2.1 DJ rebuild

[PetenAli]

Getting on a bit now that everything's apart. First had a look at the rockers. The good news was that there was little or no play however the adjusting screws looked like this (although this is the worst by far):

So they are going to have to be replaced. Not too painful though.

This is one side being stripped being careful to keep everything in order:

And this is it cleaned up, lubed and back together before being placed in a ziplock bg to keep the moisture away and keep everything together:


BTW I've previously used Graphogen as an an assembly lube and had good results with it. Its helpful if, like me, it is often some weeks between the first bits going back together and the finished article! This is it, anyone have any views about it?

This is what I've previously used for camshafts:


Then set about stripping the crank down. Made a note of the unique ID of each conrod and where each fits before taking them off. The next four pics are the big end bearings in order from #1 - #4





Then these are the big ends with bearings removed in the same order:





Obvious signs of age and wear on all four. What I'm not so good at is interpreting likely cause, prognosis and what remedial action needs taking - so any suggestions would be really helpful.

The conrods are fully cleaned and blown dry with an air line (including particularly the small end oil ways). Talking of small ends, I'm planning on leaving the bushes in place as there was no discernible play when I took the gudgeon pins out and Ian (Silverbullet) says they seldom wear. They are now ready to be packed up and hopefully sent up to Silverbullet to have some magic dust sprayed on them

If anyone has a few minutes to look at the above posts I'd be very grateful for some feedback.

Off to clean up the crank now.

[ghost123uk]

The makers of" Vandervelt" (sp) bearings used to have a check sheet, with pictures, to indicate the type of wear found on white metal bearings, (we used to use it in trade a good few years ago). Too "relaxed" (Sunday afternoon at the local) to try to find it just now (if still available), but worth a "Google search"... ?

p.s. = Graphongen (sp) that was (is?) good stuff (remembers re-building several engines with pride, (Car and Brit bikes) )

[toomanytoys]

What does the bearing outer surface look like.. it looks to me like the shells have ming moving a little in the rods.. any idea if thats been rebuilt before??

[PetenAli]

What does the bearing outer surface look like.. it looks to me like the shells have ming moving a little in the rods.. any idea if thats been rebuilt before??

I'll do some pics of the bearing outers tomorrow and post them up. From memory though the outer surface was similar.

Thanks again toomanytoys Thanks also ghost123uk - I'm on VAGCAT at the moment but will get onto Google in a bit.

[PetenAli]

These are the big end bearing outers.









The staining or whatever it is is smooth to the touch and all eight look pretty much the same. Any thoughts?

As an aside - I've been e mailing Brickwerks over the weekend and it looks like Simon can get me most of the parts I am going to need even though he doesn't list them all. Result!!

[sarran1955]

Hello,

Glad to see the tippex in action

Makes compare for rebuild sooooo much easier.

I would say the bearings show signs of wear but no picking up or burning.

Check the existing bearings for size, standard or not, and I'd say just go with a new set.

And hope your oil pressure comes up good.

Cam looks ok, and change any worn tappet screws.

Do a dry run on assembling the crankcase, put a bright light inside, and look for warps, which can be compensated for, to avoid oil leaks.

Have fun....

Cordialement,

[PetenAli]

Hello,


Cam looks ok, and change any worn tappet screws.

Are you sure the cam looks OK? This is the case hardening gone and chunks missing. I know it runs on hydraulic lifters but this can't be reusable??



Thanks also for the other suggestions which I will use.

[toomanytoys]

if thats pitting, hten I really wouldnt want to be using that if I could help it..

[PetenAli]

if thats pitting, hten I really wouldnt want to be using that if I could help it..

It is pitting - and I'm going to get a new one! Thanks again.

[PetenAli]

A bit more progress. I think I have found a very local engineer with a good reputation so should be able to get measuring done, crank polished, flywheel refaced etc etc. Just got to get everything clean enough to take to him.

Started to look more closely at the pistons this morning. Measured the piston ring to groove clearance as follows (measurements from top ring down):
In millimeters
#1 0.05, other 2 rings broken
#2 0.08, 0.05, <0.05
#3 0.08, 0.05, <0.05
#4 0.05, 0.05, <0.05

So all well within tolerances. Cant wait to get them measured now I know the price of a new set (can't buy just pistons afaics). Even if I can reuse them I will get new rings as a matter of course.

These are the tops which I think are generally looking OK. Nice sharp corners. Degreased them first then cleand carbon off with a brass wire brush.

#1 & #2


#3 & #4


This is #2. You can see a bit of pitting just in this area. None of the others have it. Does anyone have any ideas as to cause and whether its terminal or not?


This number is on all four pistons. Can anyone tell me its relevance please?


Next job is to clean up the liners. Wire brush on the outside, paraffin and 1200 wet & dry on the inners according to MM289.

It will be great if these turn out to be reusable.

[Aidan]

pitting looks like debris damage, won't matter I don't think, maybe broken sparkplug washer, there will likely be reciprocal damage on the head/seal
504 maybe machine number or the pattern number for that piston or is it the weight in g ?
week 11 1986 made I'd wager
what's the engine number we can date that

[sarran1955]

Hello,


Cam looks ok, and change any worn tappet screws.

Are you sure the cam looks OK? This is the case hardening gone and chunks missing. I know it runs on hydraulic lifters but this can't be reusable??



Thanks also for the other suggestions which I will use.

Hello,

Sorry, from the photo it looks like goop on the cam lobe

Cordialement,

[Verlog]

My camshaft had pitting on it in places and i thought it had bits falling out of it but the lobes etc are fine like yours,also the tappets which ran on it were ok.My mate reckons it could be a regrind where they build it up with weld before regrinding and not all of it was built up high enough so doesn`t look perfect,but its good enough where it needs to be.This does make sense to me,and its what i want to hear so i don`t have to replace it.
And really i do think that if bits that big were falling out it would cause damage and scoring.?????

[PetenAli]

pitting looks like debris damage, won't matter I don't think, maybe broken sparkplug washer, there will likely be reciprocal damage on the head/seal
504 maybe machine number or the pattern number for that piston or is it the weight in g ?
week 11 1986 made I'd wager
what's the engine number we can date that

Thanks Aidan - that's reassuring on the piston pitting. The numbers make sense as well. The engine number is DJ017588*.

And thanks Verlog and Sarran. I'm going to go for a new cam. Apart from one which has lost its circlip somewhere, the tappets are OK so I'll just replace one of them as well/

[Aidan]

engine originally built first week in January 1987, the asterix is a rebuild mark but unless the heaads are the dated Polish ones there's no way of dating that and plenty of engine rebuilders put the asterix on as well as VW, hence I guess they went to the VWrecycled logo to distinguish their's from everyone elses