REBUILDING A VW ENGINE
Straight out of the van
Straight out of the van, Not a pretty site is it. So if you don't own one beg, borrow or steal a pressure washer. After sealing the carb intake give it a good blast and get as much muck and oil off it as you can.
I use two benches for rebuilding engines a dirty one where I strip the engine of all its bits and pieces and actually dismantle it and clean everything with petrol or paraffin, except the carb which I do on the clean bench as I can sit down and take my time in comfort. The clean bench is used to reassemble the engine.
The dirty bench, A wooden top bolted to a steel cabinet on wheels that way you can move it around to work on the engine. Note the wooden rail round the edge stops those little bits rolling off on to the floor! I know its not a VW engine (Its a "A" series engine out of a Morris Minor) but it was on it when I took the pic. There again I could go water cooled in Max, How about it Slammed bus.
The clean bench (sort of) with a 40 watt heater at the back ideal for gently warming pistons to make it nice and easy to fit the gudgeon pins in the pistons. Its real job via a thermostat is to keep the shed "aired" in the winter so my tools don't rust.
Get yourself a box of latex gloves (about £3 to £8 pounds) for working on your engine and a pair of "Marigolds" for when you are using petrol or paraffin for cleaning components (The latex ones don't like petrol). Prolonged contact with hydrocarbons aint good for your skin especially "used" engine oil.
Right time to get mucky, If you only have one bench to work on get some cardboard boxes and flatten them out and cover the bench top with them. Get your engine on the bench and give every nut, bolt and screw you can see a dose of your favourite penetrating oil (WD40 etc) especially any on the exhaust system, heat exchangers and the various bits of tinware. Go have a cup of tea or coffee for ten minutes. On your return give the "rusty" bolts etc another dose of penetrating oil, Then remove the carb from the manifold, I find a ring spanner is best on the back nut. Remove the coil, distributor and its leads from the spark plugs. A quick tip as far as possible replace the various nuts, bolts and screws back in position after you have removed a component that way you are less likely to end up with bolts etc left when you reassemble the engine (we call them shoulder bolts in Essex because that is where you throw them if you have any left hehehe). Remove the fuel pump, Its operating rod and the plastic spacer which is actually the bearing as well, It goes about 3" into the crankcase do not worry if it breaks off we can remove the lower portion later (I always replace the operating rod and the spacer/bearing it is only a couple of pounds, Just make sure the new one is the same length as your old one). Next remove the manifold loosen the clips round the rubber boots and remove the two nuts attaching it to the cylinder heads each side and the nut on the stud attaching it to the crankcase. Now lift the end nearest the dynamo/alternator off the cylinder head studs and gently persuade it to part company at the rubber boot. Lift the other end off the studs and remove the rest of the manifold. Now put some cloth in the inlet holes in the cylinder head to stop dirt etc finding its way in. Remove the pulley from the dynamo/alternator, you will need to hold the nut in the centre of the fan and remove the fan belt. Loosen and remove the strap from around the dynamo/alternator and the four 10mm bolts holding the fan assembly into the fan housing, Then wriggle it free and remove it. Remove the four nuts on the oil filler/dynamo stand and remove it, Stuff the hole left with some cloth.
Now remove the silencer assembly and the heat exchangers, Careful with the smaller 10mm bolts and nuts they have a habit of shearing off. Easy wasn't it NOT!!!. If the penetrating oil has not done the trick try tightening the bolts etc first a small amount or a bit of heat carefully remember some of the bolts and studs are in aluminium alloy and its melting point is LOW. If you do shear some of the bolts etc off you will have to drill them out and retap the threads.
Now all the bits of tinware. You will find that some of the bolts and screws are a pain to undo I use mole grips or anything else that will grip as I replace all the screws with stainless steel ones. Remove the arm at the back of the fan housing connecting the two sets of flaps by removing the spring clips. Also remove the four screws holding the outlet shroud for the oil cooler and remove it. Now remove all the screws and bolts around the bottom including the eight screws holding the flap assemblies. Carefully remove the housing watch the oil cooler do not dent or hole it. On the offside flap assembly you should see a rod connected from the thermostat bellows undo it and remove the flap assemblies. I find this a easier option as the rod is invariabley corroded into the bellows and I always replace the bellows. Now remove the rest of the tinware. To get the peice of tinware off behind the bottom pulley you will have to remove the pulley.
I next remove the oil cooler and its stand. I then put the cooler in a sealed container covered with petrol and leave it to soak over night. The next day remove the cooler and drain it and leave to dry.
your engine should now look like this but not so clean
and still have its bottom pulley on and the front mounting beam.
