It was May 31 since I last touched the trailing arms. I still had to touch up the driver side one and get the passenger side arm coated. Now I was told that the soda remains from the blasting would help protect the surfaces, but of course, I doubt the media guy mean many months…
AS41 Engine – Switching out the fan shroud
So I started putting the rejetted ICT 34 clones back on and I realized how ill fitting the fan shroud was. This aftermarket shroud was a nightmare to get on and I had to cut parts of it to get it to fit over the case and down onto the OEM cylinder tins. I had…
AS41 Engine – Prep to get it running and tuned up!
I pulled out and started cleaning up the unfinished 2019 New Build to try and get some hours in on it this weekend. The worst part is remembering where everything is and honestly, most of it should be on the rolling pallet. I may need to run and buy some nuts and washers through. Now…
Murbella – Day 50 – New crank gear!
Engine – Day 14 So during my unsuccessful attempt to get the crank gear I ended up damaging the new one I have bought from AA Performance Products. I pulled off Murbella’s original timing gear from her original crank but it appears worn and I’m hesitant to use it. I ended buy getting a new…
Murbella – Day 49 – Crank gear failures.
Engine – Day 13 Getting the final crank install items done today has proven a painful nightmare. I have tried 5 times to get the timing gear hot enough to go over the woodruff get and I have 5 times. The first time I tried using propane to heat the gear up (in my vise)…
Murbella – Day 49 – Oil stud installation complete!
Engine – Day 13 I ran and got the nuts and washers this morning and am matching the sump pickup order. I didn’t think the washers were needed with the nylock nuts but I put them on anyway. The sump side was a bit trickier, and I did indeed find it best to have the…
Murbella – Day 48 – Oil sump plate studs
Engine – Day 12 So I had written about seeing the different oil strainer setup in a JBugs video and that gave me the idea to built into the new engine a bit of future-proofing against something that has always driven my crazy with my other original engines. On the AJ (1979), AH (1974) and…
Murbella – Day 48 – Rod installation
Engine – Day 12 So I pulled out the rebuilt rods the other day and discovered this so-called “balanced” set of rods was way off with 6g difference between the heaviest and the lightest. Since they were rebuilt originals, it looks like they had already have some material removed, so getting the heaviest down to…
Murbella – Day 47 – Back to VW stock rods
Engine – Day 11 So you may recall I ended up deciding to try a new set of forged rods I picked up when I was sourcing parts for the new build instead of the stock or reconditioned stock rods I’ve used in the past new build or rebuilds. Now I admit I didn’t pay…
Murbella – Day 47 – Minor change to the short block’s oil studs
I decided to make a minor addition to Murbella’s new short block that I saw in an engine building video from JBugs of all places. So in the short block they build, they use a non-stock oil pick-up filter and slightly lower oil sump plate. I see no reason for this change, but the stud…