i am about to pull the r/h head of my van to fix a water leak.i understand that it is important not to disturb the cylinders when pulling the head off .can any thing be done to minimise the risk.can the rubber be cut away to allow some crc to be applied on the top of the barrels?or do i just pull/lever/shove gently and hope for the best.once the head has moved a bit can the barrels be held back to prohibit movement ? thanks in advance...wayne ps the vw show in hobart yesterday was excellent. you folks from the big island should come over more often

fear anguish and more fear
good luck

If your going to the trouble of removing the engine to do one head then do the other one at the same time even if you say its not leaking

If your going to the trouble of removing the engine to do one head then do the other one at the same time even if you say its not leaking

thanks for the support greedy 53,you are all heart...vw54,i am not planning on taking the engine out at this stage. i have all the necessary bits off the outside of the engine and will probably pull the head off thursday afternoon.if a cylinder comes adrift i will then take the motor out before going any further and fix it myself if possible or take it to an expert

I have checked the Bentley and they are no help, but after looking at the pictures, thats all i do, it seems like U will be safe to remove the cylinder head without too much stress, i said stress, not effort.
Have U read my article on changing the water pump????

U must remove the intake manifold and all bits attached then approiate water pipes, then dont forget to drop the coolant and then the plug from under cylinder head. theres more shall i continue so far i am up to about, what Hour and half give or take.
Dont use the pry bar with too much aggression even though u may want to.
Oh Bentley does say
"Before proceeding with repairs, verify the availability of air tools"

Best of luck i have faith and the Bentley manual with pictures

just a bit of help my bus had the left head removed didn't fix the problem was not the job the motor was stuffed they did a lot of the work up on the lift
good luck

yes,iwishforasynchro,good article on the water pump.

Thanks always good for the 'Lesson learnt" :thumb

the head is off.tapping with a plastic hammer did the trick.when it had moved about 6-10 mm i could see past the rubber and found that the rear cyl had moved. with the head off i could see that the rear cyl had moved about 4-5 mm.it went back in easily but i guess the damage is done.the internals look good if the mileage [246] is correct. plenty of crosshatching.pistons reasonably tight in the bore.no lip on the top of the cylinders.valves look good....iwishforasynchro...does bentley give enough detail on piston and cyl removal and replacement ?

I'll get back 2 u tonight.

Yeh first glance is pretty good, what is exactly u need to know?
Ive got push rod replacement/Cylinder Head, Valve drive install/ + all desired measurements for allowable useage.
Hey U know what u r half way there, do the Cam, do the cam hhhmmmm lumpy.

[ Edited on 17-4-2007 by Iwish4aSynchro ]

iwishforasynchro....does bentleyhave a good article on changing the seals/gaskets at the bottom of the barrels.it also appears that you may need some special tool to take the piston off the rod? cheers

Yeh sorry every VW T3 motor needs special tools, to dissamble and reassemble. I will look into it later on tonight watching the box.

Righto.
First step before removal of Pistons.
As stated by the bentley "Make sure the availability of tools"

U neeed something to remove the sleeve/barrell of the piston..
Also special tool to remove holding pin in piston otherwise u will have to use the reaming tool, I would suggest a Dremel worst case scenario.
I can give u what info is needed but it's quite in depth if u dont have the "proper" tools. I would definently buy a Dremel and all attachments.

The Piston pin is a sleeve held there by Circlips. Long nose circlip pliers advised.
The piston pin removal tool looks to be some kind of a claw operated shaft, u know twist to close and twist back top open. So that the jaws(?) open and retract allowing a fair amount of force so as to pull the pin free, thus allowing removal of the piston. The rest after that is well childs play really.
Yeh Childs play

Well how goes the operation???

i have decided to take the motor to a specialist.i will get done properly what ever is required and then be able to use it and enjoy some peace of mind. i will get myself a manual so i am a bit more knowledgeable in the future. thanks for the all the feed back so far. i will add more as things develop

Oversize the pistons while it's being done.
Plenty of ooumph then..
I had no probs giving you the info, just easier to scan and then send to U.

hipothetically,if a bloke was to put oversize pistons in,he may then, if his standard heads were considered stuffed,go for moderately oversized valves and perhaps a performance exhaust. at this point he may say,shit i've gone this far what about 1.25 rockers,derestrict the inlet tract and see if a suitable hot chip was to be had.then if his knowledge on these items was limited he could post his suggestions on a suitable forum. with a bit of luck some more experienced enthusiasts would offer worthwhile comment on any possible reliability and fuel consumption issues. what do you reckon?

Ok i'll bite......
Ok if someone was to do such an operation it would be well worth while.
Fuel consumption would be better than present, as the motor would be new.
Reliability, well this is up to the mechanic and the owner of such a weapon to look after it well.
DJ pistons. 112Hp version of vanagon.

http://www2.cip1.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=vwc-025-198-075 
Have a sus around this site as it will give you a ball park
amount.
http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VWC%2D025%2D101%2D065%2DC 

Aus help there is more but start here if needed.
http://www.mickmotors.com.au/HOMENEW.htm 

http://www.kruizinwagon.com.au 



U may be able to obtain neede parts here in aus but finding sources who advertise such things, is well difficult to say the least. there are a few but as the internet is a tool. Use it...

[ Edited on 29-4-2007 by Iwish4aSynchro ]

[ Edited on 29-4-2007 by Iwish4aSynchro ]

i delivered the motor to a vw specialist today.because he was off sick last week the revised finish date is approx 3 weeks if all goes well.there is a few things i can do to the van while the motor is away so i will start on them tomorrow.first thing is to buy a manual. bentley seems to be ok so i will chase one of them. any one got one for sale? i will put the question up on the parts wanted forum and see what happens. cheers

Check ebay always a goer for these things.
Bentley is good but i often wonder if there is anything better..
The only thing Bentley doesnt have is a problem diagnoses and fix section.
It has some problem solvers but for the more remidial htings it's useless, Trial and error trial and error.
Good luck.

Hi

Ratio rockers will give it a lift. I used 1.4s on my WBX with no coil binding.

Steve

me to works great

i spoke to the bloke at conti engines last week and he said he had spoken to a couple of wbx owners who had a satisfactory result from a combination of 1.4 rockers and a performance chip. [about $800 in parts]do you know of this?what would your new fuel consumption be like? i will wait untill i get the bill for the engine and then decide..........wayne

Yeh fuel consumption is very close to what u have now but the performance is enhanced somewhat noticeably.
Crikey u didnt get a quote for the resleeve and pistons?

i got several different estimates based on several different possibilities of what might be required.the minimum work to be done is fit all new head studs,[they may come out easily or not] replace cylinder base gaskets[are the rings ok] dismantle the heads and reseat valves [do any of them needreplacing,are the heads cracked.]worst case scenario 3.5k approx for complete rebuild depending on these and other factors including corrosion.we will wait and see.

Crikey
I understand why the age old debate of running a subi conversion turns up so much, i mean really it's only a top end rebuild and for that possible dollar u can buy a whole subi, couple of bucks extra and u can get the turbo version.
I recently read on the Samba forums someone did similiar and added SS head studs.
Good luck hope it is a the smaller end of the scale for your "bill". :thumb

good news this morning. the motor required only 2 head studs and they were easy to replace,a new set of rings and a set of exhaust valves.there is evidence that a small amount of water had been leaking into the case but this has caused minimal corrosion.it appears that the case has been apart before [car has done 260 so maybe the bottom end has done less ] but the big ends and mains are still tight.

cool:thumb