How's that Engine Running?

It is always impressive down on the Ramona Radio Ranch when things work!  The old 1960's tunnel bug that followed me home one day...this Craig's listed item is almost ready for the desert. 

BTW -  I am not much of a mechanic so this still amazing to me this thing even runs!

Pretty sad shape ~ as you can probably see. But being a sucker for the underdog I wanted to get this old gal going again ~ mostly to see if I could do it. 

By the markings we figure it is around a  1963 - 1964 vintage engine, it is a replacement block.  (HB72277S) Which means it was bought as a replacement part not part of a VW Beetle.

Who knows when they turned it into a sand buggy. Probably in the 1970s or '80s...

It had been regstered and permitted at one time...The VIN was too old to verify so we got another assigned. We even had a freindly CHP officer (thanks Jeff!)  try to run all cominations of the VIN we could figure.  We got a new VIN assigned by CHP:

OK ~ it was ready to do some fixing after we now really owned it ...and have paper and off-road permits to boot.  That administrative action (thanks to: Radio Wife) probably doubled the value of this thing!

The plan was:

1. Get it started
2. Get it running
3. Make it go (clutch etc)
4. Make it  drivable (new shocks etc)
5. Then if all that works... Make it pretty (Paint, lights etc)

I think we are up to 3 or 4 now... I know she will never be a beauty. But I will spray some paint on her possibly at the end of this desert season or for next year's

This is the engine as we saw her on the first day home.  Pretty sad would not crank, could hardly even move the crankshaft turn by rocking it or with a wrench on the pulley nut. It was corroded and almost seized up, mainly in Cylinder #3. 

 Here is what it looks like today.  A little cleaner and she not only starts but runs pretty well after some timing and carburetor adjustments.  New AutoZone 12V starter, new flywheel (12 volt one to match the starter this time - a major part of the cranking problems ~ it  still had an old chewed up 6V flywheel on it when we got it and a 12V starter) Also, they had an electronic ignition, I did not want to deal with that so I got a new distributor set up with old reliable points as well.


Once I got it on the buggy I did a couple of crank tests, to get the oil flowing:

[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGVGxuGTDSc&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL]

Also threw in a new clutch and pressure plate while I had the flywheel off, added 4 new stock cylinders, and pistons, new EMPI carburetor and EMPI 009 distributor and new fuel pump. 

This was the first start attempt... Just would not keep running... the old carburettor had lots of old fuel "white stuff" in its bowels and I tried to clean it by soaking for several days in solvent, scrubbing and also removed the jets and cleaned them out, but it still seemed clogged somewhere and the old fuel pump was pretty anemic anyway. When the bowl finally filled up fuel would begin to leak from the float shutoff valve!

The engine would only run as long as the fuel from the accelerator pump was in the carburetor. I could keep it running by pumping the accelerator, but it would die after the fuel was used up.  So, I broke down and threw a new carburetor and fuel pump on...

This video was later with the new pump and carb, I thought it was going to happen all over again, but fortunately, as it turned out the idle speed needed some readjusting for cold starts. A timing light really helped...it runs the best when the timing mark is at the spot where the belt leaves the pulley.  I always thought that the mark needs to line up with the engine case center line...but this setting worked for me . Who knew?

The heat risers under the are just holding up the carb and manifold;  they had been welded shut. (probably due to a nasty crack the was most likely spewing exhaust all over the engine. I patched the thing up with some metal epoxy but did not  open up the risers...I don't know if that will help cold starts.


Here are some pictures I took during the rebuild...

The new pistons and cylinders...

Reused the old heads. Note; on this side there is a slight crack between the valves (on the right-hand side in this picture) It was only seen after I cleaned all the carbon off the heads.  I tried to replace that head but the one I got from a guy on Samba.com had both sides cracked...so mine was actully in better shape so I just stuck with this one for now:

The old flywheel. This got pretty chewed up from the 12V starters used on it.  I actually re-purposed it as a platform for a floor jack ~ we found it rusting on my property left by the previous owner ~ to lift the engine back on the buggy!

You can see the sharpie marks I put on it to count the teeth to verify the size was for 6V starters:

Pretty much everything else is how we found it for now.

 Added this surplus pressure gauge for testing....

 Like my wife (a former beetle owner) says check the gas and fill the oil on a bug...

Yeah, there are a couple of oil drips on the garage floor, some are from the temporary fittings for the oil pressure gauge, some are not! 

I incrementally adjusted the fast idle and mixture needle screws after the engine warmed up and think I finally dialed in the close to the correct adjustments...I'm sure the real dune buggy folks will no doubt have some say in the final settings. It still does not like running cold and will stall out if not entirely warmed up. I think also need to get a larger air filter.

We had it out in the driveway and yard and it drives as well.  The issue I has was the accelerator cable was way too tight and the Bordon tube is also too short so it shakes pretty badly if you have a tendency to ride the clutch... Once you get used to that, ~and yes I did loosen the cable quite a bit for non-aggressive drivers so you really have to push it down to clutch~ then away she goes!!

This thing is actually a little bit of a rocket. The lightened flywheel and the new cylinders help give this 600 lb beast quite an acceleration.  You can even get the front wheels off the ground if you are not careful. 

Tune in to these posts to see how it does on the sand this year near Occotillo Wells, CA.

~ ~ ~

Trailer Axe ~ Act 1

Well - maybe I should change this to "car ranch"? Nope - I am really not much of a mechanic.  Anyway, that rusty acquisition I have running came with this trailer.  (Thanks, Craig's list)  We needed to get this fixed to get the tunnel buggy out to the sand this year! I did not relish the thought of being stuck along the road somewhere in "the narrows" between the Radio Ranch and the desert property in Little Borrego.

When we were doing the DMV and CHP thing we had to tow the buggy and the trailer to these places for registrations and VIN verifications, this is when I noticed that the wheels were in a very awkward angle to the road when I was following behind the trailer one day.  The problem was noted and I saw this:

 No, that is not a weird camera angle.  Apparently - the trailer got damaged in one of its "..many trips to Baja"  The hasty roadside repair looks like it involved a welding torch!  They also welded the brake hub to the axle to get it home...So just getting a new axle and use the existing hubs was not an option. Oh yeah, after I got the springs off with an impact wrench, I noticed the square tube has a new crack developing in it extending from the hole for the spring bolt - nice.

A few things to measure after I got the old one off:

It turns out we had a standard 70" spring center ( 72" trailer) with an 85" hub face.  Great! all standard.  Although they seem to allow for custom lengths but they strangely have to be odd inches?  Oh well, mine is a standard axel. 

We had a 5 lug ,  5-1/2 " wheel bolt pattern...a truck pattern as I was told.  Also, kind of standard, but. as it turned out it did not seem to be a problem for my supplier...

Also, the springs seem standard 25" ( although backwards from most specs the hangars on mine are in the front...I dont think that is an issue) I may also order new shackles and bolts as they seem a bit worn!

So after some research it came apparent that there are no trailer parts guys still in business near the Radio Ranch! 

Looks like the recession took its toll here.  But...We found a very good one on the Internet.  ABC trailer parts in Molton, AL.  Randy there was very helpful!!

Here:
http://abctrailerparts.com/ 

He advised that if we had springs to keep them but he would send a new "U" bolt set "duct taped" to the axle so save on shipping!



Dad - I smell ducktape?



The delivery inspection!  Everything seemed intact after it's journey across the country from AL - > CA... Although the radio wife did say the UPS guy was eyeing the axle and said him and his son could use for their desert toy hauler as well!

 Did I doubt Randy? Not a bit!  Well I did a first I did until I saw the genuine Duct tape.  For an additional $few I added the grease fittings...

This seems like a good Idea! Especially in the sand. I may need to check to see if they have replacement caps as well.

The old springs cleaned up good.  Just a rotary wire brush to see if anything was going on under the rust AND crud.

  Then I gave it a few coats of RUST-O glossy black for good measure.

 Here we go!  All parts checked out - one or two minor problems - later on those issues...

 The spring tabs are 70" on center and the spring drops right on there.

Then added the plates.  I guess this is the way to put them. I think older plates are just a big thick piece of steel... 

Here are the old plates and bolts.  They are definitely not going to bend with too much torque!


But in this case they are smaller gage steel and require these little bends for stiffening.  I put them on drooping down for no real reason but it looked like the crud and dust would sluff off instead of collecting if I put them the other way...and it looked like they had been mounted this way before!

 They came with nylon locking nuts.  It looks like they were previously installed as the finish was scraped a little also on this side.

Snugged them down in a Cris-cross pattern ...later using the torque wrench put them in the 50- 60 Ft-Lb spec > UBOLTS + Specs < I first ran them to 20 FT-LB all the way around, then up to the full 55 ft-lbs after fully mounting them to the trailer and letting them settle in a bit.  I think I will put in washers next time to get a better torque reading, but a drop of 3-way oil seems to help as well.. Strangely, I do not see a picture of the 1/2" torque wrench. I thought I recorded the torque values I set on it for posterity?  I'll need to check the cell phone pictures...



The only issue for the torque wrench is I needed to use the deep sockets to get it on the U-bolts.

OK here was  one issue I had ...As seen here one of the "U"  bolts was  slightly damaged.  I noticed the nut was very hard to turn and sure enough...Looks like it was cross-threaded or got scraped in shipment.  I took a needle file to it an re-opened the threads to get the bolt on.

The second issue is a little hard to see but the saddle on this side was slightly bent!  Looks like it was over torqued or the U bolt was at an angle when it was previously used.  I dont think this will be an issue but I will need to keep an eye on it.  I may take it off and see if we can flatten it out a bit;

 So the process to lift it up was pretty strait forward.  I learned my lesson not to do this on the dirt as I did on the tear down!  We moved the trailer to the drive way for the install.  I put it on a little dolley...rolle it under.

 Up she goes!  On my found in the yard and repaired floor jack.  The old flywheel for the engine remount was still on it but I put four 8mm bolts to keep the axel from rolling off.  You can see the bolt heads in this pic:

Dad..a lizard may be here...

Fully attached ready for final torquing down.  They recommend re-torque after about 100 miles which is about a trip out to the desert and back from the Radio Ranch.

Oh yeah, this little air impact wrench was most helpful getting the old "U" bolts off the springs.

It probably explains the bend in the plate as even this little H.F. model produces 230 FT-LBs @ 90 PSI! If some one used it on it could bend it ?

Anyway, my assistant was happy we did not need this to run the compressor too long! 

Just long enough to run the lug nuts on... it s my job to scare the bunnies!

~~~