Cracking stuff LT! :beer:

BTW, vinegar is absolutely excellent for getting rust of things. Nut, bolts or whatever, just soak them in vinegar for a few days, the rust will turn to sludge and they come out clean as a whistle.

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Remember the lovely fuel pump that I rebuilt…?





If you remember back, I misjudged the spacer block depth when I pre-loaded the pump diaphragm by between 0.5 – 1.0mm, which on the grand scale of things is splitting hairs.
However, this has turned out for the best, as I remember thinking when I remounted it for the first time that the pump body was warped a little and although the gaskets would probably sort this out, I was conscious that pretty much all pump leaks are caused by cracked mounting blocks or warped bodies.

So, as it was now time to fit the fuel pump again, I decided now was a good time to kill two birds with one stone and re-face the pump body which in turn will make the pump pre-load dimension just about perfect.

This picture shows the extent of the bend in the mating face of the body,





As with the oil pump cover had housing, down came the mirror and out came the assorted wet n’ dry paper.







I started with 180 grit to cut through the majority of the ‘meat’. Here you can see it cutting into the ‘deep’ ends.





Then moved up to 320 and 600 grit until it was getting pretty close. You can see the middle section is still uncut.





And then once I’d just about covered the entire perimeter, ground a perfect precision flat finish with 800, 1500 then finally 2,000 grit.





At this point the pump body lay absolutely perfectly flat and I couldn’t get even my thinnest feeler gauge or a ‘wafer thin mint’ under it anywhere which was a big improvement from it rocking back and forth before I started.

I’d mic’d up the thickness of the ends before I started so I could see how much material I’d removed when done and it was 0.8mm, which is perfect.

Because all the components had been cleaned previously, they just needed a quick wipe over before installation. I used some more K2 on both sides of both gaskets after degreasing them, the mount block and the case and pump body to give good adhesion from the sealer.













And finally I was able to mount it. I was terrified of over tightening the bolts and the factory do not give a torque specification other than to say tight, but not over-tight….. great.
I carefully tightened them up bit by bit, side by side until I didn’t dare go any tighter – this turned out to be 10 N/m which isn’t over the top, but it sure squeezed all the sealer out the gap so should do the trick.
It was interesting to note that I had to turn the motor over to allow the plunger to retract into the case enough to allow the bump body all the way home, and even then it is under just a tiny amount of pressure which I guess is to stop the plunger leaving contact with the cam on the dizzy drive and making a tapping noise.

Anyway – one small step for LT….

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Before you go to bed, have you checked that you can get the cylinder tin around the pump.I'm not sure as i put my pump on after the tin.Also did you know to check the pump pushrod length and stroke.It can all be adjusted with more gaskets especially as you have taken .8 of the flange face.I'll post the measurment tomorrow if you are concerened.

Don't do that to me at this time of night....! :lol:

Just had to go out tothe garage, take the pump off again and check.

I can report that the pushrod stroke is 29-34mm - as per the Bentley manual, so that's reassuring!

These are the pics I took when installing the new diaphram and pre loading it to 35mm depression beneath the pump body.

The cream coloured plastic block measured a fraction over 34mm and was as close to 35mm as I could find. I made up the gap with the steel rule. However, as was pointed out at the time, the steel rule was between the body and the jaws of the vice - so it wasn;t actually adding to the depth.

Now I have removed about the same thickness as the rule from the pump body, it should all work out perfectly.

Any difference will be so tiny, it'll be down to measuring how it runs in practice.

Now.... I'm off to bed!

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This is one of the best and most informative threads ever.

Good work LT, the engine looks really good, first run not long off now eh?

Either your wife has left you or she is very understanding.Either way i envy you.
Tappet screws are M8x1mm on all but late model type 4s so dont see why you cant use later ones.I cant see the length being much different either .I will check when i wake up.(i am a night worker).
When i first saw what you were doing i thought you must be an engineer as that kind of detail is drilled into you as an apprentice ,if you dont have it already.I was quite pleased when i saw your Dad is an engineer so was kind of half right.Here is a link to my favourite cartoon and says it all when it comes to being an engineer.



Mike

I wish....

I've bought some original 1 piece axle gaiters which require the removal of the axles to fit...

...and the thing with the gearbox is that it's quite dirty....


:lol:

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Im pleased you are going to look at the gearbox, good to get everything in the drive train looked at, especially the gearbox breather(think its got one) more importantly the rear bearings, seals and backplate breather on each side so it doesn't blow the wheel seal.

Have you given the starter motor the treatment?

Continues to be an incredibly interesting thread - quick question, is the oven cleaner safe to use of cast parts? Does anyone the chemical composition / what agents are actually doing the cleaning?

I am really enjoying this thread and have now read it through from the beginning , I do love the tip about using mr Muscle ...Loves the jobs we all Hate :lol: . As for using it on cast parts I do know it contains a large percentage of caustic ,You can tell this when you use it on the oven :oops: :wink: . I would test it on a old part first unless other people already have :lol:

Please keep up the good work LT


Kt

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The box is smooth as silk and engages all the gears with ease. The input shaft turns smoothly and freely.

Fort his reason, other than change the oil and inspect as much as I can externally, I have no intention of splitiing the trans at this stage.

I'll just give it a clean up, inspect the bearings ( I have a full set of NOS bearings and seal kits just in case) replace the output shaft seal whilst I'm at it too.

Once the new 1 piece gaiters (same as a Porsche 356 :wink: ) are installed, I'll just put it all back together and hope the bugger runs.

The started motor has cranked first time, every time so far, so will just be cleaned up a touch.

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The pistons are cast and it worked a treat on those... although it did tarnish them a dull grey which needed a buff up afterwards to restore the lustre.

What I would say is not to leave important or valuable stuff soaking in it for a long time - just in case. Nothing I've cleaned has had more than a 10 min bath which is all it has seemed to need.

Please don't copy me - I don't want any reponsibility for disolved NOS 25hp heads or Okrasa cranks! :lol:

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Hi
what did you do to ensure no abrasive debris from the wet and dry paper didn't get tranferred via the grease into the motor, did you wash the pump out?

Anticipating that, I recessed the grease so that it was well below the surface of the flange. I used plenty of water that washed away the fine grey slurry.

The very small amount of debris collected around the very perimeter edge of the mating face stuck to the grease residue like glue. It was very local and was easy to 'spoon out' with a small spatular, which I then replaced with clean fresh grease... Don't worry - I thought of that one!

A little bit more tonight before bed time...

This was what remained of my old exhaust studs - note some of the welded nuts used to get them out!





There is no way on earth that lot is going anywhere near my motor, so with a gesture to the future, I bought a full set of stainless steel stud hardware. The clever thing about these is that they have allen head ends which allow easy installation without the 'double nut' technique.













That's better!!

Thought it might be a good idea to block off all the access points to the motor to prevent any debris (or tools) falling in!





Likewise, it felt great to put a new set of plugs in, correctly gapped of course.





Hopfeully some more tomorrow...

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Great stuff Andy. You're on the home-straight now. The rest is a doddle and shouldn't take you very long to put it all back together.

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The lower tinware is in a right mess and is gonna take some serious cleaning.

Subject to the postman arriving, I'd like to get the pushrods and rockers installed today and set the valve clearances etc.

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News flash....

I've taken the decision to remove the stainless exhaust hardware as I've been 'educated' as to the issues concerning galvanic corrosion, galling and the issues of heat versus stainless versus alluminium - not a good combination.

Fortunately the thread locker acted as a lubricant during assembly, so once I'd cracked them free, they came out without any galling and as they'd only been in a few hours, no galvanic corrosion had begun.

I'm ordering some original VW steel ones. I;m sure they'll do another 53 years....

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Anyone know who sells original 35mm VW exhasut studs with the smooth section 60% along their length?

I've tried all the usual suspects, but people only stock the ones with the thread all the way down the length which is not as per original which is what I'm now shooting for in light of the stainless decision.

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Had the day off work today so was able to make some more progress.

The next area to address was the rocker assemblies. Although I’d already given them an initial bath in the jet fuel, I wanted them ‘cleaner’. I’ve been experimenting with other cleaning products to use as an alternative to the oven cleaner – not for any other reason than to have an alternative in the arsenal.

I boxed everything up and took them to work and whilst the technicians were at lunch, I spent some time on the soft brass wire wheel we have fitted to our bench grinder. This did a great job of getting the carbon and ground in much off, although it did leave them looking a little dull.

When I got home, I tried my next chemical – ‘Wonder Wheels’ alloy wheel cleaner. I can report that it works very well indeed – not as good as the oven cleaner, but not as aggressive so better for use on precision machines surfaces.

It was excellent at cleaning up the rocker nuts, bolts and other hardware.







More results pics in a minute!

If you recall, I was intending to you the original valve adjusting screws as they didn’t look too worn, but on close inspection, a few of them were beyond service…





I couldn’t find anyone selling 25/30hp adjustment screws – all the usual vendors just offered 40hp ‘61> items. Some research however told me that they are in fact the same and the only difference is that the locking nut on the later versions is a 13mm nut rather than a 14mm nut. So I crossed my fingers and ordered a set of later ones which thankfully I can confirm are identical to the early ones.





They were however covered in a dark greasy coating that I didn’t want getting into the motor – so, as per usual….





And the results of all this rocker cleaning?





With some careful lubrication, they went together a treat!







I can’t express how pleased I am with how they turned out – although they owe me about 6 hours in total….!

Remember these from some distant cleaning frenzy of yester-year?





The push rods have to go inside the motor before the rocker assemblies can be mounted.
For those that don’t know, Volkswagen inserted wooden dowels inside the early pushrods to control oil flow and you can hear them rattling around if you shake them when they are clear of oil.
However, a couple of them had become a little lodged down one end, and when I blew down the pushrod hole, it was clear that there was a restriction as the air passed through much slower than the others.

To cure this, I squirted brake cleaner down through the hole then shook the heck out of the tube until the dowel came free which cured the problem and released the restriction.





Naturally, before installation, I filled them with oil to give things a head start when it first fires up.





And covered the ends in assembly lube to help the cam.





Thanks to the careful set up of the cam follower guide plate inside the block before I put it together, the followers slid home perfectly with satisfying precision.





The 14mm mounting bolts are torqued to 14 ft/lbs.
Doesn’t the second picture look fantastic?







Next up is to set the valve clearances to 0.004”. The mini ratchet ring spanner made this a nice job to do, although in true LT style, I obsessed about this for ages to get them perfect, even knowing I’ll be doing them again when the motor has run a little. Oh well…





At this point it is worth mentioning that the ideal set up for the adjustment screw to valve stem relationship is to have them off set a little. This eccentricity ensures the valve turns during operation to keep an even mating surface at the valve seat.





Next up was to mount the crank pulley – and I was sure not to forget the pulley tin that must be mounted first!!!

I soon discovered that the tinware screws were not exactly clean… but fear not – they are now sparkling!





The front pulley tinware was also a mess, but came up well after a jet fuel bath and scrub.











To remove the corrosion deep within the pulley groove, I gave it a gentle brush out with this handy drill attachment.





The pulley came up nice and clean too.





Note the screw thread on the inner shaft that is designed to return oil to the crankcase. Nice design.





Making sure the wave washer is not forgotten, I torqued up the nut to 85ft /lbs using the flywheel lock tool that I must say is most splendid!







Last job before I called it a day was to fit the oil cooler. This was already clean from a few days ago, so it was just a case of fitting the new seals which fit snugly into the recess’ in the top of the case.







Leaving me with something looking an awful lot like a 30hp motor!





Getting there slowly.

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Hi
try a porsche main dealer for your stud needs as 911/356 exhaust studs come through with a solid middle section and should be fine on length, you could try Roger bray even.