As of right now, parts of the engine are in pieces around the garage, I’ve spent the weekend covered in grime and carbon soot, and I’m getting ready to put it all back together again… I’m not messing around!
Last weekend, I was able to get the bus up and running again after correctly re-installing the distributor. However, it still had the same problems it had before – no idle when warm, unless idle screw very loose, stalling when braking, and extreme hesitation when shifting gears. On top of that, it also doesn’t want to start back up after it dies – to the point where I had to push the stupid bus back into the garage (with a running start)… Clearly whatever I did with the carb rebuild and fuel pump/ line replacement has not solved any issues, and may have made things worse!
To remedy this, I decided to try again to pull the intake manifold out. This will allow me to clean it up, and replace the rubber boots and heat riser gaskets. I bought a universal socket drive that can flex any direction, and went to town trying to pull the thing off. An hour or so just to get the manifold end castings unbolted – I read online that this would be difficult, especially with the engine in the bus, and they weren’t lying. After a while, I was sweating, covered in grime, and had finally gotten the castings loose – but they wouldn’t come out. There just wasn’t enough clearance to slide them up and out – I’m starting to think that the VW engineers who came up with this whole setup were crazy!
I was able to get the castings off by lifting the fan shroud slightly – ok good, now I should just be able to slide the manifold out. But it won’t fit, no matter how I wiggle it and jimmy it, the heat riser tube wedges against the generator, and it won’t come out. So I need to take off the generator… which is bolted to the generator stand… and is attached to the fan… which is in the fan shroud that needs to be unbolted and lifted up about 3 inches to give everything enough clearance to slide out… whew! This is a lot of work. Ok, fast forward to the end of the day – I now have the generator & fan out, the intake manifold off, and I’m ready to start cleaning everything up… but I’m tired so it can wait for tomorrow!
I spent the day trying to get everything cleaned up. I started with the generator – the fan is actually in good shape – no bent fins, and its clear of debris. With the thing off of the engine, I’m able to get much better access – I spray it throughly with my electric contact cleaner. It looks filthy inside, so hopefully the cleaner will remove some of the gunk.
I then moved on to the intake manifold. I suspected the heat risers were clogged with carbon – this means the manifold will not heat up properly, and could be causing some of my engine issues. I made a braided wire, attached it to the drill and went to town. I got a lot of debris out of the heat risers with this method, but couldn’t get the wire to go all the way through – if I made it too long, it would snap off. So I resorted to my usual… bang the thing with a hammer! That actually seemed to work – chunks off carbon came trickling out. I set up my mobile tire pump to blow in one end, and felt the air coming out the other end of the tube – I’m going to call that a success.
I also wanted to clean the end castings and exterior of the intake manifold. Technically, I should have gotten some mineral spirits or some other type of parts cleaner, let them soak for a day, and washed everything thoroughly… but thats a lot of work! So instead I put my light grinding wheel on the drill and went to town – it did a decent job of getting the chunks of crud off, and really shined the parts that connect to the cylinder heads… so I’m calling it good.
Finally, I noticed that the carb didn’t have any gas in it when I pulled it off the engine. Thats probably why it wouldn’t start! I noticed that the new float valve seems to be sticking a little. I pulled out the old one, and noticed right away they are very different. The old one is smaller, and will therefore sit higher in the carb, letting more gas in. I put it back on, and hopefully this will solve my non-starting issues.
By the end of the weekend, I’ve made a massive mess, and torn apart the engine. I’ve got everything set up to be put back together, and I’m hoping for the best. I’m not messing around with this stupid engine anymore! If this doesn’t solve my problems, I’ll be pretty frustrated, but at least I will have tried everything I could – I will probably end up buying that new carb kit after all – more to come!
