Date:         Wed, 19 Apr 1995 22:47:42 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         eugp@uclink3.berkeley.edu (Eugene C. Palmer)
Subject:      Building that engine, but got sidetracked with the car (part2)

78 x 90.5 engine log PART 2

Monday April 17,
Goof around with computer and listserver.
Rewrapped FI wire harness with jacket and electrical tape over all the
places I cut the jacket off.
Stuff back through hole.  Hole should be over farther so it's not right over
the frame member, Oh
well.
Clean more shroud, front engine tin.
Remove piston/cylinders/gudgeon pins and clean RTV goo off cylinder bases,
spacers, case, etc.
Torch studs so the nuts will come off, (am I changing the heat-treatment?)
nuts that were
hopelessly locked (bench vise and vise grips on full power) come off
spinning.   One stud pulls
it's case insert with it.  It was the only one on that side that didn't take
the stud along for the ride (because I had to hold it with vise grips or it
would rip the spacer up).

Clean all stud threads, chase all nuts down.
Re-install studs with green goo.
Pull pushrod tubes apart well past spec, (over 7.5") so they'll be squished
real tight.
Attempt to clean tube seals.

While this is going on I am cleaning the oil I put in to get pressure by
straining it through a mellita coffee filter.  This is very slow and only
drips, which is surprising since it is leaking so well from the case.  Maybe
coffee filter paper gaskets are the way to go.

After filtering about a half gallon the mellita trick is really the joke of
the day.  There is barely any oil at all dripping out the bottom.  It gets
slower and slower.  Still have about three quarts to go.

Re-install left bank head.  Really a bitch to get the first lower nuts on
since I pulled the pushrod tubes out so far.  Plus, you really have to make
sure they're pulling in straight, bending them in line as you tighten.
Twist the cylinders in so the RTV gets a chance to spread.  RTV the pushrod
seals inside and out, twist them in too.  Spin the head washers on the lower
four for the same reason.  I've switched to Ultra-blue RTV from the
high-temp red which I read somewhere isn't so great with aluminum.  I always
liked the blue better anyway, it seems to hold leaks a bit better, though
the red certainly was attached well to the cylinders and case I scraped it
off of. Torque to 10, then 14, then 18 ft.lbs.  Go round several times at
each setting.  Go round about a dozen times at 18 to make sure it ain't the
wrench.

I've been wondering if I should have honed the cylinders into the heads as
John Muir says, but
Ol Geno never mentions this at all, so I didn't.  I did notice a couple
slivers of aluminum from
within the head where the cylinder bores were opened up, and I think, at 18
ft. lbs. at least, that honing the cylinders could help the seal.  Anybody
have any test?  Berg? 
PS Haynes book says to do it, Oh well.

Install longer rocker studs.  Install rocker arms with the one thick and one
thin shim I need to get the clearance right.  Here I also put the seals
under the shims, which I never used to bother with, but I'm not using
locktight on the studs and I want to be sure they don't leak.  I've had
studs break and don't want to get stuck on the road trying to get a stud out
that has been glued in too well.  Check running clearance from pushrods to
tubes again.  Somehow they're better this time. The rocker adjustment has
changed too from when I set them before the head came off.  Weird.

Run out of my 10cc supply of green lock-tight, only get about two drops on
each stud for this
side.  Bummer, have to wait for the UPS lady again cause NO ONE carries
green locktight.  I
actually believe those on a more restricted budget could simply use crazy
glue since thats what
this stuff is anyway.

Also realized that I had run the fuel lines to the pump right next to the
heater pipes in the frame by the rear axle tube and that isn't a good idea.

Tuesday, April 18,

GOof around with computer and listserver.

Yay!   Found green locktight equivalent from Bowlin equipment, a bolt
supplier in Berkeley.  Only
sell it in 50cc bottles though, oh well.  They call it saf-t-lock R-80 and
say it is stronger than the locktight 680.  Yow, this stuff is rated
4000-5000 psi and fills .003-.008.  I think its better than the stuff Berg
sells.

It's a little thicker, but it smells the same.  Put right bank studs in.

Much too much goofing around with the list, got to get back to the reality
of a type II here.

Wednesday, April 19,

Goof with list, ask about hydraulics figuring that if I reeaallly wanted
them I could still get them in.

Go out to Buds Bugs and find a '71 L Rear adjusting block that still has the
spring clips to hold
the stars in place.  Chop it off the backing plate with a chisel I sharpened
just for this purpose.

Ask the forklift dude at Buds about hydraulics.  He says forget about it,
everybody in his bug
group tryed them and they don't cut it, not enough oil pressure.  So be it.
I knew that.  Especially since I got them dual springs and a higher lift
cam.  I bet they'd work on stock springs, stock cam, stock rockers, 30 mm
oil pump, and a new case though.  Also saw a waterboxer engine on the
ground, couldn't believe it.  What kind of engine is that?  Guy says, "they
stink, we get mint condition '84 Vanagons in here all the time, head studs
get eaten by the antifreeze"  Well, well.  Fuel injection system looked real
nice though.

Remove the other axle, got to clean and regrease them someday.

Well I must have beat up those backing plates alot getting the adjuster off
because they scraped
bad.  Finally had to pull the wheel off the drum, and the drum off the hub,
and the brakes back
off, in order to get the drum to clear the backing plates without rubbing.
Plus I broke the 8mm
cylinder bolt and had to drill and tap it.  Put some teflon compound on it
so it "wouldn't rust in
place."  Another "listen to Ol Geno, no teflon on threads."  Not even Oatey
pipe joint compound,
which I found seals most leaks very well.  Put a smidge on the adjusting
stars though.

When I finally got the drum to clear the backing plates, adjusted the stars,
stomped on the brake
pedal and bled the line, adjusted the emrgency cables, went round the whole
thing a couple
times....   The brakes are awesome, the emergency brake locks up solid in
about four clicks.
Yay!  I can park on hills without chocking the wheels.

I am however disturbed by some end play in the left rear axle.  New
bearings, seals, synth
grease, circlip in place and properly seated, nut torqued way tight, yet the
left has some end
play.  Right has none.  Haynes book says "renew the spacer when refitting
bearings"   So what?
The spacers loose material upon compression?  Fooey.  I'll just watch it and
make sure it doesn't
fall out somehow.  Heard about a friends bus that dropped an axle once.

I also used some of the super green bearing retainer for what it is supposed
to be used for.
Knocked the axle out (easy) and put some on the inner seating surface and
the outer also.  Bet it
doesn't push out now.  This is the left I'm still workng with.

Still can't get the trans seal out, it's looking pretty ragged by now, hope
I haven't dropped any
chips into the trans case.

I think tomorrow I'll finally get the right head on and be able to mostly
finish the engine on the
stand.

Posting Part 2 to listserver only.