On Mon, 18 Dec 1995, Maher, Steve (SD-MS) wrote:
> 
> I suggest you grab your engine crankshaft pulley (engine not running, of
> course  :^)  ), and pull it HARD toward you. Then push it HARD the other 
> way.

You might remove the fan belt first too, though I don't know if this 
matters much.

> 
> In my case, it moved about the thickness of two pennies pressed together.
> This was gargantuan-- the engine was junk. If yours moves only the thickness
> of a fingernail, say, then it might be possible to adjust it out with
> flywheel shims-- depending on how many shims are in there already.

If there's too much end-play (per this or more sophisticated checks), 
there's a reason. Steve's right about being able to adjust it out, but 
you'll want to figure out why there's too much end-play before you 
spend your time rebuilding an engine.

I just did my first "top-end" rebuild a few months ago and had to build 
two to get one rebuilt. The first one had only a little excess end-play 
(like .008"), but it turned out that the case was out of whack. I was 
lucky and picked up a $50 engine by placing an ad in my local shopper. 
"Wanted: running or rebuildable VW engine..." That's the one I ended up 
rebuilding, but the purchase was clearly a gamble and with only about 45 
miles on that engine, I still don't know how well I did.

BTW, a good book if you need to do the rebuild is "How to Rebuild your VW 
Aircooled Engine" by Tom Wilson. It walked me through pretty well with 
listmembers' help.

My2centavos.8).Joe

----------------------------------------------------------
Joseph F. Fournier II <jfourni@comp.uark.edu> 501.575.7353
<a href="http://comp.uark.edu/~jfourni/"> Joe Fournier</a>
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