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Date:         Sun, 26 Aug 2007 02:50:25 -0500
Reply-To:     Matt Roberds <mattroberds@COX.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Matt Roberds <mattroberds@COX.NET>
Subject:      Re: On with its head! (Replacing right head on an '87 2.1 l)
Comments: cc: Benny boy <huotb@VIDEOTRON.CA>
In-Reply-To:  <20070825165929.MOVS15942.fed1rmmtai104.cox.net@fed1rmimpi01.cox.net>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

> From: Benny boy <huotb@VIDEOTRON.CA> > Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 23:54:13 -0400 > > putting a AMC head on one side and an old VW one on the other > side is NOT the best thing (CR will be different)... but it will work, > engine may shake more than usual.

The guy who owns the van has brought this up a couple of times. He _is_ somewhat of a motorhead* and at one point replaced the head on a small Ford pickup with a 4 cylinder. He said it ran better after he replaced the head, but soon after, it spun a bearing on the crankshaft. He thought this was because the "old" bottom end of the engine couldn't deal with the better compression/more power from the "new" top end.

I told him that it probably won't be that bad, but that having the two sides of the engine not be the same isn't the perfect situation. He _was_ enthusiastic after he got the new head, all shiny and clean... I suspect if we can get the van running and driving, he may well put a new head on the other side.

> By the way, my floor is NOT made of white ceramic, believe me, i wish, > my floor is worse than yours!!! he he he.

I was thinking of a photo in a book I have of "Karajan Hall", a "testing hall" at (I think) Wolfsburg in 1956. It is a large room with about 25 early Bugs and Buses in it. Some of them are parked around the edges of the room, awaiting work, and some are up on lifts with people working on them. The whole floor isn't white ceramic, but parts of it are, and it's all a light color. It's all very clean, and all the mechanics have trays with all their tools and parts on them. On the other hand, maybe they just cleaned it up for the photo.

> Anyway, i won't bug you with that because i understand your situation...

Yeah... in a perfect world we'd all drop our vans off at the shop and tell the mechanic: "Rebuild the whole thing. There's a box in the front seat with $20,000 in cash in it; call me if you need more. Let me know when it's done." Then we'd go on vacation in the Bahamas with our stunningly attractive partners while the van is being rebuilt. :)

> As for that lower O-ring... even if the engine is still in the van, > on the horizontal, it's easy to replace that lower O-ring..

We ended up replacing it. When I went back over to his house, we checked it, and the #2 cylinder that we thought was actually firmly in the crankcase had come a little loose while we were taking the head off, so we went ahead and replaced it. By luck, when we took the head off, #1 was at TDC or very close to it, so we did the O-ring on that one first, then moved #2 to TDC before doing the O-ring on it. We knew that if we pulled the cylinder out too far, the piston rings would come out of the cylinder, and that's just a little bit more work to fix.

We did the work Friday night. Saturday was reserved for chasing parts (like an exhaust stud we broke when trying to get it out of the old head, etc), letting the sealant cure, and occasionally praying while facing Wolfsburg and Hannover. (I wasn't sure which was right so we did both. :) ) Sunday I'll go back over there, and we may get to fire it up. I will report back later.

Thanks!

Matt Roberds

* Te^te a moteur? :) Somebody who likes to work on his own cars, modify the engine, make them go faster, etc.


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