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Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 1:50 pm
by Jim Clement
So.. I have a rebuilt engine, done by the local VW guy. It still leaks, and has less power than my old Vanagon.. something is clearly wrong with the engine. I estimate it has about 40 hp..
I have already checked, rechecked the carbs, the electrics, the fuel pump.. so am thinking I need to take the engine out yet again ( the oil seal on the flywheel side is leaking yet again) and send it to someone that can figure out what is wrong with the engine..
Any recommendations for this ?
The engine is cleaned up already.. all bolts are replated, tin is great.. just need the engine working..
I suspect the cam is not installed correctly, or is the incorrect cam..

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 2:28 pm
by Ron LaDow
Jack Morris knows 616 engines inside and out. He's in Greenacres, WA; 206-380-0163. Dunno how busy he is right now.

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 3:30 pm
by Jim Clement
is this the same or different than Morris Brothers in Ut ??

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 4:55 pm
by chris romney
I would also suggest you go see Jack Morris. Ron already gave you his contact information. Greenacres is just outside of Spokane a little west of the border with Idaho. He'll get to the bottom of whatever your problem is. Jack used to be part of Morris Brothers in Salt Lake (and was in Seattle before that) but I believe the family moved to Spokane because his wife had a very good career opportunity. I think Jack just finished setting up his shop and is ready to roll. Good luck.

Chris

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 5:43 pm
by Ron LaDow
Jim Clement wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2019 3:30 pm is this the same or different than Morris Brothers in Ut ??
Jim,
Yeah. Among other reasons, Jack was ending up 'helping' the crew there on water-cooled engines, and he *really* wanted to spend time on the fours.

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 7:58 pm
by Dan Kalinski
So nice to have Jack back in the PNW. He did my '63 with euro heat and Ron's full oil filter... One of the better running cars in our air cooled collection.
HPIM0297.JPG
HPIM0297.JPG (868.11 KiB) Viewed 1923 times

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 11:23 pm
by Alfred Knittel
Jim. Jack is the one. Not that far from Calgary. He is just getting his shop set up. He moved 3 semi loads of parts from Utah to Spokane. Amazing all the stuff he has.

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 11:28 pm
by Alfred Knittel
Jim have him build a twin plug set up. There's no problem with power then.

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 11:50 pm
by Jim Clement
wow.. that is a very nice looking engine.. mine looks nice.. but not that nice..

thanks for the endorsements.. recommendations.. i will give him a call

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 11:45 am
by Ned Hamlin
Jack is the best. I've worked with him since he was in Seattle, and he's rebuilt three engines (4?) for us.
We're lucky to have him back in Idaho.

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 1:28 am
by Ron LaDow
Got a note from Jack today; he's happy to talk about new work and mentioned his test procedures:
He will NOT test a new build without a full flow oil filter; too many chances of 'stuff' coming out of hidden corners and ending up his liability. He has a Pre Mat filter on the shelf, modifies all the timing covers to accept it. If a customer won't spring for one, he uses his, but he's not about to suffer from some crap from over there loosened by the new thermal cycle.
After that, you're on your own.

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2019 2:25 pm
by Jim Clement
so..
I had jack look at my transmission.. a few problems with the previous rebuilder..
first off a bit of a story.. About four years ago I started a complete restoration of my car, purchased in 1982 by me. one of the reasons was the transmission leaked out of the front seal.. did your years, about 100ml per year.
so I found a rebuilder through the Registry adds.. looked good. Fast forward to the completed car, shakedown run.. out for a drive, car does not run that well.. but it is a shake down.. a fellow stops me as i am driving, and tells me "dude your wheel is wobbling and going to fall off.. I go home check the wheel torque, all good. but something is wrong, so take it to a shop and find out that the axle is bent. So I phone the transmission shop.. they tell me they will warranty it.. just take it out of the car and put it on a pallet, they will fix and ship back.. so I do, comes back. I reinstall and it now starts to leak profusely.. about a 100 ml per 100 miles.. so that would be about a 1/4 gallon of fluid per 1000 miles, they tell me this is normal.. now, at this point I really do not have a warm feeling about my Rebuilt / reconditioned transmission..
so I decide to look around for a better solution..

here is what ended up wrong with the work of the first rebuilder:

• As you know they, unfortunately, blasted all of the aluminum case pieces. Bad for several reasons.
• No factory lock tabs on the differential ring gear fasteners. This caused the bolts to be bottomed out in the bottom of the ring gear. The threads are now damaged on the bolts. They were held in with red loc-tite. The tabs are not only necessary for securing the bolts but they limit the depth.
• No lock tabs or spacer gasket on the pinion and main shaft bearing retainer. The retainer is now bent out of shape and again everything secured with loc-tite. Deep gouging under the fasteners where the lock tabs should have been. There is a layer of loc-tite under this housing.
• All of the pinion and mainshaft bearings are used.
• Differential bearings are new, however, the ring gear side bearing is incorrect. Porsche used a much stronger thrust type (p.n. 900-053-004-00) angular bearing. What was used was the VW style bearing used for the 36hp vehicles (p.n. 111-517-185). Not good.
• Both side covers badly damaged. It appears that fasteners were impacted onto the housing repeatedly - with no washers. Deep gouging. Possibly from trying to set up bearing pre-load?
• Intermediate plate has the same deep gouging. Possibly from trying to set up pinion depth?
• Debris and contaminants in the mechanism. Even behind the synchro rings. Remnants from blast media? Also chunks of red loc-tite.
• Axles are in spec, but the wheel bearings are not. Poor quality, loose on the axle shaft. The spade end of one axle is marred but can be used.
• Wheel seals both bent, poorly installed.
• No bearing spacers in the bearing cap. VW's had no such spacer, Porsches, because of the thicker backing plate, used two to four spacers depending on how the bearing to cap measurement read.
• Bearing cap full of silicone sealant. Huge bead around and even into the wheel bearings.
• Input shaft seal leaking badly. Input shaft has a groove worn into it and needs to be resurfaced for the seal to work.

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2019 4:57 pm
by Wes Bender
Did Jack look at your low-powered engine and, if so, what did he find with it?

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2019 5:23 pm
by Jim Clement
He has just now finished with the engine.
I took it out on the first run a few days ago.. what a difference !!!
it looks great and feels even better !! I really did not know they went that fast.. and a great feeling on the throttle, lots of wind up, great acceleration.
He is just finishing it up now,
The engine was simply just mismatched, B heads were not compatible with the cams and the pc set, throttle linkages were all off by about 25% .. a host of small things adding up to a poor running engine.. now goes great.

Re: Engine Rebuilder in the Pacific NW or Utah or Idaho ish ?

Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2019 5:27 pm
by Jim Clement
Other things like the sump plate was put on with cap screws, not studs, the oil cooler was not cleaned out, some debris in the engine, causing wear on the bearings even at a low mileage - like 500 miles, and the bearings were scored..
The flywheel was not at all balanced - was a noticeable shake of the start. Funny, I have owned the car for almost 40 years, and it always shook.. so it was normal, now .. I think, where is the shake..
so yes.. good !!