The Restoration of #1768

[vwdmc16]

Slow process lately due to a few reasons, heat, time and lack of parts. But there are no more excuses, so here is an update. Trying to upload these in chronological order.

Blasted pistons and rods:





Made some cylinder holding tools for setting up piston ring gap, a few rings needed some filing. Measured all the new bearing tolerances which came in spec.







Primed and painted the upper an lower block.




More head cleaning and porting before they went to be resurfaced.






Time to measure the new cylinders for the proper shims, ended up clamping my dial indicator to my machinist straight edge to get that critical measurement.




I ended up needing the thickest shims, (yellow) to get to .006" deck height as shown. Sealed them with a little smear of Permatex.









Next the pistons and rods installed and torqued. lower girdle installed and sealed. Heads installed too after they were reassembled with my new cams.







Now for the worst part, setting the timing. This actually took me a few days of frustration to get right, and im still not 100% sure it's set correctly (although I have really good compression on every cylinder). I really want to punch the engineer that decided not to have some simple casting alignment marks put in so make it super easy to set the cams and crank to one position then put the chains on, instead you have to have the parts vaguely point at each other or at "12o'clock or 9'oclock" an you have to rotate the crank after doing one side. its so easy to get it off and cause damage. No other engine Ive ever worked on had such a convoluted and terribly vague set up instruction. Seriously not fun.

[vwdmc16]

Moved on to easier things to relieve my frustration with the timing, Painted the frame. Still want a new frame one day, but this one is now stronger and prettier than it has been in many years.





Starting to re-do a lot of other parts I have in powdercoating. Finally got an oven and powdercoat gun set up at work, POWDER COAT ALL THE THINGS! Im actually kind of mad that I didnt do this sooner, it's not that expensive and it yields such a better finish than paint could, so if it is metal, and fits in my oven, it's getting coated. Reblasted the valve covers and coated in wrinkle black.









Got some silver for the intake and W pipe, probably going to re do my Kjet metering housing too.







Coated the water pump rear cover and thermostat cap too, all new water pump even though my old one has been doing well. Looks so nice!






With all these nice parts the hardware looks pretty bad, so ive ordered about $50 of new engine hardware and brackets to replace the ugly ones and a few other remaining gaskets that I didnt get with my engine rebuild set.






Now its time to reinstall the suspension and under carriage parts before the engine and trans go back in. But that brings up the last big question, Should I rebuild the trans now? I was in quite a hurry to get this car back on the road, then the project because a back burner after I had to put alot into the V8olvo. Then it was my main focus again until I bought a old BMW E30 which kinda distracted me for a few months. Then I really wanted to get the car done by June 20th for my Summer road trip to visit family in Colorado, I had plenty of time and energy but all my parts didnt show up until a few days ago (A long story I wont get into). Now I want to get the car done before the 19th of August so I can drive it to the Historic by Rolex event at Laguna Seca raceway to check out that cool event. However Im not sure I can tear down, clean, and rebuild the transaxle as well as reassemble the whole car, Lots to do.....

[Lwanmtr]

Its lookin pretty good. Definately alotta work..and alot of stuff I wouldnt even begin to know how to do..like rebuilding an engine..hehe.

[DMC5180]

How is the operation of the transmission? Leaks, grinding gears, or spongy second gear? Are you planning to powder coat the exterior?




Dennis

[Domi]

Very impressive work done so far

[vwdmc16]

The trans needs some love, it doesn't leak much. Its appearance is pretty bad now, I painted it with POR15 silver that has begun to peel and turn green. It has quite a lot of trouble getting into 2nd gear due to partially sheared shift fork roll pins. It pops out of 5th alot on decel, but I think the detent is weak/jammed. The 2, 3 and 5 syncros dont feel that great either.

So yeah it needs a rebuild for sure. Im really leaning towards doing it now.

[vwdmc16]

Trying to move real fast and get the car driving this week.
Fresh Fuel hoses from DMCMW, Had to get the inlet and return hoses made at a local hose shop, Not cheap but I need fire insurance.




Exhaust was cleaned up again and painted with super high temp paint and baked on, new studs, nuts and gaskets. Got to use the stock exhaust to pass smog...





Here is a view of the cleaned up exhaust and intake ports too. Anxious to feel the power difference







Engine is now just waiting on the transmission to be done.




So lets start on the trans! This was more of a refresh than a proper rebuild, No budget for new forks, gears or syncros. Just fix the busted roll pins, clean it up and re seal.




Nose cone blasted and coated silver.






Nose cone parts coated gloss black.





Back at home, I got the case open. found the usual issues.




2nd gear shift fork roll pin completely sheared off, makes for a very spongy and tricky shift to 2nd




Found a broken part of it and the rest is probably in this thick metal sludge that the internal magnet picked up. NASTY.






I ended up spending about 25hrs tearing down, cleaning and rebuilding the trans. most was from blasting off the old POR15 that I painted on years back. Before and after:




Then the other side. all new hardware too!






Now to re assemble, I decided to polish up the shift rods to make them a little smoother.




New Roll pins and double roll pins to prevent shearing again.




Next was another hard part, Replacing the input shaft coupler. I got one of the new improved couplers that was for sale here on the forums from Ed G. My old coupler did NOT want to give up. A few days of oil penetrate did nothing against the 35 years of being together. but with more oil and heat and very careful cutting I was successful. that new one was a tight fit too.







After setting the diff bearing loading, its all clean and ready to go together again, I tried out a different Anaerobic sealant from Wurth, hope it lasts, sorry for fuzzy picture.






New front and rear seals from DPI





And BAM she's sexy again, too bad its hidden under the car. Also freshened up the clutch slave and hose, It has a new braided clutch line to join up to now

[Josh]

Glad to see things coming back together! That transmission looks amazing. Better than brand new.

[DMC5180]

Looks Great.

The only thing that stands out to me is that you only used a single 2nd gear Roll pin. DMCH supplies a second pin to drive inside the larger one just like the pin installed at the other end of the spring for added strength.


Dennis

[jawn101]

Looking so good, Clint!! I really hope nothing leaks on all this great new coating

Looks Great.

The only thing that stands out to me is that you only used a single 2nd gear Roll pin. DMCH supplies a second pin to drive inside the larger one just like the pin installed at the other end of the spring for added strength.


Dennis

He said he double-pinned everything...