Club 80-90 Forums

There you are.

Andrew Simmons Thanks Marco, I thought that must be it. I hear they are the known weakness of the 2.1, but I still wonder why/how they can perform as designed for 13 years and big miles, then fail. Do you think there had been an overheating or over-revving incident prior to the failure? Have you had any experience of non-stretch failures?
Like · Reply · Yesterday at 00:05 · Edited
Marco Mansi

Marco Mansi Andrew Simmons I actually think the problem is the bolt fatigues over time and is exaggerated in the 2.1 due to the extra stroke and consequent rod/piston speed, that contributes to its failure.
Like · Reply · Yesterday at 01:01

This may be of interest to you:

Question for you experienced waterboxer builders.....on a rebuild do you remove oil gallery plugs and replace with threaded taper plugs to allow proper access for cleaning the galleries through (and to avoid the potential for leaky plugs)....thoughts and experiences? Ta!


Mario Burley
I would yes, it's a must do in my eyes



I-Chard Horangi, I have no personal experience, but know that Rocky Jennings of RJE does this, as does tencentlife aka Chris Corkins of Vanistan. Both are topnotch wbx builders.


Michael Ghia
When I used to build 356 engines, we would remove them in the engine and in the crank and replace them with aluminium plugs after cleaning. You got a feel for doing it right...

And just to upset the apple cart...


Marco Mansi
If you've never done them before i wound not try to DIY them, they are difficult to do properly and will leak terribly, if they weren't leaking before leave them or if you really must have them out for cleaning send the case to Rocky, I personally dont think its needed, in all the years of building waterboxers ive never had one fail.
Now on an Aircooled engine it is essential due to the amount of contraction and expansion with the vast swings of temperature range the block sees , but not on a water-boxer.

i don't envy you having to choose what procedure to follow as the opinions couldn't be more conflicting!!!

Thanks I left the core plugs alone

I too have yet to see one fail, and therefore don't rework them. If it ain't broke (and ain't likely to)...

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

30mm oil pump arrived very quick

three questions please

what are the stamped diamonds for, are you supposed to align these together?

what is the groove for, I was advised by tencentlife not to get sealant in there when using curil T, I always thought it was to keep the paper gasket oiled but it probably has another purpose?

Am I going to need to change studs for longer ones?
P1060894 by Paul_Barr, on Flickr

I actually know what that groove is for but guess what......I can't remember. However, I do remember where I learned about it, watching YouTube videos on pump replacement (Christ knows why I was watching them as my pump hasn't failed).

This has probably been of little help, thus, no displays of gratitude are expected

If you can't remember you don't know, you knew

I left my diamonds together as shown, as that's how they arrived. Not very helpful I know, but I haven't had any problems.

One thing to note, I snapped ! my engine mounting bar when tightening it up because the flange is more proud on the 30m. You'll need extra spacers to compensate between the block and the bar.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Martin, spacers is a good idea, the reccomendation is to grind the pump plate return back.
did you need to change studs?

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=269355" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The groove is for oil that reaches it under pressure to loop back and be pulled in on the suction side....

Memory fade on the studs?, sorry...one for the steel rule.

That's the problem with this forum we're mostly too old, going deaf and blind and have no idea where we've left stuff or remember anything anymore..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

tobydog wrote:http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=269355

The groove is for oil that reaches it under pressure to loop back and be pulled in on the suction side....

The way I see it, that groove is likely to be fractionally busier because inboard of the circular part of the groove will be metal to metal contact instead of paper gasket as vw intended,but surely outweighed many times over by the benefits of minimising end clearance on the gear wheels.

Just my comment,itchy, i don't claim to be an expert ,!

tobydog wrote:http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=269355

The groove is for oil that reaches it under pressure to loop back and be pulled in on the suction side....

Ah yes, clever thanks

Cecil wrote: i don't claim to be an expert ,!

me neither

Yes you will need longer studs and also to squash the coolant transfer pipe a bit or it will chaffe on the pump cover or rub on the back of the pulley.