Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:16:09 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: 87 Westy Engine/Trans removal Day 1 - or Boy,
do I miss my 67 Westy!!!
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reply-type=original
I hate spring clamps too.
there are dangerous too. They like to slip out of the pliers and fly like
bullets once off the hose.
A cheater trick, which I think is ugly and hokey - is to just slide it up
the hose some, and leave it there forever......
and then use quality screw clamps going back together. I think they look
dumb sitting on the hose unused.
it's all easy once you get used to it- getting the whole engine/trans out.
here's a trick - obvious to you I hope, or assume......on the clutch hyd.
slave cylinder, don't open up the pipes or hoses or anything, just undo the
cylidner and leave it conencted hydrualically. ( and in the end, bleed fresh
brake fluid into the clutch hyrduaulics - all those details make everything
take longer, but the result is better. )
The aft bolt that secures the slave cyl to its bracket is a bother to get a
wrench on to hold from turning.
what I do for that is ...............with the trans out of the
car.........take that bolt and tack weld the head of it to the underside of
slave bracket - thus turning it into a stud. Then it's very easy to deal
with that one particular bolt from then on.
every job that is 'just an hour' takes me 3 because I find endless little
details to attend to for a really complete job. I guess I restore and
reburbish, or upgrade, at least as much as I repair. Takes so much longer
!
here's another thing to pay attention too .............the shift linkage,
where you undo it on the trans with two bolts - it'll go back together two
ways, either on the foreward or aft side of the trans part it bolts to. Only
one way is right. ( dumb design ) .
scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Golen" <rgolen@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 10:08 AM
Subject: 87 Westy Engine/Trans removal Day 1 - or Boy, do I miss my 67
Westy!!!
Hi,
Today I started to drop the engine and trans on my 87 in preparation of
installing a new Boston Bob engine and AA transmission. I've got about 10
days to putter around with this and so (given a string of 90 degree days and
the fact I'm not as young as I used to be) the plan is to spend about 3 or 4
hours a day working on the project.
FLASHBACK! By way of background - I worked my way thru college working on
VWs. Rebuilding and replacing engines, buying a junker and fixin' it and
selling it, etc. I had a 67 Westy. Bought it in 75. As with any VW of that
error, it was SOP to replace the engine with a new rebuilt, do the brakes,
etc.
Back to the present. My 15 year old son, Alex, and I are working on this as
a "father and son" project, and we spent 3.5 hours today getting things
ready to drop the engine and trans. So far, we're about 70% done. This is
the first non-air-cooled VW engine that I've ever pulled. What a pain in the
A$$!!!! Its not that anything went "wrong", but its unbelievable how much
stuff must be drained, disconnected, unbolted, etc, etc.
As I was removing the 100th coolant hose (BTW, did I mention how much I hate
spring clamps!!! Yes, wet toilet paper, cold pizza, warm beer and friggin'
spring clamps!! (all of which are pointing in an inaccessible direction)), I
drifted back to those halcyon days of 1975 and the 67 Westy. To pull the
engine, the following had to be done:
1. Remove rear bumper and engine compartment apron
2. Disconnect battery neg cable, throttle cable, heater cables and
connecting tubes
3. remove leads from generator, oil pressure switch, back up light switch,
+lead to coil
4. Slide milk crate under the engine and slide in a couple of pieces of 2x4s
and shim the gap with some shingles
5. remove two upper engine bolts and two lower nuts
6. While holding the fanshroud with left hand, push van forward with right
hand and body pressure.
7. Engine out, nicely sitting on milk crate....
Total time less than 20 minutes (with practice).....as I said we're about
70% done after 3.5 hours!!! It looks like that by the time I pull the
engine, I could have pulled the 67 engine, rebuild it and put it back in!!
Speaking of putting it back in, reverse the above procedure, add oil, and
off you go. Taking your time, you could start at 9 am and be done at 11 am
and driving off to the local tavern for a pitcher of cold draft and a steak
sub by noon!
Anyway, I really do miss the 67. In 1984, wife number 1 gave me an
ultimatum..."thin down the car fleet, or else".....and so I had to choose
two from a 1980 911SC, 1956 Beetle, 1974 Thing (bought brand new) and the
Westy. After my first son was born, wife number 1 didn't want to go camping
any more and so the Westy went.....although the Thing was my first bought
new car, it was in need of body work so it went...
The 911SC eventually was sold to finance Wife 1's departure (read
divorce)...but I still have the 56, which was bought also in 1975 about two
weeks after W1 and I got married.....so one could say my "relationship"
w/the 56 lasted longer than W1!
So much for today. Tomorrow its kayak escort duty for the local bay
swim....so Alex and I will be doing another "3hr stint" on Sunday. If we're
lucky, we might drop the engine, if not, it will be dropped on Monday.
Ric
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