Aircooled VW South Africa

No problems this side anyone else?

The majority of the guys subscribing to this forum can not read that fast, so the moderator slowed the whole thing down. If you type too fast, some guys can't keep up with the reading part.

hahahaha

The same thing happens to me from time to time......I've assumed it's the fellow users' limited abilities.

Maybe the threads are a bit too graphic (pics) and then things go south with bandwidth issues per thread?

Lost this one, so I will try again

Hi Eben, I don’t do anything special, I used to race and build race engines. I suppose I never lost the love of engines and engineering.

John, 9mm seems a bit deep, I hope your piston crowns are thick enough to handle that, a good quality forged piston would be OK down to a crown thickness of about 6.5mm, maybe a little less.

Cylinders. As I said, the Nikasil coating on my Mahle cast aluminum cylinders was a little worn. I did not want to ditch them because amongst other things:

1. They are a lot lighter than cast iron. 2. Aluminum has better heat transfer properties (better cooling) 3. Uniform material means a uniform expansion thus better sealing 4. A new set of forged Nikies cost an arm and a leg (plus some other body parts that we won’t mention) 5. You can’t buy Mahle cast aluminum cylinders any more.

Answer, I had the Nikasil re-plated. Now they are as good as new. : D

Deck Height. I had “Hold down/measuring” plates and spacers made to do this job properly. You need the plates to be quite thick and perfectly flat as you will need to torque the cylinders down evenly to get the correct readings (the cylinders will squish down a little when torqued down) Using this method I was able to get very accurate measurements.

Anyway, see the pics




Cheers, (are you getting bored yet?)

NO we can never get enough!

"we just can't get enough"



On to more questions - was it a company here in SA that did the re-plating on the Nikasil cylinders?

Cheers

Mario (welcome by the way)

JohnHoffe wrote:The same thing happens to me from time to time......I've assumed it's the fellow users' limited abilities.

Maybe the threads are a bit too graphic (pics) and then things go south with bandwidth issues per thread?

Might be Tony and Vader's "seatcover section" that eats up all the bandwidth.

Hi Airpower,

Thanks, I am not a writer (as you probably guessed ) but I will try to keep it coming as long as you guys find it interesting.

My Nikasil plating was done by “NSC Electroplating, 14 Fountain Gate, 84 Maria Street, Fontainebleau”. 011 791 4361. Great guys, seem to know their stuff, "not cheap" however, they did a good job on my cylinders. I am very pleased with the results.

I replied to a post on “oil gallery plugs” under “Technical Advice” do you think I can continue with this subject here? (Don’t really want to post the same thing twice, but I will if it’s best to do so)

Anyway some pics to wet your appetite.






Cheers.

That is exactly what I need to do for my Type 4 case. It looks stunning

OK then,

Oil galleries, how did I remove the press fit plugs, tap threads into the case, and fit the threaded plugs.

As I have said before, I am no writer, so I will try to condense the details. Please ask for clarification if you haven’t followed.

This is the method I use, I am not suggesting it is the best or only way, it just works for me. Please don’t try to sue me if you *#@$ up your case.

Before you start, I suggest that you are going to need the following:



I would also suggest two of each 1/8” NPT, 1/4” NPT, 3/8” NPT, and M12 x 1.75 taps

You will also need a selection of Brass 1/8, 1/4, and 3/8 NPT plugs also two x M12x1.75 grub screws.

Some people do not remove the smaller plugs, if you decide not to you will not need the 1/8” and 1/4'”NPT tap, you may also not need the M12 x 1.75 tap either, more on that later.

First, you will need to remove the old plugs, this is the easy part. Take a socket that is slightly larger than the plug you are going to pull. Drill a small hole in the plug, place a washer over one end of the socket, place the socket over the plug, feed a self tapping screw through the washer and into the hole you just drilled into the plug. Now start tightening the screw (I find the type with the nut heads better than the slotted type) as you tighten the screw, it will pull out the plug into the socket. I found that they come out quite easily.

Of course, you can make special tools or pullers to do this job, but the socket method works just fine.

Let me stop there and see if anyone has any questions.

Cheers

Nice build.

Blitz has a question.

Did you source the taps, plugs and screws locally? How much did it cost (if I may ask)?

T4Flyer, please to meet you...

I am eeping an eye on this post for when you come to the Valvetrain geomitry. I am kinda stuck at the moment... So keep on posting. I should really start my own thread about my engine build But not right now, got too many other things to sort out still(like something to heat up my freakin' cold garage. The only thing I like aobut the winter is the snow. That gives me chance to go and 'play' on the roads here... You see, I live in the platteland, and here they dont put salt on the roads, they are too small.... And of course, if I get the chance, snow in the mountains where I can snowboard! )

Anyway..., end of highjack.

When you come to the valve train, please post detailed pics and description

Hi Blitz,

Yes all sourced locally. Taps can be bought from most good engineering tool suppliers. Brass plugs are available from most of the bigger hydraulic pipe and fitting suppliers.

Notice in the picture that the 1/8” plugs are steel. My supplier ran out of brass, I did not use them as I prefer brass (aluminum would be great but I haven’t found a supplier in SA and brass works fine.)

In addition, the M12x1.75 grub screws are also available from most engineering supplier. I’m wondering who’s going to ask about the M12’s

Can’t honestly remember what I paid for what, but I can tell you it was a lot less than an engine rebuild would be if an oil gallery plug blew out, not to mention I might be a couple of thousand feet above the ground at the time!!

Cheers

Okay, thanks.

You may now continue