Itinerant Air-Cooled

Herrnkind got so much less than he paid for. I am livid. I had to pronounce a dead engine with barely 5,000 miles on it. He paid dearly for the engine, and he paid even more dearly for the installation of this engine. The installers appear to be the Bad Guys, the Ignorants, the Chimpanzees, the Rip-offs. For $1,100.00 to install an AVP long block,
we have:
a) whistlingly leaky cylinder heads (not necessarily installation error, see f and h below)
b) exhaust leaks
c) Autolite spark plugs that were tightened so severely into the heads (I had to use my axle nut breaker bar to get them out), that one of them was filled with stripped aluminum, another was sitting in the head at an unusual angle
d) little 1700 rocker arms and adjusting screws on the hydraulic lifter-actuated valves,
e) oil leaks from main seal and push rod tubes due to a:
f) a kinked-closed breather hose
g) half-shut flaps with a flappingly loose fail-safe spring,
h) a smashed-in lower right tin, jammed up against the pushrods ( ?wtf?)
i) old fuel hose (injectors leaked from the get-go)
k) he paid a half-day's Itinerant Air-Cooled fee to hear me say "don't drive your daily driver to work because it is sick."

We have:
a) a neophyte who has never rebuilt an engine
b) who has to go to work every day to pay his way in this world
c) a cold garage with fall/winter coming down
d) an extremely tight budget
e) Just This Last Chance before he is demoralized.

I promised:
a) that it would cost no more than $250.00 for an engine overhaul gasket kit, a .010" cylinder head flycut, and plug thread repair on any damaged spark plug holes.
b) that we all would be here ready to help him along
c) that we have several successful neophyte engine builds that bring great pride to their owners, like,
bottomend
miss Zora
pdlrofdrms
poptoptom

*pending*
*Kubelwagen
*mental Q-tip

(contact these people, Ryan, and ask them about how they did/*are doing, it)

Retrospection yielded two primary errors:
a) taking the car to a shop inexperienced in air-cooled VW repair (three months to install a completed long block????)
b) not addressing a loss of power on the road that we think was an overheat situation

I will monitor this thread as best I can, and I hope others will too!

Years ago I was given something from a very gracious Bob D and I told him I would pay it forward. This might be the time.

Colin, when you get here we can go though my stash of spare parts and see if what I have extra might help our friend in NY. I do have a new complete VR gasket set and some other stuff that might help.

I have a heated lighted shop you could use if needed.

Keep it in mind.

Randy in Maine wrote:Years ago I was given something from a very gracious Bob D and I told him I would pay it forward. This might be the time.

Colin, when you get here we can go though my stash of spare parts and see if what I have extra might help our friend in NY. I do have a new complete VR gasket set and some other stuff that might help.

I have a heated lighted shop you could use if needed.

Keep it in mind.

I would like to take his entire engine to a heated shop and give it a chance to live a long healthy life. I want Herrnkind to jump at this opportunity as well, but life circumstances, the need to make a living, may thwart us . . .

Herrnkind, your move here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Colin

If you guys can sort out a workable plan for the rebuild, I'll chip in a hundred bucks towards the cost of this most admirable group effort...wish I could be there to hands-on help...let me know. Never did like being demoralized...

Herrnkind, im sorry for your loss. I to was an unfortunate victim of the AVP promises, and I to paid a local shop to install it all for me (albeit a good shop, but that's a lot of money gone if the motor doesn't work out, and it's not the shops fault that the engine is junk.)

I think Colin and I recorded some of the worst acceleration tests on that engine ever, likely only able to eek out a victory over a Diesel Westy Vanagon. Needless to say I had to overheat it just to get it to move out of it's own way, so it was worthless from the start.

From the sounds of it you have some great people in your corner to help in this process. Take full advantage of these offers and stop worrying about what someone else may or may not have done correctly with your engine. Get local help, use all of the resources here, and take control of this situation yourself. Many have done it and I can't think of any who wish they hadn't.


Make a list of parts needed and maybe people can donate spares they have to help the project. Anything I can help with in terms of parts needed ill certainly pitch in as well.

Good luck. My AVP engine was a dud as well. I made it almost 8k miles after installing the longblock myself.

This is all too common as us "old guys" retire or die off and the new generation of bullshit mechanics take over....(my son isn't included as he has been drilled to death about the "Right Way" to build stuff).

Heartening and wonderful replies from the IAC membership to Herrenkinds dilemma. Count me in. I have parts and $$ if needed. Just let me know. Things like this cannot be tolerated. That engine deserves better. We can't fix em all but this one looks kinda special. Someone in his area find out what's needed and report back. I hate uncaring crappy mechanics .

I have a 1500sp longblock. that was swapped out for a new 1600 on my Super Beetle. I think the only thing wrong may be stuck a valve. There might be some usable parts available on it.

well i jumped into it today i pulled the engine and have some pics of what i found pitted cylinder head seals were melted in half one fuel injector was melted or broke on the tip.

i have pics but dont know how to post them.

Hit "post reply", then upload the pic attachment. You may have to scale it down in size.

I have a few extra injectors around if you need them.