[T3] Max rpm

[Dennis Stiefel]

On 5 Apr 2014 at 8:08, Dennis Stiefel wrote:

> The first 1641 (stock bottom end) I had in her took it up to 60 MPH in 
> 2nd gear. Of course that engine didn't last but a year and a half. 
> Death by 18 year old.  I still to this day wonder what the RPMs were.

It's rather easy to tell an engine that's been over-revved when you take it
apart. 

The first thing you find are little brite wear rings on all the pushrods.
That seems puzzling at first, because there's nothing that they could touch,
but then you realize that if they started to flex, as in bow out under
compression, there are several places where they can touch. Touching like
that on a regular basis will leave a shiny ring where the usual oil
darkening has been worn away.

When you split the case halves, you'll find the #2 main bearing worn
excessively. Once I clean up all the parts, I like to put the 2 bare case
halves back together and check to see if the 2 halves of the center web, the
ones that support the #2 main bearing, still come back together without a
gap between them. It should not be possible to get any size feeler gauge in
there.

I've seen cases where there was more than 1 mm of gap, even with those 2
center main studs fully tightened. Any chance you might have of reasonable
oil pressure gets lost when the oil can spill out like that.

A counterweighted crank will keep that from happening at almost any rpm.

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

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Gosh that was so long ago I don't remember much on how that engine looked
like on the inside. I do remember the case was unsalvageable because the
crank had beat main bearings in the case that had in turn made ruts so deep
in the case they was no hope of line boring it again. What told me I had to
go back in the engine was when the oil pressure started to drop and when I
engaged the clutch you could feel the crank hopping in the case so bad the
vibration traveled up the clutch cable to the clutch pedal. I have a
counterweight crank in this engine and have no plans to take it up to 60 in
2nd again. 


Dennis Stiefel
72 Fastback FI MT
71 STD. Beetle
67 Ford F-100 (hart of Crown Vic)
Rainsville, AL