No thermostat

Steve -- that sounds pretty straightforward when you put it like that. I'll read and re-read Bentleys and Muir and screw up my courage and dig in.

But first I am going to shoot a bunch of pictures of how things are now, and request assistance identifying as many of the missing cooling bits as possible so I can (and the odds are?) have all the right parts ready and waiting. The goal is to have this thing apart and together in one weekend.

"Ilambert" wrote in news:9j%Hb.25765$ snipped-for-privacy@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net:

As long as he's got it out, what else might he replace/inspect before commencing the happy dance...t/o bearing, heads, oil cooler?

Support the transmission too before pulling engine. But some wooden blocks under it.

Jan

I have lots of pictures of my day of engine install...

A jack I have. When I got it, I figured I'd use it for *simple* things, like changing the oil. Had no idea I'd be looking down the barrel of pulling the engine. I guess it's time for Rocket J Squirrel to grow up.

Grow old. Not up. That's what I plan to do anyway. More fun that way. :)

Jan

Who's the good online source for cooling tin bits? I am missing the sheet metal under the cylinder heads. Better get it, and the proper bolts. Someone who provides the bolts, too.

-- Rocky Steve

-- Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott

71 VW Type 2 -- the Wonderbus (AKA the Saunabus in summer)

These guys all mean really well, and they're encouraging you to do the right thing, but I suspect that they have forgotten their first experience with dropping a VW engine. There's a bit more to it than they've mentioned: throttle cable, heater cables, gas line, electrical wires for ignition and charging system.... And some of these things won't want to come apart easily because they will have rusted in place: cooling tin screws and heater cables.

The biggest mistake you can make would be to start this on a saturday when you HAVE to have the vehicle ready to drive again the following monday. Gather together ALL the parts that you're missing and then give yourself nine days, including 2 weekends, to get done. That way you are pretty likely to finish early, which is a LOT better than finishing late.

Plan alternate ways to get to a parts shop for the parts that you later discover you need.

It's okay to leave the van on the street, but you'll need a place to stash the engine while you do the work. Kitchen tables and basements are favorites.

The engine weighs about 250 lbs. Two people can carry it, but be careful of where you lift; there are places you CAN lift from and places which are just too flimsy. Some kind of wheeled cart will be really useful if you have to go a long ways, but a shopping cart is probably not strong enough, and certainly too tall to be stable. A "little red wagon" might be fine.

Good places to look for the missing cooling system parts are the shops which do lots of VW work. The ones which leave all those parts out are especially likely to have some laying around. It's okay, let them think you're just a chump that doesn't know any better and is still willing to buy some of that worthless crap from them. You'll have to be a little careful here, because there's a bit of variety in these parts, and you need to get the RIGHT ones for your engine. You may have to get them to agree to let you come back and swap if they give you the wrong ones.

-

----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

-----------------------------------------------

You don't need to do a complete pull, just drop it down enough to pull the shroud. If your oil cooler is leaking, it's a good time to replace the gaskets there too. Anything else???? Clutch disk...

All it takes is a $40 floor jack.

"Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott" wrote

Well, you've already gotten plenty of encouragment so I don't know if this'll help ...but here goes ....

The book `How to Rebuild Your VW Aircooled Engine" by Tom Wilson is an excellent guide, IMHO, as well as the Bentley manual. Both walk you through step-by-step. I highly recommend the Wilson book. The Muir book probably has a good section too. From what others have said with the removeable rear apron, it sounds like this will be even easier than a Beetle engine pull since the bus will not have to be jacked up to pull the engine out.

Here's a couple of web pages that detail Beetle engine removal. I don't know anything about busses so I'm sure a few things are different but the major stuff will be similar enough to give you a good idea of what's involved. Some crazy Finnish guy's page:

Surely there's a web page out there detailing a bus engine pull. Google the hell out of it. :o)

The '71/'72 `Without Guesswork' lists the dry weight at 264 lbs. It should be a piece of cake for two guys. Place it on some boards or a piece of plywood ... or flip a metal trashcan upside down and set it on that ... anything, really.

I couldn't either but I decided that if I wanted to continue piddling around with these things that I needed to know how to do it. I pulled the engine out of my '72 Super Beetle by myself using Jan's `slide it out the side' method at his page at the above link. I lowered the engine down onto two stacks of 2x6s placed on a piece of plywood, then pulled the 2x6s out one at a time until the engine was on the plywood. I then raised the car and slid the engine out, over to my small utility trailer and wrestled it up onto the trailer and wheeled into the backyard. I only needed help lifting the engine into my utility building. I planned to re-install the engine by myself too but my dad pretty much insisted on coming over to help. He's never owned a VW so I think he was just really curious about this bizarre little car I was working on. :o)

It really is quite simple. Just be patient. If you get stumped on something, if the engine doesn't seem to want to come loose right away or if it doesn't seem to want to go back in, just take a break and come back to it after a while.

I've put around 2500 miles on mine since I did it and so far it's still running .... so far so good. :o)

Hope some of this inane rambling helps. Good luck.

-- Scott

no i haven't forgotted my first time dropping the vw engine....BUT i did have experience with american iron, so i was amazed at how very little work was involved...I'm still willing to be that anyone that can adjust the valves and change the oil is mechanically able to drop the engine...

------------------- Chris Perdue

*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug" reply take your PANTS off

"Chris Perdue" wrote

How'd I do? :o)

-- Scott

excellent....

------------------- Chris Perdue

*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug" reply take your PANTS off

A flat ratcheting wrench is nice too. I don't remember if it's 17 or

18 mm. A socket wrench won't fit back there, and a flat ratcheting wrench with a slight z angle won't fit either (behind the shroud on a bug). It has to be perfectly flat.

Jim speaks the truth. By far the best thing you can do is have someone there who has done this before. I did my first drop solo, but the car wasn't my primary at the time so it didn't have to be back together that day. But I also did what you are doing, asking lots of questions.

Drain the oil before you start. That way you can lean and tilt the engine every which way and not spill. Sometimes it's nice to lay it over on the flywheel for easy access to the bottom.

I generally use 4x4 wooden blocks to rest the engine on, two blocks stacked under each heater box. Something like this:

http://63.230.74.177/enginestand/MVC-037F.JPG Moving the engine around can also be done with the floor jack itself. Just keep it ballanced with one hand and pull it where you need it with the other. Having a helper at this point is handy. Specially for lifting the engine off the jack.

http://63.230.74.177/ghia/MVC-0270.JPGhttp://63.230.74.177/ghia/MVC-0271.JPG I have a piece of 2x4 that goes between the jack and the sump-plate. At this point that chuck of wood has the right dents to lock into the jack so it doesn't slide around. And the sump plate doesn't get all scratched up.

Hate to say, but I warned you. I have not heard anything good about that place.

--Dan E

Who was that guy that cut a hole in the deck, with a removeable cover, and had a bar or something across above the engine compartment and used the little chain hoist or come-along?