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Date:         Tue, 8 Feb 2000 22:23:21 -0600
Reply-To:     John Rodgers <inua@HIWAAY.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Rodgers <inua@HIWAAY.NET>
Subject:      Re: head job
Comments: To: "Joe L." <jliasse@TOAST.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Your comment about the problem of getting the cylinders back on over the rings reminded me how I have handled this onerous difficulty in the past working on aircraft engines. It may work here in this instance.

Aircooled aircraft engines are made with the steel cylinder barrel screwed to the aluminum head, so the head, rocker bosses, and barrel are all one assembly. This allows you to change one cylinder at a time. On a 6 cylinder engine changing the center cylinder on each side can be a bitch. Much the same problem with rings as on the wbx. Really tough to get a ring squeezer in there. And one you do, it's even tougher to get it out. A trick I learned from an old timer mechanic was to use a really large hose clamp. The screw on the holse clamp took little room and the width of the clamp was wide enough to cover a ring. Then the cylinder could be pushed down over the piston ring by ring. The hose clamp took little space, and could be fairly easily removed after the cylinder went over the last ring.

you might want to give this method a try and see if it will work on the wbx.

Luck.

John Rodgers "88GL Driver

"Joe L." wrote:

> Having done NO work on other cars before getting my Westy and being VERY > nervous about tackling the dreded Head Gasket job I spent weeks collecting > everything I could find on the subject and came close to doubling the usual > volume of message traffic on the list. After the job was compleat I found > that I only used two of the vast pile of things I had gathered. > > 1. The Bentley > 2. an article from Boston Engine available in the archives. > > all the other stuff was more or less redundant. If you look to the Haynes > manual for guidence please note that the Haynes assumes that you will be > pulling the engine for the job and EVERYTHING they say to do assumes that > you have the engine on the bench. > One thing in particular they say is that if the cylinders are stuck to > the heads you can pull the cylinders with the heads and separate them later. > DO NOT DO THIS!!! If you do this you will have a lot of trouble putting the > cylinders back on as they will NOT slip on the piston rings and there is no > real way to get a ring compressor in there. There are some folks on the list > who have contrived a way to use some heavy wire wrapped around the rings and > then twisted to compress them. The cylinder is then worked past the first > ring and pushes the wire off as it goes on. The wire is then moved to the > second rings where the process is repeated. I am not sure of exactly what > they did so you might want to get details on how to do this "just in case". > Things I did that helped a lot was to take some masking tape and label > litterally everything (even the bolts) that came off the engine and to lay > all out on the garage floor in the order removed. Take some heavy cardboard > and punch 4 holes in it. Label one end of the card board "front" and the > other "rear". This holds the pushrods as they come out and tells you which > rod goes where as they go back in. Loot the wife's tupperware collection for > cups to hold screws, nuts and such. > One thing to keep in mind is that it is not unlikely that you will snap > off a bolt as you dismantle things. Before starting a job line up the > location of a machine shop that will remove these. Mine did it for about > $15/bolt while I waited. > While you have the exhaust off you should try to take off the oxygen > sensor to make sure it has not frozen itself to the pipe. It is something > that you will likely have to change some time and if it has welded itself in > place it is MUCH easyer to remove with the exhaust off where you can get at > it. > When you buy the gasket set make VERY sure you have the one that comes > with the two types of sealant you will need. It is very hard and very > expensive to get alone and, as far as I know, there is no real replacement > for it. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf > Of hugo lerner > Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 1:51 PM > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM > Subject: head job > > everyone, > i would like to attempt to do this head gasket job myself but i think i will > need more of a step by step description of the job. > the "bible" bentley is a good resource for description of parts, but it's > not very helpful for a halfwit mechanic like me trying to do a > professional's job. > any suggestions of any other manuals or resources that can explain this > procedure? > and while im doing this, should i just go further and replace heads and > anything else? and if i do attempt to change heads and what not, are there > better performing changes i can make (without compromising longevity of > course) > thanks for anyone's help. > hugo @ slc, utah


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