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Crushing

Went in the shop yesterday and was determine to get some engine work done. List of things to do:

Put loc-tite on the push rod nuts and torque. Check Replace fuel pump Bake lite base. Check Assemble pistons and rings. Check Dress barrel shims per John C's recommendations. Check Assemble jugs, pistons, heads and push rod tubes.

Here is where the problem occured.

I had everything together, meaning, jugs, pistons, rings, shims, push rod tubes and seals. Kept working with the tubes till all four were in place. Got the head nuts started and proceeded to torque all to the specs. Got through and was looking over the head and noticed that one of the tubes looked funny as to how it was centered in the head hole. Took a look underneath and found that the end had popped out of the block and now was sitting at a 45 degree angle to the block and only covering half the hole in the block. CRAP!!!

Now, I have to unbolt the head to get this tube back in place. So I got back according to the torque pattern and loosen everything back up and the tube will now pop back into place. A little tweeking and it is straight and all looks good. Retorque and all looks well now.

Then the thinking sets in, I did not remove the tube all the way to check the end to see how bad the very end may be crimped. It did not cross my mind at the time. I will take a flash light and look down into it and see what it looks like. All the seals sit well and it appears good and straight. Got a good coat of sealant on the seals as well. Not too much, not to little, just right. Should be a real leak free seal. But that all maybe for naught if the tube is crimped.......nuts. If I had only thought about that then. (STUPID) And these are new tubes as well. Not a big loss I know, but that is not the point to me. Just a dumb mistake on my part.

Any way, I got half a motor together. I still feel good about that. It has been tough working in time for the engine as of late. Very hot and humid the whole time wrenching and it was still a good feeling working on the VW engine. There is just something deep within that gets great satisfaction from DIY, whether it is engine building, woodworking or whatever. I like being able to Do It Myself. (Even if it gets crossed up sometimes.)

Reply to
TerryB
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I wonder if there was a question in there somewhere :)

Don't feel bad, little annoying things like this happen sometimes to the best of them.

If the tube is straight, and you cant turn it in place after the head is torqued down, then it's probably ok.

If it was an old rusty tube, it could have a crack in the crimped section and you wouldn't see it.

Hey, if it doesn't leak or interfere with the pushrod, it's ok :D

Jan

Reply to
Jan Andersson

And to add to my insult, I forgot to put the lower air deflector in place under the jugs............. I thought things went to well up to the point of finding the bent tube and have gone down hill since. Not discouraged though, Rome was not built in a day. I shall keep forging ahead!

On a note, the tube did not bend in the middle only on the flexible end luckily, so it should be fine but I still need to check the very end of it where the seal is.

I feel much better now that Jan has razzed me a little, knowing that he has been there and done that, whether he actually said it or not, makes things better some how. LOL

Reply to
TerryB

And when we are put an electric plug and we forget to pass the wire by the hole in first place. When we are not working on a usual task we tend to forget something.

Joao

72 Super 1302
Reply to
Joao Eliseu

I hate when I finish soldering a connection only to realize I forgot to slide the heat shrink tubing onto the wire first. That has happened more times that I like to admit.

Reply to
Michael Cecil

place under the jugs............. I thought things went to well up to the point of finding the bent tube and have gone down hill since. Not discouraged though, Rome was not built in a day. I shall keep forging ahead!

luckily, so it should be fine but I still need to check the very end of it where the seal is.

************ Easy to do both of those things. You did put the seam at the top of the tubes, right? I would pull that tube out & check it now anyway (if that's the side you forgot the tin on then you'll do that anyway). Eaiser to do it now than later if it leaks... ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"

Since I gave up hope I feel much better.

Reply to
ThaDriver

I went ahead and pulled the head. I checked the tube and it was a little crumpled on the very end, but nothing that could not be tweeked with some needle nose pliers. Also installed the tin for the cylinders. There is no way of putting the tin in while the push rod tubes are in place. At least to install it the way it was meant to be installed. You could wire it in place with out all the tabs on it, but that would be a last resort kind of hack.

I now have both heads on with no major incidents this time. Things are looking good now. Next step is to install the push rods and the rockers and check geometry. I pretty much failed geometry in High School, LOL, but that is another story. Hope I don't fail it this time either. Any tips you dubbers may have for a green builder would be great. I got some books and the Bugme Vid, but War Theater input is very useful as well for me. The books cover the general/normal things well, but out of the norm can be daunting at best and this is usually where my path leads.

Thanks in Advance!!

Reply to
TerryB

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