Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 23:21:32 -0500
Reply-To: Jeff Strickrott <jstric01@CS.FIU.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jeff Strickrott <jstric01@CS.FIU.EDU>
Subject: Cylinder rebuild questions (long)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Hi All:
I have some questions regarding rebuilding the top end of my 82 Vanagon
2.0L air cooled engine. Images related to my questions can be found at
http://www.cs.fiu.edu/~jstric01/images/VW/WEB_VW_Images.html .
The van dropped an intake valve seat on #1 cylinder when I was doing
compression testing in the driveway. Very lucky. The van/engine has only
51K miles on the original engine.
My questions:
1. Is it common for the VW heads to drop seats this easily? I was hoping
to just replace the one head as the compression is fine on the other.
2. Is it OK just to replace the one head?
3. Any suggestions (sources) for a good cheap pair of ring clamps for
VW's?
4. I have never honed a cylinder. Is this necessary if I keep the
existing rings? Or should I just replace the rings. Will a shop hone the
cylinders? I was originally trying to not have to remove the cylinders,
but to clean the area, adjust the deck height, I will have to remove
them. Anything i should be careful of? Where does one get new shims to
to adjust for machining of the cylinder heads? Does Bus Depot or some
other list vendor sell these? Where is a good source for VW cylinder
hone tool?
5. If I replace the rings, what happens if I do this on only one side?
Will this unbalance the engine?
6. In the process of dropping the seat, the valve put a small ding in
the piston. Should I worry about this?
7. I notice a lot of carbon deposits under the valve cover and past the
cylinder head seal. In addition the seal on # 1 cylinder was warped.
This indicates that the valves and cylinder were leaking. The worst
carbon deposits are on #2 cylinder. It's seal looked fine. What causes
this and how do I avoid the problem when I rebuild the engine?
8. When I had adjusted the valves (about 300 miles before problem) the
lifters appeared soft. Looking at the lifters they look almost
brand-new? They have been in the car for 20 years. Should I 1) bother
trying to rebuild the lifters (clean them) and then purge the air, 2)
just purge the air, or 3) buy new ones?
9. The neighborhood we live in gives us problems if they see a car
disabled. They threatened to have the van towed when I was replacing the
gas tank. A tight budget means that I must do the work myself here. Thus
I have stripped the tin, exhaust, etc. with the engine in the car to
remove the problem cylinder. Other than making this task slightly more
difficult, is there any other reason why I can't complete the repair
with the engine in the car?
10. Any reason why I can't replace the intake and exhaust studs with
stainless to avoid the problems with rust I had when removing them? Will
the aluminum heads corrode faster? Where could I get stainless studs?
11. The cylinder head studs and heads were rusty. Should these or all
the studs be replaced? In the future what is the best way to lock the
studs into the case so that they do not come out when I am trying to
just take of the head?
Thanks in advance for the help.
Regards,
--Jeff Strickrott
82 Westy, South Florida
