Date:         Tue, 09 Apr 1996 10:21:00 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Maher, Steve (SD-MS)" <SMAHER@gi.com>
Subject:      RE: '81 Westy Pilot Bearing


>Pulled the motor today anticipating a clutch pboblem and found the
>needle bearings on the pilot shaft smeared all over and welded to the
>shaft and inside the crank. Evedently no lubrication. I am going to
>replace the bearing and rear seal and o-ring in the flywheel but what
>else need to be done while I'm in there?

Charles, I anticipate finding the same thing when I pull the V6anagon's
engine this weekend. In my case, the clutch feels normal, but pressing
the pedal to the floor, no longer disengages the engine from the tranny
(Drove it from San Jose to San Diego like that). In the past, I used to
hear a slight screeching sound when the clutch was in-- now I think I
know why.

My question is: if I do indeed find something similar in my '80, to
what Charles has found in his '81, is there a way to clean up this mess
before installing a new pilot bearing, seals, etc.? Hearing about needle
bearings "welded to the shaft and inside the crank" makes me shudder,
although this sounds very much like my problem, as near as I can tell
with the engine and tranny still bolted together.

Does one have to replace the trans input shaft, and maybe the crankshaft,
before all is well with the world? Or can the present ones be saved?

I know, my engine is the Chevy V6, not a VW type-4, so things may be
very different. But replacing the crank still means rebuilding the whole
engine (actually, with a Chevy, maybe not?). How does one replace the
transmission input shaft? Is it a transmission-out-of-the-car job,
involving tranny disassembly (yipe!)? Or can one simply pull a circlip
or something and pull out the shaft? This is the original '80 VW Vgon
tranny-- only the engine is "foreign".

aTdHvAaNnKcSe,
 ______________________________________________________________________
           _                                            ______________
    ______//________    Steve Maher    smaher@gi.com   //__][__||____\\
   /o _   |  -| _   \   San Diego, CA     75461,1717  (o _-|       _ o|
   `-(_)=======(_)---'                                 '(_)-------(_)-'
 '66 Mustang Coupevertible      '89 Son Sherwin        '80 VW V6anagon
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