Engine tin question

Each piece of tin on an air cooled engine is necessary for a specific reason; cooling. One of the basic functions of that purpose is to keep hot air generated from the exhaust system from traveling back up into the engine compartment. I can't say how that specific piece plays into the job, but it seems that it does double duity; a splash guard for the belt and a heat shield from the exhaust/header system.

I'm no expert, but I would recommend trying to make sure that each piece of tin it reinstalled on the motor. I would be surprised if you couldn't make that piece fit with a little bit of noodling/fiddling.

Ted

I had clearance problems with that tin and my bigger oil pump - the oil pump retaining bolt heads protruded 1/4" or so and interfered with the back side of the tin.

 

Out came a small brush and some white paint, painted the heads of the bolts (a nice, thick coat) then dry-assembled the tin to the engine to get the bolt paint to transfer to the back side of the tin, then removed the tin and used a sharpie to fill in where the paint didn't stick and then cut out those spots with a drill.  Knowing how I drill things, I probably finished up with a Dremel and small grinding tip to fine tune the holes.

 

Gained just enough clearance to make everything fit acceptably.

I knew the interwebs wouldn't leg me down..
http://tallerdelbug.blogspot.c...-engine-tin.html?m=1

That guy goes to the extreme, but he gets it right. I think notching it , as Gordon suggested, may work well enough.

Ted

TRP good find - wonder how much less trimming would be needed for OEM parts?  Guess mixing years of OEM parts would give same issues though.  

Thanks guys!!! Huge help and addresses the tight fit of the DP head tin too. Plus I see you can put the breather box on the shroud(I have duals so no carb in the way) instead of the firewall.

 

Best!