Itinerant Air-Cooled Visits Danville CA ... "all hell breaks loose"

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SlowLane
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Visits Danville CA ... "all hell breaks loose"

Post by SlowLane » Tue Aug 06, 2019 1:06 pm

BoltonFTW wrote:
Fri Aug 02, 2019 10:36 pm

I've been looking online at some options for OEM and comparing prices. Aircooled.net seems to have them for 8$each
https://vwparts.aircooled.net/10mm-Valv ... 09-451.htm

compared to the type4store for ~10$each
https://type4store.com/products/valvetr ... sters.html

Do we think these are actually the same product? Anyone have experience with either of these sites
Aircooled.net has been serving the VW community with a good reputation for quite a long time. Their ad copy for their adjusting screws takes pains to point out that they are not the "cheap quality" ones, but are properly heat-treated. If you were to have problems with screws purchased from them, I'm sure they would put it right.

The TypeIV store was started by Jake Raby, who has a solid reputation for being a perfectionist in his engine building, and undoubtedly would have held teh quality of any parts he sold to his own high standard. He has since sold the store to LN Engineering, who also appear to be dedicated to quality.

Another vendor to consider is German Supply, who offer two levels of quality in the 10mm adjusting screw: aftermarket (sourced from Germany), or Genuine VW.

German Supply has also been around a long time, and are dedicated to providing only high-quality parts to the air-cooled VW community. It is a one-man operation, based in Ontario, Canada (note the prices on the web site are in $CDN), and he sometimes runs a little behind on fulfilling orders. Plenty of whining from some folks over on TheSamba about his inability to meet their Amazon-Prime-driven expectations of two-day customer fulfillment. :bounce:

The one vendor I would absolutely advise you to avoid, based on bitter (and embarrassingly, repeated) experience is CIP1. Their too-good-to-be-true parts pricing is indeed, too good to be true. Their parts are consistently of low quality, so much so that once you get one in your hands, you'll smack yourself in the forehead and go order the more expensive part from the better vendors.
Additionally-- I also purchased a used rocker assembly that has the original (for hydraulic) solid rocker spacers and wavy-thrust-washers. When I go to replace my spring spacers, should I just swap out the entire rocker assembly? Or should I keep my rocker arms and shaft in tact and just use the solid spacers and washers from the newly purchased setup? Would it matter in this case?
I would take the shafts and rockers from the two sets of assemblies and cherry-pick the best pieces to build up the four assemblies you need.
Make note of the differences between the intake and exhaust rocker arms so that you can assemble them back properly. You should end up with two assemblies with intake on the left and exhaust on the right (cylinders 1 and 4) and the other two assemblies with intake on the right and exhaust on the left (cylinders 2 and 3).
Also note that the chamfered side of the bore in the rocker shafts should go towards the head. See discussion of this topic recently elsewhere on IAC: https://www.itinerant-air-cooled.com/vi ... 3540&hilit
'81 Canadian Westfalia (2.0L, manual), now Californiated

"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."
- Terry Pratchett

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tommu
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Visits Danville CA ... "all hell breaks loose"

Post by tommu » Tue Aug 06, 2019 1:56 pm

In addition to those excellent links - these are OEM adjustors at a keener price than German Supply:
https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/ ... =0&SVSVSI=

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Visits Danville CA ... "all hell breaks loose"

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Aug 06, 2019 7:44 pm

BoltonFTW wrote:
Fri Aug 02, 2019 10:36 pm
SlowLane wrote:
Fri Aug 02, 2019 10:39 am
When you do purchase new adjusting screws, don't go cheap. Get the OEM ones if you can, even if it means being ripped off at your local VW dealer.

That's when I went to the dealer and bought 8 new screws for $11 apiece.
Thanks for the advice. And thanks to all who have helped and encouraged in previous posts.
I would definitely like to avoid this again in the future so I will stay away from cheap parts.

I've been looking online at some options for OEM and comparing prices. Aircooled.net seems to have them for 8$each
https://vwparts.aircooled.net/10mm-Valv ... 09-451.htm
Such a sloppy outfit ....
"Old adjusters often get siezed in the rocker arm," Really now ...

BoltonFTW wrote:
Fri Aug 02, 2019 10:36 pm
compared to the type4store for ~10$each
https://type4store.com/products/valvetr ... sters.html

Do we think these are actually the same product? Anyone have experience with either of these sites

Additionally-- I also purchased a used rocker assembly that has the original (for hydraulic) solid rocker spacers and wavy-thrust-washers. When I go to replace my spring spacers, should I just swap out the entire rocker assembly? Or should I keep my rocker arms and shaft in tact and just use the solid spacers and washers from the newly purchased setup? Would it matter in this case?

Thanks!
Hey. You are a mechanic now. I did not read "questions" in your post.
I read:
"Additionally-- I also purchased a used rocker assembly that has the original (for hydraulic) solid rocker spacers and wavy-thrust-washers. When I go to replace my spring spacers, I shall select the very best, least-worn parts, and clean them exquisitely, because exquisitely is the only way to go, and then I shall install them pre-lubricated with engine oil, torque my rocker nuts to 10 ft/lbs, adjust the valves to 1 1/2 turns, make extra-sure that the valve cover gaskets are secure and leak-free, then I shall take my beloved family camping, all of 'em."

That's what I read ...
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

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BoltonFTW
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Visits Danville CA ... "all hell breaks loose"

Post by BoltonFTW » Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:51 am

Thanks.

I appreciate the info on the online shops, the vote of confidence in my abilities, and of course, the education! :study:
-Drew
'78 Campmobile Deluxe
'77 Tintop Weekender (SOLD) - first car!

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BoltonFTW
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Visits Danville CA ... "all hell breaks loose"

Post by BoltonFTW » Fri Aug 16, 2019 1:35 pm

Just a small update on the oil leak that was coming from the #3, 4 valve cover gasket we fiddled with at the end of the evening Colin.

In my ordering of some other parts (valve lash caps, adjuster screws, etc), I bought new valve cover gaskets from CB Performance (https://www.cbperformance.com/product-p/1979.htm).

I have no idea what brand they are because they came loose in a plastic ziplock bag. Anyway, they are way higher quality than the previous Victor Reinz that we were trying to install. If you remember, those Victor Reinz were misshapen, thin, and just overall finicky to place in. These ones from CB Performance fit like a glove and sealed up nicely with no leaks- they also seemed thicker and more dense in material.

Couple photos of the fit
Image
Image
-Drew
'78 Campmobile Deluxe
'77 Tintop Weekender (SOLD) - first car!

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Visits Danville CA ... "all hell breaks loose"

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Aug 19, 2019 4:37 pm

BoltonFTW wrote:
Fri Aug 16, 2019 1:35 pm
new valve cover gaskets from CB Performance fit like a glove and sealed up nicely with no leaks- they also seemed thicker and more dense in material.
Excellent!
Could you do a listing in Parts Known To Be Good in the Engine Forum?

And now you can see the death by a thousand cuts I have endured, watching the cheap parts infect my beloved quality air-cooled Volkswagens.
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

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