At 10:27 PM 10/20/99 EDT, you wrote:
>Volks,
>
> Buttoning everything up and ready to adjust my valves I went back thru
check
>list and realized I had not installed the retaining wires for the push rods.
> 1 Its not extremly clear how they go on but feel like I gotem on right.
> 2 What in the world is the pupose of them, they dont look like they do a
>thing, are they still called for?
> Maybe I dont have them exactly right cause they dont appear to do much..

If every push rod tube end has a piece of that wire resting against the
rim to hold it in place so it cannot migrate back out, you have them installed
properly. The ends of the wires should rest in the slot of the block that
mounts the rocker shafts. Make sure that the wire does not enter the tube
and foul the push rod. The beauty of this design is you do not have to
pull the heads to replace the stock tubes and/or seals or lifters. But if
you don't replace the keeper wires properly, you may well lose the engine
when the tube migrates out and you lose your oil.

I suspect that without them they would not move but not putting on the wires
is an experiment I don't want to try with my or my clients engines.

Doktor Tim
Maintenance Repair and Restoration of European Vehicles
San Juan Island, WA