To rebuild, or not rebuild, that was the question.
This was just supposed to be engine out, engine in, with rebuilt trans.
The problem was, I had no idea when the engine had been rebuilt last. It needed a new water pump as it had audible bearings.
Al has had the car for 15 years. It went through a color change about 20 years ago, Al believes. It used to be drab gray and looks very nice as metallic green.
It's almost a rust-free car with 50,000 miles. It started spitting up trans fluid. It was diagnosed as a problem with the torque converter churning the fluid, expanding its size, overwhelming the small vent and rising up the filler tube and out onto the exhaust and intake manifolds.
When I got the engine/trans out and separated them I sent the trans out to be rebuilt. I took a close look at the engine and noted a few things. It looked pretty clean, but I remember Al paying about $4,000 to have the engine compartment sorted. The guy did a nice job, but time had passed and some stuff was looking shabby, especially the engine paint. I needed to advise Al as to what should be done to the engine while it was out. I should have done a compression test right from the start, but by the time I thought of it the engine was out. I decided to dig a little deeper into the engine and took the timing chain cover off and found minimal slack in the chain. I sent a video to a friend and he said the chain likely had less than 10,000 miles on it, likely changed in a major overhaul when the car was restored. I deducted 10,000 miles from the 50,000 miles showing and leapt to the conclusion that the rebuild was old, but low-mileage.
I determined that it was a pretty sure bet the rest of the engine was in pretty good shape and decided to stop the tear down at what I think was the way the engine was delivered to the Continental assembly plant, painted in gold. The black parts were added to the gold block, pan, heads, water pump, and timing chain cover. I learned here that the air-conditioned cars had a black dipstick, changed at the Continental plant to accommodate the position of the compressor. The intake manifold, PS pump and brackets, pulley, pulley and damper were all painted gloss black, as was the air cleaner.
The last element that bugged me was, by not replacing the valve guide seals, they could self-destruct at any time as there were few miles on them but time kills rubber engine parts. I was right in my assessment. I hired a friend with a steadier hand than mine to change the valve guide seals without pulling the heads. I had done this before and even have the specialized tool to dismount the valve spring keeper collets to get to the seals to replace them. I also have a huge 3-phase compressor set at 150 pounds before the regulator.
After watching Greg do one, it all came back to me. I wanted to jump in and finish, but I cleaned all the threads on all the bolts that holds the valve train in place Scott and I cleaned up one side each. I'm a pretty good helper. My decision was validated by finding that the old valve seals, once supple were now hard and cracked. Greg made an adapter to pressurize each cylinder, one at a time. With 150 pounds of pressure applied through the spark plug hole the piston is pushed to the bottom of its travel. Both valves are held closed with such great force that the spring can be removed. Slide the old one off and slip a new one on, install the spring and keeper, rinse and repeat.
While I could clearly hear air getting past the rings and into the crankcase, but not enough to matter. There was nothing coming out the exhaust or intake manifold. At 150 psi that's a very strong indicator of the condition of the rings and valves. It's a sure way of telling the overall heart of the combustion chamber. Twice there was a noticeable flow of air coming out of two cylinders. A simple tap on the valve stem seated the valve, likely crushing whatever was holding it open. There are 5 valves to go. They will be done tomorrow morning. We old guys run out of steam sooner than we used to, but we're machines.
Step one. Remove valve train and pressurize first cylinder.
https://www.vwvortex.com/cdn-cgi/ima...-2-jpg.182775/
Once out of the way you have access to the springs and keepers.
https://www.vwvortex.com/cdn-cgi/ima...-2-jpg.182776/
The tool compresses the spring, exposing the keeper collets. They were pretty stuck.
https://www.vwvortex.com/cdn-cgi/ima...-2-jpg.182777/
This is where the seal goes.
https://www.vwvortex.com/cdn-cgi/ima...63-jpg.182779/
Two done. 7 pairs to go.
https://www.vwvortex.com/cdn-cgi/ima...-2-jpg.182778/
One bank done.
https://www.vwvortex.com/cdn-cgi/ima...-2-jpg.182784/
5 valves left to do this morning. The engine might go back in today.
https://www.vwvortex.com/cdn-cgi/ima...69-jpg.182785/
Yep, totally justified. The seals were all cracked and the rubber had turned hard as a rock.
https://www.vwvortex.com/cdn-cgi/ima...-2-jpg.182786/
