A little tip! warming up the pistons with a hair dryer will let the gudgeon pins slide in easily, in a cold garage they can be a tight fit. It will also help when dismantling an engine 

Rob

Top tip 

I`ll do just that this weekend when I put the other side together

A little tip! warming up the pistons with a hair dryer will let the gudgeon pins slide in easily, in a cold garage they can be a tight fit. It will also help when dismantling an engine 

Rob

That's funny, I use a hairdryer on the soft top when it's cold and I haven't put it on fir a while. It's the only way I can stretch it over the cage.

Fast becoming essential kit ☺

I don't own a hairdryer   

I`m worried that with all this talk of Hairdryers that Andre will make an appearance   

I don't own a hairdryer   

You don't own Hair.

But I have a pic of you in a little old ladies.

The Type25 engine looks so similar to the Beetle engine when you first glance at it, but it has virtually nothing in common with it whatsoever. Here you can see the exhaust ports on the underside, and this can cause a fair bit of confusion too, as there seem to be two different types, a square port and a recessed oval port. I may be wrong on this one, but I think(!) that the oval ports were from the Type 4 engine from 1700cc~2000cc when fitted to a car, whereas the square ports were from the 2000cc Type2 / T25 as fitted to the Bus - I`m sure a purist will correct me on that one.

With the heads now fitted, the lower tinware can now be bolted on. It was probably a bit excessive to have gotten these powder coated, but the guy up the road that I am now using is so reasonable (£7 for both sides - blasted and coated) that it would have been rude not to.





I had all intentions of getting the old pushrod tubes powder coated as the same time, but a late night browsing session (as you do) saw a set of stainless ones arriving on my doorstep a few days later along with a new set of seals.





They are a lot easier to fit that the Beetle ones, as you can change them with the cylinder heads still in place. With the valve train removed these just slide through the holes in the head and locate in the crankcase with a "pop". They are still just as prone to leaking though, but just like the Beetle ones, take time, clean everything up properly, use new seals, and then plaster everything with as much sealant as you can and your garage floor may thank you for it. They are help in place by nothing more than a spring wire that locates against a groove in the valve train.





I think that they look quite good in place against the black engine and the powder coated tinware, but I just know that I am going to get some stick and ridicule over them. My once ratty looking Buggy is certainly adorning a bit of sparkly bling these days and very few have actually seen it since last years paint job, so I am preparing myself for the jibes and comments coming my way.





And whilst finally removing it from the engine stand, I am also painfully reminded about another major difference between this and a Type 1 engine, and that is the weight. It feels at least half as much again, if not more.





And thats the bottom end pretty much finished - just need to remove the flywheel from the old engine and sort the shims out for the endfloat.

I have just fitted a new Crank seal to the engine, and I thought while I was at it, I would replace the inner flywheel seal as it only costs a few quid. Whilst everything is apart like this, it was a false economy not to. I was a bit surprised at the state of the seal that came out though, bearing in mind that it had not been in there that long - I did it last time the engine came out which is not actually that long ago. The seal was really hard and brittle and kept its shape if you deformed it. Not good and glad that I ordered new one now.




And for those of you who are wondering where that seal goes, you can see the new one fitted here inside the flywheel.





Hope this one lasts longer - in fact, that statement applies to the engine too

It's when I read threads like yours, Dave, that I start to panic about my engine and long trips like IBW. Although my Buggy has only done 200 miles total since being built, the engine was built in 1986 and never been touched since then. It runs beautifully now but I do wonder what's going to pack up first!

Your motor looks superb. I'd definitely take any jibes to sport that in the back of mine ☺

It's when I read threads like yours, Dave, that I start to panic about my engine and long trips like IBW.

I must confess that IBW is one of the few trips that I don`t actually worry about breaking down, as we are traveling with the best of the UK experts and amongst the best VW Enthusiasts that the world has to offer. Besides, I always maintain that the breakdowns are where the stories come from and new friendships made.

Just thought I might mention after Dave has commented on the state
of his 'O' ring after such a short time...

The quality of anything rubber thats obtained from VW suppliers has in my expierience
been dire. Heaven knows where it comes from, but I would hazard a guess its a shed in Taiwan.

I always measure them and them buy one from a decent oil seal supplier, its not as difficult as
it may seem and there always people who know what they are talking about if you need to ask something
or tell exactly where it goes and what it has to do whilst in operation.

Surprisingly the stuff they sell doesnt fall to bits over night, one place could be these people
http://www.bearingstation.co.uk/products/O_Rings

We dont have to keep going back to the same VW places but just think about it a bit and then give a decent supplier a call.

After the appalling yearly ball joint boot fiasco I had and when Chris had one disappear to dust like a crushed oxo cube whilst still
in its sealed bag, I haven't replaced any for years since we got some from South Wales Propshafts. 

Peter

It's when I read threads like yours, Dave, that I start to panic about my engine and long trips like IBW.

I must confess that IBW is one of the few trips that I don`t actually worry about breaking down, as we are traveling with the best of the UK experts and amongst the best VW Enthusiasts that the world has to offer. Besides, I always maintain that the breakdowns are where the stories come from and new friendships made.

Thank you for the words of comfort Dave. I'm building my spares kit for the trip with everything I can think of. Hopefully won't need it but you cna guarantee if I didn't bring spares , I'd need 'em 

With the engine back in, its time to start reassembling all the bits. I know its often easier to build the engine up prior to reinstalling, but I only have one pair of hands down here and needed to keep the block as light as possible so I could move it about it on my own. Tinware is starting to go back on, as is the rear fan housing. The inlet manifolds have also been powder coated, and I`m going to try again with those troublesome Dellorto`s.

As some of you may recall, I have had nothing but problems with those carbs, and after sending them back to Eurocarb on three separate occasions they have returned with extra faults each time. I have a theory about Eurocarbs reconditioning process. I think that they strip down the carbs, stick them in an ultrasonic bath and then just reassemble them with new bits before sending them out. At no point do I think that they run them up and test them on a bench.





Anyway, last summer, I handed them over to someone who I knew could breath some life into them. Mr Engine Guru himself, Farmer Rob. Even he struggled though and reported back that the carbs were indeed full of bits and the internal galleries blocked. It took him several attempts to clear them, but after trying them out for a good few miles on his own Buggy, he handed them back to me with that knowing smile that told me that all should be well.

Thanks Farmer Rob   

Farmer Rob recently passed a comment on here, (and over the phone) that he was surprised that I was assembling the tinware with the engine in situ, as he thought it would be really fiddly to get to all of the nuts and bolts. Hopefully this photo taken with the camera resting on my back wheel will show that access is actually really good all round the engine with the exception of the rear lower tin on the left hand side, as its very tight squeezing this between the cylinders and the gearbox housing. It can be forced into place with the engine fitted, although I cheated with this bit and taped the tinware in place whilst the engine was offered up so I didn`t scratch the powder coat.



Admittedly, I have had this engine out a few times in recent months, and can almost do it blindfolded, but this time it was made much easier thanks to a Christmas present that my Dad found for me in the shape of this tiny little ratchet. Its only about 5" in length and has a normal 3/8" drive on it, but it is already one of my favorite tools.



Not only does it have a head that swivels, but the handle also turns into a T-piece making one handed operation possible with just about every awkward angle possible.



Not a cheap ratchet at around £25 from Machine Mart, but certainly one of those tools I would recommend to anyone as a "Must Have" for the toolbox.

I have had various sets of ignition leads over the years, and the last set I bought for this was a fairly expensive set of 8mm silicone leads. Like the Beetle leads, these also have a big rubber boot for sealing against the tinware. I was a little less than impressed when removing two of the leads from the cap as to just how badly made these were, and the poor quality crimps had fallen off the ends. Anyway, I decided to replace them with a set of Marine plug leads which have a longer rubber boot that is actually really tight to fit, the idea being that it stops water ingress completely.



I cut a larger hole in the old rubber tinware seal so that it would now slide over the top of the new Marine boot and still seal everything in place.



Ignition sealant has been a hot topic over the last few days too, so I may just spray some over this lot purely as a belt and braces attempt to make mine driveable in the rain once more.