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On 6 Jun 2004 at 21:45, Russ Wolfe wrote: > On Sun, 2004-06-06 at 21:39, Jim Adney wrote: > > > One of the things that Berg automatically does when he balances a type 3 engine > > is to weld the fan to the hub. He claims that they tend to get loose and lose > > the balance otherwise. > > How many miles did Berg put on his T-3 engines?? > How many hours did VW invest in designing that fan?? > I wonder who is right?? All I can tell you is that the engines I've built, which Berg balanced this way all lasted at least 10 years/100 kmiles. They got retired when the bodies rusted away around them. Mike W. is now driving one of them around NYC, with no problems (knock on wood) with the fan so far. My personal take on the rubber mount is that it is a damping system as I related in my response to "harmonic damping." I agree that doing away with this feature is unfortunate, but I've seen a few stock fans come loose from their hubs, so even VW's solution wasn't perfect. I actually had a phone conversation with Gary Berg about this about 15 years ago and I found him thoughtful and informative on the subject. One of these days I'd like to take apart the hub of a completely destroyed fan, just to see what the construction is like. If anyone has a destroyed fan that they would care to contribute, I'll offer to cut it apart and report on what I find. I'd like to point out that there is a harmonic damper on one of my favorite motorcycles, the BMW R69S. This damper has replacable rubber parts so that they can be replaced when they have worn out. They "wear out" because they are there to absorb vibrational energy which they turn into heat, making them hot. It is likely that our parts also get hot and perish after some finite lifetime, so at this point, 30-40 years later, it may be reasonable to assume that all of ours are "worn out." If that's the case, there would be no loss in welding the hubs. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org