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

[Keith Park]

> 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?

No, just starts with an 069....

> 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.

Hmmm, maybe I should add some if I can find them.

> 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.

That's good to know!

> 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?

This is 8.4:1 compression, so if you put 87 octane in it you cant even drive
it around the block without knock.  I *suspect* that's what did it, from the
carbon build up on the cylinder wall there I think its been broken for a
long time. This motor has never been apart, the screws were all perfect
virgins, no broken fins, nothing bent, everything they way it should be and
with the hone marks still on the cylinders Im convinced its 33Kmi, the oil
change stickers and other things also paint the same picture.  The engine in
my 71 has 133K on it, and when I did the heads at 110K there was not a
single hone mark to be found, it was a pretty loose motor.  The ridge
doesn't seem bad, let me get the carbon off and mic things out and see where
I stand. Ill post some pix to the Samba too.

> 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.

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

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