[T3] Oil cooler seals.

[William Jahn]

I didn't know they got deformed over time. My strainer is old and the
original holes seemed fine. What I didn't foresee were the holes in the
sump plate fit  tighter on the studs. I didn't hit it hard with the hammer
hitting the small ball peen just enough to bring down the raised area .
Most of the leveling was done with a file.  I even looked at each hole saw
a slight ridge on the gasket face and cleared that away with a countersink
just to remove the ridge and used a sharp blade to remove any burr's. It
went on and seated with a push yet didn't try to fall off like it's always
done. I doubt I shrunk the holes  that much. Maybe because it is now flat
is what caused the difference. Or just sight hammer blows on the ball peen
did shrink the holes just a bit. I saw one video with a fellow really
pounding the plate with a good sized ball pen to get the holes level, his
plate needed more force to seat it down. Think it was Airhead parts.

On Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 7:24 AM Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:

> Sounds like you did a nice job. It's amazing how that thick plate gets
> deformed over time, even though no one ever overtightened those nuts, but
> most of them are at least slightly deformed by now, and, yes, the
> aftermarket
> replacements are all junk.
>
> I also like to take a tapered reamer to the holes in the strainer. Those
> get
> pounded inwards over time, making the strainer hard to remove. Taking a
> bit
> off with the reamer makes R/R of the strainer much easier.
>
> Jim
>
> On 27 Jun 2020 at 17:51, William Jahn wrote:
>
> > Jim :
> >  I changed the oil today, used Valvoline VR1 , had enough left for one
> oil
> > change.
> > What I never checked was the sump plate and I used the one off the 72
> which
> > has the drain plug. I needed it because the 73 plate was really butchered
> > and because I wanted to add a VDO temp sensor all I knew about were the
> > ones they offered for the sump.
> >
> >  I drove the car to get the oil really warmed up then it drained better
> and
> > while I cleaned the screen and plate I decided to check the plate for
> > flatness around the 6 holes. I always just cleaned it , never over
> > tightened the  cap nuts. I decided to check it and the 6 holes were
> dimpled
> > . I did the best I could with a ball peen hammer , plate on hardwood
> > striking the ball peen with another hammer. It was better yet still not
> > flat so I filed each hole flat and then polished the surface with wet
> /dry
> > 600 . I also discovered since I didn't want to ruin the sender I removed
> it
> > and it was too easy maybe 3 ft lbs. I had good copper drain crush washers
> > and replaced that. Today I put it all back together. This time I only
> used
> > a nut driver and 10 mm socket and did the same star pattern three times
> > with maybe 20 minutes between just to allow the gasket Felpro brand to
> > compress. I didn't file off much. Maybe .010" the plate is still plenty
> > thick. I had an old Empi chrome plate yet it was complete garbage,
> nothing
> > like the original and certainly not what I would consider flat.
> >
> >  I don't know why I never checked the plate around the holes, I just
> looked
> > at it, cleaned it and back on it went. I just assumed since I never over
> > tightened it it was fine.
> >
> >  I know there are other leaks yet the plate always seems to develop oil
> > drops on the 6 cap nuts. Maybe now this will slow things down. Nothing
> > looked like much gray sludge, just a bit of black bits that were not
> > magnetic, Turns out I had to tighten the two cap breather and I did this
> > after the last oil change and as you know to get at the nut you need to
> > remove the barrel and washer . I cleaned those yet some of that crud had
> to
> > drop down in the sump just pulling them out.
> >
> > William
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Jun 20, 2020 at 9:57 AM Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:
> >
> > > On 20 Jun 2020 at 9:08, William Jahn wrote:
> > >
> > > > where I do see fresh oil is on the bottom tins and of course the
> floor,
> > > > especially if I have the engine running
> > >
> > > Once upon a time, I had a rather moderate leak on an engine that I had
> > > just
> > > rebuilt. Eventually I discovered that this was around the oil sump
> plate.
> > > When I had bolted the engine case halves together, I assumed they would
> > > line up perfectly on their own, but on that case, the 2 sides didn't
> quite
> > > match. There was a "step" at the case seam, about 1/2 mm high. The oil
> > > change gaskets couldn't quite seal that much of a mismatch. This step
> was
> > > easily felt when I ran a finger around that gasket surface, but I had
> not
> > > thought to do that as I assembled the engine.
> > >
> > > At the next oil change, I was able to loosen all the nuts along the
> bottom
> > > case seam and work the 2 sides back into alignment. It didn't take any
> > > real
> > > effort, so I don't know what I did wrong in the original assembly
> process,
> > > but
> > > this is something I always check now.
> > >
> > > Of course, I've also come across sumps where someone left half a gasket
> > > stuck to the case. That's also something a new gasket won't seal.
> > >
> > > --
> > > *******************************
> > > Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> > > Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> > > *******************************
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> --
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
>
> _______________________________________________
> VWType3.Org mailing list - type3 at vwtype3.org
> To unsubscribe or change subscription options, visit:
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