Well, Good Grief

Moderators: Sluggo, Amskeptic

Post Reply
User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Well, Good Grief

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Mar 11, 2017 7:46 am

I am up to my neck in unexpected activities.

My ex-Lexus now belongs to my brother, a birthday gift sponsored by my step-dad. Got a call after I had made it down to Pensacola. Car caught on fire, smoke and stuff, bad car, didn't really want it anyway. I drove all night back to Atlanta all wtf? and fixed the car in a Publix parking lot (he toasted the Nakamichi output transistors, too much toons) I offered to buy it back. He said no, my heart was so heavy:

Image


So, I took the engine right out of Chloe while he waxed it up nice. I wanted to get the crankcase transplant done this winter:

Image


Left parts strewn about the storage units:

Image


You can see how the Type 4 foam seal made itself perfectly at home in a Type 1 bus:

Image


This is self-explanatory:

Image


Cactus was up there, ready to brain me if I stopped short:

Image


Engine waiting for disassembly at The Law Firm in Pensacola:

Image


This is a VW Passat:

Image


I was after THIS shot in the above's reflections:

Image


You think I am soft in the head.

Image


Image

Chloe's engine was such a paradox. Really, pretty clean at 78,000 miles, but it actually needs a full going-through:

Image


There's the JB Weld I smeared on the case where it had been repaired:

Image

No real oil leaks anywhere:

Image

Image


Sum total of crankcase blowby, but it felt dangerously gritty:

Image


Extremely ludicrous engine "stand":

Image


Drained the oil HERE, jimbear, drained it before the underside got trapped under benches and things!

Image


Beeyootiful clean rods and pistons (clean oil mild temps), beautiful combustion chambers (low carbon) and good valve stem to guides clearance after some 78,000 miles of my kind of driving,
BUT . . .
can't use the heads because the valves had worn their way into the seats but good
can't use the pistons and cylinders because waaaay back at their original build, #1 and #4 had contamination that scored both cylinders enough to give me lousy oil control past the rings (likely at the moment that the pistons were punched into the cylinders with a ring compressor that had junk on it?)
can't use the case (I knew that) because the #1 main bearing has been moving in the saddle (noted, too, that the lower #1 main bearing nut was only 13 ft/lbs instead of 25
Drat!

Photos of above parts later.
a) must get gland nut off flywheel so I can separate the case
b) must fly to Salt Lake City to pick up new Lexus that looks like the old Lexus but with 58,000 original miles
c) must visit Air-Cooled.Net on Monday morning to pick up a lot of parts
Colin ?!? :blackeye:
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

Boxcar
Addicted!
Location: Itinerant Fledgling
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by Boxcar » Sat Mar 11, 2017 5:18 pm

Wow,certainly is not enough,but it seems no wordstream would be.
Trust me on this.
Carry on Colin the Wayward.
1975 003 Auto Westy L90D

repair!!!!aug2015
Jan/16 Bumped mixture a few notches richer. finally developing HP.


1.8L/LJet/Pertron DVDA+PertronixCompufire 42/36Ham Heads/AA 93mm pistons/barrels.Porsc.Swiv.Adjusters/CromoSteel pushrds/ Web 9550Cam/55cc chmbr.,035 squish,8.6:1CR/German Supply VWCanadaReman Rods/Schadek 26mmPump/vdo dualOP8/10#low sender/Quart Deep Sump
Backdate Htr bxs,reflanged 914 4into1. Two and three eighths inch collector,magniflow*muffler

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Mar 11, 2017 8:28 pm

Boxcar wrote:
Sat Mar 11, 2017 5:18 pm
Wow,certainly is not enough,but it seems no wordstream would be.
Trust me on this.
Carry on Colin the Wayward.
Oh, I am carrying on, all right.

Image


Left head was having a hard time:

Image


Although my oil consumption was almost negligible, #4 was burning it:

Image


#1 wasn't far behind:

Image


See the scores in the cylinder wall?

#1
Image

#4
Image


... ... ... and here is #3 exhaust valve seat. That thar is some wear:

Image

Due to the great Archive In The Sky (therinnernet), I have a picture of this very Yuma flea market head the day I installed it on Chloe's engine in October 2011:

Image

Guess I killed that seat with 77,000 miles of relentless driving. FINE! I'd do it again.
Here is #3 intake, a more normal looking face contact width:

Image


This shot just made the engine look so spindly, those little pistons forlornly sticking out in the air, somehow they pushed that bus around the country two and a half times for me alone:

Image


This engine was cursed with a couple of fatal errors at initial assembly (we'll get to it) but this engine subsequently had a clean cool life, look at those undersides of the pistons, HAH? #3 has just a little more caramel:

Image


Look at this rod. Just as clean as can be!

Image


Meanwhile, The Lawyer at the Law Firm is taking the key off the key ring of his fetching 1979 Cabriolet. Know why? He is selling it on Monday - the better which to focus on his Westy project:

Image


It was a bucolic day at the Forensics Pathology Lab (pathological forensics lab?):

Image


But here is the damning shot. Chloe's engine must have had a very bad start-up that first time after it dropped a valve. There was contamination in the main bearing galleries. The case dowels were way too small, and allowed bearing movement, especially #1 main, whose dowel was just as loose as could be in the case. The bearing had no crush in the saddle, the saddle was fretted, and #2 main bearing here was just a mess! The main bearing nuts were not torqued down fully when I disassembled it. That allowed fretting at #1 and #4 main bearing saddles. This crankcase was welded in the beginning when it threw a rod after Mike's first rebuild. You can see the blackishness of the case sealant that never got pressed out at the front upper edges of both case halves where it did not seat properly (weld distortion?).

Image


Image


Not well-focused, but #1 main bearing feels like a phonograph record of grooves:

Image


I think the re-rebuild may have suffered from an understandable slight rushing or distraction but definitely filth. This filth damaged cylinder surfaces for #1 and #4 and every main bearing journal.

Chloe is getting a full overhaul at this point, and I will henceforth own the resultant engine fully. New crank, new pistons and cylinders, bearings, the remachined heads from the initial seat disaster in October 2011, and I am going to endeavor to have the reciprocating parts balanced.

Flying off to Salt Lake City to get engine parts from Air-Cooled.Net and buy a Lexus LS 400 to drive 'em home in.
Colin :geek:
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

Boxcar
Addicted!
Location: Itinerant Fledgling
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by Boxcar » Sun Mar 12, 2017 6:29 am

Parts run to UTAH.
Lexus FriendlyInterstateAutoPart delivery.
Dynamic balance in FLA MIGHT be a five day turnaround.
Chloe looks to be making smoke a week,tomorrow?
1975 003 Auto Westy L90D

repair!!!!aug2015
Jan/16 Bumped mixture a few notches richer. finally developing HP.


1.8L/LJet/Pertron DVDA+PertronixCompufire 42/36Ham Heads/AA 93mm pistons/barrels.Porsc.Swiv.Adjusters/CromoSteel pushrds/ Web 9550Cam/55cc chmbr.,035 squish,8.6:1CR/German Supply VWCanadaReman Rods/Schadek 26mmPump/vdo dualOP8/10#low sender/Quart Deep Sump
Backdate Htr bxs,reflanged 914 4into1. Two and three eighths inch collector,magniflow*muffler

User avatar
hambone
Post-Industrial Non-Secular Mennonite
Location: Portland, Ore.
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by hambone » Mon Mar 13, 2017 11:33 am

Thank you for the engine pics and diagnostic, very interesting. I know Bookwus was inexperienced, but his heart was in the right place and I'm pretty sure he would have installed everything very clean, he did have a mechanical understanding. Do you think if you drove the same trip but less relentlessly the engine would have fared better? But it was out of whack from the get-go. Hey, I just remembered: I pulled that same engine in my driveway in the rain with Neal while you wise-assed. RIP you crappy old engine.
SLC now, your globetrotting is unsettling. My kid too, now she's in SF just found out second hand because she travels so much.
Well safe travels to you, I hope this helps burn off some of that steam. Also curious to hear about your Aircooled.net experience. I've had a couple of iffy issues with them lately, nothing serious and they did remedy.
Lots of snow forecast in the East, a foot or more. :flower:
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

Jivermo
IAC Addict!
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by Jivermo » Mon Mar 13, 2017 3:55 pm

Great write up...quite interesting, with the pics. How'd you come to this SLC Lexus? You repaired the other one for bro, and then he decided to keep it? Ah...quite a guy. Safe travels.

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Mar 13, 2017 4:27 pm

hambone wrote:
Mon Mar 13, 2017 11:33 am
I know Bookwus was inexperienced, but his heart was in the right place and I'm pretty sure he would have installed everything very clean, he did have a mechanical understanding. Do you think if you drove the same trip but less relentlessly the engine would have fared better?
Help fill me in here, hambone. We saw in your engine thread that Bookwus was going absolutely thoroughly and carefully! That shot of the engine in the engine compartment, I still remember the first time I saw it. He wrote about his first test drive, and was happy. Three weeks later? it dropped a valve? He was all over himself, I was all over the machinist. He had to re-do the engine, yes? Had someone weld the case. What happened? Did he re-rebuild it? I know the machinist lost focus, because the wrong exhaust valves were installed.

I think the second time was a quicker stick it together event. And I think there was some serious metal contamination at the beginning. The evidence of my banzai runs around the country was all good. Very clean crankcase, no brown burned oil, nice combustion chambers, but the initial scoring shortens an engine's life considerably. The damn loose main bearing bolts just raised hell with those bearings moving around in the case.

I am very nervous to do this job right, but my work environment is a little chaotic and so is my life right now.
Colin :geek:
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Mar 13, 2017 4:39 pm

Jivermo wrote:
Mon Mar 13, 2017 3:55 pm
Great write up...quite interesting, with the pics. How'd you come to this SLC Lexus? You repaired the other one for bro, and then he decided to keep it? Ah...quite a guy. Safe travels.
I was sad. I loved my Lexus as the winter beater, so cozy, electric seat heaters, traction control, Nakamichi CD, we had history together over the past eight years:

Image

Image


Anyways, I bought a new one with just 57,700 miles on it. I had to jump:

Image


Leather even on the driver's seat looks brand new and has perfect support. The console wood is perfect:

Image


Image


Doesn't have the bells and whistles for good winter driving, no electric headrests, no CD, no traction control, no seat heaters, no memory seat positions, no electric telescopic function, but guess what? Brilliant fresh 4-cam V-8, solid chassis, new new new car that drives almost silently and flawlessly. It was owned and maintained fastidiously! by an old Chinese guy who couldn't drive it any more:

Image


The chromed wheels are about to kill me with razzle-dazzle bling-bling. I might beat VW Treasure at his own game. Already removed the chrome wheel well decorations.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

Boxcar
Addicted!
Location: Itinerant Fledgling
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by Boxcar » Mon Mar 13, 2017 5:16 pm

Ahhhhhhhh,the Lexus winterbeater .
I am so torn with winter driving love,and the ravages of same on every bit of the objects of our affections.
Which brings me to a nagging question,what if any is the Colin concoction for polymerization of the undercarriage of the winter going VW?


It seems you manage to drive around the snowy stuff in the Bob ,Chloe,and Orange.

German stuff so DON'T like the road chemical bath...

Is the winter beater the way?
1975 003 Auto Westy L90D

repair!!!!aug2015
Jan/16 Bumped mixture a few notches richer. finally developing HP.


1.8L/LJet/Pertron DVDA+PertronixCompufire 42/36Ham Heads/AA 93mm pistons/barrels.Porsc.Swiv.Adjusters/CromoSteel pushrds/ Web 9550Cam/55cc chmbr.,035 squish,8.6:1CR/German Supply VWCanadaReman Rods/Schadek 26mmPump/vdo dualOP8/10#low sender/Quart Deep Sump
Backdate Htr bxs,reflanged 914 4into1. Two and three eighths inch collector,magniflow*muffler

User avatar
asiab3
IAC Addict!
Location: San Diego, CA
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by asiab3 » Mon Mar 13, 2017 9:45 pm

Oooof. I love to see such dedicated work.

Just be thankful you're not seeing what I saw today?

Image


I wish I would have taken more pictures during my Colorado CamSwap. These kinds of forensic tear-downs are few and far between. Thank you for your diligence to the Type 1 longevity statistics :) My road trip to phoenix almost crested 100° ambients and waaaaayyyy too much oil consumption. Valve adjustment after 800 miles floored showed no change. I look forward to your next decade of driving this power plant.

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Mar 13, 2017 9:57 pm

asiab3 wrote:
Mon Mar 13, 2017 9:45 pm

Just be thankful you're not seeing what I saw today?
That is funny. I hope the support staff (the rest of the automotive world) is up for this. When I get all fastidious on some tired machinist, what is going to happen?
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

71whitewesty
Addicted!
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by 71whitewesty » Tue Mar 14, 2017 7:27 am

Ah these are such good threads to remind me that summer is coming and I better get my chores done on my busses. It's been the longest slumber for them since I've had them. Longest slumber mostly due to a heck of a winter here with snow on the ground for a solid 78 days. Roads have been so bad that I've needed my berm bashing f-250 for most of the winter.
I've also been completely cheating on my white westys and have been driving a "gulp" 91 dark blue insanely clean Westy. Oh man do I like driving it in the winter, heat just cranks in that thing. But no worries because it's only temporary and I'm driving it down to Oakland next week to ship it off to my buddy on Maui. I've tried hard to talk him out of it but it only makes him want it more. It's really the nicest newer Westy I've seen and I found it here about 2 miles from my house. So it'll head off to Maui to sit on the beach and start the rusting process :-( and I'll be back to my 71's but I must admit to scanning craigslist like a feign to see what's out there....
Anyway, I have chores to do and this thread is a good reminder that it's time to get going on them. Looking forward to your visit this summer. :salute:

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:07 am

Boxcar wrote:
Mon Mar 13, 2017 5:16 pm
Ahhhhhhhh,the Lexus winterbeater .
I am so torn with winter driving love,and the ravages of same on every bit of the objects of our affections.
what if any is the Colin concoction for polymerization of the undercarriage of the winter going VW?

Is the winter beater the way?
My VWs no longer do winter.

Lexus has to.

All of my cars get paintable Rustoleum rubberized "professional grade" undercoat once a year if they are actively out on the roads.

Remember that distracted texting drivers on snow or in any inclement weather are an even worse threat than on dry roads, so I now try to avoid all other drivers at all times to the best of my ability.
SAD! (bigly)
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:08 am

71whitewesty wrote:
Tue Mar 14, 2017 7:27 am
been driving a "gulp" 91 dark blue insanely clean Westy.
Errrr, Vanagon or Eurovan?
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

User avatar
asiab3
IAC Addict!
Location: San Diego, CA
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Well, Good Grief

Post by asiab3 » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:23 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
Sat Mar 11, 2017 8:28 pm
Flying off to Salt Lake City to get engine parts from Air-Cooled.Net…
Colin :geek:
Don't buy their lifters if they're selling these!

Image


You've seen why……
Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

Post Reply