I went to my storage unit to check on my Karmann Ghia and on the way back, I noticed the alternator light came on. I quickly stopped and looked under the car and noticed a little bit of oil and the belt was very loose. I took the belt off and noticed the fan was loose. The bolt to that holds the hub came off! I need to know the length and pattern of the bolt so I can fixc this quickly. I don't drive my Ghia, it's show only now and registration sticker is expired on it. Don't want to get caught driving it around either. Also, I need a key for the hub to the crank shaft, it is missing.

Car is home now, and it still starts fine, thank god.

You are in trouble.

Most of the time when this happens the crank hub and the crankshaft are permanently damaged. The taper on the nose of the crank and hub are critical for hub retention, if either of these surfaces is damaged the hub will never stay tight again.

I sell the hub key and the SPECIAL BOLT in my store..

Inspect your hub and the nose of the crank for damage. This can require total tear down and crank replacement to repair..

Don't just bolt it back together thinking it will be OK, you must inspect those parts. Post some pics and I'll look at them for you.

High Def Pics up!

I bet that was what was squeaking in your Exhaust thread. I was going to post that you should check the fan, belt, alt, but my guesses are seemingly always wrong, so I kept mum.

Zach

the pics are not showing up for me ...

can't you just upload them here instead of linking to them?
Andy

I still want to know the bolt pattern and size. Even if the crank shaft is warped or not, I still want to see if it will run okay. Right now, I really have nothing to loose at this point.

The hub looks toasted around the key way...

I can't tell about the nose of the crank..

It won't warp the crank, it jsu prevents the fan hub from ever staying place again...

The bolt is 8mmX 1.25 with a critical shoulder... If you want to half ass it a hardware store has the bolt, bu the key is one off.

That hub needs replacing else a key will never live..

I noticed that the fan hub key area was warped also, but my friend has a new one in the next city over he is willing to sell for $10! Picking that up tomorrow I guess!

I found the bolt size and pattern, but I now just need the key for it. Wonder if the stealership has one....

Well, that is good news! Thanks for the help guys! WIll have her running tomorrow (pray for it).

Don't trust that patch up forever... Very seldom can this occur without a future recurrence.

Warped? That's not a descriptor I'd use in this scenario ...............

The T4 crank has a taper, a key, and a flanged 8x30mm bolt. The key locates the hub so you can use the pulley/fan to set the timing. The taper holds the hub/pulley in place. The bolt merely draws the hub/pulley into place, and prevents axial movement. There's a 6-8mm thick washer, and the bolt with serrations (teeth!) on the inner side of the flange to lock it into place. If there's been metal transfer between the crankshaft surface and the hub, you're pretty much hosed. It CAN be repaired, but only to "work", not so it's right> I'm doing one right now on an air cooled Vanagon, and it involves mating a new hub to the crank using valve grinding compound (lotsa time involved here), installing a new key in what's left of the keyway (one side was still intact), installing the hub with red Loctite, securing it with a plate made from one of the thick washers, letting it set for a few days, and drilling and pinning the hub and crank with home made hardened pins along the line of the mating surface. Lotsa work, but it avoids a $3K+ teardown of a fresh engine (even though it's a GEX, it's still fresh). We'll see if it works later today! The Cap'n