Happy Easter all and i hope everybody is safe and well in the current situation i was given the pictured engine, it turns over with a big bar my question is how would a very inexperienced "mechanic" approach this any advice / guidance / comments welcome Cheers and have a good day
Watch youtube videos like mustie1 who does a lot of recovering old VW engines. But you dont know if it siezed from overheat or has a piston rusted to the cylinder and its full of water. Hint. Look at the order of what comes out of the sump.. Black plus metal bits - smashed bits inside. Clear, then blobs then black - water in the sump. If its deep enough the aluminium cam shaft gear can dissolve and lead to valve timing collapse after a turn or so.. Generally though its engine on stand , oil down plug holes and wiggle the crank without using a lot of force . It might break free from a rusty spot on one cylinder then turn freely. Leave the distributor in while turning over the engine or remove the distributor drive shaft. But in all cases before you can trust it you are going to have to take cylinders off at least to look inside. My £51 engine I bought complete with an inch of water still inside wouldnt turn over and I had to smash the cylinders off to get in. I was buying new pistons and cylinders as a matter of course. I managed to recover case, flywheel , crank, pushrods and conrods from it. Just about everything else needed replacements . It cost £600 in new parts .. The engine I had before had loose bearing dowel pins as well as oval flywheel dowels so it was dead too.
As mentioned above , drop the oil , remove ancillaries , off with the heads and barrels - assess from there - an hour or so ... Depends on your plans as to how far you take the rebuild . It may not even be a 1600 as it has single port heads , more commonly used on 1200-1500 beetle engines . What's the engine code ? Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
The OP stated it turns over with a big bar. I thought that’s about right with plugs in. Why are we replying what to do if seized, or am I misreading this?
Gents All comments gratefully recieved and give me something to go on when i fanlly get home from work and into my self isolation in my work shop
A good, worthwhile read is Tom Wilson’s book How to rebuild Aircooled Engines https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rebuild-Aircooled-VW-Engines-HP255/dp/0895862255 the detail is easy to understand and makes a good informative tool to help you
I don't have the code handy but it is a 1600 single port i looked at the code before i got it i am really looking forward to having a go at rebuilding an engine and hopefully at the end of the process i will have a spare engine sitting along side the gearboxes lol Enjoying getting to know the engine and the workings as i feel it is right to undersand the T2 as much as i can
You'll not regret it Kevin. What I will say is (and I found it useful) to have a notebook handy and measure parts up, record what you have measured and compare to the specs listed in the Wilson book. This will give you an idea of wear etc and if you are not sure, post up and ask for opinions. You will enjoy it, that's for sure but remember, if the motor is going to be one you plan to run in future, cleanliness is an essential.
