So today was all about beating the hell out of that last nut that would not come off the exhaust stud.
And beat I did! Multiple sessions of heat and penetrating oil didn’t make a difference so I took to beating it with a hammer and chisel.
I slowly made some headway and changing different kinds of chisels I had trying to make at least a dent. After about 10 minutes I finally managed to create a crack in it and after another 10 minutes or so of heat and banging it finally cracked into 2 pieces. The one piece closest to where I’d been hitting it fell off but the other pieces of the nut was just one with the stud. Really bad. I hit it with the chisel from an angle and finally got it to pop off.
I’m not even going to risk trying to salvage these studs by cleaning and wire brushing them. It’ll be quicker and easier to just replace them.
With that nut finally off I could get onto the task of removing the whole heat exchanger at the exhaust, still bonded at the one connection by corrosion that will just not break.
I’ve gut out most of the gasket material and have heated it up hoping the penetrating fluid might just get under and into the seam but it just does not want to budge.
I think this under cylinder tin is a goner too. It is the one that was already rotted away at the case. I’m working on the last screw but I don’t think it is really salvageable.
The outer case of the heat exchanger is damaged up top towards the #3 exhaust port and obviously would allow massive amounts out. The inner j-tube exhaust is really loose in this unit and I’m wondering if it can be cleaned up and salvaged through welding these gaps and overall laying an additional weld along the seams.
The corrosion at the exhaust connection is pretty bad on both of them.
I definitely think that if they can be sand blasted, they can be cleaned up and these repaired by welding on some of these aftermarket repair sections.
Now I haven’t come across the VW part # on these yet but the internal vanes are very large and defined like an original part and not like the crappier replacement ones you can find today.
I ended up just buying a 1.5″ socket on the way home and got that gland nut off. I’m not sure of the differences between autostick flywheels (if there are any) but this is not a stock original crankshaft either. I am going to assume it is just a replacement that was drilled for 8 dowels as the engine didn’t feel like anything with a longer stroke in it. I mean, it felt way peppy, but who knows.
I don’t know if a lot of engine builds do this but the main seal has a bead of silicon caulk on it.
And the cam plug kind of worries me.
It is literally covered in it and I don’t think it should be depressed like that unless it was installed the wrong way.
I cannot properly repair this without cracking the case open and I do not want to do that. I’ll clean it up but there’s not going to be any touching of this.
With the flywheel off I could get it on the yoke and up on the stand with enough clearance to drain the oil.
And it came out way dark and smells a bit like gasoline.
Now it isn’t like I’ve put any miles actually driving this since the oil change I did last autumn after I bought it. I’m talking in and out and down the driveway and then the ill-fated trip that I had to have it towed from.
I’m hoping that there isn’t a major issue here.
I’m torn between wanting to tear the case open and just cleaning this up and leaving it as is with the unknown of the internals.