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Date:         Thu, 28 Dec 1995 12:03:54 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         drew@interport.net (Derek Drew)
Subject:      Re: Engine Oil Pre-Luber

> Where did you tap into the high-pressure oil feed to charge adn >discharge. We're guessing both heads and the crank need the pre-lube. > Any comments? Post is fine or e-mail. >

Dennis Haynes did this for me. He used, I think, the hole right near the valves--I think immediately above or below the valve cover--I think it was the oil pressure relief valve. But you can ask him himself. His address is in the cc line for this response.

Of course we only plummed one side of the engine. A remote oil pressure setup (VDO) was attached at the other end of the brake line that Dennis plummed into the motor. I happen to have on my hard drve a semi-illuminating, semi-amusing transcript of a tape recording I made with Dennis at the time the job was completed at which time I didn't know too much about cars. I'll reproduce the transcript below.

My idea for the prelubing is to open the valve and let all the oil squirt out of the bottle into the engine before turning the key. I even added an 8 second defeatable delay in between the time the key is turned and the motor fires. Perhaps this is a wrong idea.

Dennis spoke of the advantage of prelubing as being that you have instant oil pressure whereas I thought the advantage was to get oil distributed into the motor before it fires. Under the instant-oil-pressure goal, prelubing is not needed in a VW so much because it is small enough to get near instant oil pressure anyway, Dennis says, unlike some giant 8 American motors, where it can take some time for the oil pressure to come properly up.

======================================================================== Transcript:

Derek: So that black wire is basically a temperature sender wire... And how did you attach the temperature sender under the engine? Dennis: I actually removed the oil pressure relief valve plug and I drilled through the center of that, tapped it, and put the sender right inside that plug. Derek: I see. And that is a plug that pops out... Dennis: No. It actually works the pressure relieve valve. It is a threaded plug and it pushes up on a spring and pushes up on a plunger. And I figured that since there is always oil going through there I put the sensor right inside there. Derek: OK. But that plug's original function is to do what? Dennis: To hold the spring in the oil pressure relief valve in. The engine has to have a pressure relief valve. When you first start the engine up and it is cold, the oil is not going to pass through the bearings. So if you don't relieve some of the pressure you'd be blowing things all over the place. The pressure relief valve starts opening up at about 60 psi and then it just starts bypassing oil back into the case so it doesn't have to go through everything. Derek: I see, so you put a hole in that and then you put a temperature sender in it and this black wire goes up toward. Now you say you actually tested this gague. Dennis: Right, I actually disconnected it right here and I screwed in a mechanical gague and it pretty much gave the same readings so the gague is close. Derek: Now the brown... Dennis: That wire there was factory. That wire there originally went down to the original pressure switch. And there is one spare wire here. Derek: So there is an unused brown and yellow wire that comes back with the harness that we added and we think we may want to use it later with the fuel pump cutoff. Now this brown wire which you say is factory, where does that go? Dennis: Right now that's going to the idiot light wire. That used to go down to the other sensor. Derek: Oh...And where is the other sensor? Dennis: Garbage. There is no room for that. You see, this has a warning contact that basically replaces the original sensor. Derek: OK, so. can I see the original sensor? Dennis: The original sensor isn't in there anymore. You see the original sensor was mounted inbetween the pushrod tubes above this plate. Now this plate was what I couldn't remove because I couldn't get to this bolt over here. But that tubing comes down now and goes into that fitting where the original sending switch was. Derek: So the original sending switch which indiccated uh... Dennis: It was just a warning light contact. It is normally like three psi. And the swithch that is in there now comes on a like five psi. So it increases the safety margin a little. Derek: What size is the brake line tubing? Dennis: 3/16ths. It is good for 3,000 psi. Dennis: If you look at your skid plate and then you look at mine, you can see how yours got bent up. ___________________________________ Derek Drew New York, NY drew@interport.net (main address for e-mail) derekdrew@aol.com (alternate/backup address, checked infrequently)


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