolts.
This is where things got sticky. See, we undid what we thought were the two bottom bolts, then went after the top. Now the top, right bolt was easy enough but then we encountered this strange headed bolt on the top, left. Well, after a lot of deliberation, removal of the alternator/fan/fan housing/oil cooler we found that the strange-headed bolt was no bolt at all, but a round piece of metal welded onto the engine mount that provided for a longer bolt. The bolt itself? Missing. So, three bolts were holding the engine on. We then also came to the realization that the two bottom bolts we removed were not the engine mount bolts but something else (very minor) all together. After finding the lower bolts the engine was finessed from the chassis.
Check back soon for the beginning of the dismantling process!
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Oh how things get all mixed up and backwards. Yeah, I ordered the rebuild kit and sho'nuff it's back ordered and won't ship until August 5th. That's right, I said August 5th. Oy. So the poor girl sits in the back awaiting her major surgery. The good news is that the book came in and I can read through the whole procedure multiple times. That should get me good and educated before jumping in.
I'll let ya know when the kit arrives. And then, it's greasy time!
I'll let ya know when the kit arrives. And then, it's greasy time!
Monday, July 12, 2004
Well, after much deliberation and a lot of hmmmm's and haaaaaa's I've decided to go ahead and do the unthinkable. I'm pullin' the engine and rebuilding her!
You say, Vaughn, surely you've gone mad and would never consider trying such a thing!
I laugh at your comment. I may be an amateur, but I'm no coward! Ok, it took a little to get here. I mean, I'm no fool either. I'm not gonna go pullin' the engine out if all I need is a new well placed gasket. But, after some research and by research I mean question askin' on the net I think I know the problem. You see, one fine gentleman pointed out that I may have worked some rings loose and the oil was forced out when the engine got hot. After poking around under the car I think this sounds like the most likely problem. I removed my valve covers. The left side was normal, dry-ish and looked good. The right side was covered, I mean covered in oil. It seems to me that the rings are loose on those cylinders and the oil was forced through there and many other places in that neighborhood.
Sooooo, today I ordered an engine rebuild kit from the fine folks at JC Whitney. It should be here soon along with the book titled "Rebuilding Your Aircooled Volkswagen Engine." Between the kit, the book and the help of my trusty sidekick everything should be fine. Oh, don't you worry, there will be many a picture.
You say, Vaughn, surely you've gone mad and would never consider trying such a thing!
I laugh at your comment. I may be an amateur, but I'm no coward! Ok, it took a little to get here. I mean, I'm no fool either. I'm not gonna go pullin' the engine out if all I need is a new well placed gasket. But, after some research and by research I mean question askin' on the net I think I know the problem. You see, one fine gentleman pointed out that I may have worked some rings loose and the oil was forced out when the engine got hot. After poking around under the car I think this sounds like the most likely problem. I removed my valve covers. The left side was normal, dry-ish and looked good. The right side was covered, I mean covered in oil. It seems to me that the rings are loose on those cylinders and the oil was forced through there and many other places in that neighborhood.
Sooooo, today I ordered an engine rebuild kit from the fine folks at JC Whitney. It should be here soon along with the book titled "Rebuilding Your Aircooled Volkswagen Engine." Between the kit, the book and the help of my trusty sidekick everything should be fine. Oh, don't you worry, there will be many a picture.
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Fair warning, this is a retro post.
Um. Today, I had to get to set. I'm working on this short as a Second AD and my ride was late, eh hem, so I had to drive to set. No problem, the bug is good, the bug is strong. And all was well until I got to the 118. Those who aren't from these parts may recognize it as the Ronald Reagan Freeway that leads to his library/eternal resting place. But I digress. So I'm on the 118 and I realize I'm losing speed. 65, 60, 55, 50. Hmmm. That's not right. So I downshift thinking, for some reason, that might help. It does, for about 5 seconds. 60, 55, 50, 45, 40...uhoh. Like a WWII fighter pilot, I'm goin' down. Around this time I note the blue smoke coming from the engine. Blue smoke, blue smoke means oil burning. Oil suddenly burning can't be good.
It's not.
Finally the car drops to 30mph. I throw in the towel and pull off to the shoulder. Just as I do the oil warning light goes on. A 74 Super Beetle has two warning lights, both are bad. The car stops in a cloud of blue smoke and I jump out, throw open the engine compartment door and look under the car. Yikes! Oil is pouring from the front of the oil pan. Yeah, I'm not going anywhere.
I flip open the phone and call set to tell 'em the bad news. Wait, check that, first I flip open the phone and take a picture!
Then, I call and we decide that it might be best to try and get me to set (4 miles away) and then call a tow truck to get the car home at the end of the day. So, they send a Production Assistant with an armful of oil to me. I pour a quart in, she seems to hold it. I start the car, with some hesitation she roars to life and I drive her the 4 miles. I park, she drops her oil. Now, I still consider myself an auto amateur, no delusions of car grandeur here. No sir. So, I do what I can and put the car right out of my mind and walk over to the house we're shooting at. Turns out, almost the entire crew saw me on the side of the road...of course, no one stopped. That's the way it is in the age of the cell phone. Why stop? He has a phone. I mean, no matter, no hard feelings. Nothing anyone could have done anyway. It's the thought that counts.
So later that day I call AAA. Fortunately I had just upgraded to AAA Plus and with that I get 100 miles of free towing per incident. Well, I was 35 miles from home, so that was noooooo problem.
What to do about the old girl? I dunno.
Um. Today, I had to get to set. I'm working on this short as a Second AD and my ride was late, eh hem, so I had to drive to set. No problem, the bug is good, the bug is strong. And all was well until I got to the 118. Those who aren't from these parts may recognize it as the Ronald Reagan Freeway that leads to his library/eternal resting place. But I digress. So I'm on the 118 and I realize I'm losing speed. 65, 60, 55, 50. Hmmm. That's not right. So I downshift thinking, for some reason, that might help. It does, for about 5 seconds. 60, 55, 50, 45, 40...uhoh. Like a WWII fighter pilot, I'm goin' down. Around this time I note the blue smoke coming from the engine. Blue smoke, blue smoke means oil burning. Oil suddenly burning can't be good.
It's not.
Finally the car drops to 30mph. I throw in the towel and pull off to the shoulder. Just as I do the oil warning light goes on. A 74 Super Beetle has two warning lights, both are bad. The car stops in a cloud of blue smoke and I jump out, throw open the engine compartment door and look under the car. Yikes! Oil is pouring from the front of the oil pan. Yeah, I'm not going anywhere.
I flip open the phone and call set to tell 'em the bad news. Wait, check that, first I flip open the phone and take a picture!
Then, I call and we decide that it might be best to try and get me to set (4 miles away) and then call a tow truck to get the car home at the end of the day. So, they send a Production Assistant with an armful of oil to me. I pour a quart in, she seems to hold it. I start the car, with some hesitation she roars to life and I drive her the 4 miles. I park, she drops her oil. Now, I still consider myself an auto amateur, no delusions of car grandeur here. No sir. So, I do what I can and put the car right out of my mind and walk over to the house we're shooting at. Turns out, almost the entire crew saw me on the side of the road...of course, no one stopped. That's the way it is in the age of the cell phone. Why stop? He has a phone. I mean, no matter, no hard feelings. Nothing anyone could have done anyway. It's the thought that counts.
So later that day I call AAA. Fortunately I had just upgraded to AAA Plus and with that I get 100 miles of free towing per incident. Well, I was 35 miles from home, so that was noooooo problem.
What to do about the old girl? I dunno.
Sunday, April 04, 2004
My it's been a long time.
This weekend I wanted to solve a little problem I've been having. You see, the beetle, she doesn't want to idle. She's being quite stubborn about it. So, hoping to get something accomplished in the area of a solution to this problem I parked the car and dug in. Only to find out that without some other tools and a helping hand I could test like one thing. I checked for loose hoses and anything else out of the ordinary but nothing was visibly amiss. I couldn't check the fuel pump as I ned a special tool for that and I couldn't adjust the idle because I need someone to keep the engine running while adjusting it. Damn what a waste. Well, not totally, I changed the fuel filter in hopes that would help a little. I also made a list of all of the things I need to fix/change before I try selling her. I'll post my list soon as I still only have it on a greasy piece of yellow paper.
This weekend I wanted to solve a little problem I've been having. You see, the beetle, she doesn't want to idle. She's being quite stubborn about it. So, hoping to get something accomplished in the area of a solution to this problem I parked the car and dug in. Only to find out that without some other tools and a helping hand I could test like one thing. I checked for loose hoses and anything else out of the ordinary but nothing was visibly amiss. I couldn't check the fuel pump as I ned a special tool for that and I couldn't adjust the idle because I need someone to keep the engine running while adjusting it. Damn what a waste. Well, not totally, I changed the fuel filter in hopes that would help a little. I also made a list of all of the things I need to fix/change before I try selling her. I'll post my list soon as I still only have it on a greasy piece of yellow paper.
