Engine removal from VS

I bought a used VS some years ago. Car ran great for a couple of years, then started acting up -- engine breaking up on at high RPM's, etc. I've carefully rebuilt the Dellorto carbs, installed a solid state ignition, new fuel pump, etc. etc. (I've also read every posting on this forum looking for magic.) Nothing worked. Now I'd like to take the engine out and send it to someone who can get it to run correctly. I'd appreciate any comments -- especially what steps to take in what order on the removal process. I have lots of tools, a good place to work, and a wife who wants this car to run or leave on a flatbed and never return.

Fortunately I also have a friend who makes part of his living building VW engines for race cars very successfully. The plan is to take the engine out, drain the oil, strap it to a pallet, and send it to him.
I live south of Asheville, NC on the SC border. Thanks in advance for any comments.
Rick

I didn't see adjust valves and timing on your list. Sounds like a lot of effort and expense when it might just need old fashion tune up.

compression check?

Richard, after your car is fixed, please plan on joining us for this year's fall run in the Smokies. We're going to be based out of Asheville this year. See the thread titled "Early thoughts on the fall run in the Smokies" in the "Events" forum.

Oh boy , Now I have the itch. It has gotten so bad at work. even my mom wants me to quit. And If I can find a decent part timmer job. I'd like to be in on this one.. At this point I don't know what'sgonna happen. But that just put gas on my camp fire..

Richard - you got Email.

Richard, Since no on has answered your original question regarding removal of your engine I thought you might like some "light" reading.

If you have jack stands, then raise the front and back of the car as high as you can get it. Drain the oil. Then disconnecting your battery. Remove the wires from your alternator and mark each wire so you know where it should be re-installed. Remove the 12 volt wire from the coil and the wire from the coil to the distributor and your tach wire. Again, mark the wires. Disconnect your throttle cable and pull it through the fan shroud. If you have an aftermarket oil cooler, disconnect those lines. Remove your fuel line but be prepared to plug the line and to wire tie it up above the level of your gas tank. If you have an aftermarket breather system on your car, check to see if it will clear the surroundings. Also, if you have dual carburetors, it's much easier to remove the carb's before dropping the engine.
If you do this, then stuff rags into the intake manifolds so nothing will fall in and damage your valves.

Using a 17 mm wrench, locate the 2 nuts that protrude through the bottom of the transaxle on each bottom corner. Remove those nuts, they are affixed to studs that are on the bottom of the engine block.

There are 2 bolts on the top of the engine usually between the cylinder heads and the fan shroud. Locate those 2 bolts and remove them after placing a floor jack under the engine. I usually place a small piece of plywood on the jack pedistal then raise it to where it touches the bottom of the engine. Remove the top bolts and pull back on the engine. You may have to do a whole bunch of wiggling but eventually the engine will move back and the transaxle mainshaft will clear the clutch and you can then lower the engine.

Forgot to mention that it may help to remove your exhaust system as that will give you more room to move the engine towards the rear. Also, depending on how your sealing tin is affixed, you may have to remove some of the tin. Once the transaxle input shaft has cleared the clutch then you can slowly lower the engine while pulling it towards the rear of the car.

Depending on how high the car is sitting on the jackstands, you may or may not be able to slide the engine away from the car. If it won't clear then use another floor jack and raise the car until the engine can be pulled clear. I can usually pull an engine in 30 minutes or less depending on if I take a required by law 15 minute break. LOL If it's your first time, the expect to spend about an hour or 90 minutes.

If you have a motorcycle hydraulic jack, they work great to support the engine during installation and removal.

I'm sure I may have forgot to mention something so anyone that notices a descrepancy, please chime in

To me this yanking the motor all but wrong.
It's best to check out the motor in the car: Compression, oil pressure, valve adjustment, fuel pressure ignition coil output etc.
Find someone in the Carolina's to investigate the woes. ~Alan

Thanks to all who replied so promptly.

To fill in a few more details I can mention that I have replaced the coil & the spark plug wires. New plugs twice. Timing is set at 28 deg at 2800 rpm. Spark is hot. Car starts right up and idles well. When I had throttle things start to go bad. I have carefully adjusted the valves.
I have adjusted the throttle linkage carefully to take out any slop.
I have checked the pressure drop on all carb throats.
I have run an alternate wire to the battery from the coil . . . just to check. OK.
The exhaust system has the muffler on the right side (in the way of almost everything.)
I have drained the gas and replaced it with new high test.
I have the Dellorto book and followed it carefully. Accelerator pump output is suspect, but that should not be a problem holding the rpm's steady at 3000 (while the the exhaust snorts and pops).
I have not checked the compression. I have the equipment, but working around the muffler would be a problem and I felt if there was a problem with compression I'd have to pull the engine anyway to fix it.

Finally, today a read a tip that advised me to check the covers on the air filters of both carbs. The carb serving cylinders 1 & 2 had a lot of wet carbon under the lid and the stack on cyl 2 was slightly brown instead of shinny aluminum like all the others.
Whew! Thanks again to all.

Adjust the valves. Really.

... first rule of thunb is set the valve and confirm the timing is correct before getting into anything else.

richard if you can take the valve springs out and check them, they are probely weak, a good sign of high rpm mis, you probly have the stock ones, they are usually only god to 4500 rpm, good luck. bill

If you want to remove your valve springs, you can rent a tool from aircooled.net.

With this tool you can do it with the engine still in the car and the heads on.

Do you have points or an electronic point eliminator?

Points could be out of adjustment and or the condenser could be bad

Electronic point eliminators that are bad will will sometimes cause high speed misfires but work OK at low speeds

And don't forget to make sure the screws are tight on the point eliminator. That has gotten quite a few of us on here!(not me though) Maybe a short ground braid from the dizzy to the case wouldn't hurt either.

I had a Pertronix Ignitor come loose at the rivet on the base plate, it took some time to find the problem.

thats why i always put locktight on the screw. bill

Quote by Richard: I bought a used VS some years ago. Car ran great for a couple of years, then started acting up -- engine breaking up on at high RPM's, etc. I've carefully rebuilt the Dellorto carbs, installed a solid state ignition, new fuel pump, etc.


Hello Richard, not knowing all the details of your ride, just what you

If that doesn't work, you can also try " Back yard Joes tune up trick"..., follow link, third post down by Me.

http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=100107


David / dd-ardvark

I like that distributer theory. Might also try a different coil, just to eliminate that.

Sounds like floating valves or electrical problem, most likely the latter. Arcing spark plug wires? Maybe fuel pressure. Gut feeling electrical.

I'm sorry I skipped the residue on the air cleaner thing mentioned before (valves, most likely). if that's not the problem i agree with the above comment on the distributor, have had several new ones act "loose" or jumpy at higher rpms on the test bench and dyno. It's as my dad said, it's always something basic it seems, compression , electrical or fuel. It's been 20 yrs but some things never change....I wish I had Dr.Clock as a auto shop teacher!

Just a REALLY silly question . . . did you check the inside of fuel tank AND line to the rear yet? Any debris in the tank will gather at the filter/sock eventually and block the fuel flow. I always put air to the gas line in the engine bay and blow backwards to the tank. You'll hear the bubbles and can look in the tank for dislodged debris.

I ask about the fuel line because I just had a car in the yard with the same problem as you're having. Idled fine, ran decently up to a point, then stopped running at all for the most part. Kept loosing power and breaking up under any load.

At one point in the car's life, someone had placed a fuel filter in the rubber line between the tank and the hard line, it got covered in undercoat and road grime and pretty much couldn't be seen.

Obviously it was clogged and the cause of all of his problems. You sound like you have either a fuel delivery or ignition problem, both EASILY tracked down and fixed if you check EVERYTHING from the source to the final connection.

Luck,

T