July 2016 engine job ~ 1991 Vanagon Multivan

[Babin]

First thing first, I met this van in 2009 near Montreal. It's a nice royal blue 1991 vanagon multi-van westfalia manual with now 195Kkm on it.

It's my second VW van. The first one was an orange 1972 manual campmobile which now RIP after 3 engine. The summer I bought it the engine blew, ok I must have driven it too hard, maybe. Then I got it completely rebuilt at these awesome German mechanics in the north of Calgary for about 3K$. The motor was eventually hit while driving by a small air tank lost from a freight trailer in BC in 2004. The Revelstoke credit union, my insurance company at the time, said it was not covered and refused to pay to repair the seize motor that had ran out of oil from the resulting crack case a few hour later. Then I got scam by the local Revelstoke mechanic who put in an engine with a (known) cracked head without telling me for 2K$. The engine broke a valve not too long after and it was the end of it, again in that same summer. Sad story, made me steer clear from VW van for a few years.

My 1991 has now blown a piston and I'm doing my best to get her back on the road, within (close anyway) my financial capabilities. Therefore this is a DIY project for the most part. I like this van a lot and I would appreciate some advice from experience people to help me steer clear from disaster again. I've not stumble across a recent post/thread on piston since mahle are now unavailable. The internet has way too much information, that it is now very hard to the find right one. Finally the knowlegable mechanic from specialized shop stops answering email when you stop buying parts from them, and I don't blame them for that, but I still need to know....

What did I do to get the piston to blow, I wish I knew! I drove a bit over 700km in the evening, no traffic, cruising at 110-115Kmh on the highway. All good. Stop to sleep. Next morning, in the first hour of travel on a not so steep hill with much traffic, I downshifted to feel a boom in the back. A sole feeling, no power lost, no engine noise change, didn't came back. Few km down the road I stop to gas up and found out oil was slowly dripping from the engine and that the back of the van was covered with oil spot all the way to the pop-top. I steered to the closest garage (a VW dealer), put it on the lift, cleaned all the oil and found out it was dripping from the oil filler tube junction where plastic and metal meets. After I made a few phone call to vanagon mechanic, I checked the oil breather (just installed last year) and it was clean. So I had a blown cylinder ring or piston, anyway compression was going to the base big time. But it ran fine, with oil leveled regularly from the small leaks, all the way back home. Again 110kmh no problem, strong and normal noise. Next day, took it to a specialized westfalia mechanic who took compression and found out #3 had only 50 psi, while the other three were still at 150 (all four were 150 back in 2009 when I bought it). He unplugged #3 injector and said it would help not get it worst but that it needed a engine job to change the pistons. On the way home it had no more power and it leaked like crazy in the driveway, which it didn't the day before. So I figure I would do the piston job myself with the help of a trusted mechanic nearby. I pulled the motor out and brought it to my garage to skin it.

I knew it was a special VW van somehow. I had seen the yellow tag on top of the engine and found on post/thread that those were crated engine ship from VW germany for warranty engine swap at the time. Now I see post stating those are rebuilt from VW Canada in Ontario. Anyway they were supposed to be good and made me feel confident when I bought it.

The VIN number was also special (WV2TB0250MG01####). WV for made in Germany by Volkswagen. 2 for multi purpose vehicule. Type T (?). B for a four cylinder. 0250 for a vanagon. MG for a 1991 assembled in Graz (for syncro). Not being a syncro that is odd. My provincial license says it is a syncro because of the VIN, but it is not. I stopped arguing with them, along with my insurance company about it not being a 4x4. Call VW about it back in 2009 they didn't really care much about the mismatch.

Ok, so here I am opening the motor last week to find some nice forged 94.97 mm piston by KOLBENSCHMIDT. #3 was indeed problematic. The sleeve had some top to bottom marks, the rings were seized in the piston and the piston head had two mark on the top side. No metal piece was found in the chamber or underneath the piston. The valves were tight. All other three pistons and cylinder looked new when I took them off. The heads and valves were in great shape since they are AMC from Gowesty with less than 10Kkm on them. I had to replaced the AMC head that were on it, when my mechanic broke the stud in the head when replacing the perforated exhaust for a Gowesty SS. Now I have a spare set of heads.

In my quest to find a replacement forged KS 94.97mm piston, sleeve and rings I phone all over Canada but couldn't get any. I emailed 50+ retailler, shop, junk yard, rebuilder, the few answer were negative. I email KOLBENSCHMIDT (KS) which kindly sent me to their North American retailler, Altrom, Northside, Hella, SSF, Auto-Camping, Worldpac. None of those responded my email about KS piston. My search for a used one wasn't better, althought I figured there must be other pistons like this one siting on a shelf somewhere new or used (pulled from an engine or as an eventual replacement). I had no luck with the KS even for a new set of stock 94mm, and I tried hard. I would keep oversize since I found my 95mm aren't that powerful to start with so 94mm would be a downgrader.

Now the fun begin! Looking out there I found mahle was the original piston. I saw a shatter one from a junk yard yesterday, along with the 2 inch hole it made throughout the aluminium case. I read on the net, it seem that is the way a cast piston will often brake. Ok so forge piston would be better because they don't shatter. Seem correct, since I had forged and it didn't broke apart and destroyed the rest of the engine. I also found the not so cheap anymore (900$) cofap piston from brazil referred as the good quality brazilian copy with incorrect compression ratio and I don't think they are forged. The QSC from china are referred as the cheap chinese copy with height problem. The AA piston in 96mm are a correct copy for the height but they are cast. I learned yesterday that JE could copy any piston in a forge way. Which is awesome! But it will take a few month....That doesn't set me up for vacation in two weeks. If I need forge piston, which I don't know, I'm pretty much down to Gowesty 2200cc piston set to have them now. Now older engine rebuilt post used piston from wiseco and JE sold through gowesty. Those were direct fit replacement. Now Gowesty says on it website that you most likely need to machine the block inside to add clearance for those 2200cc kit they sell. Anyone tried those? Machining required? Or just a fuss to steer DIYer away? I see they now have a forge, does it automatically mean their pistons are forged? It doesn't clearly state so on their product webpage. I asked the question but didn't got answered. Anyone ever used 95mm forged from JE? What would you recommend as piston in 2016? Is my idea to stick with oversize ok?

Ok next headache, my crank and rods. The rods says 311B. Seems like it is for stronger and older rods. Mine are slightly machined at the piston end. Normal? They look perfect and they are smooth to the play. My crank has a GER13 stamped in the cast. I couldn't find any info about crank ID at all. Please let know if this is stock or not. Good or not?

One stupid question, there is a steel plate bolted on to the engine block right next to the distributor on the engine top pulley side. What was that hole intended for? Just curious if anyone knew.

So here finally come the end of the beginning. I will try to get just about every metal piece I have taken off sandblasted and coated with enamel paint (plastikote) and then ceramic paint (VHT) over for the finish. I have done a few last week and they look good. I will change just about everything I can afford while I'm there (pumps, a few pipes, thermostats and housing, pressure switch). I will add an oil pressure gauge. Who know it might come handy. And mostly I will change those KS, to my regrets, for a new P&C set. I will post more question as I put this all back together. Anyone has a smart way of cleaning the block while not split but with head and cylinder off.

Cheers!

[Abscate]

Wow. That's quite a history!

You aren't trying to get your Bus back on the road in two weeks , are you?
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.ssS!

[Babin]

Well it took a day to put it appart. I don't really see how two to three days wouldn't do it putting it back together once I get the parts here. The only way to make sure your not succeeding is not to try...

[djkeev]

The same case casting also was used for carbureted engines. That cover plate you see is for a mechanical fuel pump.

Once size fits all.....

Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[Babin]

Thanks Dave!

[Steve M.]

We are just natural skeptics...Pictures!

[Babin]

The Yellow tag (unreadable)

[Babin]

Spark plugs pulled out after cylinder #3 blown, in respective position from transmission point of view. (piston 3 is right bottom one)

[Babin]

#3 and #4 head side, just pulled out. Those are Gowesty AMC head with about 7Kkm on them.

[Babin]

#3 and #4 piston and cylinder view, just opened.

[Babin]

The unfindable cylinder, with visible stamp (upside down).

[Babin]

The sleeve, looks original.

[Babin]

The damage #3 piston.

[Babin]

Crank stamp.

[Babin]

Metal part try out, after the final coat of ceramic paint on top of the two enamel coat. With the freshly cleaned/rebuilt alternator. I will do the rest of them this week.

[Babin]

Underneath after head (AMC Gowesty), exhaust (SS Gowesty), shocks (Bilstein HD Essex), springs (Gowesty zero lift) job.
There is leak in the clutch case. I couldn't find out yet if it's coming from the trany or the engine. I will change the main seal along with the trany coupler seal. Hopefully it does the trick.

[Babin]

Piston KS stamp. 1275 is for forged aluminium by KS, supposed to be a good alloy.

[Babin]

Rods end slight machined. Rods stamped 311B. Crank stamped GER13.

[Babin]

I unfortunately didn't picture the 2 inch hole in the case I saw friday at the junk yard... nor the shattered mahle piston...

[atomatom]

are you sure you need to replace the piston set? engine compression readings can very often all over the place on these vans. (edit; sorry, yes i see the giant chip gone)

you might get away with replacing the piston rings and cleaning up the pistons. if you want to be careful and sure about your work, then ask a machine shop to measure the cylinders and pistons for you to see if they are still within spec.

then it leaves you only with the task of finding the correctly sized piston ring set. that may still be a problem. i would suggest calling or emailing van-cafe.com - they have sold me hard to find parts that were not listed on their website when i asked.

also, i thought the smallest go-westy piston set would go in without any case modifications; also i thought the case mods were only needed on the 1.9 cases. you are correct that most of the piston kits for sale have problems (the go-westy one is one of the better kits), because i considered replacing the pistons/cylinders on my engine but did not because of all the problems i heard about (wrong compression heights, etc).

i will look in my box, i have half the parts of a 2.1 engine, maybe it is also a 94.97. you may also have some luck in the classifieds here, perhaps post a wanted add. that is if you are looking for a new piston (i am not sure it will help).

if your engine lost compression because of low oil, then you probably want to replace all the bearings in the engine as well.
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84 Vanagon Westy, 1.9L, California raised but defected to Canada.