5-Star Rating!
Since Nathan decided to keep the engine that came with this 1972 Beetle, Sam and Nate start with the cleaned up original case and begin rebuilding the engine. The end result is a successful short block, made with a mix of new and original parts. By the end of the video, we're back to the same point we were a few videos back, where Nathan started his first top end on the now running engine that is in the back of his Baja Bug.
Video Transcript
Hi guys, I'm Sam, and I'm Nate. We're gonna build an engine.
Starting with the engine case and studs. Nathan, where did this engine case come from? This is going to be his engine build, and I'm going to try and use some of the tips, tricks, and stuff I've seen, learned, and heard about along the way. The first one being on the main bearings, we're going to make certain that all of our bearing holes are aligned up with our grooves in the bearings. So we've got a dowel pin here to align that way. I guess let's start by putting this in, 1, 2, 3, 4, put these dowel pins in place.
And there isn't like a correct way up or down, is there?
It's... doesn't matter. Hold off while we go help Mom with the groceries.
So now what we're going to do is we're going to give ourselves a mark for our bearing grooves, and then we're going to give ourselves a mark on the saddle, so we kind of have an idea of where it's supposed to go, that groove, so that we know where the hole on our bearings needs to be.
So let's start with the back, and again, that's got that little hole and it's going to line up, and as you rotate it in the case, you'll actually feel it drop in place. Okay, so we need to make certain that in this area right there, and just off center on that...
Oh, wait, so do we need to drill ourselves?
No, we don't need to drill it, but we do need to grind it, so we can see that our hole is going to come off just off-center there at this mark. So we're going to come in right here, and I'm going to grind this small edge out of this bearing. Yeah, just ever so slightly, that's all this tool is.
So basically, the oil goes in through the groove, oils that side, right?
Well, this is just a galley, this is just a pathway for oil to get to that hole, and to get to that hole. When it gets to that hole, then it comes in here, and it oils up the crank bearing. So all these grooves are designed to push oil through the engine where it's intended to go. You see right there, you've got just ever so slightly opened up.
And then just in case, 1200 grit sandpaper, just to smooth out any edges that may have got scored. Once you can't feel anything, that's good. And we're going to do that for the rest of our bearings as well.
Let's get a shot of brake clean on here, and a brake clean on there, and then honestly, this bearing is ready to go in. Toss that one, and where's our other case half, over there. I'm going to make sure we're good on this side as well. We have no oil galleys to worry about on that side, so this is fine.
There we go. Alright, next bearing. Boom, it slides in super easy. Huh, that one super easy. Pretty easy. I mean, it's a bit... tiny bit here.
Alright, this guy's going to have to sit aside until we... well, it's actually going to go on the crank, but we'll get there in a moment.
Oh yeah, oh wait, oh yeah, huh.
So that is how the oil gets in, and if you notice on this guy here, there is a small hole right there. Oh yeah, huh, which goes... that goes right over the top of that, so we're just going to make certain that it does, and it does, so that one's good to go as well, aside from brake clean, from brake clean and everything else.
So now, uh, you want to do connecting rods first, or you want to do timing gears first?
Uh, timing gear, timing gear, yeah.
Alright, well, how about actually we do a little bit of both because we've got to heat up the gears to put on here. While those are heating up, we can clean this, slide that on, and then we can put our bearing on also. Which side of the crank is that dowel pin on?
Uh, so that... flywheel side, flywheel side, snout side. Which side is the dowel pin on?
Oh, the dowel pin, flywheel, flywheel side. So, whenever we go to put this guy on here, we need to make certain that that hole is where that one, towards the fly, the flywheel, so that's going to install that away.
What, so what we have to take off the flywheel to put the other one on?
Yeah, but right now it's just holding everything here for us. Oh yeah, well, is it actually tach or is it just sitting? No, it's just sitting there. And then, so I don't make the mistake that I did at work, I've marked we got two and three, four and one. Three is the one closest to the flywheel, number one is next, followed by number four, followed by number two, 'cuz three and four are on the same side of the engine, but they are offset. Two and one are on the same side of the engine, but they're offset. Or the one that's closest to the flywheel is number three, but as we drop this into the case, we're going to hold up number one and drop it in, so we have to make certain we put our rods on in the right direction. I made that mistake as well.
I saw the short.
Yeah, so let's plug in our hot plate. I've already gone through and cleaned these off, wire brushed them and everything else, but now they're going to get an oil bath. Uh, this gear goes on first, so we're going to put him in last. This guy goes on last, so we're going to put him in first. The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.
Yeah, because the first one should be on top, second one should be on the bottom.
So we're going to put in enough oil to cover our gears, and the oil just helps everything warm up equally. So while that's doing that, we're going to go ahead and start prepping our rods. This is going to drop in with number one pointing up. So as that drops in, that way, all the nubs on our connecting rods are going to be pointing up. So we're going to put a mark over here because we need to make certain that these little nubs right here, these nubs, these nubs. So number three is that way, number one is that way. Four is that way, number two is that way. So first things first, we've got to remove all those. We can put this guy, and let me clean him off real quick. We'll oil him up and slide him in place. We're going to use assembly Lucas Oil, semisynthetic assembly lube, contains lots of zinc. That's good, that's really good.
The oil looks like it's starting to boil. That's good, that's good. The... hold this for a second. Your can's clean, no, your hands aren’t. Clean off our crank, have a hold of that. Which way does it go?
Oh yeah, it goes that way. Okay, yeah. We're going to put some... mm, oh wait, oh yeah, which means that it would go.
All right, and this is the wrong one, right?
That is the wrong one. You're absolutely right. Good thing you're paying attention.
I'm like, this one goes here, right?
So which way does it go on? oh, and I, I used oil as opposed to assembly lube. Let's put a little dab a on it, some thicker assembly lube. there we go. Let's see this line it up at the back, mhm, and then flywheels that way, there, huh, and slide it around so that the camera can see. Dowel pin towards the flywheel, mhm. All right, that one's ready to go.
I mean, it's kind of upside down there, right?
Yeah, well, as far as the crank goes, so it would actually be right that way, pointing down, 'cuz we're going to drop that in that way, but oh yeah, that way. You want to get an extension and 14 mil, so we can start pulling off all these connecting rods while our oil is warming up.
Go one at a time, there, here, careful because we don't want to mix match all those. Now, real quick, see where those tangs are? Oh yeah, those tangs are on the same side. I'm going to go tap this guy off. We're going to go clean him up. Make sure to keep your connecting rods together. It's starting to smoke.
A fresh set of rod bearings, want to toss that? These are standard rod bearings. Same thing, I'm going to hit these with some brake clean. Yep, and one at a time. One bearing sits in there.
Oh yeah, huh, because it's a little notch, huh.
It's got that little notch in there, yep, there you go, and the other one goes in that one. Alright, little dab it, hold up assembly lube, and we're going to put this where you put on the top one, yep, top one. I mean, okay, might as well.
Alright, and so we nub to face up, yep, needs to be that way, huh? Okay, bearing tangs go which way? If the nub's up, where's the bearing tang? Right there, okay. So we need to make certain this bearing tang is lining up with it. Yeah, slide that one in there, go. Alright, set that, slide that guy in. Whoa, which these go opposite, right? Or they see how they're on right here? Oh yeah, huh, like okay, 'cuz typically I'm used to having them the other way because it looks like the, um, rubber lock things. Yeah, backwards is backwards, sure.
Don't you dare use torque impact, you got to get a torque wrench, and that's... there's a specific sequence on those. We're going to get all these in place first before we start that. We can do the next one if you want.
Uh, this is getting about ready to go. Oh, then should we do that first? Yeah, let's do that, although I want to get some gloves or at least a glove just in case I have to think quick, and... sorry, buddy, I'm going to have to do this one because this one is hot, super hot, and we've got to be super careful. Now on this gear, well, a, it's hot, but there's two little notches or two little timing marks that are on this gear, we need to make certain that they are facing here. Oh yeah, so up, or right here, facing up. Oh yeah, so that when we drop our camshaft in later, everything is viewable. Oh hi, hello, apparently there's a little bit of oil in here that's causing... now, alright, and I can see our timing marks right there. I believe... you know what, hit our light on over there because my eyes ain't as good as they used to be.
I mean, my eyes are decent. Okay, well, come over here, then. Do we see two dots next to each other? I see, right there, there's two, right there. Alright, watch out, like that, woohoo. Now that would not have gone on there otherwise unless it was heated up. Now we got that on, now we can clean this guy up. This is our timing spacer. Oh yeah, shoot him up real quick, magnets doesn't usually work well on brass. Yeah, alright, put on a glove again just in case, and there is no mark on a timing gear, so it doesn't matter which way it goes on, or, I'm sorry, they're both timing gears technically, but this is our distributor drive gear.
Yeah, and oh woo, look at that, yep, it's like wo woo, and that's an oil fire, and oil fire, you know how you extinguish oil fires? Now, you extinguish any fire if you can take out the oxygen, and I don't think we have a smoke detector in here, so, yep, I mean, we have... I am taking this outside, yeah, don't want that inside. There we go, oh, on fire again, on fire again, don't pour it out, yeah.
Alright, now that we've got our oil fire extinguished, now we've got to put in this little guy, the little guy which needs heat. I'm guessing, nope, this is just a snap ring. Now, this little guy, see that little groove right there, mhm, we've got to get him into that groove. These guys are a pain, uh, I want... don't you get some safety glasses on? Oh yeah, and I'm going to do this as well because these things are a booger, not really good. Oh, look at that, it flew.
Hey, now, brake cleaner, that's a... still couldn't we still, um, um, just use the piston ones? Um, oh, are piston ring, oh, there they are, yes, if these work. Buddy, you are a genius. I don't know about that, buddy. You're a genius, my son, the freaking smarty pants over here. Can you push it down a bit, right, we'll get there.
Boom, try to do with all snap rings is make sure that they're actually in there, make sure it's in the groove all the way around. Alright, so now we got a bearing there, even that bearing is warm, feel that bearing, That guy, I mean, kind of even the rod, yep. Alright, so speaking of rods, next one, next one. Although, let me just double-check because I want to double-check, make sure everything's all good, make sure everything's lined up properly.
If I was to set this in place in the case, and number one is, number three is that way, number one's there, number four is there, and that is up. So yep, we are good to go. That's all that, and that's feeling good in the neighborhood, mhm. So now we got to pull that guy apart, drop your impact.
Now, we're going to pull up the connecting rod torque, JBugs, 22 to 25 foot-lb. So let's get our torque wrench out. Well, I mean, we're going to do this in steps, so let's go first one, we're going to go 10, so 10 * 12 is uh, 120. Alright, plank it up to 120, get yourself an extension and a 14 mm, and then start at the top, twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk, so start at, and at this point, you can go through, yeah, you can put all the connecting rods facing this way. Look, see, just alright, got both sides. Alright, does it still turn? Perfect. Alright, yeah, do all four.
So we're at 120 now, 120, um, let's go to two, 200. Okay, 200, yeah, we'll sneak up on it.
Super tight, huh, at 200? Yeah, I know, is it? Yeah, pretty tight. Does it still spin? Mhm, that one, that one, that one. 22, 12, 264, or let's just call it uh, 280. Okay, 280, 280 divided by 12 will give us 23.33. 23 is a good number. Know who had the number 23? Michael Jordan, greatest of all time.
Got them all down. Alright, make sure all set, huh. Alright, got that, that, that, and that, and now, yeah, basically just wait. Dad, what's up? We didn't put the... oh wait, actually, it doesn't really matter until we decide to join the two halves.
Hardly any side play? That's good, we got a little bit out of that one, but not much, a little bit out of that one, but not much.
Alright, um, we've got a bearing here at the snout. Oh, and one more thing we can do is we can put on our rear bearing, and we can check our end play as well. Say that's loud there. Oh, oh yeah, let's make sure it's all lined up, which that should be down, dowel pin towards the flywheel. Yeah, okay, slide that on carefully. Um, it has some play, huh. I don't know that I have a gland nut, dang it, went off of that engine, which engine, ah, fair enough. Um, I guess, hold for a moment.
We are back from dinner, it was super good, it was super delicious. I will insert a picture of my pizza here. My kids made homemade pizza crust, and then we all made our own pizzas. Mine was absolutely huge, but I just ate all of it. I can't believe I ate the whole thing. I only ate like half mine, and mine was like probably half the size of yours. Coincidentally, you're about half the size of me, funny that works.
Alright, we need the 36 mm, we got some assembly lube on our rear main bearing, and set it in place. Now, we're going to rotate this over, tighten that up, that is tight and tight. Now, we got to find out how much play do we have in there, that's 20, and that is 16, so .036, .037, bless you, .037, .038, bless you, we got .038. Alright, yeah, we're going to get go with 038 in. Alright, get my calculator out, .038 in * 25.4 = .99652, -.1, I need .87 worth of shims. Alright, so we've got that worked out, oh man, this was in the way the whole time, wasn't it.
So let's get our distributor drive gear ready to go, that's good point. So we're going to install this into the case. Alright, I think we're have to Break into our engine gasket kit, we'll get some assembly lube on our distributor, grab your shims, and these will just help everything stick together, and I'll let you slide those on there. Oh, plus we got to put our lifters in that side of the case too, but we'll get there. Just a little o-ring, y'know? Oh yeah, huh.
That, and because this is an off-road car, and I'm just going to be selling this engine, and not a lot of people like running vacuum advanced distributors, we're going to go with an electrical electronics ignited one, 009 style distributor, centrifugal advance, and we'll put a dab a lube. Keep on saying grease in instead of oil, huh? Yeah, well, this stuff is basically grease; it's nice and sticky, sticky icky. We'll throw a distributor o-ring on this guy if I can get this one off. These things are always a booger. Alright, slide that o-ring on there.
Oh wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on. I'm not going to make this mistake again. Somewhere around here's a distributor clamp. There we go. We're going to put the clamp on first, now we'll put the o-ring on. Put a little luby on the tuby, just make sure it doesn't get all messed up, huh? And hopefully, drop that down that hole. You're going lube all over your hands now, but got a large flathead screwdriver and a couple things here we got to do.
So we've got our two washers here, we're just going to slowly... Oh, that was nice. Alright, easy enough, and we're going to rotate our distributor drive gear so that our two teeth are offset and in line with the case this way. Hopefully, you guys can see that. Distributor drop everything in there, huh? That's going to drop in, and then if we look at our distributor, so this is actually going to be pointing this way. Put it in and put our distributor cap on.
From here, we can do lifters. We can do cam bearings. Lifters are these guys right here. Oh yeah, right there, four of those. I got to clean those off, I got to lube those up, and we can drop those in. Uh, at which point everything over on this side is good. There you go, drop it in. Should just slide in ever so nicely. Mhm, wait, let's see, and just drop it, just let go, and then it'll kind of slide in. There is so cool looking. Don't, don't. Just let it drop. Drop that one in.
Alright, next cam bearings. Drop that guy there, tap that one in, tap, and tap that back one in. I don't think that that one can get tapped anymore. Make sure that that's all good. Make sure our lifters are spinning nice and good. Bearings flat, bearings flat, and it's flat enough. From here, I think we can do, and the fun part is, oh yeah, so making sure that all of our dowel pins line up at the bottom. Wait, make sure it's the right way. Make sure dowel pin's pointing towards the flywheel, that way here, huh. Alright, now me drop this guy. Oh, hold on, grab that assembly lube. Oh yeah, and a little bit, that guy. I mean, oh, we need the snout bearing too, already put it on there. Um, where's the snout bearing? Right there. Alright, you need to like wash it off real quick, go spray it down with some brake clean. Yep, I'm going to sit here and hold this crank for a little bit. Assembly lube, dowel pin aligns towards the back, well it's a slight offset on that one but make sure it's towards a flywheel. There you go. Let's try to make sure all of our dowels are pointing down, down, and our main bearing down here is pointing down.
Now this is the fun part, notches are up, that one's in, yeah, boom. Oh, almost all of them in. Well, I don't know that all any of them are actually in. I mean, this one looks in, that one's definitely not. Oh yeah, so this is never the fun part. Alright, let's do that, feels like that one's good right there. Oh, that's that one. Alright, that's good, sure that's good, that's good. We need to point that, that straight down. Keep an eye on that mark, and let me know when it's straight down there, and I just felt everything drop. Alright, and drop that on, does it rock? Just the slightest amount of play on that center bearing, but I'm pretty sure that's not spinning. That's not spinning, all right. Timing gear is still straight across the back. Our bearing does not have any play. We got a little bit, just the smallest bit. Tell from just like the, yeah, that's good, that's good. Now I think we can do your camshaft.
Camshaft, all right. You want to unbox it? Sure. We need some assembly lube, a coat on there. Coat that, coat that, coat that, that film on there. All right, and whenever you think you have enough on the lifters, do a little bit more because this is the most crucial part of an engine break-in, is breaking in that, and that lobe right there. Coat this, coat that, and is that why? Coat that. Is that why Nolan had to like change the... change his underwear? No, change the oil cell on the Imperial. Um, yeah, that's also why whenever you see people starting up engines, old engines for the first time, they rev them and they let them rev for like 20 minutes because they have to break in the camshaft and this is what we're doing right now is well, we're lubing the camshaft but this is the camshaft that needs to be broken in. Then we're going to try and show this mark right here, right there, and there's those teeth right there, see those? Oh yeah. So that needs to be in between those. Oh yeah, huh. But this obviously needs to be over here so just so, turn that crankshaft, just turn the crank. I can't see those teeth so I do all right. It's right here in between them, that's right there. Okay, is it in between both of them? Yeah. Okay, 'cause I can't see buddy. Yeah, it's right there, right in there. All righty, that's good. Boom, awesome.
Now the next test is we need to rotate everything around, make sure our cam check does not jump out and now just join the two right, uh, now we have to prep the other case half. We need to put the O-rings on here. Oh yeah, we need to put gasgacinch around everything. We've got to put our cam plug in over here. There we go, good.
Battery right there, two short boxes and one. So with that timing marks at 12:00, timing marks there are good. Lifters are lubed, everything over here is just about ready for putting the two halves together, yeah. That make sure our case half is clean. All right, and this nice guy right there, that way when we do our gasgacinch on there, it is got a nice surface to go on to. This side is ready, is ready.
Let's do that case half, give him a blast with some brake clean. Might need to get a fresh can. Oh son of a gun. I forgot, our disc washer and our keyway at the front. Dag nabit, son of a gun. This is going to be a fun one 'cause now we got to pull the cam out. Don't forget that, people. Um, you know what, before we do all that, let's score our bearings so I know where that one belongs. That was just a test fitting, yeah, that's what it was, and that's why I'm not a professional engine builder. This does go in gra like that and then there's a keyway over there. I got keyway, oh yeah uh, grab the hammer and tap that in. Mhm, that's all right. Let's do this again, again for the again. Number one, top dead center, top dead center. Bearing doesn't move, that's good, that's good, that's good. Again for the 20th time. We got a dowel pin there, get our bearing out of there, and your as well. You got our lifters in there. You want to set that bearing in place 'cause it's nice and tight and it just slides in. Cam bearings, wide, wide, narrow.
Okay, so this one is this one, right? Yep, there we go, that's right. Is that, oh yeah because the other one, yeah, and then why, why this one? Oh yeah, yep, it's good, yep, good, sure. Thought we had those right. At least I got something right. I clean off the lifters, drop these in, yeah, sure love dropping the in, yeah. Those, we definitely want them to stay in place. We turn the
Case upside down and drop it on, and hopefully they don't drop out 'cuz I don't have any lifter clips. Yeah, those are good, oh yeah huh. We need grease them too, right? Yeah, we need luby, luby oh baby, we got to go. I think we need a bit more in the lifters.
I mean, couldn't we just get zinc and put it in it ourselves? You can get zinc additives, but I'd rather just have an oil that is already made to go. Cam plug, are those the, um, oil pressure relief pistons and springs? That is everything on the inside, so guess what, now is gasgacinch time. Got to clean that case half off, uh, gasgacinch on the case. Oh yeah, this is some fresh gasgacinch, you got some new stuff, not the yep, not the sticky, ooey, gooey, yucky stuff. It looks so much different, huh? Good there, all right, let's do this side, little bit easier 'cuz less studs on this side, yeah, two, or like one stud, and then some. All right, so that bearing is coated, yeah. Oh wait, that's coated, uh, we should have done that backwards, what, because this thing has to be that, it has to go out, and then flip over that, grab it and go. Doesn't matter, okay, don't fall out.
All right, ready, grab those, grab those connecting rods and point them up, that there's in place. Wow, all right, main bearings, hopefully ah cam plug, put them back together, huh, and like so, and like so. So, that's what this still in place, good to go, good to go, good to we go, and that's good. So they had to do this millions of times at the Volkswagen factory, huh? Yep, all right, and they probably had an assembly, they had guys that are much better at it than I am, yeah, 'cuz they are literal, the best engine builders, huh? No, what, not the best, but I mean, that was their job, was nothing but engines, yeah, all right, or a specific part of doing engine.
Now we've got to do our main studs, uh, however, on these, I want to put permatex. Hold up, wait a minute, people often complain about this stuff, oh my gosh, your engine's so messy, well, it cleans up really nice, and then I don't normally have many engine leaks, oil leaks. What's worse, the engine looking a tiny bit messy, or garage a bunch of oil in the ground, add a bunch of oil under the bottom of your engine, yeah, like the 67, huh, that was horrible. And put those on, look at this, it's, it's basically where the other engine basically was, huh? Yep, pretty much, and now that other engine runs.
All right, we got to torque our cam studs to 14 ftlb, preferably set up our torque wrench to 14 ftlb, this one right here, and this one right there, that one a little bit, now creep up on it, all right, stop, make sure still rotates, yep, all right, good. Okay, um, you know I got a pulley, I, we got some pulley around here, make it so much easier to turn the engine, you know what, slap the FL, all right, still turning, good, that's good. Now we got to do the main studs, 15 ft-lbs, okay, so 15 * 12, that's, let's see, 15 * 10, that's 12 more, so it's 180, oh yeah, so we go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, so bottom, top, outer, bottom, so you go one, two, three, four, five, which is our 15, uh, those are like 19s or 21s. Oh, look at that, another mosquito, weed already sh for you, oh yeah, I think it was going up there, that was a juicy one too. I think, I think that that was the last one, next time, and we go to 20 foot lb, 20 * 12 is, was that, 20 * 12, oh wait, 240, same pattern, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, oh wow, that, that is like barely any tighter, it'll creep up on it, and is this the tightest, or what, no, there you go, now we got to go to 24, 24 * 12. Hey, sir, what's 24 * 12? 288. And what is the max? That's it. Well, I mean, it feels way tighter now, so, and still spins over, no problemos.
Boom, all good. Here we go, let's uh, get everything on that we can. Come on, baby. I don't want to be out. You know how long I've had this. Built my Super Beetle with this stuff. Super Beetle. Built my Super Beetle engine with this. Yeah, oh gosh, how long I've had this thing. That engine was built 4 years before I finished the car, and you finished the car like what, 3 years ago? Two. Yeah, I had this stuff a long, long time. I mean, and I think it's going to be a long time. Is that uh, brand new? This is brand new when I built the Super Beetle yep, and now it built my engine and your sand rail engine, huh. I'm not going to do the ones, one, two, or three near our oil pump, not until we put those in.
We need to set the torque wrench back to 14tb, put nuts on, uh, torque down the ones that we already have. Yeah, um, uh, kind of want a longer extension. You probably want the right size, that's true. Socket too. Dad, I need a wrench, and I need you to hold it. All righty. Mhm, I'm your gopher. Oh, at that one. Trying to get all the trash ready 'cuz we got to take the trash out still. That's it right. There, you go, boom, and yeah, done.
Is that basically done for the night then? Um, I guess we can put our oil pressure pistons in place. Yeah, pistons, pistons. I know these are already clean 'cuz I cleaned them off already. Going to drop that in, that's better. Super satisfying sounding. I biggest flathead screwdriver you can find. Oh yeah, huh. Just so. I only forgot a couple things this time, the biggest one of course being the oil slinger.
All right, Nathan, you've built your first short block. Mhm, even despite my mistakes, I'm not a professional engine builder by any means, but he might be one day. He's already got a lot more experience at his age than I did when I was his age. So, before the end of the weekend, most likely, this will be a valve cover to valve cover, depending on what other parts I can find around here. This is going to be a valve cover to valve cover, long block, ready for reassembly and insertion back into the Matrix. I mean, uh, ready for insertion back into the sand rail. On that note, I think we're going to call this a video. I think this is probably going to be pretty intensive, showing all the work that he did, and all the mistakes that I made. With that being said, life's full of good people, if you can't find one, be one. Later, guys.
