[T3] AT pan gasket "fix"

[Jim Adney <jadney@vwtype3.org>]

For those of you who have gone thru the trouble of getting a distorted AT pan 
gasket to reseal, I think I have a kind of a fix.

Well, it's not really a fix, because once the pan is distorted you have a 
difficult problem. What I have is a way to keep the pan from distorting in the 
first place.

The pan is held on by 13 8mm bolts. The pan distorts because the bolts exert 
all their clamping force right around the inner edge of the bolt hole. It 
doesn't take much overtightening to bend this lip inwards, so that the pan is 
no longer flat. If you've done this job, you already know that the torque spec 
on these bolts is already quite low: 7 ft-lb. If you try to give these just a 
bit more tightness you'll ruin your pan.

I've found some very strong Belleville washers which are also called conical 
disk springs and just look like deformed (conical, not wavy) flat washers. If 
you put these under those bolt heads (with the large end of the cone against 
the pan) the bolt force will be spread over a perimeter that is more than 
double that of the original setup. This means that we are now less than half as 
likely to bend the pan. I still don't recommend increasing the torque.

$15 will get a set of 15 (2 spares!) of these special heavy-duty Belleville 
washers delivered to your door.

I just installed these on my '71 and they fit perfectly. Just remember to leave 
out the original split ring lockwashers when you install these. You can install 
them without removing the pan or disturbing the gasket if you just remove every 
3rd bolt at a time and reinstall.

Email me privately if you're interested.

-- 
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*******************************

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ Shameless link for search engines: http://listarchive.type3.org ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~