Post by Volktales on Oct 18, 2014 11:26:04 GMT -8
Look at all that rain! (Our Cruise In was cancelled because of Monsoon rains...)
Ok since the show is cancelled, I decided it was time to do a little mechanical work to the Ghia. I have never really been happy with the way it runs. Although having lots of power, the idle has always been erratic and the fuel economy is poor. The oil turns black too quickly too. This engine was in the car when I bought it and I know it was last installed in a very ugly modified 1968 Beetle that used to sit outside at Bavarians old location for some time. (It was a cream coloured bug with red, orange, and yellow stripy graphics, 8-spokes, and wide fibreglass fenders with square lights and Vega taillights!). Anyway that VW was eventually scrapped but the motor was saved and installed into the Ghia for the previous owner. The engine is believed to actually be a 1776 but this has not been confirmed and previously ran dual carbs according to the ex owner of the Beetle. Currently the car runs a single carb on the original stock dual port manifold. It also used a 009 distributor and I rebuilt a single vacuum advance dist. with electronic conversion for it earlier. As the carb has various issues I decided to fit a better one that I found in the shed. I cleaned it out and was ready to install it but things didn't go to plan....
Here is the very dull looking motor as it is. Looks innocent doesn't it?
The first problem appeared once the original carb was removed. The replacement Solex 34 Pict 3 did not fit on the manifold! I always thought that all dual port intake manifolds came stock with a 34 Pict 3 carb. This one however had a smaller bore size and this would explain why it had a non-original Brosel carb. Although it looks like a replacement 34 Pict 3 it is in fact a smaller H30/31 Pict model. So the only explanation is that my dual port manifold started life in a European spec 1300 dual port or possibly a 70's era Canadian spec Custom model. The 70's era Canadian Customs were different specs to USA cars and featured swing axle transmissions and I believe 1300 dual ports by that time (might be wrong about this). Anyway it looks like I will have to install the correct manifold to use the correct carb. Fortunately these parts where found in the shed too. It pays to be a packrat afterall.... If I am going through all that trouble I will also install the alternator that I have had sitting around for a while. This entails a different angled fuel pump (which was already there anyway) and modified accelerator pump linkage on the carb. Alternator equipped engines had carbs that featured different linkages and I found one of those in the shed too. There are other differences too which I discovered later...
The left carb has a smaller hole in the throttle plate then the centre carb which is the one I wanted to use. The Samba provided an explanation for this. The smaller hole is used in carbs that originally had a single vacuum advance distributor. The larger hole is for carbs used with dual vacuum advance/retard distributors. So the carb I want to use has the wrong size hole in the throttle disc and these can't be swapped easily as the retaining screws are peened.... The left carb has worn out throttle bushings too... Methinks this will require more effort now. Note how much smaller the venture size in the right carb that was installed on this engine. Incidentally the dual advance/retard distributors were made for emission control and lack in performance and are not well liked... To be continued....
Ok I swapped the necessary parts over to convert carb to alternator specs. The accelerator pump linkage is different and swapping this was easy. I elected to swap the throttle discs and the screws came out without drama. Putting them back in wasn't as fun but got there eventually with locktite. I didn't want to use the grungy carb on the left as the throttle spindle bushings were worn out. The centre carb had no wear so this is why I swapped parts instead. I used a different carb top assembly too after stripping the threads on the choke shaft while attempting to install a shiny fast idle cam... The reason for swapping all these carb parts is to allow engine to perform better, allow carb linkage to clear alternator housing properly, and for aesthetic reasons. In good news I discovered that the pedestal mount under the existing generator is actually the alternator style so I wont have to replace it. In bad news the alternator that I have is the older style external regulator type that VW used for only about a year. To use this alternator I will have to locate the appropriate regulator. CIP sells them but they are a) expensive, and b) made who knows where even though their ads claim Bosch. I have been burned too many times to trust their ads! I have more than one alternator to choose from; I do have one later style internal regulated Brazilian Bosch. All currently available alternators are Chinese copies of this model. Frank will tell you how good they are.... The internal regulated ones are simpler to wire up however... My version is quite crusty looking while the older external regulated version is German and will shine up like new. Hmmmmm..... Anyone have one of these external regulators kicking around. Were stock on some 1973-74 Beetles depending on production date, and were found under the back seat on the left side.... To make things even more difficult, some VW's used Motorala brand alternators too, and these use different regulators as well...
So I started to remove some more parts and look what happened....
The nice thing about Ghias is lots of working room in the engine compartment. All the cooling tin has been removed and will be cleaned and painted or replaced as required. Note that the oil cooler sealing foam has all deteriorated. This will be replaced. Also found out that the generator installed on the engine had the wrong cooling fan, meant for a non-offset (not "doghouse") fan shroud. I needed the wider style and luckily it was still attached to one of the spare alternators. Making more work for myself I want to repaint the engine compartment as the flat black looks awful.
Look at all this stuff to clean and paint! Because I went this far I want to replace the missing mechanism for the thermostat/air deflector systems. Yes the snowball effect has started...
Ok since it has now turned into a project, here is a new thread name....
It took awhile but I finally got the crusty alternator apart. The stator (the large ring with wires looped through it) was reluctant to give up its grip on the housing.
The small black rectangular thing on the left is the internal voltage regulator. The shiny round thing inside the stator assembly is the rectifier which contains diodes and converts the AC into usable DC. The long shaft to the left holds the bearings as well as the rotor assembly. The black thing in the centre of the picture is the brush set. The crusty housings are now ready to be cleaned using tiny glass beads in a machine called a blasting cabinet. I was looking forward to reassembling this right away but ran into an issue with my daily driver...
The next picture shows what you will find inside the distributor of a 1990's CIVIC! The ball bearing in the distributor is failing which causes a fine red dust to form under the distributor cap. As it is rust dust, it is conductive, especially when moisture is present under the cap. The result is misfires when taking off from stop. Anyway I ripped the distributor apart which took a while. Inside are three different magnetic sensors, as well as the ignition coil and module! Seven wires go to the distributor housing, instead of only one on your old VW! Anyway the new bearing was easy to locate and cost only $6. Once I opened the package I could see why as it was made in CHINA!. And of course due to sloppy manufacturing, it would not fit on the distributor shaft due to incorrect tolerances. China has given us many wonderful things, but car parts are NOT one of them!!!
Ok, haven't updated for awhile but here we go... The Honda distributor rebuild worked out once the right bearing was found (third attempt was the charm). Finally got back onto the alternator rebuild... Kid's hockey takes up ALOT of time!!! Oh well we all have to make sacrifices don't we.... Also making my wife's FJ just right is eating into Ghia fun too. Anyway the alternator is now completed and here it is...
To get the finish I wanted, all parts shown were bead blasted. This procedure cleans well but leaves a very dull finish. I then went over the alloy castings with one of those soapy SOS pot scrubber pads and lots of water. This gives a slight metallic sheen to the part which looks much better. The grungy fan was also carefully blasted and painted too. Try to spray the paint evenly to avoid balancing issues. It is very important to torque the big 36 mm nut holding the fan on to the correct setting (40-47 lbs/ft). You don't want that sucker coming off! Next up, painting the rest of the cooling shrouding.
A weird situation has developed with the Ghia... The motor is now out on the bench, the case has been cleaned, the exhaust removed, and it was time to pop off a head and see once and for all what size this motor is. A previous owner stated it was not a stock 1600, but could not remember what size. I knew by the performance, it was unlikely stock as well. The first thing I did was check the stroke by sticking a screwdriver in the plug hole and measure the distance between top dead centre and bottom dead centre. This indicated a stock 69 mm stoke crank. Next the valve cover was removed revealing swivel feet adjusters and rocker shaft assembly with spacers underneath and non-original pushrods. The head came off easily to reveal large 92mm pistons. This means I actually have an 1835cc motor. This is contained within a VW Mexican AS41 universal case with nicely cast VW of Brazil heads. Haven't gone deeper yet but I guess now I have to, to see what else has been done. Don't want to split the case and probably won't. Need to see what cam is in there... Most people would probably be very happy to discover their 1600 was an 1835 but this does kind of screw up my carb/distributor choice I was going to use... This will require some more research as I am well known to be the stock guy... And before you ask, no I do not want to sell it or trade it strait across for another 1600... At least now I know why this engine never was happy with a carb better suited for a 1300 and stock exhaust on it... What should I do now??? What carbs are most suitable for this? Exhaust system??? Come on you modified guys, what do you think??? Incidentally this engine was built by GEX a long time ago... Wonder if they had a standard set of components for an engine of this size?
Well the excitement of having a bigger engine is short lived. I checked out the Samba for information on the GEX 1835 and wasn't impressed with what I found out... I have heard of GEX, they have been rebuilding VW engines for decades. Unfortunately almost all of the feedback has been extremely negative with stories of extremely poor quality with pictures to prove it. Apparently long ago they were not too bad; but I don't know exactly when this motor was built. I will have to do a full teardown to ease any fears though.... Might build up a basic 1600 in the mean time... Bummer...
It is very sad, isn't it? Ok now for an update... I couldn't leave this motor together given GEX's reputation. So today it all came apart and guess what I found. Absolutely nothing! Almost no wear of any kind, the rod bearings are standard, the centre bearing is also standard (the only one checked yet), the rods had been rebuilt, everything that should have been done appeared to be correct. GEX's current advertisements give a listing of what these engines contained. This includes steel pushrods, swivel feet adjusters, 30 mm oil pump, 39 mm intakes, 32 exhausts, "110" cam, 8 dowel crank, 92 mm machine in barrels, "cima" pistons although it doesn't say anything on them. All these parts are present and seem unworn. The case and head modifications seem ok, without cracks. Even the complete clutch assembly was new too. The only damage was slight scuffing on number three piston, and a couple of slight doinks in the rod cap surface for some unknown reason. Anyway I will put new rings and bearings in it and reassemble. Then a new exhaust (thinking Vintage Speed) and I guess there is some dual carbs in my future after all. Going to do some more research on this to see which carbs are best sized for this displacement and camshaft.... Oh I didn't take a pretty picture because greasy engine parts everywhere on the bench ain't that pretty.
Ok time for a rant. I have been involved with VW's long before I was even old enough to drive. I have built many projects over the years and many engines. At one time if you wanted quality parts, you looked for German brands and you knew the quality would be fine. Not any more.... As many of you know I am rebuilding the engine in my Ghia. As I don't normally do modified engines, I have been reading up on various related topics on the Samba. I also know I will need to get some basic stuff like new rod, main, and cam bearings. At one time you would just order up some Kolbensmicht or Mahle bearings and everything would be great. Not any more.... These companies still have German names but have been made in Brazil for some time. Guess what ? Apparently Mahle is now outsourcing to China. And the quality has gone down the toilet and there are pictures on the Samba to prove. Both Mahle and Kolbensmicht have decided that it is no longer necessary to use a steel backing in some of their bearings either! I guess they now know something that VW didn't ... Anyway it is becoming much harder to build a quality engine with good parts anymore... And don't get me started on the German company Meyhle which happily repackages Chinese made garbage... And really don't get me started on the Vancouver based company that happily sells all this CRAP!!!!
Ok now that Christmas is over, and so is my kid's hockey tournament, it is back to the Ghia!
All the parts came in before Christmas, so it was time to get back at it. First problem was cleaning the case. It still had lots of silver paint stuck to it, some of it sprayed directly over corrosion and ingrained dirt (thanks GEX). Paint remover seemed to reanimate the paint instead of removing it, so little came off. Thought about only detailing the parts of the case that shows once fully assembled, but just could not get the desired finish. SO I did something you should not do and should remove from your mind after you see the photos...
Here is the case being prepped for the blasting cabinet! Yes you read that right and this method is not recommended for one very important reason::: If the blasting media gets into the oil galleries, how will you clean it out?? It is possible to remove the various plugs that seal the oil passageways, and then you can clean them out afterwards. This is not as easy as it sounds due to the plugs not being threaded, and some of the galleries design makes tapping threads into the holes difficult. So I chose option B and did this...
All galleries where carefully plugged with twisted up shop towels. Then these were silicone over top, as well as the bearing surfaces. Bolts and washers sealed with silicone where inserted into the lifter bores, all threaded holes were plugged with bolts, silicone was used to plug up any spots where blasting media might tend to collect. The drain area for the lifter galleries was plugged tightly with shop towel, and covered with very sticky duct tape. And all this was obviously done to a bone dry case containing no oil residue. The actual blasting procedure was done carefully, avoiding the inner surfaces. The case was then thoroughly rinsed with water. Once complete, the silicone was carefully removed and this took some time. A final cleaning and blowing through of the galleries with compressed air while under water in the sink will mean that this case is ready for reassembly...
Ok, time for some more pictures...
The first thing to do was too install the cam bearings and see how the cam fit in the case. In one half of the case, the cam fit nicely with a little bit of endplay like it should. In the other half of the case it was not to be... The cam would not fit nicely into the saddles without pushing fairly hard (it should just drop in), and there was no end play. The solution involves some flat glass, valve grinding compound, and patience...
It was determined that the cause of the situation was the bearing itself. This set is a double thrust set, and the bearing shown in the picture is in fact one of two thrust bearings. The solution was to put some valve grinding compound on a broken bus mirror, and carefully work the bearing thrust face on it. This did not take long at all, and soon the cam fit in nicely with adequate endplay. That can of valve grinding compound is my Dad's, and he remembers buying it in the 1950's!
Next up was checking the endplay of the distributor drive assembly in the case. This is something I hadn't checked before, but thought I should on a GEX rebuild... Needed to add another shim washer to get it within spec (3 instead of 2). As Don pointed out, this will have some effect on the fuel pressure as raising the drive will increase the pressure slightly.. Note the alignment pins are in place for the main bearings. Don't do what I did, and pick up the case to move it out of the way and drop said alignment pins all over the floor...
Next up is to install the main bearing onto the crank. In this picture, the crank is attached to the flywheel which makes a nice stand on the bench... Note that hole for the bearing alignment pin faces down...
Mmmm, cooking the gear.. The crank gear is next to go on and must be heated. How do you know when it is hot enough? The scientific method I was taught to use is put some spit on your finger, and quickly touch it to the gear. If it evaporates immediately, you are good to go. Put on a glove and place the gear on the crank. If the temp was correct, it will slide on under gravity. Do have a hammer and something to help tap it on if necessary on standby however....
Slide on the spacer, the distributor drive gear (it heats up fast!), snap-ring, other bearing with locater hole down, oil slinger, and do NOT forget to install woodruff key in end of crank. This must be installed before crankcase is bolted together as it won't be possible to do it later. Ask me how I know that from the past...
More to come...
Next up is to install the rods on the crankshaft. I decided to check the rod bearing clearance with Plastigauge. For those not familiar with this product, it is basically a plastic thread that you lay across a bearing and you install and torque it properly without any oil (you do NOT turn the rod on the bearing). You then take the rod back off again and check how much the plastic thread has "squished".
You then compare it to the packaging the Plastigauge comes with and this will tell you what your clearance is. In this case it is 0.002 of an inch which is acceptable (range is 0.001-0.003"). Clean off the Plastigauge and put assembly lube on the rod bearing surfaces and install the rods on the crank...
The crank is shown lying on the bench now to show how the rods must be oriented to install correctly. See those little rectangular marks in the centre of each rod? They must face up with the rods in their correct cylinder direction (i.e. #3 to the top left, #1 to the top right, #4 to the bottom left, #2 to the bottom right. Don't get this wrong as the rods are offset. (Type IV's don't have this design).
And here the crank is set into the case, followed by the cam with the timing marks aligned. The lifters have been installed in the lower case half, you can see the holding tools for the lifters in the upper case half. It is very easy to forget to install the lifters by the way... Type IV owners don't need to worry, because the lifters can be installed from outside the case. I seem to have forgot to take a picture of the crank being set into the case. It is very important to make sure the locater pins in the case engage correctly with the locater holes in the main bearings. There is an easy trick to do this, but I will explain it later with some different pictures... Also once the crank is sitting correctly on its bearings in the case half, it should spin easily. Place the camshaft in its bearings and rotate the crank. The cam should easily spin WITHOUT trying to rise up out of the bearings. If it does you have a problem with camshaft backlash which basically means the cam gear is too big. For an interesting write-up on this, go to the GoWesty website... My cam had slight backlash so was fine and the case was torqued up in the correct sequence. Everything still turned well, so that is GOOD.
Next up was to set the crankshaft endplay and for this I needed my dial indicator. Unfortunately it was loaned out to someone who has failed to return it, so I had to borrow one from a good hot-rod friend. (and yes I do associate with Hot-rod people!). Originally this engine only had two endplay shims instead of the usual three. Some builders say this is fine, others do not. (lots of Samba comments on this topic). I did some measurements and determined that if I had three of the thinnest available shims, then it should work. Luckily I found three at work and was able to set the endplay to 0.003".
The distributor, fuel pump, and generator stand are installed, next up the oil cooler and pump. Then it is time to clean up the heads....
So started to clean the heads properly and removed the sparkplugs. And what do I find??? Cracks in the threaded area! Spent most of the night crying but took them to the machine shop the next day. They said it is no problem and recommend installing some decent plug thread inserts. The cracks are very small and go towards the intake valve, not the exhaust. They claim to have repaired many like this without failure. Time will tell...
Received the heads back from the machine shop... I had them install the sparkplug inserts and am not all that impressed... We install a similar insert to repair stripped out engine oil drain plugs (usually in Vanagons). The tricky part is getting the insert to seat level with the oversize hole you drilled and threaded. This is why I let the "professionals" handle this. The result was two of the inserts were flush, one was too shallow, one was too deep. Then I looked at the valves they refaced the stems for me. Only 7 of "my" valves came back. The 8th was a well worn example... Obviously they damaged my valve and substituted an inferior replacement. Normally exhaust valves are replaced during a rebuild, but my engine had limited use, so I was OK with reusing them. I certainly will not use a replacement with obviously a lot of miles on it. So now new exhaust valves are in my future... The worst thing about this situation is I know this Machine shop will not admit fault because we have seen them do this before. So it is all on me....
As many of you know, Don recently went to the US and visited Northwest Connecting Rod, well known VW machine shop. He brought a new exhaust valve back with him for my engine, so the build continues... Before reinstalling the valves, I lapped them into the non-pitted seats hoping that all would be well... Of course this was not the case with this project...
Look closely at the darker patch on the valve seat nearest the smaller exhaust port. This indicates the lapping was not successful and the seat will have to be resurfaced. Normally this would require another trip to the machine shop, but I borrowed a secret weapon for this...
This is a shop tool, so old that it was once owned by Franz, the original owner of Bavarian Motors back in the day. This is the NEWAY brand valve seat reconditioning tool. It is part of a larger kit and recuts the seat surface by hand! I remember watching Franz use this very tool when he recut the seats in my '70 Beetle about 25 years ago... Here is how it works...
First the pilot is inserted into the valve guide and locked in place. The use of this tool requires the valve guides to be in good condition or it won't locate very well...
Next the cutter head is slipped down over the pilot shaft. The cutter head features three very hard adjustable bits. This cutter head is 45 degrees and matches the valve seat face. The "T" handle is attached on top and you turn it in a clockwise direction with light pressure. It is amazing how quickly this tool works.
And here is the result. The seat is now even and makes full contact with the valve.
Although not shown, the kit has other cutter heads at different angles (30 and 75 degrees), which are used to change the thickness of the contact patch on the seat surface. This is were you hear the term "3 angle valve job". After this was done, the valves where re-lapped and the pattern rechecked. The suction stick tool hasn't really changed... Ever!
Now to reinstall the valves at last...
Here is the valve, the spring, retainer, and collets ready to be reinstalled. Note the spring coils are not even. The closer spaced coils go against the head once installed. Also you can see the pattern on the valve formed by the lapping compound.
First the valve is oiled on it's stem, and I like to put some on the face to prevent any corrosion before the engine is put in service. The valve is pushed in the guide and this is the stem sticking out.
Next the valve spring compressor tool is installed as shown. One end where the threads are rests against the valve head. The other "forked" end of the tool goes over the valve spring retainer.
Here is the tool in place, ready for the collets to be installed
And here are the greased up collets set in place before the tool is released. The grease holds the collets in place before the tool is released. Otherwise it would be near impossible to do this job. Release the tool, and you are now done. (sounds kind of dirty, don't it!)
As usual, things are moving slower than I hoped. Thought I was ready to install the pistons, BUT one of my new Hastings American made piston rings was faulty! The edge of the oil control rail was damaged and I had to wait for yet some more parts to be sent... The painting has been progressing nicely however....
My makeshift paint drying area. Naomi seems to approve... I have been using spray cans for this project. The finish is looking good but several coats are required. This kind of paint needs to cure for three days if you intend on adding another coat. Wished I had read that earlier....
Here are the components laid out, clean and ready to reinstall. That tool in the bottom right is a piston ring expander/installer tool. Hopefully those EMPI stainless steel pushrod tubes will work ok...
And finally here we have one pair of cylinders installed. I used UltraBlack silicone to seal the barrels to the case (there were two steel barrel shims under each one). Note that the black cooling deflector tin has been installed as well. Do NOT forget this as overheating WILL happen if you forget to install it and if you have already installed the head and pushrod tubes then it is too late! Interestingly when I tore down the engine in my old French bus, a previous builder put this cooling tin on TOP of the cylinders!!! DUH!!!
And some more photos from today...
The piston with rings installed, ready to have rings compressed to install in the waiting cylinder.
The piston ring compressor tool is installed. The rings gaps have already been set to the right position. When using this tool you must make sure the "split" in the tool is not next to a gap in the ring. The ratchet mechanism on the tool holds it compressed, but only if the tool is near new. Otherwise you have to hold some tension on the "L" key for the next step...
The piston is then placed on the bottom of the cylinder like so. You install it from the bottom, because the cylinder has a taper at the bottom to help ease the compressed rings in. What you do is CAREFULLY tap the bottom of the piston with the wood handle of a hammer. If you have the rings compressed tightly enough to enter the bore, then the piston should slide in relatively easy.
And here is what you want to see. Only put the piston in deep enough to cover the rings, but leave the wrist pin hole exposed. Note that the piston/rings/cylinder where all well oiled before installation. The wrist pin is slid in part way. It is hard to see but the wrist pin retainer circlip has already been installed in the opposite hole. This part of the job requires some thinking about which way you wand to install the pin from. And you did install the pistons so the arrow on the head points at the flywheel, didn't you???
And here we go. Second head is on, deflector is installed, new pushrod tubes are in. The hard stuff is done, on to finishing the cooling tin...
This project has been more involved for me as normally I do not build modified motors. When you do you have to consider what your compression ratio will be and calculate that as well as checking overall valve lift and geometry. I did NOT get carried away with this on this engine as it was running like this before and was not overheating or detonating/pinging on regular gas. Otherwise if I had never seen this engine previously run, then things would have been even more complicated... I was not impressed with aspects of assembly. Some previous builder overtightened various fasteners including the head studs. Had fun with some of the case savers too. What really irritated me was the fit of the cylinder barrels to the case. In stock applications they just push right in without resistance. My larger barrels meant the case was machined oversize to take the barrels. They were very tight coming out, and required a lot of careful tapping with a hammer on wood blocks to seat them back in the case. Have any of you performance builders had this problem??? Sure hope I don't have any issues with leaks from the barrel sealing...
Ok, a little bit of an update....
This is the stage the engine is at now. The cooling tin is all done, missing thermostat/linkage etc, has been replaced. The good fan shroud, (thanks Reagh), has been modified slightly by having the ugly spigot for the charcoal canister removed. The doghouse cooler has been sealed up with weather stripping from RONA, (thanks Frank), and worked out well. This has got to be an improvement because the former foam seal had all rotted away and disappeared, and the cooling fan was formerly the wrong type (too narrow!). The alternator has been installed in place of the crusty generator too. The Kadron linkage has been cleaned and installed, the carb kits have arrived and that is the next project. The left carb will be converted to operate the single vacuum advance distributor too. The dual Kadrons have some wear in the throttle bushings (their most common fault), but I will put up with it for now. The Kaddieshack can install proper bushings so this doesn't happen and I may do that in the future. Incidentally having rebuilt a set of Webbers, and now these Kadrons, you can see why everyone raves about Webber quality. The Webbers feature throttle shafts that rotate on tiny ball bearings, unlike the "no bushing" Kadrons. The Webbers modular design allows much greater tuning ability too. BUT they are damn expensive and are well known to be harder to set up at first. The much simpler Kadrons will be just fine for me... Plus if you squint a bit, the Kadrons remind me of the Okrasa kits from the past....
Also as part of this project is repainting of the engine compartment. RONA provided some paint stripper that worked just fine, and the old paint came off quickly. Found some interesting things under it however... I am pretty sure that even Karmann Ghias didn't use brazing to put panels together. This car has had the right rear quarter panel replaced decades ago and that is some old school body work there. There was a small rust spot under the battery but someone in the past has "repaired" it by putting a metal patch over the hole and sealing it up with seam sealer. They actually did a nice job so this will stay for now. Someday when the car gets the full resto it deserves, it will be repaired properly. I stuck my head down into the cavities on either side of the compartment to see what was in the bottom of the back fenders. Lots of dirt in one side. The other contained PILES of dead wood bugs. Gross! I was toying with the idea of painting the compartment Ruby red ( the cars original colour), but agreed that would probably look weird as it will be sometime before the outside paint is restored.
This is an unrelated picture, but a customer gave me this original hubcap today. It was once on a 1959 Beetle! You just know I have a home for that....
Ok we are now in the wonderful world of carburetor fiddling...
This picture shows one of the carburetor main bodies. See that small brass plug on the right? We need to remove it to uncover the factory vacuum advance port that is lurking under there.
The first step is too drill a small hole all the way through the plug only. Use a nice sharp bit and go slow. There is clearance beneath the plug before hitting the carb body.
I next put three nuts on top of the plug, then threaded a screw into the drilled hole in the plug. Didn't have to go too far. The nuts only purpose is to allow a point to pry against. A pair of cutters was used to pry the screw up from the stack of nuts. This popped the plug out of the hole immediately without damage.
And here is the plug removed with the screw still attached...
I forgot to take a pictures showing the brass tubes I put into the holes. I simply swiped them from a couple of long dead 34 PICT3's. Heating the alloy bodies allowed the tubes to come out easily...
Now here is the next part of the conversion. This is the throttle plate assembly upside down. See that hole towards the top left? We need to plug it in order to have the correct vacuum signal to operate the vacuum advance distributor.
See the second hole below the one we want to plug? This hole is exposed once the throttle plate is open slightly. We do NOT want to plug this hole. So how do we do it???
After thinking about it for a bit, I stuffed drill bits into the hole in which the tiny holes are connected. Then stuck some electrical tape in there to avoid a mess, then filled that tiny hole with JB Weld. The drill bit was slightly greased so it would come out easily after. And it was successful too. As an aside, that line in the throttle bore (see previous two pictures) was made by the throttle plate slamming around backwards, likely from a giant backfire!
The whole purpose of this conversion is to allow the use of a distributor with vacuum capabilities. This is commonly known as a SVDA or single vacuum diaphragm advance type distributor. For eons it seems it was commonly accepted that with dual carb conversions, you threw away your original distributor and stuffed in the 009 mechanical advance distributor. This was really the only option then as most aftermarket duals had no vacuum ports to connect to the distributor. "Common knowledge" was the 009 was "high performance". In reality it only works OK at best for those who drive at high revs as much as possible. The SVDA's provide additional advance under light loads and gets rid of the well known 009 flat spot. This is also why these days 009's are NOT recommended with stock carbs. Funny how beliefs change over time.... Anyway the above shown mods allow an SVDA to work with the Kadrons. The success of this mod is dependent on how much vacuum the engine actually will produce, because it needs a specific amount to operate the vacuum can in the distributor... Others have done this with great success. Hopefully will work out here...
These carbs came with the advance port plugged off. What we have done here is give it the capability to work. If it turns out the engine doesn't produce enough vacuum, then all you have to do is put a rubber plug over the brass tube that was installed in the port. The JB weld plugged hole was not in use anyway before, so it can remain plugged. Nothing else needs to be changed.
Ok here is another update...
Just about done the engine. Still have to install the steel fuel line to the pump (forgot to order it), and bolt the muffler on permanently (forgot the heater box to muffler clamp kits). It is odd that Vintage speed supplied all other necessary gaskets, but not these... I am worried will the engine be able to installed into the car with muffler attached... It sure looks bigger sitting there... Also I intend to start the engine and check to make sure everything is OK before installing it in the car. This thing was very tight coming out... And for Frank, no I did not check the compression ratio. This was because I did drive the car a lot with this engine installed before and it did not suffer overheating or any sign of pinging/detonation on regular fuel. If I was building a modified engine from scratch like you I would have checked a lot more things...
Finally got around to painting the engine compartment...
Did a light sanding, masked off the seams and applied the brush-on seam sealer. Used a bit of solvent on the finger to smooth it off a bit. Also spent a lot of time trying to straighten out the channel that holds the engine seal in place.
Now after masking the rest of the compartment, I then applied the etch primer. This is designed to go over bare metal and bond to it well. This was a rattle can from Lordco. I let it sit overnight and in the morning it was time for final paint...
And there it is. This was also a rattle can but this time it came from Rondex in Nanaimo. This is L87 Pearl White and they will mix it for you and load it into the can. This is real automotive paint and sprays and flows well and dries very glossy. It also smells like real automotive paint and I had to leave the room and the windows open after!
More of a close-up. Next job is to clean and repair latch, clean up sound deadening material, install new engine compartment seals...
This is now the next phase of the project... My intention was to reseal the leaking original transmission. Although it shifts well and is quiet, it is the nastiest looking grungy transmission I have ever seen under any VW!!! Then I remembered I am in possession of a much newer transmission...
This is a 1972 Beetle trans that is somewhat of a rarity. It is from a Canadian Custom model and is a swingaxle type. There are many people out there who swear they did not exist in this market but that is definitely not true. I will be swapping over the axle assemblies and brakes etc. Note sure about the compatibility of the front mount, but we will see. This trans is believed to be in decent shape, and it basically was free and free is good, right???
Finding any information on the Canadian Custom models is difficult. I have two different sales brochures and an owners manual for the 1970 model year. In 1970 you could buy a 1600 single port Deluxe Beetle, (and most did). Also available was the 1200 Custom model which as you might guess came with the old 1200 cc engine. They did exist and I have seen one of these before. My literature indicates the 1200 Custom came with swing-axle transmissions too. My bosses are sure that from 1971, only 1600s were available in any Beetle model including the SuperBeetle (113) or the "regular beetle" (111). My 1973 model year owner's manual does not mention anything about swing-axles or any other engine size available. Maybe 1972 was the last year for the late model swing-axle in Canada??? At any rate, if the transmission I have was originally intended for a 1600, (which I am sure it was), then the final drive gearing would be better suited for a larger engine than the original 1964 Ghia transmission...
Ok I have not updated this for a while as simply I haven't done much too it. Lots of other more fun things to do in the summer then grovelling around under the car. And the hot weather has not been very conducive to do more greasy work after spending 8 hours in the shop earlier... Anyway enough excuses...
The poor old Ghia was dragged out of the basement workshop and deposited into the garage. Work will continue after the summer is over because I have two other projects that must be done first. I have two outstanding IOU's to two different people, and will now concentrate on them....