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Rebuilt engine - won't start. :-(

My 68' bug started to lose compression on me almost two years ago and got garaged. I recently dismantled it and had the case align-bored and thrust cut (and reassembled by a trusted mechanic). I have spent the evenings of the past few weeks putting it all back together and last night, the engine went in.

I had a ton of silly problems. Like, wrestling the thing back onto tranny. Never have I had so much trouble getting it lined up. Must have been getting late. ;-) Once in, and with everything reconnected, I was having trouble starting. I would crank it, and after four or five rotations I would hear a click or a pop from the battery area - and then I would have no lights on the dash and a dead ignition. Ended up being a bonehead mistake. Some time back I had put some good rubber compound over my ground cable to keep the rust out - and I had bolted the cable down on top of that goop in the dark. Duh. Once my ground was solid, I had good cranking.

Then it just rotated. A lot. But no bang. It seemed like I wasn't getting fuel, so I had a friend hit the gas while I stuck my head into the carb bowl and sniffed around. Dry as a bone. I had put in a new fuel filter (little metal canister style) which may have been too much for the old mechanical style fuel pump. So I scrapped it, and siphoned some gas to get the line going. Then back to cranking. Still - no boom.

After a LOT of cranking, and not a single sign of starting I noticed a big puddle of oil forming underneath which told me that something wasn't right. Seemed to be coming from the top, which I can only guess was from the oil cooler. I'm sure something didn't set right up there and so that engine is going to have to come back out.

Any how, anyone have any first guesses on why it wouldn't fire up? I don't have a timing gun, so I suppose it could be that. I made my best attempt to "eyeball" the distributer line up with the marks in the crank pulley. I made some slight adjustments there. First mark is "TDC" and the second is the fire, right?

I stayed up way too late for a work night. :-( Any advice is appreciated!

-Steve Ballantyne

Reply to
steve.ballantyne
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Look on my web site for: "Why won't my engine start?" Step-by-step.

Speedy Jim

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Reply to
Speedy Jim

Thanks Jim. That page is an invaluable resource. I had it bookmarked in the past and lost it. Re-bookmarked! I ought to print this out and tuck it under my arm when I go back to work on it.

-Steve Ballantyne

Reply to
steve.ballantyne

Some things to check:

1) Remove distributor cap, and try to rorate the rotor. It should not rotate freely. If it rotates, you have forgotten to install the distributor shaft, or the distributor is not seated all the way in.

2) Remove #1 spark plug. Rotate the engine pulley clockwise and put a finger in the #1 spark plug hole. When you feel pressure building in the cylinder, you are on #1 compression stoke. Continue rotating until the left pulley notch is aligned to the case seam. You are now in #1 TDC. Now look at the distrbutor rotor. It should point close to the notch on the lip of the distributor.

This is the location for the #1 spark plug wire. Clockwise from this 4, 3, 2 should be connected.

Replace spark plug and adjust the static timing to 7.5 degrees (the right notch).

3) Adjust valves.

4) Remove fuel pump and check if th pump pushrod is installed.

5) Check for spark. If you don't have spark, check the electrical connections, clean the points, set the points gap and set ignition timing again.

Bill Spiliotopoulos, '67 Bug.

? " snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com" ?????? ??? ?????? news: snipped-for-privacy@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...

Reply to
Bill Spiliotopoulos

This, I did do. When I was reassembling, this was a bit tricky as I suppose it always is. I can budge the rotor just a tad, but it's well locked into place and it spins when I hand crank the engine.

I hadn't thought of sticking a finger down there. That's a nice way to be sure about where I'm at. During reassembly I found it hard to tell #1 from #3 when adjusting the valves. I wonder if I didn't end up screwing that up, which would also mean I need to re-adjust the valves.

I checked my firing order several times, that was my first guess about why it may not be firing.

I did this several times before putting the engine in. I probably should have checked them once again when it was installed.

I definitely remember dropping the pole down. But I'm pretty sure I should have been able to pull fuel through that small filter. I should take that apart once I dropped the engine and make sure that it's functioning.

I didn't do that. I guess I just assumed that I was getting spark. I hadn't thought to check the cap for the little carbon piece either. That could have easily fallen out in all the chaos in my garage.

Thanks again for the advice Bill. I felt like a beaten dog last night. But I'm all ready for another battle! :-)

-Steve Ballantyne

Reply to
steve.ballantyne

Still on this same engine, I have another good question.

I am assuming that the horrible leaks from my oil cooler are from using the wrong rings. I installed it with "straight rings" and later found the "stepped rings" that I think I should have used. Looking at pictures of replacement oil coolers that come with the rings, I have all but confirmed this.

Yet, I also wanted to replace the cardboard gasket that fits between the oil cooler and the engine case. When I removed it prior to rebuilding it tore a little bit - and my engine gasket set did not include a new one. I just called my local foreign parts shop (where several old-school air-cooled enthusiasts work, and hang out) and they seemed to think that I didn't need it. They didn't stock this gasket, and had never used one of them. They all just use the rubber rings.

Should I have a gasket there? I am thinking that the one I have was ordered from CIP. Here is a picture of it ...

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This could just be a gasket for the remote oil cooler blocks ... and I was a fool to have ever slapped on under my "skyscraper" cooler. :-)

-Steve Ballantyne

Reply to
steve.ballantyne

Worth bookmarking, dunno if solves your problem:

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Reply to
Speedy Jim

The second link there,

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... isawesome. That answers a lot of questions. When I spilled out therubber gaskets from my gasket set I had orange/red and green colorsstepped rings. I can see why now. I will have to print that out andtake it with me when I drop the engine back out. Thanks!!

-Steve Ballantyne

Reply to
steve.ballantyne

IT'S HOME!

It was a long day! I started in about noon. Dropped the engine, stripped down to the oil cooler, and laughed at my mistake. Sure enough, it was obvious that with the gasket that didn't belong there, and the sleeve rings that were all wrong for that oil cooler - was the source of the insane amount of oil being pumped onto the floor from cranking. So off with the gasket, and in with the correct "donut style" rings. And then back together, and back into the car. It seemed to go relatively quickly, but suddenly my wife swung by to check in on me and I realized that some four hours had passed.

I had a hell of a time getting things running again. It seemed I wasn't getting any fuel, so I pulled the pump off and checked it. But it's the manual type - and damned if I could find anything wrong with it. So back on it went. Out of sheer frustration I lifted the screws off the carb and looked down into the bowl. It was dead empty. So I manually filled that, and reconnected everything. All I got was a couple backfires, and a bit of smoke. Still seemed that my timing was missing?

Using Speedy Jims documentation I started through the list of things to check. It seemed checking the valves again would be a good idea. They were *WAY* off. They were so far out (loose) that it made me wonder how the hell I had done such a terrible job. I'm thinking that I may have started on three, thinking that I was on one - as that is the illusion when going by the TDC marks. Ooops. Once I had the valves set properly, and spun the distributor to where it belonged - she fired right up.

The engine is purring like a kitten, but the exhaust is roaring like a lion on crack. I ended up putting on an old Kadron muffler that had been sitting inside of a box (new) for the past couple years. It absolutely sucks. I need to get a real piece of exhaust. But for now, it works.

Driving back home I was barreling down the highway at a cool 60 MPH, and my dashboard filled with stinking smoke. I damn near sh*t myself. I came to a stop at the side of the road (my wife was following me home) and ran to the engine compartment with my fire extinguisher (yes I ride with one!). Lo and behold - there was nothing. No trace of any fire, no smoke. Nothing. I was having a hard time figuring out how engine smoke would make it's way to the dash anyhow. So back into the car, and away I went.

About five miles up the road I realized - no dash board lamp. Sh*t. That's what the smoke was about. So tomorrow when I have some daylight, I will have to look around under the hood and see what shorted out. Too late for all that now.

I want to thank everyone who posted their advice to me, and helped me get her back on the road again. I thank you, and the poor bug thanks you. Damn it feels good to be back behind the wheel of that car again!

-Steve Ballantyne

Reply to
steve.ballantyne

LOL Great story. Thanks for the update!

Jim

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

Reply to
Speedy Jim

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