I'm gonna just have to get it all stripped down and find out. No use speculating - it could be so many different things i suppose. Prey it's not terminal engine though - this one was such a good one. Might stop doing 20 oil changes a year though if it is!
ive only come across one bottom end were the mains went,had a vibration you could feel and hear under load,whats your oil pessure like tubs?
On Matt d's the integral thrust washers on the centre main shell were worn right through and the crank had worn through into the centre main bearing cap It was only when he was fitting the trigger wheel for the DTA he noticed the crank pulley could be pulled in/out 3mm Worst thing was, he had only just re-fitted the engine after having the bay painted whilst doing the ITB conversion [:^(]
I used to find that on mgb`s,the thrust bearings would wear and drop into the sump,used to spot it by pressing the clutch,you would then see the crank move out
Happened on a lot of old cars Louis, esp Vivas Did an oil pump gasket on an Ecotec Ashtra last year, same thing, crank pulley (pulls and pushes donk,donk ) Whipped the sump off and the centre main was worn through, luckily we saved the centre cap , whacked a new centre main shell in and
Jesus What causes them to go, the pressure of the clutch on the flywheel? So it`s got more chance of wearing out if the clutch`s clamping pressure is higher than std? I bought a sachs clutch off E-bay for a tenner..
In my experience thrust bearings wear because of crank whip, crank assembly imbalance, misaligned belts or play in the gearbox input shaft. Like I saud before, I think before Tubs goes any further he should measure the crank end float.
Hi All, Tubthumped's old man here again. Had to re-register under a different name. I thought I would put my tw*penneth in on this one as the unreliability of these cars affects me directley, i.e. it's my van Craig borrows when his car is off the road etc, etc. Have you all forgotten just how old these cars are? You are modifying a perfectley respectable vehicle into something for which it was never intended. The comparison of Gary's and Tub's car may seem like for like but......consider this. Let us say that Gary's car has been well looked after and always driven well under it's design limits, and Tub's car has been thrashed to within an inch of it's life since new. Then the respective new owners get them and start modifying an already old technology car with 21st century components and proceed to thrash the living daylights out of them, which car would you think would outlast the other? Duh! You don't need to be Einstein to figure that one out. How about keeping your old cars in standard trim and then going to track days, that way we could all see who is the better driver rather than who can spend the most money? Food for thought eh chaps? Regards, Tubthumped's Old Man.
Good theory Chris, but on my car about the only things that have not been replaced are the wiper motors and heater
Mine's as good as rebuilt from the floor up too...I would agree that all modified cars are a Labour of Love though.. Maybe Tubs needs to drive with a touch more mechanical sympathy..? Full throttle gear changes Vs Extra strain on gearbox/clutch for example...
The old vw's aren't unreliable, its just that Tubs will break what ever he's driving! . If it were most other cars, it'd probably break more!
You're gonna need a dial gauge with either a bolt on or magnetic mount. You're gonna need to leaver the crank back and forth, screwing a couple of bolts into the crank should do. You can lever the front pulley but it's a bit bodgey due to the risk of damage. Set up the dial gauge like this making sure the gauge plunger is parallel with the crank and pre-load the gauge by 1 or 2mm and then zero it on the dial. Put reasonable pressure on the crank in one direction, note the gauge reading, then put pressure on the crank in the other direction and note the reading. Once you've added the two figures together you shouldn't have more than .25mm movement, that's max VW spec. When new the figure should be more like .12mm. Hope that all makes sense .
No fun in a standard car, well not a standard mk2 Golf anyway, I hated my current car the first time I drove it
The reason for modifying any production car is to change the design balance, not push it beyond it's limits. Any mass produced production car is full of compromise, what modifying mainly focuses on is moving the car towards the performance end of it's tolerances away from comfort, practicality and ecomonomy. As I said in my original comment, I think either Tubs needs to look at his driving style or do some in depth investigation into his this engine and box. There may be an inherant problem that could be responsible for how many boxs' he's got through.
