Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2012 20:36:12 -0400
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Distributor drive shaft installation?
In-Reply-To: <4FF0AF7A.6070002@turbovans.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Back in the beetle days it was somewhat common to have to remove that drive
shaft to "adjust or add" shims to get that gear in the correct spot to lift
the fuel pump rod. I have seen cases where no shims were installed that case
wore enough that the shaft didn't reach the drive slots in the distributor.
I take some finesse but the drive and shim can be serviced with the engine
together. A little grease will hold them until the drive is in place.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Scott Daniel - Turbovans
Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2012 4:14 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Distributor drive shaft installation?
Hi ..
as you know now, it's very important to not take out the distributor drive
ever..
and to always keep a distributor or something in the the distributor hole to
keep that shaft from lifting up if you turn the engine.
Evidently you have the shaft in now, with some washers.
I'd say your only choices are to run it and see what happens, or take the
cases apart to replace the damaged brass gear on the crankshaft.
yeah, what easily happens is the thrust washers lift up, and jam against the
brass drive gear ..
if you do anything other than keep a distributor drive shaft well seated
down into the engine and a distributor or something to keep the shaft down
in there.
if you have the cases apart for any reason, what works really well is ..the
whole time you keep a distributor in the left case half.
and I know that 'forever' all books have talked about installing that shaft
later..
when what is really smart is you put the distributor drive shaft and a
distributor into the left case half first thing ..
even before putting in the crankshaft.
it has to be aligned right too of course.
bummer ..now it's either see how it goes knowing brass shavings got loose..
and wondering if the brass gear will fail completely or what.
'Heart breaking grinding noises' does not sound good.
sounds to me it's like split the cases or take your chances.
let us know what you decide !
Scott
On 7/1/2012 10:47 AM, Ken Olsen wrote:
> I'm putting back together my "slow turnover when starting" 1.9L
> (http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind1205A&L=vanagon&D=0&P=6
> 4115) with a ground crank and donor case. By far the hardest part so
> far has been getting the distributor drive shaft re-installed.
>
> With the engine at #1 TDC and the shaft aligned correctly, it would
> only go in about an inch below the block surface. Fiddling with
> rotating the shaft or the crank only produced heart-breaking grinding
> noises and some brass shavings on the edge of the thrust washers.
> (Arrg, what have I done?)
>
> My assumption is the thrust washer was hitting the drive gear teeth,
> keeping it from going in fully. I was able to install it without the
thrust washers.
>
> My solution was to lower the washers in to place with a dental pick
> (very risky, I'll admit). The shaft then went in easily like before
> with the final alignment matching the picture in Bentlys. I quickly
> bolted the distributor in place, vowing to never do this again, and
> rushed in to message the collective to see if I'm crazy or not. Do I
> need to take this motor apart again just for the pure joy of it?
>
> Thoughts?
>
