1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

[Rhysos]

Wow, what an unique thing to have got involved with! Must have been magical to have seen those old cars trundling through such beautiful locations.

I'm with Peter, post up a report of your German trip and let us see the cars that were tucked away in the Porsche and Mercedes sheds. The variation is good and it is all car related stuff, so I'm in!

[broady_6]

https://www.vwtype3and4club.org.uk/foru ... 958#p72955

As per the request, and a long time coming I know, here is the photo heavy trip.

[broady_6]

Wow, what an unique thing to have got involved with! Must have been magical to have seen those old cars trundling through such beautiful locations.

I'm with Peter, post up a report of your German trip and let us see the cars that were tucked away in the Porsche and Mercedes sheds. The variation is good and it is all car related stuff, so I'm in!

I am very lucky that I get to do these trips and not only that, I get paid to be there. If I wasnt responsible for making sure that car was ok id find it very relaxing.

[broady_6]

I have been tinkering with the VW as it was due some love. I was fed up with the Daily, Alfa Giulietta. But owed to many reasons it had to wait till the back end of this year for me to replace it. The last 2 months have been spent researching and keeping an eye on the market. It didnt take long to find the right one. I collected it on the 27th and its full loaded. Anyone want an Alfa?



Back to the heater distraction, this bit of kit is amazing. Once it was installed properly. Id got the hole for the exhaust I made a couple of sealing plates.



And yes its a bit "off straight"



Having run it for a few weeks, it puts out plenty of heat, but it needed some direction. As a cheap test I figured some drain pipe would work, its was roughly the right diamter. So I mocked up this.





Crude as it might be, its worked very well, the heat gets around much better. The next step is likely to be a ceiling fan to bring the warm air back down. Then I will get some sealing strips for the doors as well and I should have car sauna on my hands.

Spekaing of cars, I have a significant job list for the Fasty, but most are not overly long or hard work. To gain some motiviation I elected to leave the engine alone and get round the car sorting out the smaller jobs, which A) means I get to cross things off the list, giving a fake sound of progress and B) means when the engine is done, I dont still have a long list of other work to do before I can test drive it.

First up was the dodgy steering, felt like it was always pulling left and was hard to turn right. I took the box off.



Not much to show you, I went through the manual and followed the adjustment procedure. It seems it was well out of adjustment, creating a tight spot, just clockwise of centre, or as its known, turning right. Back on the car for checks it felt much better. But a road test awaits.

Next up was the sticky throttle pedal. Carpet out and kick boards away showed this. The pedal shaft was 5 mmm out.



I went round the passenger side and pulled the rest of hte gubbins out the way to find this circip had popped off and slid down the shaft. I reinstalled it correctly and no more throttle sticking.



The next job ive almost done is the swap over to DOT 5. Not really much to photograph. I have a pressure bleeder which I connect to the compreser at 15psi. I blew the fluid out of all 4 corners. Then filled the system with brake cleaner and let it sit for an hours before blowing this through too. Once it was fully dry I filled with DOT 5 and bleed away. That was Christmas Eve, I havent been back to the car yet, but the pedal didnt feel 100%, so ill be bleeding though again before I go for a test drive of these 3 "easy" wins. I hope.

[937carrera]

Some niggly bits out of the way there, no doubt made easier because everything came undone.

Interesting use of brake cleaner as hydraulic oil replacement, was that to remove any residual colour /tarnishing from the pipes?

My bleeder is actually a suction bleeder. It works, but I'm never that confident that all the air is removed as sometimes it enters from the rubber flexi on the top of the nipple. I must admit, when it comes to bleeding having an assistant to do it the old fashioned way does seem to work best

[broady_6]

It wasnt as a replacement, its to wash out all the DOT4 brake fluid which is mineral based, so that I can swap to DOT5 which is silicone based. They should never be mixed.

I find my pressure bleeder is amazing, I lack a willing helper. So usually two runs round the car with this hooked up and the job is done. I agree with you, i tend to find vac bleeders draw air past the bleed nipple, so youre never quite getting it all out.

[937carrera]

Ah fair point.

What's your experience with DOT5, I have heard mixed reports.

My own experience with silicone based fluid was with Castrol SRF about 30 years ago. It was supposed to solve boiling issues, but I found I had to bleed the rear brakes after every session.... on a 924 with drum brakesm so I have been sceptical ever since

[broady_6]

Ive used it in 3 cars over the past 3 or 4 years. The main reason being its not hydroscopic. Which is ideal for classic cars that are laid up over winter. Preventing rust inside the braking system. It effectively has an unlimited service life. I have never used it in any serious anger on the track. But its in the 944 which has done a couple of track days and the pedal remained firm. But track days are sedate compared to door handle to door handle racing. But as brake system preserver, I have found it works exceptionally well on the cars ive used it on so far.

[broady_6]

Just a little update for a snowy sunday morning. Here is a photo of my home made pressure bleeder.



Inside the OSR drum, you can see things have the essence of being a touch damp. No serious leak to be seen, but its obviously been weaping, so a pair of rear wheel cylinders will be ordered.



The reason id taken that drum off was because I was struggling to turn the adjuster, well one of them. The other was completely seized up. I managed to get them both out and cleaned up, the plenty of copper grease and back in to make sure it all worked.



At this point I stopped work on the brakes as I was I need of parts, they went on the list and I moved on to the next job. The tatty door card.

The glue had given up.



I used a heat gun, and liberal coatings of spray glue. then applied clips and weight.



While that was drying, I started the engine removal. I took the exhaust off, pleasingly my work to preserve this made it very easy to remove. Even the 42mm nuts. I will be getting the exhaust system coated as the high temp paint has worked, but 5000 miles and nearly 6 years has seen it fail in places. So ill try a new method.

[broady_6]

Another freezing sunday update.

This week hasnt seen much action, as ive had a few other activites and its also been below zero for as long as I can remember. While I do have a garage heater, its only small and takes a few hours to bring it to a sensible temp.

Last sunday afternoon I pulled the engine out. As you can seem its an oily mess.



Saturday I set aside some time for fasty love though. First job was to get that door card back on. Its had plenty for time to cure in the past week,



A friend kindly gave me a large handful of these clips, as I was missing about 12 per side. Not sure why, but such is life.





Needs a wipe over, but its much better than the mess before.

For the rest of the afternoon I wanted to get the engine undressed. With the heater having run for about 4 hours by this point the garage was a balmy 8c, while there was still frost on the ground outside.



When drawing the fan back, I noticed it felt loose. But looking at the center, it was tight on the crank. So this could only mean one thing, the pressed steel fan was no longer tightly held by the center.



Some investigation and repair work to be carried out there. Im going to need to get one dynamiclaly balanced at some point, maybe itll be 2.

Some time units later and I popped it on my stand.





This is far as I got, ideally id like to have it all apart and have it way for machining in the next 7 days. This is quite possible with my next weeks schedule. But today I am having a day off.

[Rhysos]

Good going Broady, its great to see you are back on it with your Fasty ...and really ticking off the jobs! Nice work with plumbing that heating system in, having a warm(er) environment is definitely a benefit that allows you to get out in the winter without feeling demotivated by the cold.

Incidentally, I have just picked up some door cards and in the process of cleaning and repairing at the moment. Before I fit them up I was wandering about installing a plastic moisture barrier behind the front cards. Is this something that you did with yours? If so, do you have any pics of how you fitted it up?

[broady_6]

Ta very much, its been a while. But equally the car has done very well with little love over the last 5 or 6 years. The heater has transformed things. That and my health, it turns out ive live with a number of issues which I didnt know about. I spent last year getting to grips with the bulk of them and im all the better for it, one huge benefit is my ability to withstand the cold now like a "normal" person. Previously anything below 5c and my extremities would be in literal pain, along with other issues. The sub zero last week proved that my body is now more capable.

But back to the car, yes the door cards should have a membrane behind them. A previous owner will have thrown that in the bin years ago because they didnt know what it was for. I didnt do anything clever or complicated. It was a long time ago, but I probaby drew round a door card then cut out 1cm smaller all the way around, cut a hole for the window winder and the door handle rod. Then used spray glue to attach it to the door round the edges.

[purplepeter]

Rhys,
Use a thick polythene, not quite builders dpc grade, but certainly heavy duty- Toolstation about £6.95 i think
You'll need the rubber bungs/sockets that go in the door ( about a fiver on ebay)
Old, used doorcard clips are better than new ones, so if you haven't got any, go back to see Mr Hall (Who was complimentary about your son, by the way) as He has lots of them.
I used double sided tape, as spray glue goes everywhere & it's what they used originally.
Take some time with a pair of pliers to get all the clips aligned with the bungs, before you put the plastic on
Halfway up the doorcard on each side , you'll find a teeny hole, which takes a self tapper & in turn a plastic cap- Don't buy these- Dave might have some left, but if not, i'll give you a set
Do you have the door release & winder escutcheons?

[Rhysos]

Thank you gents and apologies for hijacking this thread. As you know by now, I'm all about the questions! Broady, I'm pleased to hear that your health is in a better position and hope that you continue to feel the improvement.

Really useful collective advice on the moisture barrier. I already had a bunch of rubber bungs and picked up some OG clips plus the self-tapping screws with the caps when I bought the door cards from Dave (it’s been a pleasure getting to know him and Anne, wonderful people!). Although my car is fairly ‘bare bones’ on the interior, it does have the release & winder escutcheons. Once I get hold some of that heavy-duty polythene, I think I will be good to go. My lad has expressed an interest to get involved with some car work, so this will be the perfect task to engage him with.

Anyway, back to the business of Broady’s ’71…

[broady_6]

No hijacking at all, were all here to share the knowledge to keep these cars going. Glad to see youre getting a young'en involved too! That used to be me, but as im nearly 40, I guess im not the young'en any more.

This weeks update then. Weve all seen one of these come apart before so there wont be lots of photos of that. Im sure its happened 2 or 3 times in this thread already.

With the heads off, things looked largely as expected. Maybe a touch on the oily side, but the valves were seeminly a sensible colour.



I pulled the pots off, and there was a metalic tinkling noise. I looked down to see a piece of piston ring.



We might have found out why this engine was so oily! I continued the teardown, to get to the problem I knew about. The bottom end. With the crank out, you can see copper on No.2. Not unexepected but worse than I thought it would be.





The big end shells werent as bad as I had expected, but none the less, the journals were undersize.



Number 2 bearing journal showing its hard life.



And the ground metalic paste from the sump.



This all being ready for the machine shop, I set about removing as many other bits as I could for the zinc platers, ordinerally I would zinc plate things myself. But its very time consuming and I have other things to do at the moment, so I will be farming this one out. Theyre only a 4 week turn round, so it gives me pleny of time to get on with other odd jobs.

[Rhysos]

Good going Broady, you can tell that you have experience of opening these engines up. I don't have the nerve to go that far (yet!), but it is revealing what you have found by doing so! Did the damaged piston ring lead to any scoring to the walls of the pot or is it unscathed? I'm curious about that worn journal, will the machine shop be able repair it by letting in new material to or would you need to replace the crank? Keep at it and documenting your progress - every day is a school day and I am learning a lot from the forum

[broady_6]

Thank you, yeah I have been inside these engines plenty of times over the last 17 or 18 years. Nice and simple. I haven't inspected anything beyond the case and crank yet.

The crank and case are as factory. In that they have never been machined. Both case and crank have standard over and under sizes available respectively. The crank can go 0.25mm and 0.5mm undersize. My crank with rough measurements its 54.84mm. 55mm is the factory spec. So it should machine down to first under size ok.

The case Is similar but the over sizes are in 0.5mm steps. So from memory its 65mm stock then 65.5 and 67mm. Again I should get away with first oversize. And the thrust face is 22mm stock. And cut under size in 1mm increments. My thrust is almost ok. But why mess about when doing all this, so I will have that cut to first under size at 21mm.

Im glad you are learning, I continue too as well with these engines. I am by no means better than average.

[Rhysos]

Ahh, that makes sense. Good to know that once machined, everything will still be within factory specs. Kind of amazing when you look back at older engineering, things were designed with longevity in mind. This is servicing on a whole new level as I am guessing that engine will be good for another 50+ years when done!

[broady_6]

I bloody hope it will! Given the low milage my aim is for this engine to see me out. Ive got my turbo engine and my fast road engine which I want to get in the car and learn about. But I want a 100% sorted stock lump to fall back on, should either of them let me down. Unfortunately my bodys let me down and ive got a stinking cold, so sitting in front of teh stove drinking lemsip is my next 48 hours.

[937carrera]

Good to see the rapid progress & identification of causes for the issues

What's the availability of bearings like. I don't know for the type 3, but i'm sure that a few years ago the under/oversize for one of the boxer engines became almost unobtanium.... probably T25 ?

[purplepeter]

Bearings are relatively easy to get hold of, given that the entire longblock is the same as type 1 & type 2
I'm intrigued as to what He's going to get zinc plated?
Congrats & kudos to you for getting the shell down to copper though!

[broady_6]

As peter said, all readily available as its the same as a Type 1/2 bottom end. Good quality sets are around £60-£80. So not terribly priced either.

Ive got lots to plate. Mustly nuts and bolts. But also a few dynamo bodies. And I havent forgotten about your request. I do now have a scrap Type 1 dynamo and will take it apart to compare the stator with that of the Type 3. Also the air intake clamps, the bell crank, pull rods slection of carburettor linkage parts. Ive done as much research as I can to see what was originally zinc plated, and it seems to vary year to year. So ive gone with things that suit my personal taste.

Thank you very much, it took a lot of forced ignorance to ignore the knock on every start up last year!

[broady_6]

Well it was all going oh so well, until some nasty virus came and kicked 7 shades of s..... out of me. Near enough 3 days in bed or laying on the sofa, follwed by a very steady week before I felt like I was back at full steam. That slowed things down somewhat. While laid up I did get to do a bit of plotting and scheming, so it wasnt a total waste. I ended up ordering some cotton and vanrish so I can either rewrap or repair the stators from the dynamos. It turns out I have 8 dynamos in various conditions, so I can practice on at least 1 of them.





I also ordered some snap ring pliers, too long have I messed about with the wrong tools trying to get the rings off the crank for the drive gears. While they're only cheapo ones, they took what used to be a 5 minute job and made it a 5 seconds job. Why do I always put off buying the right tools?



I spent some time stripping down and preparing parts for the platers.



I also got the block and the crank fully stripped ready to send to the machine shop. Head studs out, OPRV removed and a good wash in kero. With all that lot prepped and away. I could turn my focus to some other jobs. I have decided I am going to have the exhaust system ceracoated, this has worked exceptionally well on the Porsche. Ive found that over the winter when the car sits and the air is damp, it doesnt start to rust. Unlike paint which suffers with the exhaust heat cycles, so while it isnt cheap, it should extend the service life of these hard to come buy items for a significant number of year. Unfortunately this means some repair work was needed. My exhangers are also unwrapped. But many many years ago a friend gave me some original cladding which has been in storage ever since.

This was the sorry mess I started with



And here are a pair for reference and with aforementioned cladding.





Mocked up





Its not pretty, but its functional, and as it will be coated and wrapped up. Solid was all I wanted.







I wont show every step, weve all seen rusty things weled up before



With that done, I dropped it all in last week for coating, after blasting the news wasnt good unfortunately, some feathy edges. Ill be collecting them tomorrow for further repairs.

Another little issue which ive had since replacing the rear drums, what must be 8 or 9 yeas ago is the pedal would pulse under hard braking, suggesting they were out of round from new. I had a friend with a big lathe true them up. So lets see if the pedal is any better during my road test, next month all being well!



The final area of interest for you is the transmission. While it was subject to a good clean during the resto, it has since dibbled a little oil. I have been curious as to where. I also wanted to get the corrosion off and paint it, just to offer it a bit more protection.

As you can see, its relatively dry, but one or two areas need some attention. And one which became really rather obvious is the lack of a bush and seal in the selector rod.





Driveshaft flange seals are nice and dry thankfully, so the remedial work is fairly minor. Its nice to have a straight forward project for once. I gave it a good brush with gunk, and then a jet wash.



I left it to dry, as it was very windy on sunday. I retired to the garage to sort another smiple job. I had a split CV boot to replace. Being older, wiser and wealthier. I bought a Febi kit, and the quality was amazing, the old boot even split in another place while removing it.











I neatly bagged it up and stored it out the way, awaiting the gearbox refit.

By this time the gearbox was dry, so I set about it with the abrasives to take the fur off. 2 hours later I was left with this.



I took the nose cone off as it was a source of a leak, and I also need to change the inner bush. Along with installing the outter one which must have been missing as long as ive owned the car. I also dropped the gear oil and it will have soaked up moisture from the wash and it will be around 7 years old now.



After a nice clean up, it was ready for paint. The heater had run for a few hours, and the paint had been in the house near the stove, so I gave it a good covering and retired to the PC in order to write you this post. Thats all resto fans.

[Rhysos]

Glad to hear that you are feeling better! There are a lot of nasties doing the rounds at the moment and at this time of year it seems to take forever to get over a bout of sickness.

You have done a great repair to the heat exchanger and its interesting to see how others go about repairing original equipment (there really is no substitute for OG parts). Are you able to ceracoat in your garage or do you have to send it away to a specialist?

I am enjoying the updates on all these odd jobs, so do keep them coming. CV joints though, ugghh! what a undesirably messy job it is to repack the grease

[broady_6]

I get a local powdercoating company to do it, I dont have the space for a blaster or an overn.

Yeah, youre right, it was a messy one, luckily I do have a full size parts washer, so that helped keep it to a minimum.