Who's up on aircooled stuff? got a question...

[Patrick]

Bought a 914. 2 litre engine converted to carbs a bunch of years ago. Pulled the engine today to see if I can fix a major leak, assumed it was the rear main seal as it was running out the bellhousing mostly.

Found a huge gob of silicone from the seal to the bottom of the engine. Are these thing prone to leaks where the case splits? I'll change the seal and put it back together, but what else should I be checking while it's out? I don't like leaving oil all over the place.

[air-cooled or diesel]

the type I motors were more prone to leaking, but the vw/german air cooled engines were very prone to leaks; in a couple of spots. at the case split especially.
silicone is the wrong thing to use to seal the split case; and I generally stay away from silicone around certain areas.
there are a lot of things you can do if you are tearing down; aftermarket/hi-performance parts. all kinds of things that used to be (when I was in the market) easy to get.
just replacing seal may do for right now; if its the source of the leak; but in the future you ll need to correct the sealing of the split case. silicone can eventually lead to bearing wear/failure. 3-M aviation permatex is the standard sealing method.

[Patrick]

Thanks, these are the same case as a type 4 as far as I can tell. Going to start with a seal and see what happens...

Still tempted to call Kennedy engineering and get the parts to put an AAZ in it, but I like teh air cooled engine.

[wolf_walker]

put an AAZ in it

very much so.

PM me if you need P parts, new or used.

[Patrick]

P parts? not sure what you mean...
There's a complete AAZ sitting here re ringed and ready to use... might be a winter project.

[air-cooled or diesel]

Thanks, these are the same case as a type 4 as far as I can tell.

if its stock its almost identical to a type4 vw motor.
im a big fan of air cooled motors(obviously), and if you have enough money theres a lot you can do with these, for less $ than most motors too.
are you considering a tear-down? Id say rebuild like a rod, does motor have hi-miles? wouldn't be a bad time to get into the internals, changing the seal may or may not work for you.
check that all cooling tin is tight and in place, thermostat works and action.

[wolf_walker]

P-car = Porsche

[Patrick]

Thanks guys.
Rear main seal was hard as a rock, so I'm hoping that was the problem. Changed it out (and the o-ring in the flywheel). Also changed the front seal while I had it out, it was pretty wet behind the fan.  The front seal was soft but it looks like it may have been wrecked on install, there was a tear that looked like it may have happened with a hit from a punch when it got put in. I also saw what may be a source of a leak where the block splits, looks like it may have had a screwdriver used to split the block apart.... we'll see. Got it hanging back in the car and will finish up this morning. Everything I've had apart on the car looks new, including the clutch. Flywheel looks like it just came from the machine shop too.
2 carbs have vacuum secondarys, seem to work okay. Wondering about the distributor, mechanical advance only. Is changing it out for one with vacuum advance a good thing? Last gas car I messed with was an '82 firebird I put a 400 small block in when the V6 calved. Car was about 5 years old at the time and was sold at least 15 years ago, so I'm a little rusty.

Is this thing supposed to have a screen over the fan? Looks like it has a few bosses to hold it...

[wolf_walker]

The cooling fan?  http://dcauto.gotdns.com/model/index/3517803

[air-cooled or diesel]

a vacuum advance distrubitor sounds best, the typeI's a 'dual' advance dist. is recommended, for T/I's its the 040 iirc, the 009 only has centrifugal advance, the other has both cent. and vac. I don't know the one that will fit in a T/4 motor, a couple of places to research parts and info, CB performance, and Gene Berg if his sons are still in his business. they mainly had typeI stuff but im sure they will also have Type4 stuff in stock. make sure you don't get a distrubitor with vac retard, iirc due to emission requirements in the late 70's to the 80's vac retard dist may be common. you only want 2 lines coming off vac. 1 for dist, and 1 for a sender to your vacuum gauge. supposed to be small lines, from the balance/vac line that links the dual carbs.

if your case has been chopped up some,, some silicone may/help solve a jimmying problem, really if you do this a small glob of silicone at point, tie-in with 3-M permatex(aviation) around the rest of the case, less silicone on the case split is better.
well good luck looking into CB etc, they have lots of aftermarket options (usually at a fairly good price; esp when compared to other engines), and may have good advice for you. most every part was available from them for engines and vdubs, any part(a/ced),.

[CRSMP5]

Crazy andy loves those engines... Works for free in parking lots on them... He got rid of his bus though... Wanted to burn it to ground... But he was brave person to try

[Patrick]

Just an update in case anyone's wondering...
Seals looked after 98% of the leakage. Engine is still a little wet but doesn't leave any trails, good enough to run for the summer! Put at least a couple of thousand miles on it over the summer so far.
Had a miss develop on the way home last week that I didn't like the sound of, 1st thought was a burnt valve by the sound of it, but it has compression on all 4. Changed the plugs when checking compression, problem still there.
Cap, rotor, and wires, as well as electronic ignition conversion that I had sitting here on the list next....

Fun toy! Drives like it's on rails.... Especially since I had a 4 wheel alignment done.

[air-cooled or diesel]

a moist engine is "a good engine", i ll say that; doesnt get any better than that. 1 thing to do is scat had aluminum push rod tubes w/springs, for t111

[air-cooled or diesel]

i hope you got some grease on the inner lips of seal

[Patrick]

found my miss...
plug in the intake manifold for a vacuum tap fell out. Doesn't run worth crap that way!