Head Repair - Page 10
June 24, 2002:  Preparing Remaining Gasket Surfaces

Today begins the reassembly process.

As a first order of business, I fitted new seals to the push rod tubes, coating the surface of the tubes that would come into contact with the seals with a very light coating of white lithium grease. The gaskets are of two different sizes, so I took care to use the correct size for the end of the tube I was working on.

Next step was to clean the gasket surfaces on the head where the water pipes, exhaust header, injectors and intake ports attach.  I accomplished this by very lightly going over the surface with the wire brush tool on my Dremel.  The exhaust header gasket surface was very corroded, so I began by wire brushing it with the big brush on my big drill, then sanding it smooth with medium grade emery cloth attached to a sanding block.   

To fit the new head sealing rings on the inside of the combustion chambers, I first applied a light coat of grease to both sides.  Then, making sure the beds for the metal rings were clear of debris, I placed them into the cylinder heads and ran my fingers around them several times to ensure they were securely in seated.

After a dinner break, I took the water jacket gasket, the head, push rod tubes and the tube of RTV silicon compound that came with the gasket kit out to the Westy, carefully placed them on a towel behind the engine well, and crawled under the van.

I applied a very thin coat of RTV to the lip of the water jacket on the engine, then placed the rubber water jacket gasket into position.  It went into place perfectly.  
I pressed it hard against the edge of the water jacket to ensure a tight fit.


I then applied a bead of RTV on the head side of the gasket and hung the head on the studs.   Holding the head with one hand, I positioned the push rod tubes into their seats taking care to install them seam side down in the location from which I had removed them.  This accomplished, I hand tightened the head nuts and began the process of torquing them in three stages to the values recommended in my Bentley manual.

  
At this point you would expect a problem, and there was one... no, there were two.    First off, as soon as I had finished torquing the head nuts to spec, I realized that I had neglected to put a thin bead of gasket sealant under the nuts as recommended in the Bentley.  I consulted with my brother on this, and he thought this could create a problem.  So, the plan is to take each nut off, one at a time, lay down the bead of sealant, then retorque the nut.  Hopefully this will not disturb the underlying gasket.

 The second problem occurred when I began installing the push rods.  As I picked each one up, I held it up to the light and peered through the opening on one end to ensure the inside was clean and free of debris.  As luck would have it, the second one appeared to have an obstruction.  On closer examination, I could see what appeared to be a piece of metal lodged in the opening on one end.   I carefully cleared the opening with my Dremel, removed any burrs that remained, and shot some carb cleaner through it to ensure it was free of crud.


I then inserted the push rods and began installing the rocker arm.  As I started the nuts on the two rocker arm studs, I noted that the side of the rocker arm toward cylinder #1 was out further than the side toward #2.  It then occurred to me that this was because one of the valves in #1 was in the open position when I removed the rocker arm.  I carefully retorqued both nuts on the rocker arm shaft and pulled the assembly into position, taking care to ensure the push rods were properly seated on both ends before the rocker arm was fully tightened down.  I noted that two of the push rods seemed dangerously close to the side of the push rod tube.  I hope this does not cause a problem!


Monday, June 17, 2002: Whoops!

Here it is Monday, and I'm back in the saddle again.

I began by removing the head nuts, one at a time, and smearing a bit of RTV goop on the nut flanges.  After ensuring a smooth coat of sealant on the flange (where it contacts the head) and double checking to make sure none had gotten down into he threads, I retorqued the nut to spec (50 Nm or 37 ft-lbs) before going on to the next one.  I removed them in the same order as called for in the Bentley for the torquing sequence.  To gain access to the nuts within the valve cover area, I had to remove the rocker arm.  No problem.  I had installed it in the dark, and was not sure I had seated all the push rods properly.   One of the members on the Vanagon.com list indicated that if you could rotate the push rods with your fingers (with the rocker arm installed) they were properly seated.  Well, after I got them back in, I could do this on all but one rod.  I am assuming that it is busy holding up a valve, so I'm going to move on.

I did note that the push rods did not line up perfectly in the center of the push rod tubes.  I am told this is to be expected; nevertheless, a couple of them appear to be dangerously close to the side of the tube.  I'll crank the engine once or twice with no plugs to check this, once I get to that point.


Next order of business was to reinstall the oil filler tube.  WRONG! When I attempted to next install the short coolant pipe that comes from the port just below the alternator bracket to a short flexible hose coupler, I couldn't get it into position without removing the oil filler tube I had just finished installing.  I hate it when that happens.  To make matters worse, I also had to remove the lower alternator bracket.  

But this being done, I easily installed the short coolant hose, by first inserting it into the flexible hose coupler, then fitting it over its studs.  I used a bit of RTV on both sides of the gasket.  

After it was secured to the engine side, I cinched up the hose clamp and I had what seemed like a solid connection.  I then refitted the oil tube and reinstalled the alternator bracket.



For my next trick, I tackled the exhaust header on the rear of the engine.  I used one of those exhaust gaskets that is metal on one side, placing the metal side against the head, as was recommended to me.  I used no goop (RTV) on this fitting.  I had to pry the exhaust pipe a bit with a large screwdriver to get it over the studs, but once I got it started, it popped right into place.  I did not tighten the nuts yet, because I know I'll be wrestling with the other end of the pipe on the left head, and will no doubt need some "wiggle."    

But... Say!  Those studs sure seem long!  I wonder if there's something else that goes on there...  Better check back through my photos and spend some time with the Bentley.  Also need to determine how the belts are threaded for the alternator and the power steering pump.  Do they go over or under the oil filler tube?  Does one go over and the other under?  Hmmm....

Research, research, research.  Here's the rear end of my engine as it looks now:


9 PM:  What to do, what to do, what to do...

Spent most ot the day under the VW. Hardest job was rehanging the muffler.  Trying to hold it in the air and figure out how that hanger goes together was a real challenge.   If you attempt this job, I hope you take better notes than I!  Power steering pump is installed, intake manifold tubes are back in place (I need some injector seals -- they weren't included with my engine gasket kit), and the rigid pipe that runs from the water pump behind the pulley to the intake port on the right cylinder head is in place.  I put a new O ring on that and wiped it with a bit of white lithium grease to (hopefully) ensure a good fit.  The bad news came when I bolted it to the head.  The lower hex bolt went in solid, but just when the upper bolt reached its full-in position, it started to turn freely.  Not good.  Not good at all.

Wish I were a beer drinker...


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