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Re: [T3] Report on Mike Wodkowski's engine


<x-charset iso-8859-1>3 different kinds of pistons?  that must have been a joy to balance!!
Perhaps that or an out of balance clutch/flywheel is what took out #1 main.


Keith

Keith Park

Top Notch Restorations
topnotch@nycap.rr.com
71 Squareback
65 Notchback
65 Squareback
75 Opel
87 Golf
88 Rx7 10th Anniversary

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jim Adney <jadney@vwtype3.org>
To: <type3@vwtype3.org>; Mike Wodkowski <wodkowski@mac.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2001 9:00 PM
Subject: [T3] Report on Mike Wodkowski's engine


> I finally finished taking apart Mike's engine, so I can report on what 
> I found.
> 
> Report on Mike Wodkowski's engine
> 
> Mike's 72 type 3 engine had been rebuilt a couple of years ago and 
> run after that with dual Weber carbs. Mike had had continuing 
> difficulties with it and eventually traded it in for a complete 72 type 
> 3 engine with FI which I had built. This is what I found when I took 
> his engine apart.  
> 
> The thermostat linkage had come apart so that the cooling air flaps 
> were open all the time.  
> 
> The rearmost cylinder head stud on the lower right side had been 
> pulled out of the case about 1/4".  
> 
> There were 2 different brands of cylinders and 3 different kinds of 
> pistons in the engine. The #1 piston had a broken top ring and I 
> THINK it was installed upside down.  
> 
> The fan housing screws were loose and would have come all the 
> way out soon, making the usual racket and requiring disassembly 
> to fix.  
> 
> Both heads were the late (72-3) style with the breathers, but both 
> were rights, thus there was no boss for the FI temp sensor. 
> Someone had drilled and tapped one of the cooling fins for a temp 
> sensor and there was one still in there, with its lead cut off. I have 
> not disassembled the heads, but they look to be in reasonable 
> condition.  
> 
> There were a couple of stripped studs in the oil sump.  
> 
> The bearings were all standard. The case has never been align 
> bored, but it should have been. There was a wear ridge on the #1 
> main bearing saddle where I am not used to seeing one. The ridge 
> on the #2 saddle was the normal one which would have required an 
> align bore, but the #1 ridge was actually worse. The bearings 
> themselves looked pretty reasonable, but it was clear that they had 
> been loose in the case, so oil pressure could not have been good.  
> 
> The six O-rings that seal around the 6 main bearing studs were all 
> baked so hard that they actually made a small "clink" when 
> dropped on the concrete driveway. I doubt if they had been 
> replaced at the rebuild. I had to break them to get them off the 
> studs because they would not stretch at all to get over the threads. 
>  
> The front seal was the late red silicone style and looks "new." I'll 
> reuse it. The flywheel shims look just fine, and I think we measured 
> the free play when we took the engine apart and it was just slightly 
> over spec. I think it would have been fine but for the main bearings 
> being loose in the case.  
> 
> The crank gears are in fine shape, but the spacer ring between the 
> gears was quite loose. I like to tighten those up when I do a rebuild 
> just to keep things stable.  
> 
> Given all the things that were wrong, I'd say that this engine swap 
> was done at a good time. Left alone, the loose bearings would have 
> done this engine in soon, and the broken piston ring and pulled 
> stud probably would have lead to significant loss of power.  
> 
> -
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Search old messages on the Web!  Visit http://www.vwtype3.org/list/
> 
> 

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