Date:         Wed, 8 Jan 2003 02:15:29 EST
Reply-To:     FrankGRUN@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Frank Grunthaner <FrankGRUN@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Recent Transmission and Pilot Bearing Adventures
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Just thought I would take a few minutes to relate my recent
transmission/pilot bearing experiences.

Back in April 2002, I began to hear a high pitched squealing noise
infrequently (one time in 10) when I went to engage the clutch from a cold
startup in first. The vehicle is a 1982 former Diesel Westfalia (DZ
transmission), now powered with a 1990 1.8L 8V Digifant (RV) engine from a
GTi. Over time, the frequency became far more significant and the noise would
sometimes carry on to the first to second shift and it steadily grew louder.
Now I was quite hassled with much too much to do, so I studied the problem
and concluded that I was loosing the pilot bearing. I enjoyed cursing the
transmission guy who last repaired the trans for some time. Then, mindful of
my intention to redo the powertrain with the turbocharged Audi 3A engine I am
(still) building, I decided to continue driving w/o stopping for a pull and
repair till things got worse. After a while, much of the noise went away
(becoming infrequent again). Now periodically things did get a bit worse ...
complaints from the wife, modest shifting difficulty, etc. But on I went.
Afterall, what damage could a pilot bearing actually do?

Then, strangely, in September, I began to notice some clutch slippage as I
went from first to second with my foot in the floorboard. Infrequently
though. By October, I noticed occasional slippage in 4th (pedal to the metal)
going up local freeway grades. North on the 2, between the 134 and the 210
for those of you with a working knowledge of LA and environs. Come November,
I was having difficulty maintaining 55 on any significant grade. Again, I
analyzed the situation and decided that the I had lost one or more pressure
plate springs (happened to me before on other vehicles).

Now in the intervening months, I had accumulated a full clutch kit from Bus
Depot complete with pressure plate and pilot bearing, a spare diesel flywheel
(properly balanced and turned), a spare syncro turbo diesel bell housing
(amazing what one finds in a junkyard), and a DK transmission (from the 2.0L
AC beast). These parts were accumulated for the Audi engine swap. Now, some
of you may recall my posting, trying to offer reason vs. superstition about
the utility of the DZ (diesel transmission/ 5.86 final)) as opposed to the
common wisdom device (DK with the 4.57 final). As I explained previously, the
DZ trans is well selected for the 1.8L engine powerband, while the DK with
215/75 x 15 tires is optimal for the turbo 3A powerband.

Finally, over the Thanksgiving weekend, I gathered up the parts and took the
Westfalia to the trusty mechanics at Strictly German in Pasadena (used them
for years for anything I had neither the time or inclination to tackle
myself). Two days later, my trusty steed was returned. Aargh! The immediate
results: Nothing left of the pilot bearing except for the case. Novel surface
turning of the end of the transmission input shaft. Redline MT 90 gear oil
saturated clutch and pressure plate assembly. Nonexistent input shaft
transmission seal. All the pressure plate springs were intact.

First moral of story: No pilot bearing leads to enough shaft wobble as to
take out the input shaft seal. This is bad. Slimiest clutch/pressure plate I
ever saw. Bad. Slimy. No obvious damage to the trans.

In the course of all this I had instructed Strictly German to swap in the DK
trans. I reasoned that this would let me checkout the trans independently
from the Audi turbo package. They did so, and I now have a 1.8L 8V Digifant
engine with AMS chip driving a DK trans with 215/75 x 15 Yokohama Geolanders,
trying to muscle around a 5300 pound Westfalia.

However, many of you have observed that these posts are too long and no-one
reads them anyway, so I'll offer the rest of these comments in the next post!

Frank Grunthaner