1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Big lumps of metals and spanners. Including servicing and fluids.

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Bigjcc55
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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by Bigjcc55 »

Ouch! That is a horrible feeling..
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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by scottbott »

my father in law has teflon 'buttons' in his race formula vee engines instead of circlips could these not be used in road going engines or would they wear out?
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T25Convert
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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by T25Convert »

Just googled Teflon buttons - an interesting concept to replace the circlips with, but mixed views out there as to whether they would scuff up the inside of the liner.

On the note of circlips, bought a set of mini circlip pliers from machine mart http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... pliers-set - very very small, but ideal for sneaking in to get the circlips back out:

Image

So two hours later and my lovely new engine is reduced back to:

Image

Note that to save time I've taken the pistons and liners out as one (except one which I tugged a bit to hard!)

Image

Stopped there for the evening, but before I left the garage I put the cam half shells where they live in the other case half:

Image

So, only thing left to do now is put it all back together again!!

For anyone still reading this, I have another question - What do people use to seal the case halves? I used the sealant that came with the gasket set, but it hadn't formed a very good seal, and even under the tiny dribble of oil in the sump (from my over enthusiastic use of an oil can) it had leaked about 80% of the way across the joint.

Cheers,

Alex
RIP - George - 1.9DG '85 AutoSleeper Trident - rusted away

George Second - 1.9DG '89 Caravelle

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Robsey
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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by Robsey »

You are such a patient person.
I would be stringing up a noose by now..
Or I'd be a jibbering wreck sobbing my eyes out.

Regarding the sealant paste.
Is this slow setting because of the cold damp ambient conditions.?

I am going to sound naive, but I would have thought that the goo in the kit would have been the correct one.
I am sure that Sarran is the chap to answer that question.
He seems to be the resident rebuild guru.
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itchyfeet
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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by itchyfeet »

Marco the tse or marco mansi seems to know his stuff and in this post says he uses elring curil-t on the case

http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/wbx-o ... 78238.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I wonder if you could do me a favour and poke your dipstick in and get a pic of the oil level relative to the case
I'm interested to know if its above the tappets?
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sarran1955
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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by sarran1955 »

Hello,

Image

Bu&&er..

Past history..

At least you spotted it and only cost your time.. :roll:

Very good photos....

Shows me how much the crankcase really is a CT with a sloping sump.. :shock: :shock: :shock:

and they seem to have worked on the oil pick up.. :rofl :rofl :rofl

So .. crankcase sealant..

This is what I use..

Image

Here is the product page..

https://shop.berner.eu/berner/fr/productgroup/539455" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm sure this is available in the uk..

Take your time with re cleaning the sealant compound off the case..

There is a sunny side.. :)

This stuff if peeled off gently..lifts out lots of little dirt and imperfections..

Clean really well around the base of the studs..old traces of mastic here cause 'curing' problems

Use a standard mastic gun to dispense.. and then' butter' down..just one side..

Open time is an hour..

Just 'nip' up the case at first.. leave over night then torque in 2 steps..

Excess wipes off nicely along the seam..

Put a bit of scotch tape on the tip of the cartridge ..

Keeps well in the cool..

Tell your friends... :rofl :rofl :rofl

Cordialement,

:ok
Image

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VWKat
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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by VWKat »

This is very interesting, I would love to clean up and rebuild my engine one day.

I noticed you mentioned something about a distributor, I bought one of these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0890993018" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and I have had it in for nearly 3 years. It did stop working once but I got a replacement the next day and they guy was very helpful and said if the new unit does not work again he would happily rebuild my old original distributor. It seems they are working on perfecting them. So it's a good cheaper option replacement. The current one I have works great.


Also, Stainless steel exhaust wise, I bought one by Speedshop and I love it. It sounds good and is a little cheaper than the standard exhaust which I hate but you do lose the heat chamber that puts warm air through the air box on starting. Also, it has a threaded hole for a sensor to measure the fuel/air ratio (can't remember what's it called now),,ah, Lambda Sensor. I don't know much about that but I suppose it means you can keep a check on how efficient the engine is running?

E D I T..after further investigation, I think I will be getting me one of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300976513214? ... 1438.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Early 1985 1.9 WBX Autosleeper Camper

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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by CovKid »

I haven't rebuilt one in some years (done many flat-four engines almost up to race-spec) but theres no reason why, if you take your time like this that anyone can't rebuild a 1.9 or 2.1 engine. Measure everything twice and look ahead, thats the main thing. V-dub lumps (air or water varieties) are not exactly efficient by modern standards but providing they are built with real care from the bottom upwards, they last many years and more often than not, a home-built one like this will surpass the commercial ones by miles in terms of quality.

The boring bit is the running in though..... 8)
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T25Convert
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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by T25Convert »

Thanks for the pointers on case sealing - it is now sealed up.

The build back up wasn't too painful in the end, become a pro at getting the circlips in and out (not sure its a transferable skill for my CV!)

Next step was to get the flywheel on, which meant getting the engine in the van out (I only have the one flywheel, as one I bought had a flex plate for an auto on it). This is mentioned in the WIKI, but without a photo, so here is a photo of propping the gearbox on a bit of wood whilst dropping the engine - very secure, very stable and frees up jacks/axle stands for other things. I can also confirm it leaves the box at the right angle for easy re installation:

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Note the wood isn’t supported by the axle stands, although it looks like it is in this shot.

Engine out and sat in the corner:

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Now fitting THE flywheel was a pain – the engine stand got in the way, so I rigged up a homemade ‘crane’:

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Not that elegant, but it gave me the space to get the flywheel on and set the end float.

Now as I don’t have a dial gauge a bit of inventiveness was required to set the end float, so assembled this:

Image

All done up tight so nice and solid, wind in bolt so its close, measure, then lever flywheel and measure again, end float is the difference. Simples!

Shim, seal, o-ring, little felt pad and spigot bearing in and flywheel done up, back on engine stand:

Image

Only now the engine won’t turn over, as the flywheel rests on the engine stand however I arrange the supports. What a pain, as it means I can’t set the dizzy drive up or sort out the hydraulic tappet preloads. So, now I know what the shims need to be I’ll have to take the flywheel back off, and refit at the end! One step forward, one step back at the moment....

On the up side the new dizzy arrived (went for a vw heritage one, although it looks surprisingly like the ebay one that VWKat popped up – I was hoping it would be better for the money!?) Makes me realise quite how knackered the old one was!!

Cheers,

Alex
RIP - George - 1.9DG '85 AutoSleeper Trident - rusted away

George Second - 1.9DG '89 Caravelle

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itchyfeet
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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by itchyfeet »

T25Convert wrote:
Now as I don’t have a dial gauge a bit of inventiveness was required to set the end float, so assembled this:

Image

All done up tight so nice and solid, wind in bolt so its close, measure, then lever flywheel and measure again, end float is the difference. Simples!



Nice idea borrowed from oops if I remember correctly :lol: , do you measure with feeler guages?

I don't have a stand so just work on the bench, does it need to be on the stand anymore?
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T25Convert
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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by T25Convert »

You're right, I have lifted the concept from Saran1955, although his angle grinder disc changer method is a slight refinement on this!

Its also available as a commercial tool - http://www.vwheritage.com/vw_spares_Too ... tartPage=1, but £18 seemed a bit steep for a couple of nuts and bolts!!

Measurement is by standard feeler gauge, so very low cost/simple. Just need to make sure the whole lot is nice and rigid so you're not measuring deflections of the arm!

Unfortunately I have no bench, so its either on the stand or on the floor, and the floor is too far away :?

Cheers,

Alex
RIP - George - 1.9DG '85 AutoSleeper Trident - rusted away

George Second - 1.9DG '89 Caravelle

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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by Drunk Aardvark »

This is a great thread and going to be immensely useful for when I have to rebuild my 2.1 engine soon!
Phil

1988 Syncro Caravelle 2.1WBX LHD Brown

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T25Convert
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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by T25Convert »

Right, with end float set, its just a case of bolting on the ancillaries.

First job, paint exhaust and remove some of the rust. The long term plan is to get a stainless setup, but for now some silver exhaust paint may give it an extra couple of miles (or at least make it look spangly for a week or two!)

As the airbox is going I won’t be needing the preheat set-up. If anyone wondered where the two bir air hoses go the answer is here:

Image

Lots of wire brushing required here:

Image

The exhaust paint notes it should only be applied to ‘shiny bare metal’ – seems unlikely! Wonder what the chances are of it sticking to not too flaky rust!?

Sprayed ‘J’ tube looking much tidier.

Image

Painting ancillaries and pipes:

Image

Bolt on clutch, remembering to centre the disk in the centre:

Image

And here it is, everything on (except carbs, need to wait till the next pay packet for these!)

Image

And as a reminder, where it all began:

Image

Would have got it in the van this weekend, but the clutch release arm has a snapped ‘finger’ on it, so need to get one ordered, and then tidy up the engine bay a bit...

Getting very nervous it won’t start now, so cannot wait to get it in and running!

Cheers,

Alex
RIP - George - 1.9DG '85 AutoSleeper Trident - rusted away

George Second - 1.9DG '89 Caravelle

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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by scottbott »

looks very good,excellent post by the way :ok
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arch
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Re: 1.9 DG - Attempting a full rebuild...

Post by arch »

Wicked :ok
I love my bus oh and the Wife
1986 1.9 DG Caravelle GL Converted camper.

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