Date:         Wed, 22 Nov 95 15:16:14 PST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Kautz <dkautz@hpsidms1.sid.hp.com>
Subject:      Re: rebuild questions

  Gary Nichols is up to his elbows in greasy parts.....
> 
> Question about 2L engine:
> 
> I've got my '82 vanagon air-cooled engine in pieces (many!), and I've got
> some questions for the experienced:
> 
> Question #1:
> The "How To Rebuild Your Air-Cooled Volkswagon" book shows pictures and has
> text describing the "windage tray" found attached to and above the oil pickup.
> My engine doesn't have one!  Did some engines not have it?  Did somebody leave
> it out on a previous rebuild?  The oil pickup doesn't even have a hole for the
> bolt to the windage tray, so I am suspecting that either:
>    1) Some years of the 2L didn't have windage trays.
>    2) The PO rebuilt, lost the old pickup, put on a different one, couldn't
>       figure out how to attach the windage tray and what it was for anyway,
>       and left it off.



Ahhh, the windage tray. Everybody wants one and only Porsche 914s and 912Es
have them. The purpose of the windage tray is to keep oil down at the pickup
during "spirited" driving. With the exception of Bradley <"are those MY brakes
that are smoking?> Magnesium and David "now all we gotta do is cross this 
little ravine here" Schwarze I'd say most bus owners don't need 'em.

> Question #2:
> I am paranoid about the dropped valve seat problem.  How prevalent is it?
> What is the experience out there with rebuilt heads?  Do I have 'em rebuilt
> locally by any shop that says they do VW heads?  (Does anybody have experience
> with any shops in the Sacramento, CA area?)  Or should I send them down to
> Mark Stephens because he guarantees "No More Dropped Seats" and pay the
> shipping charges AND much higher prices (twice as much)?
> 

 After seeing the accounting from Sami's transaction with his local Machine 
 shop, which looked to be way cheaper at the outset, it looks like a draw.
 The price from the head rebuilders <Stephens is a premium price, BTW> is
 all inclusive. The shop charge turned out not to include the cost of the
 parts - it was their labor and machining charge only. I'm guessing from
 your email address that you are in Roseville, CA. You might want to 
 check out AVP in North Highlands, they took me on a nice tour of their 
 facility and taught me a LOT about heads and head rebuilding. They are 
 cheaper than Stephens as well.


> Question #3:
> This engine ate a rod bearing.  I am getting the case tank cleaned, but I am
> concerned about cleaning the metal out of the oil cooler.  Should I just buy a
> reconditioned oil cooler?  Have a machine shop clean out the old one?  What is
> the experience here.  What do YOU do?
> 
  Type IV engines have a full flow oil filter which should have caught most
  of the debris. My previous engine suffered from disentigrating cam bearings
  and I just washed out the old cooler with solvent and then rinsed a couple
  times with clean motor oil.


  Dave Kautz