Project Slowly Underway: Berrien 295

[vanapplebomb]

Things have been pretty busy lately. Most of the mess from the move has been cleaned up, thank goodness. Still have a few boxes of stuff to sort through, then that will be over and done with. Been going to job interviews the past week with a couple more coming up in the next week. Hopefully I can find a decent engineering position at a good company in the area.

Had some spare time last night and earlier today that I was able to work on some stuff.

Last night I glued the oil sump gaskets to the oil strainer with a small bit of Permatex Ultra Copper. The gaskets have a raw side and a waxy side...for lack of better words. I applied a thin smear of the Permatex Ultra Copper to the raw side of the two gaskets with my finger and then stuck a gasket on either side of the oil strainer. I had cut a couple slices of 3inch schedule 40 PVC pipe to apply even clamping pressure on the gaskets and oil strainer as the Ultra Copper set up overnight. I took a sanding drum and opened up one of the slices of PVC pipe so it would fit over the strainer. Didn't take much, just a little light sanding. I used lots of clamps to try to keep clamping pressure as even as possible. No need to crank them down hard. You don't want to crush the gaskets, just snug them up lightly to keep some light pressure on the gaskets as the Ultra Copper sets up.






I undid the clamps this morning and trimmed any squeeze out off the oil strainer. The gaskets/oil strainer are good for several removals and installations. Gluing the gaskets on just makes life easier down the road by combining three separate parts into a single assembly. :wink:




Installation time. Slide the oil strainer up into the case, then use the fancy sump cover nut with an aluminum crush ring to attach the sump cover. The aluminum crush ring comes in the gasket kit. The sealing rings, both aluminum and copper varieties in the gasket set, are made by encapsulating a rubber o-ring with a thin sheathing of either aluminum or copper. They crush against surfaces to create a long lasting leak free seal. Since they crush beyond all recognition, they can only be used once. Once you remove any fastener sealed by a crush ring, you must get and instal a fresh crush ring.





VERY IMPORTANT!!! DO NOT over torque the sump cover nut. 9 Ft*Lbs is the absolute maximum torque you should use. VW provides a very specific torque value to this nut for a reason. If you crank it down like some Bozo at a service shop that doesn't use torque wrenches, you have a very good chance of cracking the case where the oil pickup tube hanger bolt crosses though the case halves. The high frequency of cases cracking around the oil pickup tube hanger bolt is NOT a weakness of the case, it is the result of some bonehead using the wrong tool for the job. This is why you must inspect this area of the T4 case so carefully. If someone over torqued it at some point during it's former life, and a crank hardly even visible developed as a result, the next time you torque your sump cover nut it is game over. I have never seen a single case crack at the oil pickup tube hanger bolt location when torqued using a proper torque wrench at the specified torque value. VW engineers knew the limit of how much stress that area of the case could withstand and provided a torque value accordingly. USE IT or it is your own dang fault if that boss lets go! Sorry, end of my rant.

[vanapplebomb]

Controversial, I know, but I stake in oil galley plugs. They rarely ever blow out on these cases to begin with, but a little extra insurance isn't a bad thing.




Oil pressure relief and control valves reinstalled. I couldn't dig up any specific torque values of the two funky kinds of bolts retaining the springs and pistons. I asked around, but no solid answers. Since they have crush rings, I didn't want to over do it, so I did things a little bit by eye. The first pressure relief assembly adjacent to the oil pump has a large slot in the bolt. I set the crush ring in place and used a chisel and hammer to tighten it until it was tight and the crush ring smushed out nicely. Don't want to take it too far or the side will rupture and the rubber o-ring on the inside can squeeze out and the crush ring will loose its squishiness and will not seal properly. Because of the low torque on such large threads, I used just a dam of medium strength blue thread locker fluid to help prevent things from backing out. Also has the benefit of doubling as a sealant.





Same went for the oil pressure control valve between the #1 cylinders lifter bores. It is an M16 thread. I was suggested to start at 15 Ft*Lbs and then tighten from there until it looks good. I eventually ended up taking it to 20 Ft*Lbs when things looked and felt about right. The head is a 14mm triple square, but a 3/8in drive socket extension is a perfect fit believe it or not and works great when you don't have to kill it with torque.

[vanapplebomb]

Started work on setting stuff up for the oil filter and cooler. The oil filter mount wasn't sitting flush against the case and would rock a bit, which is great for oil leaks. A little Sharpie marker and some fine sandpaper revealed why. The oil filter mount flange wasn't flat. I gently sanded the surface down until all the Sharpie marker was gone. Test fitted it back on the case after resurfacing it and it sat nice and flush. Also dug up a pair of 105mm long M6 studs for the oil cooler and used Loctite 271 to secure them into the boss on the case.

[vanapplebomb]

Placed an order for some hardware last week. I called up the joint up because I never heard back from them about my order...don't ya know, the dangus Fastenal place saved the order but never sent it out. Gosh, I really despise fastenal some days...

Good News! This past weekend I made the last trip up north to Da UP and grabbed the last of the goodies and took them down state!!! I am officially moved out of Houghton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will miss the place, no doubt, but that is what vacations are for, hey?

Now that I'm officially back down state, I'm getting the itchies to work on the project again. Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day. Maybe I can do some work fitting the beam/steering stuff. Got to mount the beam and temporarily align it so I can figure out my steering shaft length, get the steering box clamp tacked and welded to the beam, and also tack and weld the mounting brackets to the beam...and possibly a couple tow points.

I'll post pics as things creep along.

[vanapplebomb]

Schnorr washers came in, so I finished installing a few bits of case hardware including the oil filter mount. I really like Schnorr washers, but you do have to be a little bit careful because they are directional in certain instances. The concave side must face the aluminum case. If you install it with the convex side against the case, the force will be concentrated over a very small area at the center, and the resulting high pressure will indent the washers center into the case, and you forfeit some crush of the washer. These are probably not a great idea for Type 1 engines with softer magnesium or (slightly tacky) sand cast aftermarket aluminum blocks. Best to stick with wavy washers for those applications. So there you have it, your public service announcement for the day. The more you know.

Oil filter mount got the gasket glued to it using a very small amount of Ultra Copper. More is not better. Easiest way to put a very thin film of it on a small area like this is to rapidly stipple the surface with a finger. Ultra Copper is non-Neutonian and thins as it is sheared. With the gasket glued on the the mount, I torqued down the two M8 nuts against the washers in a several steps up to 14 Ft*Lbs to keep pressure on the gasket somewhat even. Threads are UNF 3/4in * 16 threads/in, so there are loads of oil filters that will fit. Having an internal bypass isn't so important because the mount has a built in ball and spring pressure reliefs bypass valve. Original equipment were Mann filters which are good, but I get American made Bosh filters that are good for a 99% filtering efficiency at 20 microns, which is quite good considering they can be had for less than $7 a pop.

[vanapplebomb]

Been doing a little more work lately. I got the distributor taken apart, cleaned, lubed, and put back together with new serviceable parts. I don't see a need to repost all that jazz since you can find it right here:

thegoodvolks.proboards.com/thread/6830/distributor-refresh


Same goes for the pistons that got the skirts built up to tighten up piston to wall clearance. Pistons, rings, cylinders, and heads all installed here:

thegoodvolks.proboards.com/thread/6811/piston-experiment


At this point I nearly have a long block. Just need to clean up three pieces of cooling tin before I can install the lifters, pushrod tubes, pushrods, and rocker assemblies. At any rate this is where I am at for the moment.

[vanapplebomb]

Don't worry, I'm still alive! Been pretty loaded down the past couple months and haven't taken the time to post updates. Lol.

[vanapplebomb]

I took a break from the project for a few months to focus on more important things in life. Now that I'm getting settled in, I decided it was time to take up the project again.

Time to start buttoning up the engine. I decided I am going to make a rear engine hanger that will clamp to the frame and help support the engine. So hey, why not use the existing engine mounting parts? Suprised surprise, Autozone Duralast engine mounts are repackaged German Mahle parts.








All the cooling tin and parts got cleaned up. The cooling tin came from DaveT and had been buried under who knows what for who knows how long. Needless to say, it was in pretty rough shape and bent out of whack.

I started with the blower housing. Pretty straight forward really. Four studs holding it on. I found that 35mm studs were just the right length. Any longer and the blower would run on them. The clearance between the blower and housing is amazingly tight for what it is. About 30 thou between the perimeter of the blower and the housing. It amazes me that VW built so much precision into something as simple as a blower housing.







I spent the better part of an afternoon with a rubber mallet and anvil and man handled a bunch of cooling tin back into shape. Lots of test fitting, removing, tweaking, twisting, hammering out some wrinkles, and test fitting again. I got the four pieces of tin for the drivers side all situated. The passengers side is in progress yet, but a lot closer than where I started. The worst were the large upper cylinder/head tins. The ones on the underside were not bad, nor were the oil cooler and 1/2 front cylinder tins. Rears were average. You can see how the upper 1/2 side tin is still not sitting quite right, but it is almost there. :-8






Once it all siting the way I want it, I will shoot it with some paint and button it up. I'll need to pick up a pack of M6 button heads and a couple M5 button heads for the underside of the heads. That should do it.

Carbs are almost done being rebuilt. I have been waiting on one throttle body because I have to order new bearings from igus. Rather than order two bearings and then a few more for another project, may as well pay shipping once. The other carb is golden save for the accelerator pump linkage. After many many cycles, they wear funny over time. I'll have to make new linkage rods and weld up and redrill the pump lever. More on that to come. :-8

Front suspension updates to come as well. When the weather is good I will snap a few pics of the set up.

That's all for now. More to come later.

[MadMike]

Hey Dirk, when this is finally done
and you are use to the power from the single barrel bus carbs
please fine some 'IDFs' and let it 'Breath'
old teaser pic

[81pumagtc]

Dirk:

No surprise about the precision of the blower housing. It's the ducted fan principal where you want the housing to be as close to the fan as possible.

Efficiency drops off dramatically the more space there is between the fan and the housing.

The tin does not have to be as precise, since you are moving a large amount of air, generated by the high-precision blower housing.

Dave Riedle

[vanapplebomb]

Mike, I think that is what I will do down the road a few years when I might bore out the cylinders to 96mm. Perfect for the 1.8 heads I have. That will make a nice healthy 1911cc engine that likes to rev.

[vanapplebomb]

Replaced the brushes and bearings in the alternator. The field winding on the rotor was cutting in and out, so I figured the brushes were worn. Now it holds a consistent 4.5 +/- 0.1 ohms. I sent it out to a local shop to have the diode pack tested. Everything appears to be in working order.

[vanapplebomb]

Back again.

I was able to find the size shim I needed to set the crank endplay. A member of a local VW club had a few sitting around. I cleaned the shim stack, lined each one with assembly lube, slipped them over the crank, and installed the main seal. If you are doing a Type 4, be aware that for whatever reason there are two different main seals. Some are 10mm deep and available everywhere. Others are 12mm deep and are a little harder to come by. You can get Victor Rinze seals at many auto parts stores. It is silicone and works pretty well, but I prefer the Brazilian Sabo seals which are a tougher fluoroelastomer. With the seal in place the lip was lubed up and the flywheel bolted down. The five bolts were torqued in a star pattern to 80 Ft*Lbs with a fresh lock plate below the heads and Loctite 271 on the threads. The Loctite 271 serves as an assembly lube for the threads while torquing and provides an extra measure of protection from backing out when it sets up.






I started covering the engine with the cooling sheet metal, etc.





















I also got some accessories lined up including the oil temp gauge, cooling system thermostat, and the air intake thermostat.

Exploded view of cooling system thermostat/bracket and assembled.





My core block came out of a Porsche 914, so I was fortunit enough to have the Porsche 914 sump cover which has a boss welded on for an oil temp sensor. Rather than use the expensive Porsche gauge cluster I decided to get an adapter and use a simple mechanical temp gauge. Simple, inexpensive, and reliable. I had to cut a fresh gasket from ruber fiber gasket paper because the gasket kits do not include this particular and somewhat rare gasket. The botom cover was slit in a bandsaw to make clearance for the capillary tube between the ether filled bulb and the temp gauge.






The air cleaner thermostat was taken apart, cleaned, and recalibrated to operate the flap between 90 and 100 deg F. Easy enough to do with a thermometer and the household furnace. Turn the screw in to increase the opening temp, turn it out to lower the temp. Easy.





I reinstalled the distributor that was rebuilt and installed a length of stainless braided brake line to make an Extention for the oil pressure switch and pressure gauge. Because there is only enough room in the stock location for the stock pressure switch.

[vanapplebomb]

Manifolds are on. Always use the aluminum crush gaskets with the dual carb manifolds. The large phenolic gasket/spacer that goes against the head is for fuel injection only. Dual carbs use the small phenolic spacer and two paper gaskets between the carbs and manifolds. When I can, I like to use serrated concave lock washers. If you do the same, best proactive is to have the convex side against the nut and the concave against the part...in this case, the manifold. 14 Ft*Lbs on the M8 nuts. The central idle circuit crossover tube is attached to the manifolds with sections of 3/8in fuel hose. Lined up the air cleaner with the pre heat air pipe and the dimples on the brackets, and snapped the bail wires down to secure the air cleaner housing to the brackets.

[MadMike]

Dirk, You should of at least cleaned the 'Bugger' out of them ports