Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2012 13:13:46 -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: Distributor drive shaft installation?
In-Reply-To: <vanagon%2012070114031370@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
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=64115)
> 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?
>