I think I may have just killed my engine....

Made a bit of a pigs ear of it Malc

 

Was a 5mm ish one from one of the studs that hold the base of the air cleaner to the top of the carb....not all that big or thick but by the death rattle the engine was making it was obviously big enough to cause trouble lol
I reckon it got past the valve as the noise started at that side of the block but then seemed to get more towards the middle, so I reckon its probably stuck in the piston somewhere

 

I dropped M5 off the top of the filter. I managed to smooth out the damage.

 

Pretty much exactly my situation by the sound of it lol except I ran my engine so lord knows what its gonna look like when I eventually get it apart

 

I turned mine over twice. Good luck, I hope it's not too bad, with a bit of luck you'll get away with it.

 

Fingers crossed, but whats the worst case scenario in terms of bits im gonna have to buy....piston and barrel? nowhere seems to sell singles, only kits

 

Beg an odd one on here.
Wait and see what's what, no point worrying about it, it is what it is...

 

Yeah youre probably right....just realising how little I know about aircooled mechanicals but an engines an engine I guess

 

Damage is damage, but it's not uncommon to find the top of a piston and the inside of the head battered by a stray object.

 

I did the same in a beetle although I didn't realise I'd done it until I caned the knackers off it one day - makes hell of a racket doesn't it !

I dropped the engine , took the near side head off and found the bugger- I was quite pleased that's all it was - and quite pleased I'd eventually found the washer I'd misplaced a few weeks earlier

 

I'm hoping for minimal damage, what with it being a small washer but from the clattering thats coming from that side of the motor im not feeling too optimistic lol I think it might have dropped into the carb first, as the motor sounded fine til I revved it....then the noise started so I think it was probably sitting on the butterfly and dropped into the inlet as it opened with the throttle. Ive got both carbs off now and disconnected the loom and unbolted the tinware so as soon as I can get over to grab the rest of my tools i'll drop the motor and see whats what. Never done anything more involbed than a service on an aircooled lump so its gonna be a google-athon to guide me I reckon lol
Lesson definitely learned though.

 

It's only four bolts! Seriously though if I can get an engine out anyone can.

 

Lol I'm not too worried about that bit...i pulled the engine out of my jetta a couple of weeks ago to swap it for a 20valve turbo, but I'm quite confident doing stuff like that coz know my way around mk1's the way people on here know air cooled's
40 year old shiite with no plumbing finds me a bit on the clueless side however hahaha

 

Well after much procrastination, I finally pulled the motor today. Pretty straightforward all told, although there were a few siezed bolts....also quite a few that were barely done up....mosst of the exhaust and heat exchanger bolts were hanging off and the gaskets were perished or missing altogether.....may explain the poor airflow to the heaters lol the heat exchangers are in great shape though and they look to be OE ones which is a plus. I managed to minge the thread on one of the lower engine mounting studs pulling the engine back off the pinion shaft and I snagged the throttle cable in the doghouse and chewed it up a bit but everything else went ok
gonna tackle the head tomorrow....any pointers on getting it off?
Think while the bay is empty i'll use the opportunity to tidy it all up, de rustify and change the filler pipes and breathers....be rude not to