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Tho I've built several Army Jeeps and a Ford GTB (really cool truck, check them out on Google) this is my first VW or Porsche. I'm willing to make mistakes and learn and this site is very helpful. Thanks everybody.

So my '76 2.0 FI went back together with Hofmann heads rebuild and decked case, 9550 Raby cam kit, AA flat top pistons and cylinders, counterweighted crank from Rimco. Maybe I'll go for more performance on my next one, I just wanted a smooth, reliable driver with reasonable power.

Three of the AA cylinders were same height - less than .0005 difference - but one was .0025 tall. My machine shop said it would torque down just fine but they work on big diesels and industrial equipment. I asked him to cut it down of course.

My oil pressure is still low according to my VDO gauge, 80 cold but after warm up, about 5psi at idle and 15-20 at highway speed. That seems to be the case with 2 or 3 others on the forum too. I'll be testing with a mechanical gauge this week or next.

Oil temp runs 190 to 220F @ 75F and also @ 95F outside air temp.

My first problem to sort out was oil leaks. So I cleaned up the engine and ran it in place in the garage and found it dripping profusely from the front and the back. From the front seemed to be at the oil pressure relif valve. Then I got under it as it was running and I could see it dripping from the oil filter mount. Glad I looked to make sure before I pulled the engine and fixed the wrong thing.

The rear was engine oil. My transaxle drips a little here and there but that wasn't my main problem. I knew pretty much what my problems were and should have headed things off from the beginning. So out came the engine again.

When I first assembled the engine, somehow I had been missing the gasket for the oil filter mount and the old gasket was stuck tight. So I put a little black permatex case sealer on it and bolted it down. That didn't work obviously. I might have gotten away with it if I had used some red permatex gasket - very judiciously around the oil passages of course. Anyway, I remembered I had a partial gasket set that I picked up somewhere and sure enough I found a new gasket. Wish I had remembered that when I put the engine together! So I scraped the old gasket and used the new one. One problem solved.

When I installed the O ring from the gasket set on the flywheel I could tell it wasn't sticking out of the groove at all. Not knowing any better I installed the flywheel and of course it leaked . After reading a post here, someone pointed out that the flywheel and the oil pump O rings were the same diameter, just one is skinny and the other fat and I was concerned I had switched them.

When I took things apart last week and compared the O rings from my partial gasket set, I had installed the right O ring, the fatter of the two. And it wasn't doing any good. So I got a new O ring from my machine shop that was thicker still and it seems to be doing the trick.

The picture shows the standard O ring in the kit and the new one I bought. The outside diameter is the same even tho it doesn't appear so in the photo. ( I should have included the oil Pump O ring in the photo...) Anyway, I still don't have a good answer about the O ring business. Two gasket kits had O rings which were the wrong size? Anybody have any ideas?

The silverish seal on the right is the flywheel o-ring.


Make sure the rear main is not in crooked. Make sure the oil galley plugs are not leaking.

I had a similar problem and mine ended up being my rear main seal. I changed it several times and it would never improve. Somebody mentioned that a website has rear main seals that are a little wider than most and have helped people with rms leaks. I tried it and it worked well for me.

I think this is the larger rear main seal part number. Search on google for it.

029-105-245

Replaced the oil plugs with NPT's as per Jake's video. That seemed to be a neat fix of a potential problem.

In fact I also replaced the RMS. So in changing two variables I really don't know which was the problem. I was considering the flywheel/RMS repair kit too but the flywheel surface was smooth and I couldn't imagine that being a problem.

The first RMS was Victor Reinz. I went by the look up at my local O'Reilly's. Just to be on the safe side I ordered a National this time, $17 of insurance I figured. In fact it was a little more snug so I used it.

But my main concern was that the O ring didn't protrude from the groove at all and my new one does...

Main seals should be good off the shelf, I would think, so I'll be interested to read the site you posted. And O rings should be good out of the kit too. I'm happy my car is running and not leaking tho I don't know exactly how I solved my problem or why it was a problem in the first place.

Maybe it was the Placebo Effect, or possibly the Hawthorne Effect.

Thanks for your ideas.

A recent discussion on oil leaks at the rear main on thesamba, Jake chimed in to say that with a Reinz flywheel seal, it will leak - not sure if it is the seal too small, the spring too weak or what. I am running a gowesty Sabo seal that is working. I never heard of National. Elring's are supposed to be alright.

Hmmmm. So I may have gotten lucky if the Reinz seal was the culprit. I figured enough oil was getting by the O ring to overload the seal. The National is Taiwanese, and the only other brand in the O'Reilly's look up.

Thanks everybody.

BTW, after about a year on and off jackstands, in and out of the body shop, many trips to the junk yard, its nearly done. A plain, no rust '76 put into LE colors and early bumpers. Photo taken on top of Mt Scott, high point of Oklahoma. This is the best it will look because it is destined for a lot of miles and grins.