Okay, so there is no prize, except maybe bragging rights over who knows more about engine repair.
Before I break into the story, here are the images:
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I am proud to say that I have removed the engine out of my 68', and torn it open on my garage floor. This is a first for me, and it's taken two days and about 50 zip-lock bags. I feel like a real man with all of these parts in front of me. And MAN is this fun.
You all might remember my post about white spark plugs, an engine that was sputtering and stalling, etc. After running a compression test with my wife at the crank, I came to the conclusion that something wasn't right with my engine. Here is what I got on my tests (I ran several).
Piston #1 - 105 Piston #2 - 100 Piston #3 - 30? (Was I holding the tester right? It seemed I was only getting 30 lbs) Piston #4 - 100, 120, 130, 135, and up
With #4, it seemed that every crank of the engine drove the pressure higher. Later inspection would reveal why.
After getting the engine out, removing the lifters, removing the heads, I discovered one clear problem right away. One of my push rod tubes had developed a nice dent (I think I remember a curb that I struck in Baltimore) - the dent caused the rod to "rub" and it rubbed a hole right through the tube. I am guessing that it ultimately came to a near stop, and just wasn't letting the exhaust out (hence the rise in pressure on #4?). I am referring to this image ...
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My valves looked "okay" other than being all gooked up with carbon. Although, one of them (#2, fuel) was stark white like the two bad plugs I had pulled out. Is this okay? They all seem to sit fine, and I don't see any physical signs of failure (no holes, blobs, dents, warps, etc).
The head pictures I am referring to:
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If we look at the head from #4, you will see a lot of burnt up oil that slipped and ran off the bottom of the engine. This to me looks like BAD RINGS. Am I correct on this assumption? I slid the cylinder off this particular piston to get a peek. Although, if rings are worn, I suppose I am looking for a couple microns of loss (and my eyes won't find it). I am going to assume that oil leaking past the head means "you need new rings". A set of standard replacements run for less than $20, so it's on my list.
So on my list of parts: Push rod tube set (8) Push rod ring/seals (16) Piston Rings (4 sets) New rods Any seals that I have broken.
This is my first real engine repair, so I am looking for advice. Am I on the right track? Will this get her back into good shape?
I remember reading somewhere (probably here or on the samba) that you can't just do a ring job on a bug engine because the cylinders don't wear in a round fashion. I think it basically said that if you replace rings, you replace cylinders. My 75 engine was in similar shape so followed that advice. My case was also junk so built the whole thing back up almost from scratch.
If I were you, I'd ask Bob Hoover and see what he thinks before you decide where to go from here.
What needs checked with the case? When you all are saying to have the case checked, are you referring to all the parts inside? Or would the wear of the cylinders have unevenly bored the inner walls, and that needs checked by a machinist? I'm a little out of my element on this job, know. Replacing cylinders would no doubt be expensive ... but understandable.
Is Bob a poster in this group?
Bottom line, I would like to save the car. Even if it entails a very expensive and complete rebuild of the engine. I have seen the country-side in it, and I'm not ready to let her go. ;-)
The force of the lifter and valve spring moving the rod back and forth is MUCH stronger than that little dent, I am sure it couldn't possibly have prevented the rod from moving. It just wore through and allowed oil to escape. The pushrod tube metal is thin and soft.
Clean the combustion chambers up real well, and look for small cracks between the valve seats and the spark plug hole. There usually are some, but if there aren't, then the heads deserve a rebuild. Small cracks are common and do not cause any trouble in a stock engine. You can reuse the heads if there are some minor cracks, but a high $ rebuild might be a waste of money. New heads are fairly cheap, compared to a complete overhaul.
I don't see anything unusual. Sure, new rings would be in order but I see no signs of a major disaster. As someone already said, just putting new rings on is usually not enough. Buy a complete cylinder & piston kit if you have the money, and you will get parts that match each other properly, and aren't out of shape. OR have your cylinders bored out (straightening them) and get new, oversized pistons with new rings. Those might be hard to find and again, a complete P&C kit isn't all that expensive when pitted against labor costs and hunt for special parts.
A simple re-ring job would still require honing of the cylinders to remove imperfections and glazing, and that dark ring near the top of the cylinder. See if it's developed a raised step where the dark ring is. That's an area where the rings don't reach, so it hasn't worn at all. If there is a noticeably big step from the shiny area to the darkened area, then the cylinders are so worn that new rings would only bring a brief relief.
Correct.
The oil could have made it's way in through worn valve guides too. Adding extra cost to head rebuild. That too is a common problem. Remove valve springs, keep the valve cracked open, and try to rock it sideways. Any play means the guides are worn. That means quite a bit of work: Either have new guides pressed in, and seats re-ground and new valves or valves reground and lapped to the new seat surfaces. Or have the old guides, if they are not loose in the head, drilled lagrger and K-liners installed. Again, the same seat work is required. OR, have them drilled larger and get valves with larger shafts to match the new diameter.
Depending on the condition of the head, if it has other problems too, you might want to ditch them or give them as cores to whoever you buy new heads from.
A complete seal kit is dirt cheap, and includes everything but the crank end seal (Get that too). Replace everything, regardless of condition. The pushrod tube end seals come in the complete kit too. Get a kit where you get silicon seals for these. Or get the silly-cone pr tube seals separately. They are MUCH better than the cheapies.
You are probably looking at more work and money that you anticipated. There are tons of little details to know and checks and steps to make, but we will walk you through them all. You *could* do it the easy, fast and cheap way, but you'd be doing it again in a few years and in the meantime, driving a car that may have some nasty little quirks like oil leaks.
Tear it down to the last bolt & nut, and we'll check everything and start going through the procedure. Take more pictures, it's useful and we can use them to visualize some tech procedures.
I wouldn't call it a boat anchor either - am an optimist and rarely call anything junk. Your case may be fine.
I am by no stretch of anyone's imagination an expert on this stuff, but was very much in the same situation about a year ago.
My case was junk because the bearing saddles (the things that the bearings sit in) were beat out as well: When I pulled/pushed the flywheel, it could touch the case. This is what is referred to as "endplay". Mine was wicket out of spec. One of my rings sets was broken in half and did quite a honing job on my cylinder. In one cylinder my valve seat was sloppy. You may want to consider getting the
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tape on engine repair. It has a lot of good information and things to look for.
Bob is a poster to this group - he knows these engines like the back of his hand. Look for his, Speedy Jim and Jan A advice.
Don't get me wrong I deal with alot of engines and most can be saved. When I said to have the case checked I mean send it to Chris at Demillo Mechine , or another good shop and have them check the case for cracks and if need be lined bored. ( I look for bore stamps on top of case) . With the looks of your engine it would be the best thing.
I do believe that you should do a complete rebuilt. If you don't, you will always think on that. I wanted to upgrade from 1300 to 1600 and I had rebuilt the engine recently. At the beginning I didn't want to split the case to save some money. I made my mind and split the case and found that the lifters and the camshaft lobes were completely worn out You have already made the hard part of the job. You need to know what is inside of the case and clean it for your one peace of mind.
Look at #3 head pic. The exhaust valve (smaller one) is set really deep in its seat. It looks to me to be too deep, as in the seat has collapsed or "dropped". Look at the little line that radiates outward from the valve seat toward the spark plug hole. Notice that there is a similar one almost exactly opposite that one. I suspect if you clean the gunk away those will be cracks. That is the reason for #3 compression being low. If you get somebody with a valve removing tool to get that valve out for you, I suspect there will be obvious damage. I suspect new head time. Not worth doing that without doing a total rebuild on top end and bottom end. If it was a T4 then chances are the bottom end would be good but not a T1. I apologize for not reading your post thoroughly - I just saw compression on #3 and went straight to the photo, blew it up to where I could see it. I don't know the reason for others suspecting case and bottom end damage, but feel the main culprit is #3 head toasted. The hole in the pushrod tube is not good, but not significant to the storyline. I suppose the suspicion of pulled case studs could come from the phot of #4 where it has definitely been blowing past the "gasket" but it looks more like it was loose than burned through. The heat that caused damage to #3 also affected #4. That's what I 'think' I'm seeing. Good luck. If you DO rebuild, if you use Tom Wilson's book, "How to rebuild your Volkswagen Air cooled engine," be careful of the part where you load the cam and crank into the cases. He has the timing information all screwed up, but other than that it's a good book. -BaH
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