Re: 1960 SO-23 A.K.A. Gunther
Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2017 6:56 pm
Then the rolling black cloud named 6Volt came down and Marla's luck turned to $hit. I put a timing light on it and the timing seemed like it was off quite a bit but I wanted to verify TDC. I put a wrench on the engine to find TDC and things went really south from there. I had Sean take a video but it's laced with inappropriate language so I won't post it here. The engine will barely turn over with all my might on a crescent wrench. WTF? I thought maybe the starter had bound into the flywheel or the FW/clutch was rubbing on the bellhousing so I pulled the starter out to find nothing. At this point it's starting to look like it's internal which is bad. Really bad.
Out she comes. Somebody's Beetle was on the rack so here I am, lying on the floor like a dog.
On the bench the engine takes way too much torque to turn but it has a funny little free spot of about 1" at the pulley where it turns free. 80 ft/lb? WTF?
I tell Sean the only time I've seen that is a seized main and mucked up main bearing dowel. Man, I had to open my big mouth. Off to Rizz's it goes.
Meanwhile I might as well look it over so I corrected a bunch of little stuff that wasn't up to my standards. Wiring, cleaning connections, adjusting the brakes, clutch, st box, greasing the front end, filling the leaky trans, lubing sticky door latches and hinges, cleaning grounds, all stupid little maintenance stuff. I shortened and installed a throttle Bowden tube because she didn't have one and I don't like the throttle cable swinging in the breeze above the tranny the way VW did. I checked the lights to find the LR messed up. Pull the housing to bead blast it and it probably should be replaced but I don't have one. Put it on the swap meet list. .
Get the motor from Riz and it looks perfect, stick it in and it runs great. I think the little stuff probably made a bigger difference in how the bus drives than the new engine!
The only thing I don't like is the crankcase breather. Who's a 40hp guru that can tell me what's wrong here? If it were me I'd ditch the draft tube, weld a nipple on the air cleaner and go that route. I've looked at pictures on Samba until I'm blue in the face. Some have a nipple on the AC for the hose but most don't. How should this be set up?
Out she comes. Somebody's Beetle was on the rack so here I am, lying on the floor like a dog.
On the bench the engine takes way too much torque to turn but it has a funny little free spot of about 1" at the pulley where it turns free. 80 ft/lb? WTF?
I tell Sean the only time I've seen that is a seized main and mucked up main bearing dowel. Man, I had to open my big mouth. Off to Rizz's it goes.
Meanwhile I might as well look it over so I corrected a bunch of little stuff that wasn't up to my standards. Wiring, cleaning connections, adjusting the brakes, clutch, st box, greasing the front end, filling the leaky trans, lubing sticky door latches and hinges, cleaning grounds, all stupid little maintenance stuff. I shortened and installed a throttle Bowden tube because she didn't have one and I don't like the throttle cable swinging in the breeze above the tranny the way VW did. I checked the lights to find the LR messed up. Pull the housing to bead blast it and it probably should be replaced but I don't have one. Put it on the swap meet list. .
Get the motor from Riz and it looks perfect, stick it in and it runs great. I think the little stuff probably made a bigger difference in how the bus drives than the new engine!
The only thing I don't like is the crankcase breather. Who's a 40hp guru that can tell me what's wrong here? If it were me I'd ditch the draft tube, weld a nipple on the air cleaner and go that route. I've looked at pictures on Samba until I'm blue in the face. Some have a nipple on the AC for the hose but most don't. How should this be set up?