[T3] Crate's engine apart, mostly...

Jim Adney jadney at vwtype3.org
Sun Sep 2 20:14:21 PDT 2012


On 2 Sep 2012 at 20:25, Keith Park wrote:

> Its nice pulling apart an engine that has never been touched.
> 
> Couple things I took note of:

There's nothing in the parts list that mentions the 1500S engine. 
They just call out engines by their engine prefix and serial number. 
Does this engine have a letter prefix?

> The Carbs have no phenolic isolater blocks on them, that could explain some
> of the hot start issues. did any of the 1500S's lack them?

That's above the manifold and below the carb, right? I can't tell 
from the microfilm. For whatever engine, they just call out a 
"gasket", although there were 2 different "gaskets" called out for 
cars with single port heads and dual carbs.

The same 2 "gaskets" are called out for dual port/dual carb engines.

> This engine has no aluminum finned baffle under the breather, did the early
> cars lack these?

Yes, that was a factory "fix" for too much blowby. I don't recall 
when it started, but it's a good idea to install them retroactively. 
I think that's why every gasket set comes with one.

> The pushrods have these little rings near the ends. what were these supposed
> to be for?

Little rings? I don't know what that might be. I only see one pushrod 
listed.

> The #3 piston had a broken top ring, maybe the Eggman put some cheap
> gas in it? 

In my limited experience, a broken ring is a sign of careless 
installion, unless you also have a broken piston land. You sure this 
engine had never been touched? I agree that it seems unlikely if the 
mileage is accurate, but that mileage is awfully low for a car like 
this. Could it be 133 kmi, or is there a broken speedo cable in its 
past?

> the cylinders look very good and have a lot of the Hone marks still on
> them, the honing looked pretty coarse.  The Domed pistons were in fact
> in it.  I have new 1500 pistons and rings, Im inclined to break the
> glaze and re-use the 1500 cylinders with flat top pistons, but Id have
> to have them ridge-reamed, hopefully RIMCO can do that if they mic out
> OK.  This motor only has 33Kmi on it. 

You can rent a ridge reamer pretty cheaply, but it's a 2-man job to 
do at home, or I'll bet RIMCO can do it (or any local machine shop, 
for that matter.) With this few miles, the ridge is likely mostly 
carbon buildup. If there's significant steel there, then that means 
that there's significant wear to the cylinder at the top of the 
piston ring travel, which would mean that the hone marks would be 
gone there.

Cylinders wear to a bell-mouthed pattern, so you should measure the 
difference in diameter between the bottom and just below the ridge. 
That might also give you a better idea as to the real miles on this 
engine.

-- 
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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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