Stripping the engine

So Sunday I went out and took the engine down about as far as I can. I've got the heads off and one jug slides. The other 3 pistons do seem pretty stuck.

Finally found the screws that needed to come out for the shrowd assembly. Took a bit of work to get the distributor loose.

Heads came off with some work. Amazing how simple the valve covers, push rods and rockers come out.

Brakes all but done!

So yesterday I put the T in the brake lines and thought about bleeding the brakes, but knew I was going to have to replace the backing plates so figured I might as well do that first. First one was pretty straight forward. I could see on the used parts I got how the E-brake hardware goes together and the cable goes through the back.

I also noticed that Mid America VW parts sent me 2 right hand E-brake cable clips and no left one. Oh well, I had a used one that worked.

Not entirely sure about what's what with parts at the wheel bearing there. The manual says something about replacing a gasket or O-ring, but I don't really see where one would need to be replaced while taking off the backing plate...

Then the left side...

Well, when the outer bearing/cover(again, still not entirely sure what's what there) there's definitely part of a seal or something that's in pieces. That might explain why that side is rather greasy. I figure for now I'll just bolt it back together and either look it up and see if I can figure out what's supposed to be there/what I need, or just wait for it to get worse and replace it.

Then the used backing plate. The adjusters seemed pretty seized. Which was odd since while these used ones had some rust, they were nowhere near as rusty and full of mud as the ones I had. So I mounted them so that I could get more leverage. I managed to get the bolts out, but the teethed adjusters... No such luck. They were quite solidly stuck. Much frustration.

So... I went back and looked at my old backing plate on that side. That one wasn't broken through anywhere. So decided to use it, and the set of adjusters that the used seller included on a third backing plate. Not sure if that's from the front or some other bug, it only has 3 holes for mounting.

So, finally, everything back together and I bled out the brakes.

Sure enough, I still need to attach the cables to the handle, but I can pull on either one and stop the wheel and the brake pedal brakes all 4!

My first time flaring brake lines

Well, Mike showed me how to flare brake lines and supplied the parts and tools and I went about it and sure enough, minus the front T that showed up late to the party, I now have brake lines completely run.

I still need to replace the rear backing plates, so I may try to do that before I go bleeding everything out. Hopefully those rear bolts aren't completely rust-welded in.

Also need to remember to pick up another vacuum pump as when I pulled mine out last week it just broke apart in my hands as I tried to pump it.

Axle nut and Neutral

Well, I tried to get the locking bolt for the axle nut to work. It's that stupid M7x1 bolt that seems to be the odd one that no one uses. Near impossible to find short of buying a new axle nut with bolt for like $10+$10 shipping.

I got as near as I could find in a standard size and hoped to rethread it. I think it may be a hair too large or something as it really doesn't want to go into the die.

I ended up having to run the tap through the nut just to get anything to thread into it and then I tried the hex head M7 bolt. It went in, but prettymuch just submerged itself and still wasn't tight enough. I think I may try to slot the bolt next.

Either that or I'm just going to have to make an hour trip to pick one up from a couple craigslist responses.

Noticed that the transaxle that I had filled(overfilled by normal standards) was leaking out of the input shaft and gear selector. I decided to try on getting the last bearing(s) to come loose. (It was still stuck in 3rd). I put it in 4th and started rocking the bug back and forth again. I was getting rather tired and it wasn't showing any signs of loosening up after like 30 seconds. But then... Is it just me or is it doing something a bit different? It kinda seems like it's moving a bit more... Woah... I think it's actually turning! Sure enough, Neutral is now there! So, other than reverse being a bit iffy... It won't stay in reverse on it's own and it kinda clicks... Not sure how that's going to play out with an engine in there...

Also put a hole into the front of the tunnel to route the brake line. Hopefully that will get done today.

I think that's about it...

Sunday

I put the nose cone back on the tranny and went looking for atf fluid I had laying around to throw in there and completely fill/soak it in hopes of making those stuck bearings a little more likely to break free.

I filled the tranny and got it back in the bug. Sure enough it would now roll with both wheels in the same direction! Of course no Neutral yet, but we can hope... Dunno, I tried throwing it in 4th and rocking the wheels back and forth, but nothing happened yet...

So, with a working brake and rolling wheels I rolled it out of the garage and into the driveway. Then got the 4-wheeler out which I had pretty much blocked in to this point. I hooked it on to the trailer which had the bug's engine on it and brought it down to the garage and took a look at what I had. Umm yeah, me thinks it sitting outside, face down in the mud for years didn't do it a lot of good. I blew off all the pine needles, pine cones, a nest out of the exhaust and who knows what else from around and scraped off the mud and cleared the mud out of places.

Then I added oil to bring it up to at least the low line.

Then I tried to turn it. Umm, it would seem to prefer not.

Took out spark plugs. They looked not super-great either, sprayed some PB Blaster in there as well.

Tried to get the alternator/fan to turn. Unh-uh. Figured out how to get the belt off. Got a big wrench and pipe on it. No sir, it would really rather not turn at all.

I started taking the fan assembly off and I was getting tired and it was getting colder out and I decided it was about time to head in.

Monday...

Found a fan shroud for the bug with a coil and generator mounted.

Tuesday:

Picked up the rear brake hoses.

Trying to determine what I need and where to get it. I put an ad on craigslist looking for that axle nut and I have a response saying if I pull it I can have it. Bit of a drive though. We'll see.

Saturday, A brake, and a Tranny!

So Saturday I made it out and pumped through the existing brake fluid, added some old bake fluid I had laying around, attached the new hose to the only existing connecting lines/hoses, adjusted the brake drums, bled the cylinder and ta-da, I have a right front wheel that turns as well as brakes. WOOHOO! Made plans for Monday to run the rest of the lines and get/replace the rear hoses.

Also finished off ordering backing plates for the rear and the parking brake hardware.

And then started the scary task of opening the transaxle that currently seemed to be stuck in 3rd gear and not moving other than the differential.

I've never been in a transmission before. And the warnings in the service manuals basically say "If you've never been in a transmission, don't let this be the first!"

But... As Mike told me, you've basically got something of no use as it is... So, I started as he suggested with the side cover. As expected, nothing really came out, or rather it didn't really open. So I started looking in the manual and just went backwards from the reassembly instructions along with pictures. Found seals inside where the CV joints attach and removed those. Then took a bit of work, but I got the C clip(the type with no eyes on the ends) off the shaft, then that cv mount came off and then the cover came off.

I was now looking at the back side of the diff which had some rust on it. But it didn't want to come out. I checked the other side. Sure enough, same thing. Seal, Clip, mount of and then the diff came out.

Bummer. No access to gears. That's in the forward end... So I look at the manual some more and start going backwards/pictures again.

Remove C-clip, slide off collar, unscrew input shaft extension.

Mark castelated nut on the gear that connects to the diff. Couldn't think of much that would work well. Found some spray paint. That just kinda made a big splotch. I basicall tried to wipe off all but one spot. Kinda worked...

Then you were supposed to move it somehow with a hammer and chisel... Not sure of the approved method. The nut didn't look all mangled up when I started(it looked perfect) But it was looking quite punched after I used my hammer/punch on it to rotate it a few times.

Then came the nuts/bolts on the forward end. And then a lot of prying/hammering/prying and finally somehow the gear assembly moved and then finally came out from the case.

Things were definitely a bit stuck. But really, it didn't look bad in there. Just seized a bit... I managed to get reverse lever moving, then the reverse gear to slide.

1/2 shifter already wiggled a bit.

That 3/4 shifter really didn't want to move much.

Hole thing really still didn't want to turn more than like a 1/2"...

I used about a half a can of PB Blaster, finally got the 3/4 shifter to neutral, then to 4 and back and forth.

Then found one spot where I could get vice-grips on a shaft and finally got the shafts to turn all the way around.

Made sure 1 and 2 shifts also could happen.

I still have at least on bearing that hasn't broken free as even though it's in Neutral it's still spinning like it's in 3rd. Input and output are still connected. I'm hoping I can get more leverage in car.

So I put some gasket sealant on the gear assembly, a bit of grease on the shims so they didn't fall off, engaged reverse so that I could get that gear attached to the shifter and then back in the case. The manual said something about a gentle tap from a mallet or something... I ended up really pounding that thing in repeatedly until I could get the studs to go through so that I could tighten it down with nuts/studs.

Then castellated nut back on with more punch/hammer mangling. I'm hoping I have it the right amount of turns and to the right position back on...

Screw the input shaft back on, slide the collar back down and replace the c-clip.

Then put the diff back in, the mount on one side, the c-clip and seal.

Then the spacer on the diff, the cover back on, bolt down, other mount, c-clip and seal.

Sure enough at this point, however roughly I can actually turn both axles in the same direction at the same time. (though input shaft is still turning).

Hopefully I can put some ATF or something in there for a bit, get it mounted up, more leverage and get Neutral to show up, clean out the gunk, replace with correct fluid and maybe it will work for a while? Not sure what the likely lifetime will be... It is definitely quite rough at the moment, but then it's had almost no oil for years, seized up and only yesterday started to free up with PB Blaster...

I think I shall head out shortly to see about remounting it...