Date:         Wed, 2 Nov 94 11:53:05 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         walshp@ippdsgi3.nawc-ad-indy.navy.mil (Pat Walsh)
Subject:      Re:  Engine Disassembly, EGR, Air Pump

Peter Williams writes:
>Tthe engine (1973 1700 Type IV)  is out of the bus to be overhauled over
>the winter.  After an afternoon of mild exertion, the motor is sitting on a
>workmate in my basement.  I have a few questions...
>
>Some of the tin is very rough (rusty). In fact, it is a real mother getting
>the screws out (screwdriver ...nope... vise grips ...nope...
>chisel...nope... drill).  What is recommended for cleaning up old engine
>tin?

Don't know about cleaning the tin, really.  On the '78 I worked on, I had it
hot tanked.  Maybe spray it with Extend rust converter afterward?  But about
the screws, aren't those a pain??  I replaced all the ones I could with little
bolts of the same thread, stainless steel to avoid rust.  (Some you can't
replace with bolts because there isn't enough clearance for the bolt head and
wrench.)  Too late for you now, it sounds, but regarding getting them off in
the first place, an impact screwdriver worked "pretty good" for me.
(Mechanical screwdriver you whack on the end with a hammer, causing the bit to
turn about 45 degrees.)  I say pretty good because I broke a couple of the
bosses on the block off by hitting it too hard, but most of the screws go into
the block where there is plenty of metal.

>Not to my suprise, the air pump is frozen solid and the EGR is all clogged
>up.  Disposing of the air pump and associated equipment appears trivial,
>but I am not sure how the EGR system is attached to the heads.  A pretty
>wimpy peice of pipe sticks out of each head near the intake port.  Is it
>possible to remove this and plug the hole?  I expect that a motor tuned to
>run without the aforementioned pollution controls will pollute less than
>with non-functioning pollution controls attached.

No experience here...

>I have seen big-bore cylinders advertised for the 1700 (96mm vs 90mm)  are
>these an easy swap, and would there be a noticeable increase  in power
>without replacing the stock Solex's or exhaust?

No experience here either, but I think you'd need different heads or at least
have your heads machined so that the bigger barrels would fit into them.

Pat Walsh, '71 Westy, walshp@ippdsgi3.nawc-ad-indy.navy.mil