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wilbeer
Mountain climber
Terence Wilson greeneck alleghenys,ny,
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My good friend Roger Madison slid off the road in his 72 Bus,He sold it to me for 600 bucks.
I blew a head gasket ,1600 motor,just outside of Flagstaff in 79.
I had to hitch to town to find one , the parts store guy did not have one ,but, knew a guy ,who not only had the part ,but ,gave me a ride back to the bus and helped me tear down half of that motor.
Started it up ,said our goodbyes and shut it down and slept for a day.
Man.
Wish I had a pic of that German desert camo 72 Bus,what a machine,all 46 hp.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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we were having skunky luck with the weather on an early season start in the valley. a trio was formed for a road trip to josh in my rig.
although the young ladie's VW squareback was briefly considered, it was ruled out for mechanical reasons involving a repair unique
to aircooled engines; the drilling of the case, rethreading, etc. to relieve horrible pounding at each combustion cyle.
the gas station next to C4 was closed for the evening but a guy would come in to pump gas after hours for card customers in the village.
the attendant fills out the little paper, reaches across the counter for the card and rolls the inky thing across.
it's been an almost awkwardly quiet transaction considering the courtesy rendered.
so as she signs her name, flanked by two dudes and without any preamble or context,
the little miss offers matter of factly, "I have a loose head, I need oversized studs"
having no reason not to take this at face value, the attendant sizes us up, initiating a three way volley of concerned glances
exchanged between the males in the room. squirming commences.
as she sets the pen down and surveys the situation the remark must have echoed in the space between her ears.
to our relief, she led the gang in a bout of hysteria, one of the cherished gut wrenchers from my days in the park
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wilbeer
Mountain climber
Terence Wilson greeneck alleghenys,ny,
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Jan 10, 2019 - 06:47am PT
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Yes.
That motor was like working on a lawn mower compared to more modern VW’s.
Like my Vanagons,I probably had my hands on every part of that Bus at one time or another.
Good times indeed.
BTW, I made it home to NY,but ,that motor never ran right until I did a complete rebuild with head /valve jobs.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 10, 2019 - 08:18am PT
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fortunately never suffered an engine catastrophe in my 1961 bus with a 1964 engine.
There was the comment in the Muir book about getting a temperature sensor for the #4 cylinder, which I did. Rigging it up to a nice VDO gauge on the "dashboard."
Driving would then be at the speed that kept that temperature in a reasonable range (I can't remember what the range was) but it was certainly welcome information on the status of the engine, I think 54 hp?
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Jan 10, 2019 - 09:15am PT
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There is no head gasket on aircooled VW engines
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wilbeer
Mountain climber
Terence Wilson greeneck alleghenys,ny,
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Jan 10, 2019 - 11:31am PT
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I stand corrected ,for sure,I believe it was a head itself. My brain is going away.
It may have been 54 hp as well.lol
After thinking of it for awhile I cannot really remember why I have referred to it as a head gasket,I know I have before. I am not actually sure if it was a head ,or the gaskets that made it lose compression. Maybe they referred to them as cylinder gaskets.
Senior moments.
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Jan 10, 2019 - 12:34pm PT
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Loss of compression on an air cooled is usually a valve issue, burnt or dropped. Most commonly fixed by replacing the head. The copper gasket between the head and cylinder was factory installed on the 1200s. They are sometimes still used as shims, although steel shims are preferred as they more accurately set cylinder volume (CCs). Most rebuilt engines today end up having elevated compression so CCing and shimming the head is mandatory.
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mastadon
Trad climber
crack addict
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Feb 20, 2019 - 07:43am PT
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Sure wish I still had access to this shop to work on my stuff.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Mar 13, 2019 - 02:19pm PT
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ManMountain
Mountain climber
San Diego
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Mar 13, 2019 - 05:42pm PT
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Had six VW cars from 1969 to 1980, bugs, Wagons, Ghias and even a Thing briefly. Fabulous cars on the highway but suffered from overheating in the steep slows. Never got 50,000 miles from any engine before a major rebuild; finally had two engines for each car, the rebuilt engine ready for installation in my basement, to replace the runner which could crater unexpectedly. A simply tow to my house and 30 minutes of switching out and I wuz' good for another 50,000 miles of roaming while I rebuilt the trashed engine.
Lessons learned. Stay stock, original oil cooler, all cooling flanges in place, stock exhaust system with passenger heat system, etc. Boosting hp with a stroked and/or bored engine, big dual carbs, full flow exhausts, etc., invites premature failure.
Your mileage may vary but f**cking with the factory setup is asking for trouble. They're essentially airplane engines which run good @60 mph cruising but blow up crawling and in max 100mph situations.
Glad I switched to similar underpowered water cooled engines, 4 cyl lunchboxes (Subaru/Honda/KIA/Ford) sh#t, much more reliable 150,000+ mile engines. MY Hyundai is at 180,000 miles and still meets factory compression ratio specs. The VW aircooled engine is an anachronism.
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johntp
Trad climber
Punter
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Mar 13, 2019 - 05:48pm PT
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Who's was it?
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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I don’t know why y’all are whining about adjusting the valve clearance. Wear gloves when you pop off the covers, and have a feeler gauge that you don't have to bend to get it there. And don't overtighten the damn nuts (make it easier for you next time.) And while you’re at it set #4 just a shave looser. The valves cool when they’re closed against the seat.
True story. My friend Jean and I drove his ’68 van (IMO an awful year) up to the gunks from NYC. After a day climbing, we drove down to New Paltz for dinner and a beer or three. When we went out the van wouldn’t start. It had spark, it had fuel, it cranked just fine. We were both decent VW mechanics and we were stumped. We figured the camshaft wasn't turning. We were right but didn't rub enough neurons together to Sherlock it out. No matter what we did the damn thing was dead. Finally we took a bus home and came back a week later to tow it home with my Dad’s truck.
Back at home on Staten Island we dropped the motor and began disassembly. Of course, the first things off were the valve covers and the second were the rocker arms. There were no pushrods. Some f+ck had stolen the pushrods. They popped the covers, pulled off the rocker arms (two 13mm nuts, NBD,) took the pushrods and then put the rocker arms and valve covers back together. I’ve always wondered if they needed the parts or if we pissed someone off at the bar who knew how to totally f us up.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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I had a red 1968 - worked well when there was no wind
Did not have gloves
After rebuilding my 1965 bug {all balanced and everything } I recall getting 40 miles per gallon
I was not on the east coast
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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{all balanced and everything }
As in measuring the weight of each piston and rod? I love that sh+it.
They all had a burr of metal designed to be filed off to match weight. Find the lightest one and proceed. Have a motor that sings.
I won't say what else that fine scale was used for...
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Did not have a scale!
Had associates who dealt in bulk!
The shoppe did it for me - cheap :)
I think it was 41.1 mpg
Edit
Had a friend who loaned me the crankshaft gauge (he worked at a dealership)
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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I was riding in a friend’s car, going through the town of Tupper Lake, New York (in the Adirondack Mtns.) We passed a house which had a nice looking ‘64 VW van in the front yard with a 4 SALE sign on it. We stopped, and I was looking over the very clean van, when a grumpy old guy came out of the house and barked “Fifty bucks and it’s yours, but you don’t want it. Damn motor seized again!”
I went to the back and opened the engine compartment lid and began to inspect the motor. It looked new. I grabbed hold of the lower pulley on the end of the crankshaft and pulled and pushed. It had about the right end play, which you could feel on those motors, so I knew the crank wasn’t seized. Then I saw it. Looking in the opening in the generator (where the brushes are) I could see a tangled mess of freshly shredded copper.
I called the old guy over and told him that I thought the generator armature had disintegrated and that was keeping the motor from turning over. He basically told me “F*ck off, you didn’t know sh*t. If you want it cough up the fifty bucks.”
I paid him and he signed over the slip and gave me the keys.
While he watched, I took out my Swiss Army knife, cut the generator / fan belt, started it up and drove it off his lot. Of course I had to park it a few blocks away, before it could overheat. I got a replacement generator for about $35.00 and had a great van. I drove by the old coot’s house many times over the next few years and always tooted the horn.
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