And so it begins... I took the engine out of my '73 so I could fix what I thought were a few oil leaks, and freshen up the engine tin, and now I can't stop....

this should be fun, I told myself...

more..

again..

I had a resident rodent!!!

Now I get to watch what you started me on two years ago. Go ahead William buy the 914, it will be fun to drive. Then I dropped the engine, then I stripped the car to the shell, then the sand blasting, powder coating, new rubber, new everything. And I still have to put it back together. No way you are getting off easy. I am personally coming to your house to put your car up on the rotissiere, yeah the one I got Racer Chris to make for me, and I will find every rust spot anywhere. Oh boy Eric, now it's your turn.

I found him on the passenger side, intact and not fried, and his house was on the driver's side. I'm amazed that it didn't catch on fire

Looks like i'm going to take the jugs off, and start working my way outwourd...

When's spring???

You know I did the same thing bout 3 years ago. I needed to do replace an oil cooler on the engine and since then I've chopped up that tub, sold the engine, acquired another tub, which I am now trying to get rid of. Had another roller that I sold, and finally bought the car I have now, which is getting a Subaru engine.



-Tony

I can kinda see that happening... Although I have this motivational device I call William Harris. If I do anything to try and kick my 914 habit after getting him involved in this, I'm sure I'm going to learn the meaning of SOUTHERN JUSTICE ..

Actually, we keep each other going quite well. Now it's on to see who can get their car back together first. I'm still taking mine apart, and William is rebuilding, but I'm younger and can hold my beer better..

OK, that does it, the next drinking contest is at my house. Harpoons are on me.

OK.. I'm in.. William, you kill me!

As of last night, I have the cylinder head and both jugs off of the right side. I found the engine was leaking between the case and the bottom of the jugs, the oil cooler, the front seal, the push rod tubes, the hole in the side of the Valdez........

Now for my limited budget questions: Can I reuse the piston rings? They look fine to my untrained eye.As far as the cam followers go, I think I might have mixed up the order when I took them out. Should I replace them?I really don't have all the funds right now, but I also don't want to screw anything up here. I just started this to stop some oil leaks, and clean up the tin, and now I'm staring my pistons in the face, and hoping I can put this all together soon.

You cant re-use the rings, get new ones.

You cant re-use the cam lifters if you lost track of where they go...they are married to the cam after the first 20 min...

So, you might want to think about a new cam and lifters...

The oil leak was probably the push rod tube seals...so, dont strip the other side as far...just replace the push rod tube seals.
Replace the oil coller seals, the front and rea main seals and the valve cover gaskets...should be all the oil leaks.

But...now you went this far, you really should just open up the motor and finish the job or rebuilding it...its the right thing to do.

While you are at it...you should get Williams rottisierre and put it up in the air, check for rust and fix it all now...and besides...some new powder coated suspension parts, a new paint job, and such...you will be done in a few years...
Just dont call me when you need help with your fresh air box...I have done two this year and that is over my personal quota.

Whatever you do, if you go all the way, and make it all pretty with new paint and all, dont put the old interior back in...get it re-done. (that is a dig)

Rich

Do I have to get a new cam, or will the new lifters work on the old cam? I really have to stop myself here, because after a few , I've got rose colored glasses on, and I have thoughts of seeing what my crankshaft looks like....

The end of March is right around the corner, I have to change the focus of the operation from rescue to recovery at this point. Besides, I DO still need to put the car on William's routisery, which is in my backyard shed at this point..(not too much of a subliminal message huh, William?)

Rich, take a look at the pictures I have on this thread. See how there is the oil gunk around the base of the cylinders? I really thought that was from the rings at the base. The push rod tubes are under the cylinder, but do you think that came from the tubes, or maybe the front seal is letting the oil travel back?

Every aircooled engine I have ever seen has oil there...
Its aircooled....a big fan is picking up oil in the air, and it jams it between the cylinders to cool them...
The fan blows oil everywhere...

They leak as follows.
push rod tube seals
Oil cooler seals
f/r main seals.
Oil pump (sometimes)
Oil sump/drain
valve covers...

The front seal and the oil cooler seals leak enough to spray oil on the top of the cylinders, it gets dirty, it gets built up over ten or twenty years...
And yes there is blowby at the cylinder/case connection, but you can hear it pretty clearly when it starts...

Since you already lost track of the lifter locations...
Get a cam, lifters from Jake..
Get bearings
Get new seals
new rings
Get the cylinders honed at a local shop.
its a weekend
a case of beer
And William has lots of pictures...
besides, he has a heater also...
And he would love to watch you work on yours for a change...

Or, get the parts, and give me a call.

One of the biggest differences between my garage and william's is that I have INSULATION!!!

I guess you're right... kinda time to go deep or go home..

At least this way I know it will make it to Colorado next sommer for my road trip.

well, I would say this...buy a complete kit from Jake...it will save you the headache...

Rich

Rich,

Thanks for all your suggestions. I think you've got me on the right track.

Where Mass are you? I'm up on the NH border, although if you've talked to William, I'm sure you know who I am... He blames me for his 914 addiction..(actually, I found his car for him)

Im just south of Nashua.
I am about 5 hours from William (just kidding)

Rich

Eric: stop yapping and post some more pictures. Show the engine of the stand as you were cleaning it up today.

So far, this is where my refrigerator next to the tool box has gotten me. I find I'm much more couragous when I've had a bottle of liquid refreshment.. This is where I turn around, and not strain an already strained house budget. The last thing I wanted to acomplish was a non running car with no funds to reassemble a complete engine.

What does everyone use to get the fan hib of to change the front seal. I have had a gear puller on it, and it just won't move. Are there any tricks I'm missing?

This is the other side, which along with the bottom of the case, I still need to clean. Again, I'm just trying to clean things up, so my car stops it's imitation of the Valdez.

Here's the bottom (OF MY MOTOR!!)

Reach thru the cylinder bores and check the side to side measurement of the rods.
I would just open the case and install a new cam if you didn't keep the lifters in order....
New bearings all around, pretty cheap
clean the 90mm domed pistons up and re ring
seal the case halves
and run it.


how many miles on the engine?

near as I can figure, somewhere in the 78-80k range. Speedo was frozen when i got it with 74k on it, and I gotta think I've put about a thousand a year on it since 2000 when I started driving it. I found a slip from early '91, which had the mileage at 71,000, and the last sticker the car had on it was from '93. So I think the milege guess is pretty close

How would you clean up the pistons? I know that the carbon on the top is bad, but not sure how to get it off..

Go Eric, Go!!!

QUOTE (partsman @ Mar 5 2006, 05:14 PM)

near as I can figure, somewhere in the 78-80k range. Speedo was frozen when i got it with 74k on it, and I gotta think I've put about a thousand a year on it since 2000 when I started driving it. I found a slip from early '91, which had the mileage at 71,000, and the last sticker the car had on it was from '93. So I think the milege guess is pretty close How would you clean up the pistons? I know that the carbon on the top is bad, but not sure how to get it off..

oven cleaner gets the carbon off

dude, your really making me want to rebuild my 1.7....

b

Easy Off

QUOTE (william harris @ Mar 6 2006, 10:29 AM)

Easy Off

Easy off works great...its made for it...it takes a few times to get it perfect.

William, stop harrassing him and GET TO WORK... Where are your pics huh...what have you done lately??
Me, not a damn thing..sick as a dog , so my car sits...but I will be out there soon to do a few major projects...
Is your engine back in yet?? huh...

I just did the easy off thing on some really dirty heads...it does work, though you might need to help it along with a scraper if its really thick...

Rich

QUOTE (partsman @ Mar 5 2006, 02:22 PM)

What does everyone use to get the fan hib of to change the front seal. I have had a gear puller on it, and it just won't move. Are there any tricks I'm missing?

You'll need some way to hold the crank from turning. I would put the motor on the floor or a bench, mount the flywheel and install a flywheel lock. I used a gear puller on mine with a little heat. Ya gotta be careful though.

When I pulled mine off I didn't think it was gonna seperate but that little shit popped off and damn near took my arm off with it..

I had the same feeling in my hand that you get when you hit a baseball with an aluminum bat and don't have a good grip.

QUOTE (partsman @ Mar 5 2006, 02:22 PM)

What does everyone use to get the fan hib of to change the front seal. I have had a gear puller on it, and it just won't move. Are there any tricks I'm missing?

BFH.

Put the gear puller back on it and put it under pressure.

Then give the jack screw a big whack with a hammer and it will just
pop off. Like taking off ball joints without a puller.

Don

OK, Rich - just for you: since you were last at the house - installed master cylinder and reservior, hard brake lines back in, fuel tank in, fuel hoses connected, hood installed, hood latch fixed, oh - I almost forgot, drilled hole thru reinforcing plate welded in by Racer Chris to route hose from washer fluid bottle to spare tire, ran hose and placed grommet in trunk compartment. That's about it. Pictures to follow. Eric - sorry for the hijack.

So William, your ready for the motor. Go get it...get r done...

Eric, you done cleaning yet?
Put it back together and drive it...it will be fine.
Come one...its sunny out,,,nice day for a drive...

Rich

Christ almighty Rich!!! I do have a day job, you know! I got 125 employees and a small law firm to run! That and the wife and 5 kids. I only get to play with my toys once in a while and spent all weekend out of the bike - hell it was a balmy 39 degrees after all. Will try to do more this weekend. Like, install clutch cable, speedometer cable and accelerator cable, etc. , etc.

Well,
I went hunting through some old business cards.

This guy came out and did my windshield on my Van, he supplied the windshield, but he was pretty cool. He may do it, and he is in Lynn, so he is close enough..
He came to cambridge, and travels all over doing glass.

All About Auto Glass
1-866-325-1101
1-781-581-3827
Fax
1-781-595-0819
I cant remember his name...his card has no name on it, just the company name.
He did a great job on my van, the windshield is huge, and he did it perfect.

He came to Cambridge, and was done in less than an hour...
Really nice guy also.

Rich

Just a quick update... I used a steering wheel puller that one of the tech's at my work had to get the fan hub off. Man that thing popped off and shot halfway across the garage. Now that the case is pretty clean, I can see that the rear main seal is leaking, so off comes the flywheel.

I'll go and get some pictures and do a quick post...

Don't forget to change the flywheel bolts, and washers

I just dropped my 1.7 to replace it with a complete FI 2.0. I decided to pull off the engine tin from the 2.0 so I could straighten it and powder coat it. Then I wondered if I should pull of the injectors and put new seals on and pull of the air tubes and powder coat and reseal and maybe I should replace the pushrod seals while it's out. I read the posts above this one and have decided that there is some disease associated with these engines and that once you start you almost need a 12 step program to STOP.