New parts and rust holes

Here is my pile of parts that all have to get back together to make a functioning car. The car only had 2 places that was more then a spot of surface rust. Both lower corners of the rear window.

Timing and carb adjustments

The car starts and runs great then its cold. But once the choke gets down to the last 2 notches, the engine won't idle and slowly dies.

I have a 009 distributor (0231178009) with a Pertronix electronic ignition, and I've read that since its a mechanical advance only, that its best to set the timing to 28 - 32 degrees BTDC (going to the right of TDC). I don't have degree markings on my crank shaft pulley so I had to figure out how far 28 - 32 degrees would be. Here is how I figured that out.

Pulley dia. is 7"
pi = 3.1428

7 * 3.1428 = 22" (21.9996")
22" / 360 = .0611" for each degree
.0611 * 30 degrees = 1.8333"

So to find 28 - 32 degrees BTDC, I messure 1.8333" to the right of my TDC, and placed a mark on the pulley.
( I used white finger nail paint, thanks honey! )

I also have read that the 009's are not all calibrated the same, so the max advance on each might very. The best way to get it set is to use a timing light, and rev the engine up until the 30 degree make stops moving. Then rotate the distributor until the mark is lined up to the seam of the engine case. Tighten the distributor screw so that it doesn't move.

Next I need to adjust the carb. I followed the directions on a couple of web sites. I won't describe the entire process, you can check that out at these links.
Rob and Dave's aircooled volkswagen page or VW Tech page (has a picture)

The end result, a nice smooth running engine ... nope! Still runs the same way. Starts and runs fine when its cool, but as soon as the choke gets to the last 2 notches, when left to idle, it dies. When the engine is warmed up, it still starts fine, just won't idle.

Back to the drawing board.

Vw air cooled YouTube videos - shows and rides

Its alway cool to see videos that people throw toegether about their volkswagens. This is a random list of vides that I found. They are from YouTube and are shows, personal rides, cruises and from all over the world ... I like the range of music! Let me know if you have any vidoes that I should include to the list.

..:: In no particular order ::..

Air-Cooled VW Road Tour
Bug-in 2009 movie
Aircooled VW cruising - Ride
Take a ride in a 59 Bug
A 62 VW - ride
Meeting vw air cooled Vihiers 2008 - Part 1
Meeting vw air cooled Vihiers 2008 - Part 2
Meeting vw air cooled Vihiers 2008 - Part 3
Meeting vw air cooled Vihiers 2008 - Part 4
VW Aircooled Rides & One AD
Erik's bagged 1966 bug
HoodCrew Ride III
lowlife vw meeting 2007

If you know of other cool videos, or you think any of these are lame, comment on this post and let me know, I'll update the list!

Headliner glue removal

I found a good way to clean off the headliner glue last night. Using a 50 grit sandpaper disk on a drill. With it spinning at a slow speed, the sandpaper grabs the foam and tears it away without turning it into dust. Once the thicker materital is off, speed the drill up a bit and sand the glue down to the paint / metal.

I was supprised to see how quickly it came off. Its just a little dusty. In the pictures, the glue looks like rust, but its not, its glue.

Engine timing and carb adjustments

I want to get the carb and timing setup correctly since I don't think anything has been adjusted since the re-build. It starts great, and runs nice, until the engine warms up and the choke kicks off.
The carb is a Solex 34 PICT 3.

I have a 009 distributor, and with the rotor cap off I was able to see that it has a Pertronix electronic ignition. This is nice.

I picked up a timing light from my buddy Mike Cummings last week and hooked it up tonight ... guess what ... the timing is set to 0 degrees. Looks like I'll set the timing and adjust the carb tomorrow.

First oil change

I did the first oil change and valve adustment on the Volkswagen bug tonight. Ran it for 15 minutes at 2,000 to 3,000 RPM. Drained the oil and pulled out the screen while it was still nice and hot. The oil had a few small metal shavings as to be expected for the first change.

Tools used for the oil change. 10 mm socket for the 6 plate nuts. 13/16 in. socket for the main oil plug. (I have a 19 mm socket, but that didn't quite fit)

While the oil was draining, I noticed that the plate had been painted. I think its from the engine heat and oil, but the new paint was starting to flake off in little peices. Not liking this, I used a scraper and some 200 grit sand paper and removed all of the new paint from the inside surface of the plate before I put it back together.

Before adding the new oil I adjusted the rockers tippets to .006 in. They where all real close, but I tweeked them to have a better fit. (My buddy Mike reminded me to do this while the engine is cold, even the slightest bit of warmth may alter the valve clearances.)

Tools used for the valve adustment. Regular screw driver to pop the valve cover holder and for the tippet adjustment. 13 mm box wrench for the retaining nuts. 13/16 in. socket for the generator pully nut to turn over the motor so the appropriate cylinder was at TDC when adusting the valves. I made sure to clean out any oil, shavings or other gunk from the heads while I did my adjustments.

With everything back together I added 2.5 quarts of 10w-40 oil. Ran it for about a minute, checked and added another .25 of a quart. All together I put in 2.75 quarts of oil. No leaks yet ...

Notes: Need to pull the distrubitor cap off to tell which cylinder is at TDC and firing. Also, don't leave your tools under the rear of your air cooled VW when getting the engine warmed up! The cooling air blows out the bottom, everything gets toasty.

Engine break-in

I talked to a few of the guys at the Twin Cities VW Club this week about engine break-in. Since this car has a newly re-built engine, I want to make sure I treat it right in the beginning so that it give me a nice long life. Not knowing if the engine has been broken-in, I'm going to be cautious and treat it like its new and break it in.

Picked up some 10w-40 oil and new drain cover gaskets.

I'll run the engine at about 3000 RPM for 15 minutes and then drain the oil when its still warm. Fill it back up and adjust the valves. Then for the first 300 or so miles I'll do stop-and-go driving mostly. Then drain the oil again. After that I should be good to go for regular oil changes.

Engine displacement

When you talk to bug guys for a while they frequently throw our engine sizes in CC's. You hear numbers like 1585, 1776, 2110 ... So I wanted to figure out how to calculate the size of an engine. Here is what I found out.

Engine displacement is a measure of the volume of air displaced by an engine. The measure of the distance between piston's top dead center (TDC) and bottom dead center (BDC) is known as the stroke. The measure of the cylinder diameter is known as its bore. Knowing the bore and stroke of an engine and the number of cylinders we can calculate the amount of air/fuel the motor displaces or its' displacement.

The formulas for a cylinder is given as:
Displacement = PI * BoreRadius^2 * Stroke * NumberOfCylinders

For my stock 1600 DP engine, this is what we end up with;

PI = 3.1428
Bore = 85.5 mm
Bore radius = 42.75 mm (85.5 / 2)
Stroke = 69 mm

Now for the math for my stock 1600!
3.1428 * (42.75 * 42.75) * 69 * 4 = 1585.25 CCs

Here are the common air cooled VW engine sizes (bore * stroke)
85.5 mm * 69 mm = 1585 (called the 1600)
87 mm * 69 mm = 1641
90.5 mm * 69 mm = 1776
92 mm * 69 mm = 1835
94 mm * 69 mm = 1914

A stoker motor has a crank shaft that has a larger diameter, which means the piston travels farther with each up and down stroke.
Stroker engine sizes :
90.5 mm * 74 mm = 1904
90.5 mm * 82 mm = 2110
92 mm * 82 mm = 2180
94 mm * 82 mm = 2275
94 mm * 84 mm = 2332