Porsche 914 1.8L engine assembly part 1

1975 Porsche 914 restoration, part 17. Part one of assembling the 1.8L VW type 4 engine.

[@cybersurfer2010]

Done this all a year ago… nice video!

[@mikedx2706]

Try using the "Dawn" brand liquid dishwashing detergent in the ultrasonic cleaner. I have it works great, just as good, if not better, than Simple Green, plus being a lot cheaper. I have also discovered that running parts through a cycle of our dishwasher works really well for cleaning up 914 aluminum heads, but one after you have cleaned off all the big, external, oil and grease buildup with a rag, brush and some paint thinner or old gasoline.

[@AutoDIYdactic]

Thanks for the tip!

[@MH-ev3wr]

What is the part number of that spark plug wire holder that you bolt onto the crankcase vent chimney? I can't find it anywhere. I can't even find it in the Porsche PET.

[@AutoDIYdactic]

I have no idea. It's really just an L-shaped piece of metal with a hole in it for the mounting point and a hole on the other end for the spark plug wires. Pretty easy to make if you had to.

[@mikedx2706]

You made another mistake trying to put the front and rear crank seals in the engine case before you bolted the case back together. The end play of the crank has to be adjusted to specs before the front and rear crankshaft seals are installed. Moreover, the three (3) adjusting shims for the crank end play have to be installed before the rear main seal is installed into the case. Without those three (3) end play shims, you will destroy that new engine upon initial start up. You should watch the Jake Raby video on how to rebuild and re-assemble the Type 4 engines used in 914's and VW Buses, available from the Type 4 store online. Also watch the more recent Ian Karr videos on KZbin on how to rebuild a 914 engine. Did you check the oil pump for clearance with the new bolts that hold the cam gear to the new camshaft? Sometimes those bolts need to be ground down to provide proper clearance between the rear of the oil pump and the new cam gear bolts. I would never try to re-use an old used rear main seal. New seals are relatively cheap and the labor time needed o replace the rear main seal is huge compared to the cost of a new rear main seal. Last, but not least, did your helper who installed the new cam gear bolts tighten them to specifications? If not, the cam gear is likely to come loose and cause major engine damage. Did you install the clearance washer on the bottom of the distributor drive gear shaft; and time the offset slot in the izzy drive gear shaft to the TDC position? I did not see that step in your video. You also appear to have failed to install the rear metal cam plug into the case before you bolted the two case halves together. The metal cam plug can't be installed after the case halves have been bolted together! Looks like a lot of mistakes have been made in putting this engine back together. (Or the skipped items I noted were not shown in this video) Please correct them before you try to start that engine.

[@AutoDIYdactic]

I'm not so sure about checking the endplay with the rear main seal out. I've watched both the Raby videos and Ian's videos extensively. I was always under the impression you check the endplay after you've put the flywheel on. Anyway, that will be in the next video, along with the install of the oil pump. Yes: torqued the cam gear bolts, washer on the distributor, made sure it was in TDC, installed cam plug. Theres a lot of stuff I didn't explicitly show in the video due to having to go through hours and hours of footage to try to trim it down to under 20 mins. (the average view time is 3 mins)

[@mikedx2706]

@@AutoDIYdactic OK, I understand that some of the steps got edited out. I hope people who watch this video understand all the steps!

[@mikedx2706]

Yikes!!! When you cleaned off the front crank journal with 1000 grit emery paper, it looks like you failed to use an air hose/pipe cleaners to clear out all the grit from the crank oil holes before you re-assembled the forgotten main bearing and timing gear/dizzy drive gear.. That residual grit gets into the oil passage holes and will ruin your new bearings immediately upon start up.

[@AutoDIYdactic]

Yeah, I cleaned it before I put the bearing on. Lots of stuff left on the cutting room floor. Not too exciting watching everything being sprayed with brake cleaner over and over.

[@vintage76vipergreenBeetle]

To bad you didn't modify the case to avoid future oil leaks.

[@AutoDIYdactic]

You mean remove the oil galley plugs and tap in NPT plugs?

[@vintage76vipergreenBeetle]

@AutoDIYdactic No, Add a drain oil holes and vents on the front and rear of the case.

[@vintage76vipergreenBeetle]

@AutoDIYdactic I can't post links. KZbin will delete them. Look it up.

[@joel6850]

Your valve keepers are in upside-down..!! Unless I see it wrong ..small end goes towards head fat end towards you .

[@AutoDIYdactic]

Yeah I think you're right. #@$%! Thank you for noticing that. Whelp... that sucks.