engine rebuild help, lots of questions on organization and other stuff Options

[stateofidleness]

hey guys..

so im in the middle of "rebuilding" my engine, and by that i mean replacing all the hoses, stripping the smog equipment, painting/powder coating to make it look nice, and other general maintenance.

what i have a hard time understanding is how you guys keep everything sorted when taking it all apart?? im an ABSOLUTE noob with this stuff and am basically learning as i go from online forums and friends (MUCH MUCH MUCH appreciated btw!)

taking it apart is no problem lol, but im scared that i wont be able to put it back together.. i barely know the names of most of the parts of the engine let alone where the parts "should" be. ive seen some very beautiful engines on here and know what mine could possibly look like if i take the time to do it right. that is what inspires me and keeps me motivated.

WITHOUT spending tons of $$ on taking it to a shop to be "machined" (dont even really know what that means... is it possible for me to have a solid reliable engine "rebuild" without taking it all COMPLETELY apart... basically tin off and stopping... i dont have the knowledge or funds to turn it into a huge powerful engine but i think i can do most myself and have a solid build.

what all would ya'll recommend i do (im a novice, keep that in mind) and side question is how do ya'll keep it all organized?
another side question: if i get all the tin off and decide to powder coat, will the coater straighten the tin for me to? how do ya'll straighten the edges?

thanks for the help in advance!

maybe i should post in the concourse section as well for some pics of stock 2.0L's?

[Dave_Darling]

Ziploc baggies and a nice permanent marker help. As does tape you can write on. Some things that need to be kept in order can be put into holes cut in a piece of cardboard. And a digital camera is a lifesaver if you don't have a really good memory...

To most of us, a "rebuild" of the engine means taking it all the way apart, replacing all of the standard "wear" items like bearings, cam, lifters, and so on. Measuring all of the parts that can wear and making sure they're still in good enough shape to use, and if not then replacing them. Cleaning everything inside and out of the engine. Basically making it completely as-new, or as close as we can.

The "machine shop" will have specialized tools for measuring this kind of stuff, and for dealing with things that are almost-but-not-quite useable. Usually large powered cutting and sanding machines of various types, but also hydraulic presses and ovens and cleaning implements and all of that kind of thing.

Tom Wilson's "How To Rebuild Your Volkswagen Air-Cooled Engine" shows what is involved in a rebuild, including an overview of what the machine shop can or will do to your parts. Highly recommended if you're looking into this sort of thing.

Jake's video shows what happens in a rebuild if you hit no real snags and have a very good set of elves cleaning and measuring and machining everything for you off-camera. (Good thing, too, or it'd be 20 hours long instead of 2+!)

--DD