Another first rebuild thread...

[jalabert]

Thank you!

[Clatter]

I’ve never seen pins any different at all on the same set of pistons..
Always gave the machinist just one.
Try them in different pistons if you want to know for sure.
You’ll be doing that juggling them around for balance anyways, right?

Some tips in the build thread in my sig.
Maybe that might help?

[jalabert]

Thanks Clatter,

I took 'em with me and the machinist kept them all....

Yep, your thread has been really useful, thank you. Will be figuring out how to make my conrod balance arrangement next...conrods have been rebushed / aligned / honed...

Still playing hurry up and wait with machine shops - good people are busy, right? Finally progress in the works - the machinist who's doing the line bore wanted bearings in his hands before he did anything, got some nice NOS made in brazil mahles...needed to go 0.5mm on the case and 0.25 on the crank.

Other than that, I've reached the bottom of the pile of things needing painting and cleaning, finally. Engine bay has been repainted, all the fuel tank breather lines replaced, etc.

Slowly, slowly making progress.

[Clatter]

IMG_7596.jpeg

IMG_7594.jpeg

Always a good time building a type 4, right?

Here’s a pic of one I’m doing right now.

Mocked up to wait on parts and see what all went missing..

[jalabert]

Finally underway! Unexpected things that derailed - head stud broke (at the case) as it was being boxed up for shipping off to the line-bore man. The fasteneers man said of course I have one of those in stock, I'll get it to you Monday. Oh, I didn't mean this Monday. Next Monday, or the one after that. Actually, I don't have it. Six weeks of that, that type of thing. Anyway, now I'm into it.

IMG_2021 by Simon Bishop, on Flickr

The crank gear cooking session went super smoothly, slid right on there. The snapring shitfight barely had a chance to get started before I realised I didn't have the right tool. Snapring pliers on the way. Aliexpress, let's hope they're not made of cheese.

Used the time to build a engine bench stand thingy. The vision is that it's at the right height for the ATV jack to slide right under and make the task of getting it off the stand and closer to the vehicle less fraught with stress for backs and engines both...

IMG_2020 by Simon Bishop, on Flickr

I dunno if I'd said what I was building? I'm going with the AA 96x66 P&Cs, which have had a little dish machined into the top. Camper Special cam, will be building for a CR of 8 at a 1mm deck height. I've got a pair of chinese 40 IDFs that'll go on a CB performance linkage - we'll see how that goes. They seem to be of reasonable quality, so far. Apparently they came with the right jets. I am prepared to be amazed. Onwards.

[Bruce.m]

For the crank snapring, I tried a couple of Chinese pliers but the ends were too soft and the ring kept snapping off the tips.

Bought a pair of old Snapon Snapring pliers. Code “SRP”. All metal. SRP1 are 9” i think. Wasn’t that expensive from Ebay. Obviously made the job a breeze

[jalabert]

Thanks Bruce, my expectations aren't high. That said, the 10 buck valve spring compressor I got off Ali did the job - once. I'm not sure it'd manage it a second time...

[jalabert]

Shiny bits! Little dishes on display. Weighing pistons and pins, 3g variance in pistons, 1g variance in pins gets me 2g variance across the board. I can't see anything in Wilson about what kind of difference in weights is acceptable for a stock-ish engine?

Untitled by Simon Bishop, on Flickr

PSA. - Happy to report that the Aliexpress snapring pliers are a winner. $14 NZD, so $8 USD. These, if anyone's looking. As far as I can tell these are pretty much exactly the same as those sold in our large chain auto stores (Repco and Super Cheap Auto), but they charge us $55-80, and they have to order them in. Pays your money, takes your lack of guarantee,

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010 ... 1802pC0G42

Untitled by Simon Bishop, on Flickr

Crank is done, rods installed. Spent the evening re-installing the head studs and the distributor gear. Short block by the end of the weekend, maybe. Depends on the surf...

So far, no worries. The bit I'm probably most nervous of is setting valvetrain geometry and cutting the pushrods. I've got a line on an adjustable pushrod, but I'm going to have to do a bit of reading and learning and asking dumbass questions before hacksaw touches rod...

I did get the kit with the elephant foot adjusters, only to discover I've got 10mm adjusters. I can't say I'd ever thought about it before. So for now, stock adjusters is the plan, unless anyone wants to talk me out of it. I see Thorsten Peiper do them in 10mm....

[Bruce.m]

Suggest watching “type-e motorsport” you tube video on rocker geometry. His video is of type1 engine but the theory, tools & method is exactly the same.

[jalabert]

Thanks Bruce, much appreciated - just what I need.

[jalabert]

So much for the plans of cracking into it this weekend, looked in the box of things and realised I'd neglected to buy any dowels, so waiting on them.

Got the cam gear installed and test fit. Not super happy with the amount of bolt coming through the back of the cam there. It does clear the case, but not by much. Thinking I should take them out and grind them down a mil or two?

Untitled by Simon Bishop, on Flickr

[Bruce.m]

I’d grind those back a bit. You don’t want contact after the thrust face of the bearing wears a little

[jalabert]

Thanks Bruce, did exactly what you said. Much happier now. Measured cam end play as in Clatter's junker thread - thank you again. Really barely discernible, nothing I could actually get a repeatable reliable measurement for. The cam turns freely, so I'm chalking that up as a win.

Dowels arrived. Read and reread the bit in wilson about how the gears and distributor line up. Once I get the case apart from checking the cam, that's next up.

Probably showing the depths of my ignorance here, but maybe it'll help someone else who needs my level of language. There were no instructions with the web cam about how the gear aligns, nothing on their website, and not much I could find with five-bolt VW cam gears in general. Eventually figured out there's a slot-to-dot orientation, and the number 1 (furthest away from the gear) lobe points straight down when the dot is straight up...

So far no fuckups. Watch that come back and bite me.

['77 Westy]

The bolt holes are not equidistant and it’s impossible to fit the gear misaligned.

[jalabert]

Been a while since I updated but I've made some steady progress. P&C's and heads on, deck heights all checked out, on course for a compression ratio of 8.2 with a deck height of 1.4 mm. My target was 8-ish.

Onto valve geometry now - thanks for the link Bruce, I had a week of waiting for a couple of bits after my first test fit revealed I wasn't going anywhere without shimming the rocker arms. I ended up with 1.5mm under the rockers. Just gone through my first session, which I thought was going to be just the start of expanding the neighbour's kids vocabulary, but stone me I think I'm there on the first side at the first time of asking. Angle at half lift exactly half way between zero and full, adjusters nice and square on...

I'd say finish line in sight, but I'm sure there'll be another one along in a minute...