Paying the Piper (9 months later)

I made an original cut at a cost list early on in this project when I still naively thought that I was going to fluff and buff the engine, perhaps replace a bunch of hoses and wear items and bring old Ferdinand back to life. It just goes to show that there is no fool like an old fool. And when it comes to vintage cars, I am certainly an old fool.

Expenses on this project since November 2012:

Engine: $2375 Planned, purchased ($775), yet to be purchased $1600

• Webcam 142 Camshaft, Lifters, Cam gear $332 (Alamo Motorsports) 
• 021-198-541 Cam Bearings $29 (Aircooled.Net)
• 029-198-009 Reinz Gasket Set $70 (Aircooled.Net)
• AA 94mm Pistons & Cylinders $220 (Aircooled.Net)
• 022-109-451 Valve Adjusters $52 (European Motorworks)
• 029-105-245B Flywheel crank seal $10 (Aircooled.Net)
• 021-105-247A Rear crank seal $10 (Aircooled.Net)
• 039-105-701 Rod Bearings $24 (Auto Atlanta)
• 1700cc Heads Bored out 2000cc & rebuilt $500 (europeanautomachine.com)
• All other conversion tin and heat valves ($90, Litchfield show)
• New Durability upgraded AMC heads from Suburban Engine: $150 (These have turned out to be scrap, but that's how the ball bounces. A buck-fifty, down the toilet.)
• NOS Magnafluxed Crankshaft $100 (Clark, Thunder Bay)
• NOS Connecting Rods $100 (Clark, Thunder Bay)
• NOS Kolbenschmidt Main Bearings $50 (Clark, Thunder Bay)
• VW Factory Rebuilt  GE Type4 crankcase $285 (John Connolly, aircooled.net)
• 071-251-053EK Ernst Right Exit Muffler and Kit $250 (Bus Depot)
• 113-101-157C Metal Cam plug $2 (aircooled.net)

Engine Accessories: $701 (Replacing all external parts and hoses)
    consisting of planned and purchased ($683)

• Custom Fabricated PCV Hose: $32.50 (GeeBee Racing, thesamba)
• Custom Fabricated Decel Hose: $45.50 (GeeBee Racing, thesamba)
• Custom Fabricated S-Boot: $75 (GeeBee Racing, thesamba)
• General Vacuum Hose $4 (Advance Autoparts)
• General EVAP hose $4 (Advance Autoparts)
• Watts Vinyl Hose 1/2"ID x 10ft, $3 (Evap Can to Air Cleaner Housing, Home Depot)
• Fuel Filter $7 (BD)
• Battery Cables 2AWG: $20 (Autozone)
• 4x FI hose clamps: $3 (Autozone)
• 1 meter 3/8" J30R9 FI hose: $12 (Autozone)
• 1 meter 1/4" J30R9 FI hose: $12 (Autozone)
• Replacement Points set: $8.50 (Autozone)
• Intake Manifold Boots ($15, BD)
• Throttle Body Gasket ($6, BD)
• Ex Manifold Copper Gaskets 5 ($7.50, BD)
• Used T2B Heat Exchangers ($265, Bob Hays)
• VDO Fuel Press Gauge ($25, JEGS)
• Gates 27336 3/8" Barricade Hose ($11, OEHQ)
• 2x Gates 27335 5/16" Barricade Hose ($20, OEHQ)
• 4x Sorenson Fuel Injectors ($114, Autozone)
• 021-199-231C Rear Engine Mount x2 $18 (Aircooled.net)

• M8x1.25x12mm Qty 25 (Bolt Depot) $11.53
• M6x1.00x12mm Qty 12 (Bolt Depot) $7.05
• M6x1.00x16mm Qty 12 (Bolt Depot) $7.88
• Plug wires: $80 (Holy Frijole!)
• Sparkplugs NGK BP6ET, 14mm x 3/4" Threads, 13/16" Socket : 4x $20 (aircooled.net)

Here's what I started with: $5500 budget from the sale of a Restored 1972 Beetle

-$1500 Purchase price for 1977 VW Bus

-$100 tow

-$683 external parts installed or required to date

-$775 Engine crankcase and Internals to date 

Still left in the kitty: $2442

Still needed to complete the engine: $1013

Walt Disney was Right

"Do not be fooled by its common place appearance. Like so many things, it is what is on the inside that counts." - Alladin

Call it a moral victory. I have done everything short of file the rough spots on this case down with my tongue. I just hit the 'point of no return.'

Last time I described the nasty surprise I found in the form of a beat out bearing saddle. Tonight I met the 'final straw.' SOME GOON BUGGERED THE THREADS ON THE OIL DRAIN AND HEILCOILED IT!

There. I feel better. The picture is not of my engine because I don't think I can bear to take any more pictures of it. This is on a poor Mazda.

In theory, there is nothing wrong with a Helicoil to limp by when the threads are stripped, though I prefer a TimeSert, which is a much more elegant solution and more robust, as well. But this was finally it. Removing this Helicoil and then renting the tool to install the TimeSert, as well as the TimeSert itself, plus the cost, delay and aggrevation.... We're done here.

To reassure myself that I wasn't simply blowing my stack in frustration, I made a list of how much it was going to cost me to save this crankcase so I could put brand new internals into it. I didn't like the numbers so I rearranged them. Unsurprisingly, the total dollar figure didn't change. Here's what a competent shop (Like AJ Simms' LowBugget) in Orange County, California would charge for the work that I would need on this case:

• $130 for align bore (If I can find someone closer than Virgina, Conneticut or Georgia who is qualified to do the work.)
• $50 hot tank cleaning
• $85 oil gallery drill and tap (to provide the oil galleries with a thorough cleaning after being machined)
• $20 oil gallery plugs
• $50 timesert drain plug (insert plus tool rental)
• $50 reweld breather tower tang (Which I busted off trying to get this ooey-gooey case apart according to directions.)
• $90 for a set of SilverLine steelbacked .50/STD/STD mainbearings to replace the STD/STD/STD Kolbenschmidt steelbacked mainbearings I've already purchased. (So in a way, I'd be in it for the combined price of both bearing sets.)

That'll be $475. Which doesn't sound like much, but this crankcase is not the Hope diamond. Why am I going through heroics trying to save THIS case?

Because I'd love for this build to be 'numbers matching' which means that I've forgotten the vision statement for this project: "Don't restore it ... make it run reliably." So it won't be numbers matching. Because I'm not building it for preservation, I'm rebuilding this vehicle to HAVE FUN in with my family.

So Vaya con Dios, ya poor jerk. There's going to have to be a replacement case and I found just the ticket: John Connolly at aircooled.net happens to be selling a VW Factory Reconditioned Type4 crankcase for substantially less than half of what it would cost me to repair my present crankcase.

Here's the same breakdown for the Factory Rebuilt crankcase:

Crankcase, Shipped from Utah: $285

• $130 for align bore NOT NEEDED! STD/STD/STD ON CRANKSHAFT!
• $50 hot tank cleaning ALREADY DONE
• $85 oil gallery drill and tap ALREADY DONE
• $20 oil gallery plugs
• $50 timesert drain plug NOT NEEDED
• $50 reweld breather tower tang NOT NEEDED
• $90 for a set of SilverLine steelbacked .50/STD/STD mainbearings. NOT NEEDED

Let's call the lady in the picture 'Oma.' Oma built these engines in the factory. Oma is my friend because with the Factory Rebuilt case that I'm getting from John, I will have (wait for it; this is hilarious) replaced all of the components of the engine except the alternator and some assorted bracketry. I'm assembling my new engine from all new parts and just keeping the valve covers, eh?

Bloody Type 4 engine. I shouldn't carp about the impossibility of finding parts; if anything, good deals have blessedly continued to fall into my lap. But they keep doing so because the sellers 'don't have any use for these parts' anymore. Built right, I'll be sporting a walker or a wheelchair the next time this engine needs to be replaced. But I find it a real knee slapper that after having wasted the better part of a year carefully analyzing the engine to see how much I could save, to determine that it is only the tin-work and accessories that are worth keeping is pretty shabby. If I'd tossed the engine out and started fresh back in December, I'd be driving it by now.

Instead, we get progressive revelation. Oh well.

The Case of the Hidden Razor Blade

I bottomed out in a new emotional low on Sunday night. I picked up my pretty kit of micrometers and snap gages, and trudged out to the garage in the +95° heat and started doing my measurements on the main bearing saddles of the case. Remember, this is the crankcase that I was told "these engines are built like an Ox! You should be able to clean it up, put in new bearings and reassemble."

Bolllocks.

Like a chump, I had left the main and cam bearings in the saddles (held in place by their alignment dowels) until I was ready to do the thrust measurements for each bearing saddle. "Thrust" measures the front to rear slop of each bearing inline with the crankshaft. Add up all of the 'thrust' slop and you have a total potential for what is called 'End Play' which isn't as kinky as it sounds. It means 'how much total total distance the crankshaft and flywheel can float forward and backward in the case. There are shims which you can add at the flywheel end that can reduce end play to a carefully calibrated range between .003" and .005" so the flywheel doesn't drift too much, but isn't so tight that it grabs the #1 bearing (zero distance) and eats it at 4000 RPM. (Bearings are not supposed to spin!). I carefully removed each of the bearings and alignment dowels and stored the set away and then took a good look. Great googly-moogly.

I saw that the bearing saddle for the #2 crank journal was looking...odd. But I decided for my own sanity that I was going to start at #1 (the flywheel end) and work my way back to #4 at the impeller (fan) end.

One oddity about how I work on my cars now is that I wear gloves. Always. I always wear nitrile exam gloves that are a skin tight. This isn't because I'm some priss afraid to get his hands dirty. (Though I don't like it and it is a nuisance.) It is because I earn the bread that my family eats with my hands. They type very, very fast in a high pressure job, where my keyboard has all of the lettering worn off and the keycaps polished to a gloss like Dath Vader's helmet. I cannot afford damage to my hands, as the computer environment I work in doesn't use a mouse. Two years ago I busted my collar bone and was out of work for 5 weeks. I almost lost the job. To injure my hands in some of these antics is courting disaster, so I protect them all the time.

Wearing those nitrile gloves has other benefits though: they not only keep the grease out from under my fingernails, when my hands have become completely caked with grease from wrestling something into or out of position, I can take a break and put on a fresh set of gloves. Clean hands in 15 seconds. And rather than the slip of a screwdriver slicing open my hand, it just slices open the glove and my hand gets away with a mild to moderate scratch. Very handy, those gloves.

I saw the edge of the bearing saddle on the #2 and ran my hand across it...and my glove split open across my palm! I got strong light into the area, looked closely and felt sick.

See what appears to be a chamfer across the bottom edge there? That's not a chamfer or bevel. It is a lip of metal sticking out and overhanging the vertical portion of the bearing saddle. And the horizontal edge sliced open the glove on my palm like a cut-throat straight razor. Carefully dragging a fingernail up from the bottom to the face of the saddle will cause it to STOP against the huge lip pounded onto the edge of that saddle.

The steel bearing that fits in this saddle has been pounded so hard and so long that it has deformed the underlying metal of the saddle, despite the reputation of these cases for being 'virtually bullet proof.' Certainly I can have it align bored, removing perhaps .5mm of metal from the surface of the saddles. But then I'll need to drive the case at least 2 hours and pay $120-150 for the work. The OEM Kolbenschmidt bearings won't fit, either. They're 'Standard/Standard' aka not machined larger on the saddle side to take up the space removed, nor made larger on the inside diameter to make up for a crankshaft that has had to be trimmed 1/100th of an inch to remove grooves or burrs. These bearings go to waste if I don't have a perfect crank, and a perfect case to put them in.

What's a girl to do?