Ron and others,

I successfully drilled and tapped bolt holes in a bug engine so that I
could mount it to the rear support...and I'm not even that good with a
drill. Magnesium is so soft to the drill that I'd bet a portable hand
drill would do the trick fine...it taps out nicely (easily). The only
tricky part is not to drill too deep; there's an oil passage just beyond
one of the places you'd need to drill...so my solution would be to carry
the right drillbit and tap, figuring I could borrow or buy a hand drill if
I needed to. Oh yeah, I used the rear support arm as a guide for drilling;
If I were to do it again, I'd probably install the engine first, get the
rear support lined up and then drill.

I don't like the idea of adding stress at the oil pump. Just doesn't seem
natural.

Thanks! Joe

On Thu, 6 Jun 1996, Ron Van Ness wrote:

> >        Same thing happened to me, but I swapped out engines between my Bus
> >and Bug. I did buy the adaptor, however, for later use. It is Bugpack part
> >#4538 and should be available from any VW flaps. I paid $12.50 + tax for
> >mine.
> 
> I've considered buying one of these adapters and keeping it with my spare
> parts on board the bus.  Despite my obsessive maintainance I still fear the
> dreaded engine self-destruct 3,000 miles from home and it seems it would be
> easier and cheaper to just bolt in a bug engine to get back.  Stressing the
> oil pump studs would be a concern for long term use, but anything goes when
> it comes to getting home (just ask Bob). 

----------------------------------------------------------
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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