Digging Deeper then I wanted.

I had the pure joy of working on a vehicle I call the grease blob. This picture will show you why I call it such a name. I did a tune up on it and it left it's mark on my garage floor. I told Dixie that if I had waited any longer I wouldn't of had to pull the drain plug because it would have leaked all it's oil out. I changed the oil, fuel filter, pcv valve, air cleaner, spark plugs and spark plug wires.

 Here is the air cleaner. It had been awhile since this had been changed.

Here is the pcv valve. It was gummed up pretty bad and didn't rattle when it was shaken.

 The spark plugs were worn to have about double the gap that they were suppose to have. The good thing is that they all looked like they were firing good. Needless to say after all the work it ran better when it left the shop.

 I then turned my attention to Ed the bugs engine. I removed the sheet metal and checked things out. I pulled the engine to fix the oil leaks. I did a leak down test on it and quickly became discouraged. I new beforehand that I had 1 cylinder that was low on compression. It has been puffing out more smoke lately so that's why I decided to do the leak down test. I had 40% leak down on 3 cylinders and 18% on 1 cylinder. That really sucks. I had all my leakage from the rings. I heard no air coming from the intake or the exhaust so I am fairly sure the heads and valves are good. That has forced me to make some decisions. I could just fix some of the leaks and install it back in the car so I can make my deadline, I can send the heads off to be rebuilt and put new pistons and jugs in it, I can just install new pistons and jugs and leave the heads alone or I can rebuild the whole engine. I thought about it a lot on Saturday.

 I decided to pull the exhaust, retorque the heads and try the leak down test again. I had the same results as the first time. I needed to pull the heads to replace the push rod tubes so I figured I would look them over to see what I could see.

I pulled both heads and one jug. The rings looked ok but the cylinders were really polished. You could see some blow by on the piston.

 I inspected the heads and they look to be in really good shape. I filled the heads with alcohol and waited. I couldn't find any leaks from the valves so that made me happy.

I am under a time crunch to get this bug back on the road by March 15th so I don't have a lot of time to fix it. I decided to change the pistons and jugs out for some new ones and run the heads as they are. If I had more time I would have the heads checked out by a machine shop. This is farther then I wanted to go but I think it will be for the best and I should have enough time to get it back together if I can get the parts for it. I have my fingers crossed that I won't find anymore surprises. Wish me luck!

Enjoying the Drive part 7.

 It has been awhile since I posted any pictures on my "Enjoying the drive" posts so I figured it was time. I had a couple friends send me pictures of some bugs they had seen while driving on the road. Both of these pictures came from California where you can drive your cool cars all year long. That is really the only reason I would like to live in California. Ha Ha. Anyways here they are. This is a nice clean bug. Hard to find ones like this here in Utah.

 You gotta love a herbie bug. This one has been lowered a little bit and looks great.

Sadly I don't have any pictures to add to this post but I will rededicate myself to get some more pictures. Thanks Ron and Jason for sending me these pictures. I am always excited to see photos of cool old cars driving on the roads, so if you catch any send them my way!

Finally pulled the engine out of the bug.

I didn't really feel like it but I forced myself to go in the garage and pull the engine out of my bug. Luckily it didn't take very long and it came out easily. I am pulling the engine out so I can replace the leaking push rod tubes and change out some gaskets. Hopefully this will be worth it and I can have a VW that does not leak. Here are some pictures of the engine removal.

 I have to drive my bug up on some 2x4's so I can get a jack under the front end. The worst part is done at this point. It really is that easy to pull a bug engine.

 I removed the back engine tin, undid the wiring, removed the air cleaner, the doghouse ducts and disconnected the throttle cable. That's all you need to do up top on the engine. Now you need to go underneath the car.

 When you get under the car remove the heater ducts, heater cables, pinch off the fuel line and disconnect it and then your ready to remove the 3 nuts and 1 bolt. It really only takes about 20 minutes to get an engine out. Here are some pictures that will show why I am removing the engine. Lots of oil leaks that are driving me crazy.

More oil. I really really hate oil leaks. I actually got a headache last year driving home from St. George from the burning oil smell I was getting in the car. That's why I am rushing to get this fixed before I head back to St. George.

 This is the front of my tranaxle. It has a leak also. I will look into fixing this while I have the engine out. I think I might have to remove the trans to fix this one.

 And, the engine is out.

 I installed this engine 3 years ago and it runs awesome. I just wish it didn't leak. I also have 1 cylinder that is lower in compression then the others. I might address that also. I am going to do a leak down test and see if I can determine why it's low and then go from there.

The throw out bearing is still in great shape and the clutch is good so I will leave all that as it is. I do need to adjust the clutch cable while I have it in the air.

 Ellie hung out with me in the garage for awhile. She entertained me by singing songs with her "microphone" and then danced to her own beat.

 I have all the stuff I will hopefully need to get this engine leak free. Here is a complete gasket kit along with some new push rod tubes. Now it's down to cleaning the engine again and resealing everything. I have a deadline to meet so I can't mess around too much. I do my best work under pressure though.

 Here is the engine up on the stand and ready to be disassembled. I think I will take it into work this week after I get the doghouse off and pressure wash it so it's nice and clean.

 Here is my to do list that I have to accomplish before March 15th. It seems like a lot of stuff to do. I wish I would of started e few weeks earlier but that is life. I still have 4 weekends to accomplish it and some weekdays when time permits. It should be a breeze unless I have to pull the trans. Then it might be pushing it. Check back and see if I end up thrashing on it late into the night on the 15th of March. Ha ha. It's always a possibility!

Flames or no Flames??????

I have been going back and forth on how I want to paint my bug. When I first brought it home, I wanted to lower it, put older style fenders and bumpers on it and paint very subtle (ghost) flames on the hood and fenders. I have always wanted to keep it white. Well, over time I have gone back and forth on painting flames on it. I had finally decided that I would put older rear fenders on it, 67 front fenders (so I could still use the headlights that I have on it right now) and run older bumpers. I also decided not to paint flames on it. That was until I saw this picture!

Now I am back to square one. This bug is exactly how I would want my flames to look. The only difference is that the whole car would be done in white instead of black. So now I am back to flames and shaved turn signals on the front fenders. Tell me what you would do?

I want another bug!!

It's a Buick bug but a bug nonetheless. Here is a cool video of Jay Leno driving one around. I want one to drive everyday when the weather is nice!