The engine that Żuczek had when bought him was dropped fairly easily with no visible damage to the engine, the engine bay, or the transaxle.
In terms of assessing it, it appears to be plagued by the typical things a type 1 engine that is not closely maintained will experience, at least on the exterior.
It looks a hell of a lot better out of the car than it does in.
Given that the AE block is what should be with a 72, I am going to make the assumption that the engine is at least the original case for the car, through it has been rebuilt, and has a lot of aftermarket parts and other assorted “poor choice” things done to it in lieu of the proper ones.
Right off the back the glaring non-stock items include:
- A degree crank pulley
- A generic cheap 34 Pict 3 carb
- A replacement aftermarket generator
- An aftermarket exhaust
- A non-autostick model oil pump
The basic 009 distributor, the new Bosch coil, and the Brosol fuel pump where installed by me as part of trying to clean it up and getting it running better after last Autumn’s problems and tow back to the house.
I have to admit, I was mildly surprised to see the great condition of the pressure plate. We’ll have to see what the clutch disk looks like but I would say these are recent replacements.
I laughed when I finally saw the rear of the fan shroud.
Someone used silicon caulk to try and seal the oil cooler facing piece as well as the bottom vent. (I myself am having a problem getting the new seal I bought to stay on the bottom vent of the new engine.)
The throttle cable tube also has been rigged with some kind of grommet and a clamp to hold it in place tight against the shroud.
Theoretically, while not correct, neither of these “patches” would have any real negative impact on the engine.
While the charcoal evap canister is still under the rear passenger fender, the connection at the fan shroud has been crushed to close it. This kind of sucks as it could have just been left as-is or a simple plastic cap placed on it. Now it is unlikely to ever be properly fixed and usable again.
I am going to assume these are not original but aftermarket heat exchangers. I won’t know until I inspect them closer and get them removed. I plan to keep them anyway and just replace them with j-tubes for resale.
If they are in fact originals with thick vanes I’ll be extremely happy.
Anything I can salvage of this engine that is original and decent will definitely help offset my general anger to the huge loss I’ll take selling the 74.
The real concerns…
As I’ve learned in the past, the real concerns I have are with the exhaust and the 4 connection points to the cylinders and heat exchangers. The rust is bad and I seriously doubt I’ll be able to easily remove the nuts and studs. There’s always a risk of damage for these parts, especially having been exposed to the elements like these have.
My intent is to salvage this muffer, sanding it down to clean it up and then coating it with fresh thermal paint.
However, getting it off is what worrlies me.
I have no idea what kind of damage will occur trying to get these nuts and washers off, not to mention the state of the studs on the cylinders.