2 ltr type 4 engine re-build journey

Good man.. it's a nice bit of kit.. worth every penny.

 

Yep.. nice to see the attention to detail. This is what makes them live! Including the Driven products..

 

So.. the lift is not more than 0.400" at the valve? 911 adjusters after that.

 

0.385"

 

Time to attack the smelly (and rusty heater boxes)
I thought about buying new but didn't like the hole it would put in my wallet.
Besides I had a spare set from a T3
Well they don't fit in a few ways. Tinware is different around auxiliary fan inlets and they are longer.
So I figured I'd disassemble and cut and shut.


The insulation inside the boxes looks like loosely woven asbestos. Thank god its oil soaked.

It has an aluminium cover between that and the heat exchanger fins but that has been cut through by the fins and covered in sludge and carbon.


The end flanges where the muffler bolts has rusted through where the pipe meets the flange so I removed them. You can see the bird shit welds that someone did in situ to try and plug the holes.


The pipes are heavy walled and ok further back so I trimed the crap off and sleeved them, made some new flanges to fit, clamped it all together to line everything up, tacked it into place and made it all one with my welder

 

The tinware was a process of cutting bad bits off, using cut parts off the T3 heater boxes where possible and making the rest. I used the aluminium inner shields from the T3 exchangers as well and made sure the shells fit the pipes and fins. The shells were then media blasted, inside of the shells were then painted and cured in an oven (heat proof paint) before new insulation was added.

 

Time to tack and weld.




More heatproof paint, seal around pipes and we’re done.

Looks like a couple dancing



This is the stuff left over.



Finished and fitted to the engine




More soon.

 

Excellent read, very nice work, and a lot of detail many would over look for a quality re-build. Nice to see a late motor with the square exhaust ports! Not to many of them in the land down under.
I also like the case breather on the later engines. Are you going to fir the heater fan from the T3 also?

Is you thermostat already expanded? (cooling flaps)
Richard

 

NICE work on the heater boxes

 

Thanks for the comments.
This is an engine from a T3 with square ports, although the original engine is similar ( same breather & square ports) . My bay window is one of the last German ones before the fist T3. The dip stick is high near the breather on a T3 and that hole didn't exist on my old engine. It came in useful on this engine as I'm using that spot for an oil temp sender in the form of a VDO shortened temp sender type dipstick and using the original dipstick to gauge oil level (through the fan housing).
The T3 alternator and fan won't fit. There's not enough room the way the engine bay and tinware are, the heater boxes where the auxiliary fan blows into are different and longer and the fan housing is quite different.
I got a new thermostat from the states that's working quite well. I haven't posted those and the pics of the carbies and catch can and breather system yet.
.

 

Yes, love the '79 bus, many people don't realise there was still development going into these motors, '79 got many of the changes that went into the T3.
That dip stick location dates back to the 411/914. (couldn't find a good picture) http://www.vw-411.de/.cm4all/iproc....ze_1280_0/Die neuen VW 411 E - 08-1969-03.jpg
Shame about the alt/fan, they were a great idea. Yep, well aware of the changes through the years, I have most variations in the collection
Good to see the original style thermostat back available again.
I went through pretty much the same process when I did my 2L engine ~100,000km ago and still going strong.

Looking forward to your next instalment.

 

I bought one from Awesome Powdercoat in USA. Not cheap but I believe the quality is there.
http://www.awesomepowdercoat.com/Porsche_914_thermostat_parts.html

 

That's the one I'm using.

 

Moving on.

Here is the exhaust on.



Trouble is it doesn’t fit.




More fabrication required

Cut it in half



These mufflers don’t last long, but that’s what I had so I bead blast and coated them (used a heat proof paint for fire boxes)



Bolted the 2 halves to the engine.



Levelled it up the engine



Put in a spacer

 

Put some gussets in top and bottom



Finally fits properly



More soon

 

True, but there's nothing like the sound of a Type 4 with twins running at speed through the sandstone canyons on the F3/M1 north of Sydney. Windows down ...................... ahhhhhhhh.