1987 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg
Fully Balanced 2.1 Waterboxer
Vanagon 2.1 engine rebuild progress
10-19-98
Decided to go ahead with rebuild, dropped off Vanagon.
10-23-98
Order placed with MSDS: Clean Air Act air intake system, stainless steel brake lines, mylar stone guards
10-25-98
Compression check done, No. 4 cylinder has 55 pounds of compression, others are normal. (160/140/160/55)
10-26-98
Engine Pulled
10-28-98
I Cleaned the engine compartment, cleaned engine tin; Ordered from VWoA: Oil filler tube assy.($78+ $9 for the cap) and throttle cable boot($15)
10-29-98
I sand blasted and repainted the valve covers, plenum and intake runners with ceramic bake on paint. The heads were removed, they are in excellent shape, the no. 4 piston has a chunk burned out of it, the middle ring was disintegrated. Note: This engine is a VW factory rebuild, the only way the middle ring could be damaged is if it was damaged during installation.
10-30-98
Split the case, the fly wheel was resurfaced, the VW dealer dented my pulley at some point, it has to be replaced. The pressure plate was not replaced with the clutch, so I need another new clutch and a new pressure plate (Thanks a lot VW). I am having all of the rotating parts (crank, pressure plate, flywheel and pulley) balanced next week.
11-02-98
Crank, pressure plate, pulley, clutch, rods and some other parts were sent to Gene Berg for full balancing, More details on this later.
11-05-98
Waxed the engine compartment, installed new throttle cable bellows, the old one ripped, $15 from dealer. Continued design of bracket to mount AFM, will be made from 1/8" aluminum plate.
11-07-98
Bought 1/8" T6 aluminum for mounting the intake system, finished removing old rear fender stone guards, they were cracked are yellowing.
11-09-98
Installed a new backup light switch, got my 4 gallons of VW Autobahn Phosphate-free coolant (Bought some extra).
11-10-98
Repaired green O2 wire. FYI, the wire is coaxial, the outer is a grounded shield, DO NOT short it to the signal line.
11-14-98
Cleaned headlight reflectors, a huge improvement. Still waiting for crank, flywheel...
11-17-98
(Day 30) Cleaned the headlights some more, used windex then alcohol. Still waiting for crank, flywheel...
11-18-98
Found out that my parts won't be shipped back from Gene Berg until Monday(takes a week to get here after that), they said they were busy. My estimated completion date has moved from Thanksgiving to Christmas, I should hope it would be done by then.
11-23-98
My part's were shipped from Gene berg today.
11-30-98
Part's received from Gene Berg. They look great, all balanced and ready to go. Engine reassembly started, bottom end completed. Still need to find new intake valves. New clutch and pressure plate (balanced) installed also.
12-04-98
Looking for TRW exhaust valves, no luck yet. Going to use Mahle pistons instead of Cofab, the Cofab's were too far out off to be balanced.
12-07-98
(Day 50) Found 2 TRW sodium filled valves at Volks Motorsports for $27 each. Still need 2 more.
12-09-98
Still searching for remaining valves.
12-11-98
Bought the remaining 2 valves from a dealer in CA for apx. $50 each.
12-16-98
Waiting for the remaining 2 valves. Replaced a broken heater control lever, waited some more.
12-17-98
Remaining 2 valves will be here Friday. Bead blasted the A/C compressor bracket. One head was put on, new H2O pump also.
12-18-98
Got the valves, the rest of the engine was finished, will be installed in the Vanagon Monday.
12-21-98
Installed stainless brake lines, replaced brake fluid.
12-22-98
Engine installation started. Turned over first time.
12-23-98
(Day 65) All installed and drove for the first time.
12-24-98
MSDS air intake system installed, sounds great, had to fabricate a mounting bracket.
01-01-99
A total of apx. 1100 miles on engine since 12-23-98, switched from 30W non-detergent oil to 15W40.
02-01-99
A total of apx. 3500 miles on engine since 12-23-98, switched from 15W40 petroleum oil to 3.8 qts. Castrol GTX and 1 qt. Castrol Syntec
All balancing (except for pistons) done by Gene Berg, all German parts.
Engine built by Clint at Walt's VW Service in Columbia, MO.
