Headflow Masters Turnkey Engine

[Bleyseng]

Another method is to put it in neutral,
hook up a remote starter setup (from HF)
disconnect the + lead to the coil
look at number one cylinder while hitting the button so the starter rotates the engine and follow the pattern of valve movement until #1 (intake) valve opens then closes.
Check (that) the fan (pulley) notch..... lines up with scale TDC "0"

Sheesh....this isn't Rocket science at SpaceX
(edited-edit)
(I did this post on my iphone riding on the tram so thanks for clarifying)

[SlowLane]

Do I have to write, "your car will develop so much momentum in three inches that it will climb over your chest and asphyxiate you"?
Seriously?? Try to get a grip on the Laws of Physics so you don't catch yourself becoming the same sort of hysterical idiot who saddled me with "notes", "cautions", and "warnings" on every single page and choked my manuscript to death at Bentley Publishers .

You don't "have to" write anything you don't wish to, but please consider the wider audience beyond just the Miz.

I'll not apologize for having a more-cautious-than average mindset. It may make me seem pedantic, pompous and an outright drag-you-down, stick-in-the-mud bore. But it doesn't make me an idiot, nor hysterical. And I guarantee that my grasp of physics is better than average.

I happen to work for an employer with an exceedingly strong safety culture. They encourage and insist that their employees take seriously the question which the Top Gear buffoons ask in jest: "What could possibly go wrong?" Considering the exotic materials and high-value equipment that this organization handles and manages in your nation's interest, its relenting focus on safety is A Very Good Thing. Anyone who comes in with a "git er' done" ethos either learns to slow down and adapt or is soon seeking employment elsewhere.

I will and do apologise for the flippant, inflammatory and disrespectful tone of my post. It is one which would have been more appropriate on the Samba. It was the sort of post that drove me away from participating in the Samba in the first place and doesn't belong here. Considering the pressure you must have been under after your marathon battery-tray wrestling match, you showed great restraint in not tearing me a new exhaust port.

Miz is a grown person and can presumably decide for his or herself what level of risk to assume and how to mitigate said risk.

Have a safe and happy holiday, everyone.

[Amskeptic]

I happen to work for an employer with an exceedingly strong safety culture.
They encourage and insist that their employees take seriously the question that the Top Gear buffoons ask in jest: "What could possibly go wrong?"
Have a safe and happy holiday, everyone.

Safety is a fascinating topic because it brings out deeper beliefs regarding global and personal responsibility.

For example, I could filter the topic of safety through politics and lightly paint with broad brush strokes that "passive safety" is liberal/Democratic/politically correct/California run-amok safety nanny, and "active safety" is proud individualistic rugged conservative initiative Texan yer on yer own manly save your own neck.

You know where I fall. I am deeply liberal Democratic public regulation for better safety from the manufacturing and service sectors AND I demand, I demand of my customers that they THINK, that they never rely on the greater social safety culture, that you are responsible for your own immediate environment. Do not "trust" that jack, test it!

I have never been flippant around a jack, but I do have customers who do not realize that I am thinking out the laws of physics at all times as we work. All of your seismically active customers have experienced the Earthquake! test on the jacked car. I so very do not want any accidents or property damage devastating the joy and derailing the career here.

I do demand that you think for yourself! save your own damn neck!
Many customers have followed behind me with jack stands and apologies for being safety conscious, and I certainly do NOT disparage them for being "pedantic, pompous and an outright drag-you-down, stick-in-the-mud bore"s. That is not who I am. I do think very very carefully when I am working on a car out in the middle of nowhere because I really could die if I make a mistake. That is a wonderful and acceptable challenge to me, it makes me more alert and a better safety culture participant than perhaps you realize.

So miz man, adjust the valves already! Roll the car back and forth on the level floor three inches and look at the valves on the cylinder you think is opposite to the ones you want to adjust. If you should die a terrible death due to my suggestion and your own lack of personal situational survival instinct, I will give your survivors a free personalized Itinerant Air-Cooled sticker for your casket:
"Itinerant Air Cooled - fourteen years without mishap until THIS guy!"
Colin

[Jivermo]

I love this exchange! I have an old "Motor" shop manual from the 1940's, that describes a method of removing a cars frozen in kingpins by using the weight of the car to force them out. I had a 1950 Willys, with the stuck kingpins, and I used their method to great success. There was some slight element of risk, as I recall. At the end of the procedure description, the manual stated, "In shops where safety is of paramount importance, this method is not encouraged."
I kept that book, and never forgot the line. And if I ever face a stuck kingpin again, I'll do it that way.

[the miz]

So miz man, adjust the valves already! Roll the car back and forth on the level floor three inches and look at the valves on the cylinder you think is opposite to the ones you want to adjust. If you should die a terrible death due to my suggestion and your own lack of personal situational survival instinct, I will give your survivors a free personalized Itinerant Air-Cooled sticker for your casket:
"Itinerant Air Cooled - fourteen years without mishap until THIS guy!"
Colin

...wow! This thread got fun in my absence! Sorry for that...the holidays and family life intervened...and in the meanwhile winter finally arrived in MN!

Colin, thanks for the tip...and for remembering that my parking brake is in perfect working order

SlowLane, thanks for the concern...I appreciate the danger inherent in Colin's suggested method and will endeavor not to crush myself or to inadvertently "ghost ride" my Vanagon down the driveway and into the street...

I hope to find a bit of time to work on this over the coming long weekend...
and hope that Mrs. Miz won't be contacting you for a custom casket sticker...

miz

[the miz]

If you see the rocker arms move ( #3 if you are on the left #1 if you are on the right), go adjust the valves on the other side of the car. Get it done. Get it done with.
Colin

...a visit from BellePlaine and weekend temperatures on the + side of 0 in the garage, meant that the valve adjustment was finally performed!

Sure enough, set at what should be TDC for cylinder 1, there was no movement in the rocker arms on 1 and some movement in the rocker arms on 3. Therefore, valve adjustment position for Cylinder 1 is now verified.

That said, we couldn't test our work, because we couldn't get the engine started. I think the battery was just completely discharged...even though it had been on the charger over night...and we made multiple jump start attempts from BellePlaine's Sportwagen...it just couldn't do it...no crank at all.

I attempted to replace the battery yesterday and was told, by the nice guy at Batteries Plus, that it was still under warranty and that if I could wait a day he would fully charge it in the shop and see if it would pass a load test....
...well, it passed, so I guess now we'll see if it was the battery, or if I now have another issue.

Additionally, I now know 2 more things about Stew at The Foreign Service:
1) He is not an acvw expert (as claimed), as he did not properly adjust the valves
2) He did not adjust the valves on all 4 cylinders, as he had said he did.

...funny, just how much Colin-style valve adjustment forensics can tell you...

-stay tuned...

miz

[the miz]

Ok, well, the battery was the reason why the engine wouldn't start (I guess my charger is shot), but the engine still dies after ~10 min of running. It still sounds "diesel-y" and clattery...and it is still spewing soot from the tailpipe.

BellePlaine and I thought we were onto something with valves out of adjustment... and we think we still might be. All of this current trouble started after the first valve adjustment following the replacement of a leaky push rod tube seal...and wasn't improved by a "professional" valve adjustment (which was still wrong).
Now, I've been operating under the assumption that these arehydraulic lifters, because that's what Adrian told me...
...but what if they're not?!

Is there anyway to tell, from outward appearances, if these are in fact solid and not hydraulic lifters?

...thanks for all further thought/input.

miz

[BellePlaine]

The cold engine starts and runs on with all four cylinders firing. There is smoke out of the tail pipe which wasn't overly excessive but definitely more then a well tuned engine. Miz's bus is experiencing the same issue of stalling after a few minutes of idle and a couple of revs. Since the problem started after replacing the pushrod tub o-rings which required removing the rocker assembly. Miz set the valves per Colin's procedure for hydraulics because he was told his engine has hydraulic lifters, but now we're suspecting that perhaps they are solids.

I wonder if as the engine warms and the pushrods lengthen, if the exhaust valve is opening too soon robbing power and compression. After it stalls, the engine will run for barely a second and then die again.

Reiterating Miz's question; is there an easy-peesie way to tell if lifters are solids or hydraulic? Assuming there isn't, would we do any serious harm if we set his lifters to 0.006" just to see if that straightens out the problem?

[Amskeptic]

The cold engine starts and runs on with all four cylinders firing. There is smoke out of the tail pipe which wasn't overly excessive but definitely more then a well tuned engine. Miz's bus is experiencing the same issue of stalling after a few minutes of idle and a couple of revs. Since the problem started after replacing the pushrod tub o-rings which required removing the rocker assembly. Miz set the valves per Colin's procedure for hydraulics because he was told his engine has hydraulic lifters, but now we're suspecting that perhaps they are solids.

I wonder if as the engine warms and the pushrods lengthen, if the exhaust valve is opening too soon robbing power and compression. After it stalls, the engine will run for barely a second and then die again.

Reiterating Miz's question; is there an easy-peesie way to tell if lifters are solids or hydraulic? Assuming there isn't, would we do any serious harm if we set his lifters to 0.006" just to see if that straightens out the problem?

Good to see y'all are still kicking up there.

I have had *other* Adrian engine valve adjustment issues where we could not get a definitive answer from Adrian as to what type of lifter and what the correct adjustment should be.

Adjust valves to .004-6" and let us know how it runs when it warms up.

PLEASE ADDRESS THE "Diesel Clatter"!!
If you find that the "diesel clatter" is GONE after your valve adjustment, it means the clatter was most likely valves hitting pistons. Perform a compression test. Let us know the results.

Call Adrian and tell him of this clatter when valves were at hydraulic valve adjustment spec.s.
Tell him that if you have any damage in valves/pistons, you will be calling him again.
Colin

[the miz]

Good to see y'all are still kicking up there.

I have had *other* Adrian engine valve adjustment issues where we could not get a definitive answer from Adrian as to what type of lifter and what the correct adjustment should be.

Adjust valves to .004-6" and let us know how it runs when it warms up.

PLEASE ADDRESS THE "Diesel Clatter"!!
If you find that the "diesel clatter" is GONE after your valve adjustment, it means the clatter was most likely valves hitting pistons. Perform a compression test. Let us know the results.

Call Adrian and tell him of this clatter when valves were at hydraulic valve adjustment spec.s.
Tell him that if you have any damage in valves/pistons, you will be calling him again.
Colin

Thanks Colin, I think we'll pick this back up over the weekend.

I did call Adrian yesterday and left a vm describing our issues and asking him to reiterate the lifter type.

That said, he hasn't returned my last few calls...

I know he's not really "in to" phone calls and e-mails, but I am wondering if anyone out there knows if he is still alive/in business?

miz

[VW Treasure]

Good evening Colin and guests! Colin, my good friend; how are you doing? That Westy is coming out very nice! I just wanted to add my 2 cents into this post. As you know Colin from the last time we spoke, you left me with a list of "things to get done" before your next Miami visit, including a list of replacement "hardware" that Adrian promised me he would ship to me to make up for the "mishaps" we encountered after receiving my own turn-key motor. Having dealt with him for the past 6 months or so since I first contacted him, I can certainly attest to the fact that dealing with him can sometimes be quite "challenging", in part due to his sometimes unwillingness to either pick up our phone calls or return our messages in a timely fashion. That being said, and to give some credit where credit is due: I am glad to report that, having given him some extended period of time, he has come clean on delivering all 10 parts he'd promised, including a set of original Porsche swivel-foot adjusters along with spacers just like you had suggested I asked him for. Yes, it did take him more time than what I would have liked to have waited for, but at the end I am glad he made good on his word; at least a B+ on effort. Anyways, always enjoying your great, informative site and following your every automotive masterpiece!

[asiab3]

He's still alive; I swing by every few weeks. He seems to have trouble finding dedicated shop helpers; they keep disappearing or not being up to snuff.

I'll be nearby later this week for other stuff, anything I can ask or help with?

The two HFM engines I have worked on we're both Type 1 engines, but they both had chromoly pushrods. These are typically set to loose zero; have you checked the pushrods with a magnet to ensure these didn't end up in your engines? (Check the actual rod, not the tips.) I don't think the aftermarket crap industry had infiltrated the Type 4 market deep enough for this, but I have seen weirder things happen.

Robbie

[whc03grady]

If you find that the "diesel clatter" is GONE after your valve adjustment, it means the clatter was most likely valves hitting pistons.

Valves hitting pistons? That's possible? Air-cooled flat-four V-dub engines are interference engines?

[the miz]

He's still alive; I swing by every few weeks. He seems to have trouble finding dedicated shop helpers; they keep disappearing or not being up to snuff.

I'll be nearby later this week for other stuff, anything I can ask or help with?

The two HFM engines I have worked on we're both Type 1 engines, but they both had chromoly pushrods. These are typically set to loose zero; have you checked the pushrods with a magnet to ensure these didn't end up in your engines? (Check the actual rod, not the tips.) I don't think the aftermarket crap industry had infiltrated the Type 4 market deep enough for this, but I have seen weirder things happen.

Robbie

Thanks for the tips Robbie! We're going to try the "adjustment as if they were solid lifters" idea first. If that doesn't work, then I'll pull off a set of rocker arms and inspect the pushrods for clues...I've got another leaky pushrod tube to fix at some point anyway.

If you are in Vista, I don't know how you could casually broach the subject, but...
From Adrian, what I'd want to know is:
- is he 100% certain he built with Hydraulic lifters?
-is he 100% certain he used a "Schneider #1" cam?
(there is no mention of a #1 on Schneider's website...there is no mention of cams for VWs other than Type 1 or Rabbit...and then no specific models that are for hydraulic lifters)


...other than that, I've been waiting on Driver's side under tins and a check for a few hundred bucks for many months.

I agree that he can be quite personable and diligent at times, but incredibly difficult to pin down at others.

miz

[the miz]

-is he 100% certain he used a "Schneider #1" cam?
(there is no mention of a #1 on Schneider's website...there is no mention of cams for VWs other than Type 1 or Rabbit...and then no specific models that are for hydraulic lifters)
miz

So...I called Schneider. A #1 is how they "tag" cams for Adrian.

A Schneider #1 evidently has a duration of 256 and a lift of 405 (I have no idea what that means )

They make them in both solid and hydraulic, but evidently Adrian orders "mostly hydraulic"...

miz