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Date:         Wed, 18 Sep 2002 14:04:25 -0400
Reply-To:     "G. Matthew Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "G. Matthew Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Organization: Bulley-Hewlett
Subject:      Re: seeking Air Cooled info/advice (82 Westy)
In-Reply-To:  <d1.1e714c16.2aba1032@cs.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

This is any EASY answer. Pull the burnt one. Max life on a well-cared for air cooled motor is 125-150k. With a little abuse (like sucking in water and carbon after a fire) it can be far shorter. Use the 30k motor.

Motor swap is so darned easy on this vehicle after doing it once or twice you can do it with your hands tied behind your back, with a blindfold on. Sometimes I ask for shackles, a bed of nails, and a ball and chain, just to make it a challenge.

Here's the skinny:

1. Unhook the battery, drain the engine oil completely. 2. Remove the air cleaner housing and boot 3. Unhook vacuum hoses that connect engine to frame (there are two) 4. Disconnect the EFI harness from the ECU, the alternator plug, the coil wires (that go to the motor), throttle cable, and the double relay connection, 5. Remove the blower cross-over tubes from the alternator 6. Remove the dipstick & tube 7. Loosen the motor to tranny bolts slightly, the transmission (nose) mount bolt [about 4 turns loosened] and the mount-to-frame bolts slightly. 8. Place the van in neutral, chock the front wheels and release the brake. 9. Jack up van from the side (NEVER jack up using the engine/tranny this can wreck motor mounts), and place on jack stands. 10. Remove the noise dampers (black accordion gizmos) on the heat system and disconnect the heater/flapperboxes. 11. Using a pine 2.5 foot 2 x 4 as packing, support the weight of the motor with the jack centered under the oil sump, and the 2 x 4 transecting the motor evenly from side to side. The various pips on the bottom of the motor will sink into the pine packing and provide lateral stability. 12. Remove all four Mount-bar-to-frame nuts and bolts. 13. Remove the nuts on the 2 upper motor-to-tranny nuts, then the bottom two. The motor is now resting on the jack, and on the (very tentative) connection to the transmission input shaft. 14. Place packing of some sort under the transmission such that it can come down 5-10 inches, but no more. I use an old milk crate (which remains the property of Pine State Dairy, and is never sold) 15. lower the motor 4-6 inches, then pull it STRAIGHT back about 1" (then check to make sure you don't have anything snagged, still connected. Then pull back 4" and it will come free of the tranny. 16. Lower it quickly as it is very unstable on the jack. 17. pull it backwards until it is free and clear of the van. If you lack enough height to pull it out completely, tilt it slightly to fit out from under the rear valence. If you STILL don't have enough room, dump it off the jack, and drag it out across the floor (avoid this if you can). 18. Installation is the reverse of this procedure; be sure to fill up with fresh oil.

I have no clue what Haynes is talking about in "marking the clutch". Unless you are going to swap out the clutch to the new motor, this is idle chatter. If you ARE going to swap out the clutch, they are assuming you would also swap out the flywheel, in which case marking them is not a bad idea.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Developing business and guiding change since 1996,

G. Matthew Bulley Bulley-Hewlett Marketing & Communications Business: www.bulley-hewlett.com AIM = IExplain4u Phone: +1.919.658.1278

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of Loretta Abbott-Kennon Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 1:22 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: seeking Air Cooled info/advice (82 Westy)

Howdy Listees,

Good meeting some of you at the Van-o-rama last weekend.

Background: On my way home I had arranged to pick up a complete engine assembly from an 81 that was rebuilt 30K ago. My vehicle was purchased as salvage but is in beautiful condition except for an engine compartment fire that melted parts of the peripheral components. The burnt engine has 95K original miles. I have an engine hoist, jack stands and a fairly comprehensive tool collection, but have never removed a VW engine. (my experience is with aircraft reciprocating engines).

My Questions for you: 1. What is the average longevity of the 2.0l air-cooled when properly maintained? 2. Should I simply replace the peripherals on the burnt engine avoiding the r& r process? 3. If r&r is recommended, is there an easy to follow step-by-step posted anywhere on the list? 3. I noticed in the Haines manual that it is important to mark the clutch position when removing the engine, this makes me nervous about the r&r. What is the position mark for and is there a way to figure it out on the donor engine?

TIA for your assistance with this project! Salud! Loretta Abbott-Kennon I


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