Thursday, July 10, 2008

Engine Adventure Phase 2

I started on my homework that Curtis left me this week. He didn't tell me you have to take the WHOLE FREAKING CAR APART to replace those two $3 boots. But it has been a learning experience. I have now taken it apart twice, so I'm getting better at it.

First attempt. I went to my favorite import parts store and bought new pulleys, a new belt, and two bright red urethane boots for the manifold. I started by removing the crankshaft pulley. In theory, you can remove the bolt, then use a screwdriver to pry the wheel off. I actually had to go on-line and ask a friend how to loosen the bolt because the wheel spins when you try to turn the bolt. When in doubt, use a hammer - that was the solution. Got the bolt off, and spent an hour with a screwdriver and the trusty hammer with no luck. So back to the parts store to buy a pulley puller. Should have just gotten one up front, it makes it very easy to remove the pulley. The generator pulley is a piece of cake, that came off in no time.

After that, I decided to go after the boots before I put the pulleys back on. That was the only good idea I've had so far. I have three instruction manuals, and I read all three. I kept trying to find instructions that did not include "remove the carburetor", "remove the hood", "unhook the spark plug wires" or "remove the fan housing". They all said the same thing. Rats. So I removed the hood (easy), unhooked the gas line to the carburetor (getting scary), unhooked the spark plug wires and removed the distributor cap (yikes, don't know how those go back on), removed the carburetor (now I have a big pile of stuff, bolts and nuts), removed the ignition coil (not bad), unhooked the strap that holds the generator, and just stared at the fan housing for a while. Supposedly it is held down by 3 bolts. I searched for those bolts. No bolts. Finally, as a last resort I just lifted up to see if I could feel where it was held down. To my amazement it lifted up - I guess the nimrod who had the car before me didn't bolt it down. It was tough to pull out, but I managed to force the fan housing out of the engine compartment and lay it on the ground.

So now I can see the intake manifold and those blasted boots. I have since learned that it is held in place by 4 nuts and 4 bolts , 6 that are easily reached and 2 that are impossible to reach. I got the 4 bolts and 2 nuts I could reach. Then I spent another 2 hours working on the last two nuts. The space was too small for a regular rachet. The nuts are underneath the ends of the intake manifold so you can't use an extension. I bought a racheting wrench and a hinged socket - neither fit in the space. I finally managed to get one out using the socket in my hand, and asked my husband to get the other one out. I don't know how he did it, but the shrouds were pretty tore up. He and I both dropped our difficult nuts into the area where the spark plugs are. So we wasted another half hour with pliers and duct tape trying to retrieve our precious nuts.

Yippee! The manifold is off, I replaced the boots and gaskets under the ends of the intake manifold. Now time to start putting everything back together. I actually did better putting the tough nuts on than taking them off. The bolts were a different story. You see my car is old, and many parts are rusty. Bolts 1, 2 and 3 went on fine. Bolt 4 broke off in the screw hole as I was tightening it. Rats again. Time to find my husband. He only broke two drill bits drilling it out. In the meantime, I went to the hardware store and found four shiny new bolts and washers - I wasn't taking any chances.

Okay, intake manifold in place, now all I have to do is put the big pile of parts back in the car. It's reverse order, so the fan housing goes first. I wasted a day on this. There is a little chute in the front of the fan housing called a "dog house tin something". It's really in the way when you try to remove or install the housing. As I was forcing the housing back in place, the dog house thingy popped off. I went ahead and put the ignition coil, carburetor, etc. back in the car and hooked everything up. The next morning I went to my favorite parts store and asked if that part was really necessary - rats rats rats he told me it was. He told me, there are no unnecessary parts on a Beetle. So a very unhappy wannabe mechanic trudged back home and took the whole blasted thing apart again.

The dog house thingy was kind of bent up so I used my favorite hammer and banged the edge flat on the cement. I then wasted a lot of time trying to hook it onto a hinge that swings vents open and closed. It looked like it might go there, because there were clips on either side of the center post that would have been perfect to hold the thingy. It didn't go there. I happened to notice there was a loose piece of shroud in the general area where the dog house thingy attached to the fan housing. It was held on by only one bolt, so I removed the bolt. Voila! Underneath was a bolt that held the dog house thingy on. And the beauty of it was, you could reach that place after you drop the fan housing into the car. I wish I had known that before I wrestled that monstrosity out of and into the car twice the hard way. 3 minutes later, the fan housing was installed complete with dog house thingy. I then spent another hour threading the accelerator cable through the fan housing. There must be an easier way to do that. (picture of bruises on my arm from reaching behind the fan housing for an hour)

Once that was in, I fastened down the generator, installed the carburetor, attached the ignition coil, attached all the electrical wires, put back the distributor cap, and then pulled out my book to see what to do about the spark plug wires. There was a little diagram showing which spark plug was which number. However the book said "the wire for plug 1 is at the rear of the engine and then count counterclockwise from there". So is the rear the rear of the car, or is the rear the opposite side from where I'm standing?????? I assumed, based on other stuff in the book it is the rear of the car. I don't know if I was right yet.

With everything together, I put my pulleys and belt on and waited for my husband to get home. I wasn't about to start the car without someone to help in case of catastrophe. Once he arrived, we decided I should start the car and he should watch. I turned the key - and there was a horrible grinding sound and it did not start. After some investigation we determined the pulley is rubbing against the shroud and the belt is too loose (no spacers, still too loose). I also had attached a ground wire to something that was not fully attached to the car. First things first, the pulley cannot rub against the car. I noticed some pieces of shroud were sticking out, so I bent those back. It still rubbed. After much consternation and investigation, I figured out my new pulley is a little deeper than my old pulley - I had bought the special one. I went back to the parts store and got a stock pulley and based on the owner's recommendation, a shorter belt. I started to install the pulley, and it wouldn't go all the way on. So I pulled out my trusty pulley puller and removed it so I could add more WD-40. I obviously overtightened the bolt on my pulley puller, because now it is stuck on my pulley wheel. (picture of pulley puller on pulley) Rats. I have tried my wrench, rachet and hammer. None work, and I think I have a hernia. So I'm waiting for my husband to get home, I need brute strength. Or I need a pulley puller puller. I can't finish the story yet, but maybe the new pulley will have enough clearance. But will fixing the ground wire be enough for the car to start? And if it starts, will it catch on fire? If not, will it idle? And finally, will I ever remember to buy GoJo at the store, my fingernails are black.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Finally Working on the Engine

My nephew came into town for the July 4th weekend. He knows a lot about cars, so he "helped" me get started on the engine. By helped, I mean I bought the parts and he did the work.

Let's backtrack a few weeks. My husband decided he wanted to drive the Beetle to work instead of his truck. He jumped in, started it up, and started down the driveway. The neighbor flagged him down because it was spewing gasoline everywhere. I had a busted fuel line. So I knew we needed new fuel lines before he could drive it.
Fastforward to July 4th weekend. My son and nephew were bored, so they offered to replace the fuel lines for me. Easy enough, but Curtis knows quite a bit about cars. He told me we also needed to replace the ignition coil, fuel pump, rebuild the carburetor, change the oil and adjust the valves. I knew some of that had to be done. I didn't even know what the other stuff was. Curtis was a good sport. We rode around to parts stores, gathered up what we needed, and he fixed the car while my son and I watched. He did, however, point out and name the parts as he was going, and answered all of my dumb questions.
When he finished, he was working on the timing and told me I had a vaccuum leak. He pointed out two boots on the intake manifold that were cracked and needed replacing. He also pointed out that the crankshaft pulley was wobbly and needed to be replaced. I had a visual and a goal, so I figured I could try to do that on my own. He left town with the choke pretty tight, but the car running and idling very well.