1 (edited by ninjacoco 2017-11-01 09:21 PM)

Topic: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

Hey! I'm trying to make the MSR Houston race with the Volkswagen 411 that won IOE at Buttonwillow and figured it's bad enough to list in the "on fire..." thread.

Here's the previous post on "oh crap, what am I doing with this car?" and all the work it needs: https://blackflag.jalopnik.com/everythi … 1819153463

It's pooping oil mostly out the passenger side of the rear, and Corey seems to think there's a rod knock? I've got valve cover gaskets on the way in case it's just that, but he said there might need bearings or a donor.

Does anyone near Austin/San Marcos know aircooled VWs super well? I'm definitely planning on spending my weekend trying to rip into this engine if I can. The car's at Harris Hill. I'm...kinda clueless. Holy crapballs, help?

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

If it really is a rod knock, pulling the plug wires one at a time while idling is going to result in the noise getting a lot quieter when you remove ignition from the offending cylinder. Not that it matters which one it is, just pointing out a quick way to prove that is or isn't the cause of your misery. As for oil leak, valve cover gaskets are super-consumable on type 1 and type 4 motors ( type 3, too, come to think of it)

Swaps? Subaru engine with a manual, as suggested by Jalopnik, isn't lemony enough. This needs a Corvair six with Powerglide.

Tradewinds Tribesmen Racing (The road goes on forever…)
#289 1984 Corvette Z51 #124 1984 944 #110 2002 Passat
Gone but not forgotten, #427-Hong Kong Cavaliers Benz S500
IOE (Humber!) Hell on Wheels (Jaguar)

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

NO SWAPS!!! Unless it's another Type 4 engine. Haha.

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

There may be a 1.8 type 4 hiding in my garage here in pa.

How to get it to you?

88 Festiva  -  Damn Tree!!!
"We Are Not Really From Iran" Festiva  -  Motor and Trans to be anounced

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

fitsbain wrote:

There may be a 1.8 type 4 hiding in my garage here in pa.

How to get it to you?

Well the Regular Car Reviews guy is always moaning about being bored on Twitter, and he's in PA.

Although he thinks 2 hours is a LONG drive.

Mistake By The Lake Racing (MBTL)
88 Thunderbird "THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!", Ex Astris, Rubigo / Semper Fracti
A&D: 2014 Sebrings at Sebring (NSF), 2014 NJMP2 Jurassic Park (SpeedyCop), 2012 Summit Point J30 (PiNuts)
2018 Route Sucky-Suck Rally Miata, 2019 World Tour Of Texas 64 Newport

6 (edited by ninjacoco 2017-10-14 09:43 AM)

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

Haha. Two hours is like, a good run for breakfast down here.

There's always the Lemons delivery system if someone's towing out towards this way. If it runs, I might be interested although TBH I'm a bit short on cash right now. (Because Volkswagen.)

I've got valve cover gaskets on the way right now. The old cork ones were pretty oily like they weren't quite holdin' it in. Holy crap, those are easy to get to on this thing. I like this car already, haha.

It sounds like a rebuild might be in my future, either way. What all do I need to find parts-wise to make that happen?

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

Good news, everybody! The guy who ran the Type 4-engined Type 3 we had doesn't think it's rod knock. It's rough and there's a butt-ton of blow-by, though, so it's gonna need a rebuild. Time to dig into the engine, I guess.

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

Dingle ball hone and new rings/bearings?

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

SpaceFrank wrote:

Dingle ball hone and new rings/bearings?

It's probably a really bad sign that I don't know what that is. Yikes.

We did a compression test. One side looked fine, but the sign that was leaking oil all over was not. 52 in the inboard cylinder, and 0 in the outer/rear cylinder on the right side. So, I tried to look at the head. I couldn't get it off in time and had to go home, at which point F1 week and a work trip took over, so I've gotten nothing done at all on the car.

I desperately need help from anybody who might know aircooled VWs if I have any hope of running this car at MSR-H at all. I'll probably pop down to Harris Hill later today to see if we can at least pry the head off to see if we can see any glaring issues there, and likely be out there all weekend trying to get it to run again.

Does anyone nearby have spare parts that might work on a Type 4/914 engine? Especially engine bits that might be borked?

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

ninjacoco wrote:
SpaceFrank wrote:

Dingle ball hone and new rings/bearings?

It's probably a really bad sign that I don't know what that is. Yikes.

It's a nickname for the Flex-Hone.

1982 MG Metro 1300: IOE 2015 Pacific Northworst GP, Longest Distance 2010 Cd'L Box Wine Country Classic
1980 KV Mini 1: Worst of Show and Fright Pig Supremo 2009 Concours d'Lemons
1978 H Special: Second-Round Elimination 2010 Lemons Pinewood Derby at Sears Pointless
1967 SAAB 96: IOE 2012 Pacific Northworst GP, Organizer's Choice 2022 Hell on Wheels California Rally

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

Fancy!

(Though I like saying "dingle ball" a bit more.)

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

Popped the head off on the offending side. Those two pistons and cylinders are tooooooooast. Rest looked OK; head is workable if I clean it up a bit, rods didn't have excessive play. I think the issue was that the rings on Cylinder 2 (the 0 compression one) were completely fused together and then started scraping the heck out of the inside of that one. Cylinder 1 (52 compression) was a little scrapey as well. More pics in the Race411 group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1137556 … oup_header

I need two workable Type 4 cylinders ASAP. Where to find? Anyone have any take-offs that would work?

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

https://www.bugoholics.com/

https://www.yelp.com/biz/k-a-r-parts-houston

14 (edited by ninjacoco 2017-10-29 09:00 PM)

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

Oof, Houston's a bit far but could work in a pinch. Located up near Austin.

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

still hiding that 1.8 in my garage.

88 Festiva  -  Damn Tree!!!
"We Are Not Really From Iran" Festiva  -  Motor and Trans to be anounced

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

fitsbain wrote:

still hiding that 1.8 in my garage.

Does it run?

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

http://www.austinveedub.com/
https://www.facebook.com/VEEDUBAustin/

http://www.texasaircooled.com/catalog/home.php

https://www.aircoolers.org/
http://www.texasvwclassic.com/texas-club-coalition.php

Or just post for help here:
https://www.facebook.com/texasvwclassic/

18 (edited by fitsbain 2017-10-30 01:45 PM)

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

ninjacoco wrote:
fitsbain wrote:

still hiding that 1.8 in my garage.

Does it run?

Not currently, but that is because of the progressive carb ontop of it.

I believe it will run with proper carb.

But you should have all that already.

Add your intake and carb and away you go.

Its out of a 914 that was running before the rust got ahold of it.

I bought that car for parts and saved the engine. The 901 trans however met with a sawz all.

88 Festiva  -  Damn Tree!!!
"We Are Not Really From Iran" Festiva  -  Motor and Trans to be anounced

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

fitsbain wrote:
ninjacoco wrote:
fitsbain wrote:

still hiding that 1.8 in my garage.

Does it run?

Not currently, but that is because of the progressive carb ontop of it.

I believe it will run with proper carb.

But you should have all that already.

Add your intake and carb and away you go.

Its out of a 914 that was running before the rust got ahold of it.

I bought that car for parts and saved the engine. The 901 trans however met with a sawz all.


I sure hope you are closer to her than Houston is.

20 (edited by fitsbain 2017-10-31 06:37 AM)

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

Spank wrote:
fitsbain wrote:
ninjacoco wrote:

Does it run?

Not currently, but that is because of the progressive carb ontop of it.

I believe it will run with proper carb.

But you should have all that already.

Add your intake and carb and away you go.

Its out of a 914 that was running before the rust got ahold of it.

I bought that car for parts and saved the engine. The 901 trans however met with a sawz all.


I sure hope you are closer to her than Houston is.


Nope

Pittsburgh PA

Spank -

You met me at NCMP, I was Dave Morrows Cook.

88 Festiva  -  Damn Tree!!!
"We Are Not Really From Iran" Festiva  -  Motor and Trans to be anounced

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

If you get the parts from Houston, I happen to be off this Friday.  I could meet you halfway if you would like.

Skip "Mongo" L.
Team DadBod

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

Heckin' yes. I might could use help fetching parts.

So, it's basically down to finding those pistons and cylinders before the Rebuild Party Day (Sat./poss. Sun.—the only days I have), and here's the conundrum—what I'm pulling out are lighter (Brazilian cast) than the pistons I'm finding for sale (Chinese AAs and German casts).

So, I need to find either:
1. Two piston/cylinder/rings sets that sort of match the ones I pulled off. Stock 90mm x 66 mm 1700cc pistons and cylinders with concave/dish tops. Marked Brazil. Noticeably lighter than the AAs and German pistons I've found (in incomplete sets).
OR
2. A matching set of four stock 1700cc pistons/cylinders/rings that will work with my dumb engine. It sounds like the flat tops are interchangeable with my dome topped pistons, but let me know if that's wrong, dumb and a bad idea ASAP before I buy 'em. I'm getting conflicting answers on that and it's driving me nuts.

The big hitcheroo: MUST BE OVERNIGHTABLE TO TEXAS TO ARRIVE BEFORE SATURDAY, OR WITHIN DRIVING DISTANCE FOR US TO FETCH FROM AUSTIN OR HOUSTON ASAP.

That's really my only time to sneak a rebuild party in because a) weekend and b) I gotta work.

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

How much lighter? Could you drill the back of em to match or is it like really significantly heavier?

Mistake By The Lake Racing (MBTL)
88 Thunderbird "THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!", Ex Astris, Rubigo / Semper Fracti
A&D: 2014 Sebrings at Sebring (NSF), 2014 NJMP2 Jurassic Park (SpeedyCop), 2012 Summit Point J30 (PiNuts)
2018 Route Sucky-Suck Rally Miata, 2019 World Tour Of Texas 64 Newport

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

Don't obsess on what the internet tells you is right or wrong. You just need 2 pistons that match 2 bores. The closer you can get to compression the better, but it's not essential. Same for weight and even for bore diameter. I speak from experience.

Thanks to this forum, I learned that tungsten is a great material to fill wrist pins with to get pistons to match in weight when they are grossly disparate.https://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewtopic.php?id=6191

I also have run a motor for multiple races with 3 different bore sizes and compression ratio pistons (8.8, 9.4 and about 11:1 in the same 4cyl motor).

Just make it Vroom. Fix it right later.

Besides, it'll be a better story.

If someone from SoCal has a motor they want me to bring out to Stef to put in on Sat night at the track, I'll have a mostly empty trunk on the way out there.

Re: One Hella Busted VW 411 Needs Fixing + Engine Tins ASAP - Austin, TX

I would have no problem help you get the parts.  As long as they are paid for, I could run them to you at no charge, preferably at a convenient meeting spot .  Maybe some sage advice because MSR will be our first race.....ever....(you all have been warned)

Skip "Mongo" L.
Team DadBod