Engine and Tranny are out, some questions for the braveheart

Derek May · Post by **Derek May** » Sun Mar 03, 2002 11:18 pm

Been tearing the crap out of the '78 rusted out doner I picked up for $700 with decent-good engine and tranny.

I've got the engine and tranny out, and had a couple of questions for anyone venturing to help.

1) the engine. How to I check it over to see if anything needs doing without going beyond pulling the valve covers? I only want to pull of the heads if necessary. I've borrowed a compression gauge, and turning the thing by hand seems to be the wrong thing to do (ask my shredded little finger) as I'm only getting 30 lbs or so, and I get more pressure if I turn it fast. Was thinking of putting the tranny back on (with the starter motor) and hooking up a battery to it to crank it over to check compression. Is there a right way to do this? other checks? Any suggestions are appreciated.

engine looks very clean, hardly any oil.

2) Tranny: I drove the van before tearing it down, and the tranny didn't grunch, any suggestions on this?

3) IRS joints: I pulled them off to get the engine/tranny out. Any suggestions on whether to clean and repack, or just add some more grease and bolt it back together on re-install. I've never had any suggestions of trouble, but while they are apart, is there anything I should do?

4) Hyraulic lifters: The engine has the hydros, my old engine is solid, so this is new for me. What should I look for before I put the engine in? How do I set the valves? The van had been sitting awhile but the engine runs fine, so I'm not sure what to expect on this. Again, hints and tips appreciated.

Derek May

75 Bright Orange Westy.

germansupplyscott · Post by **germansupplyscott** » Mon Mar 04, 2002 12:49 am

derek,

from your post i take it you are going to swap the engine/trans to your '75, correct?

you need to do the compression for sure, and this requires the starter. just bolt engine and trans back together and rig up a starter switch and battery. if you get low values (under 115), you can do a leakdown test, with the right tester and a compressor. search for <leakdown tester> on the web for pages on how to make one for cheap and do the test. the leakdown will tell you where the problem(s) is.

the cam & lifters are possibly worn. to check this you need to remove the valve gear from one head and pull ONE pushrod and lifter. you want to see if the lifter is worn badly. if it is, so are the others and so is the cam. this will mean the motor is due for a rebuild. type 4 motors are known to eat up the cams pretty bad.

another thing to check would be the crankshaft end play. this is very important and easy to do with the engine out, but you really need a dial indicator to do it right.

if you have an oil pressure gauge, you can check oil pressure with the engine cranked by the starter, this will tell you a lot about the condition of the crank and bearings. cheap electric oil pressure gauges are available at princess auto.

do you have a haynes or idiot book? if so, use the procedure to clean and re-pack the cv joints. it is a messy time-consuming job, but if they are off, you should do them, and make sure to get the correct moly grease.

btw, i still am interested in the fabric, i sent you a p-mail about it and i'll send a photo of mine tomorrow.

scott lyons

rich2481 · Post by **rich2481** » Mon Mar 04, 2002 6:46 am

I would retorque the heads, you said you drove it, how did it run??

it is easier to work on while out than after you put it in and then have to pull it again, bolting up the tranny with starter sounds good for a good compression test although usually mileage comes into play with that, it might be great this month with 80,000 miles on it and crap out in a couple of months
good luck with it sounds like a deal

Rich

Thumposaurus · Post by **Thumposaurus** » Mon Mar 04, 2002 9:47 pm

re-doing the joints isn't hard just makes a mess, are you going to get new boots and bolts, if not you should consider it I redid mine because two were torn but I ended up destroying most of the bolts trying to get them out, I think it was the first time they had ever been changed, new boot sets come with bolts and grease.

Derek May · Post by **Derek May** » Mon Mar 04, 2002 11:05 pm

Didn't ruin any bolts. I spent a good deal of time with a scraper, a big and little screw driver cleaning up all the dirt around the bolts, and in the hex holes, then used a good allen key, and whacked it in tight with a hammer before turning. They all came loose easily, no striping, but that's off the doner vehicle, got to do it again under my van. I may swap the IRS units, which gives me more time to clean out and lube the unit. New boots is probably a good idea.

Derek May · Post by **Derek May** » Mon Mar 04, 2002 11:21 pm

Thanks for the confirmation on the compression testing.

My ORIGINAL plan was to find a rebuildable engine and do some performance enhancements in a rebuild. My bus is a daily driver, so I need two engines, one in one out, to take my time. Current plan is to swap out my engine for the 78 and rebuild mine perhaps with 78 stroke etc, perhaps putting in CIS injection... Not too sure currently, as always a matter of time and money.

The tip on checking the lifters is appreciated, doesn't sound too hard, and the sounds like I should repack the IRS joints while things are apart, doesn't seem too hard, just messy.

I'll check for photos on the Fabric, I still have it. I've figured out that the bus was originally brown below the belt, white inside and up top. I think. Someone repainted the thing all white, but there is dark brown showing under scratches.

rich2481 · Post by **rich2481** » Tue Mar 05, 2002 8:15 am

pressure washers rule for that job

Bob Ingman · Post by **Bob Ingman** » Tue Mar 05, 2002 10:48 am

Derek, you can simply unbolt the bellhousing from the transaxle leaving the starter motor intact. Bolt it to your engine with a hot lead going to the big terminal on the starter from the battery hot side.run your ground strap from battery ground to the stud coming from bottom of engine through trans(bell housing).Now you can do your compression test by crossing the starter hot terminal to the push on fitting next to it. this will crank the engine for you. The plugs must all be removed and crank it about six revolutions per cylinder.
You can undoubitly find as many things not right about an engine as you wish but in your case if you just need a spare while rebuilding then compression is vital .Not to worry so much about the rest.
I would like to reccommend Jakes video for your rebuild.Bug Me Video Vol. #8. I used it to put together the engine for my Thing and found it very useful. Good Luck. Bob

[This message has been edited by Bob Ingman (edited 03-05-2002).]

dstar5000 · Post by **dstar5000** » Wed Mar 06, 2002 8:31 am

>Now you can do your compression test by crossing the starter hot terminal to the push on fitting next to it.

Just an observation and offering a cheap and helpful advice.

Get a horn button and connect two wires to it. Now connect those as suggested. Lay button on floor and you can step on the button to turn the engine over. *I* only hve two hands and this worked very well for me. I also use this for adjusting the valves on my bus....

Don

------------------
78 Westy 2.0l
71 Bradley GT 1641cc
"Honesty is the cornerstone of all success, without which confidence and ability to perform shall cease to exist."
- Mary Kay Ash

Bob Ingman · Post by **Bob Ingman** » Wed Mar 06, 2002 10:48 am

I do usually reccommend that a remote starter be made up for this purpose. It involves a starter button not a horn button. Two six foot wires run from it .One has a large alligator clip .The other a 1/4" push on fitting. Both go to the starter to engage cranking.Very handy for starting the car from the engine compartment with the carb or dist in the opposite hand.
I did not include it this time because I knew Derek has read it previously in post here on this forum and is aware of this option.But for those who are new here and have not gone through the archives before posting i have repeated the procedure. This was my first special tool to have to make when I began working on VWs and one I think everyone should take the time to prepare.
It works on the test stand. It works on the vehicle and it works on the floor if necessary. Good Luck. Bob Ingman

Derek May · Post by **Derek May** » Wed Mar 06, 2002 10:12 pm

Thanks Bob:
I did exactly that, which was my hunch anyways. Put the tranny and bell housing on, found a spare battery and hot wired it up, just held the wire lead on the pos terminal to kick over the motor (12v, I'm not going to get fried). got close to 150 after 6 revolutions and it stayed there, was at 140 on one cylinder. No need for a remote starter when the whole unit is out of the vehicle, just hook up the battery...

Got the stuff and the tin of the donor engine. All in all all, it looks pretty good, and I just repeat as a mantra "you are NOT rebuilding this engine, you are NOT rebuilding this engine..."

but I don't know when I'm going to get my other engine rebuilt, so I want the replacement in good shape going in...

thanks for all the help.

dstar5000 · Post by **dstar5000** » Wed Mar 06, 2002 11:08 pm

Nuff sed Bob! Thanks.

I built mine with same connectors using a horn button because I didn't have $$$ to go buy a real one...some of us here are just trying to get by the best we can.

I also put a double 1/4 inch spade adapter on the start lead(on starter) for easy hookup from under the car without having to unplug the wire from the ignition.

Thanks again.

Don

------------------
78 Westy 2.0l
71 Bradley GT 1641cc
"Honesty is the cornerstone of all success, without which confidence and ability to perform shall cease to exist."
- Mary Kay Ash

[This message has been edited by dstar5000 (edited 03-06-2002).]

Derek May · Post by **Derek May** » Fri Apr 26, 2002 12:38 am

OK. Its all done. FINALLY got the engine and tranny swapped out.

So, I rebuilt the head, put in new rings, a few new seals and gaskets here and there. Turns out that was the easy part, it was all the damn cleaning and painting of tin that drove me almost nuts. Then there was all the lapping of the cylinders and into the heads.

I'm enjoying the quiet of the hydrolic lifters. Its a stock engine, no added performance. Runs great, tranny is good too.

No leaks so far, and smooth power with good pull from the stop light all the way up.

Thanks for all the advice along the way.

Now I can sell off the bits as promised.