The Fastest Air-Cooled VW in Lake County, Oregon...

[ryan68bug]

Managed to get the pulley loose last night... had to finigle the repaired/braced puller tool in place, tighten it, whack the bolt head with a hammer a couple of times and then wiggle it off with a pair of screwdrivers, but it's off.  Oil pump is starting to come out, but I've all but killed my puller trying to get the cast iron pump out.  Next step is trying to figure out how to get the pump out the rest of the way, as she's a stubborn one.  I hope I have to install it only one more time as it's a real bear. Lol.

[ryan68bug]

No new updates other than my grandfather passed away early Saturday morning and the oil pump is still 1/3 of the way out of the case.

[CatBox]

Sorry to hear that the man.

[ryan68bug]

Yup, it's rough, but I'm glad the suffering is over.  Funeral is Wednesday, and I look forward to seeing family and what not, but it sure is tough accepting that he's gone.

I'll probably get to the car again this week, but I think I need a new pump puller.  I've got some other things I need to order for a 1600 I'm putting back together, so it's good timing, I reckon.

[ryan68bug]

No new updates as of late, hoping to get back out to the shop this weekend and try to finish things up to see where we're at with the cast iron oil pump.  I finally got it out by removing the exhaust system and finagling the oil pump puller (my old one that's taco'd, lol) in there at a funky angle.  It appears my struggle was with the fact that the studs must have been in crooked when I redrilled and helicoiled the case.  Minus the studs, the pump pulls out relatively easily with the puller.  My new pump puller broke immediately, as it was barely welded together; thank you, EMPI.  Good thing it was only four bucks.
So now I need to redo the helicoil for the pump studs and, if necessary, enlarge the pump's mounting holes for the studs and cut a new gasket.  Then put it all back together and see where we are.

[CatBox]

 

And you got what you paid for on the pump puller.....


 

Keep at it the man!

[ryan68bug]

It was literally one partial turn and it snapped... I was so irritated.  Lol.  Got the puller good and snug, starter to tighten the nut to pull the pump out, and it just snapped.

[CatBox]

Bet'cha won't do that again!

Thats ok you're out there gettin' it done.
Thats all that matters.

 

[ryan68bug]

Re-helicoiled the pump stud holes today, got everything back together and the upper right corner of the cast iron pump broke off... it appears the helicoil pulled out of the case, too.
So that's all she wrote, I reckon.  I'm done screwing around chasing my tail.
I will say that I learned a vital lesson with the importance of starting with a very sound base to begin with, which apparently I did not, if not for the line bore factor than certainly by the fact this case is 40 years old and has been around the block tons.

[CatBox]

Dude bummer!

[ryan68bug]

It's a blessing for other VW enthusiasts, though, they will reap the benefits of parts I can no longer use.. once I have the motivation to do so, I'm pulling the engine, tearing it down and parting it out.  Sometimes a guy has to have the stomach to say, 'enough is enough' and just move on.

[ryan68bug]

Alright, I'm either stubborn or incredible dense...lol... one last shot.  A local guy I've bought parts from before has a couple dual relief cases laying around in his stash.  He set a tentative price of $75 each on them.  I'm going to see if he has one that hasn't been all line bored to hell and isn't cracked/warped, etc.  If he has one, I can likely afford the needed machine work to put this thing together again... if not, then I'm done for good with it.  I definitely will not pay $800 plus for a brand new case... I can't justify that for a hobby plaything.

[CatBox]

Good for you the man!

Don't give up!  It can be saved!

Oh and of course $800 for a new case AND piece of mind for your investment is not such a bad thing when you get all bored of the small stature of your engine when it becomes a bigger turbo charged fire breathing monsta!

Its just the natural progression of things.

I once had a '72 Nova that was fun to drive......then I got used to it and wanted more so it wasn't as much fun to drive.....then I sold it.

I can imagine when that happens yet again I will be stepping up the program another couple of notches and that $800 case will be an investment.

 
Don't stop rockin'

[ryan68bug]

As funny as it is, I really need the main bearings out of the 2017 for a 1600 I need to put together and sell, as they're the exact same size (.060 case, .010 crank, first oversize on the thrust).  So if I can get the 2.0 liter out and apart, I can yard out those bearings, put the 1600 together, hopefully SELL it as a turnkey or close to it and fund this little 'do over.' 

If I can't find a case relatively affordable, I'll likely keep the 1600 so the car remains a runner and pursue something 'someday.'  Right now I'm learning all sorts of cool things can be done with those 5horse Briggs motors for mini bikes...lol.  And not too terribly expensive, either.  If it has an engine on it, I gravitate towards it. Heh.

[ryan68bug]

Just acquired another case, standard/standard on all saddles and thrust area, thanks to John Bates of SOVW.org (stealth67vw).  Gave me a great deal, just need to get 'er stroker clearanced and possibly cylinder areas decked.  Not dead in the water yet!