Nothing is ever as simple as it seems. The best laid plans of mice and men… Which ever sayings you prefer, the fact remains that the toast doesn’t always fall butter-side up. Sometimes it’s a sticky wicket and you’ve just got to play the dead bat and get yourself in. Having thought that the engine would be finished yesterday evening, it’s taken a further day in the workshop to get within touching distance of having a working van. I’ll explain…
We’d been puzzled as to why the engine wasn’t rotating freely in the van when it did outside of it. This meant the starter motor couldn’t turn the engine over as the flywheel wouldn’t turn through 360 degrees. After much puzzling and thinking we somehow hadn’t got the engine in correctly (or had fitted it at an angle somehow), we realised that the precision balancing had meant that two nuts were protruding further than usual from the flywheel. These nuts were then locking against the inside of the gearbox casing and causing the engine to stop turning. To fix this problem, Lee got grinding.
We took the engine out, ground some more of the gearbox, put the engine back in, found it still didn’t turn 360, took the engine out, ground some more of the gearbox, put the engine back in… On the third attempt however the engine turned full circle! The delight was obvious. Much thanks have to go to Lee for his patience and Ricky and Tom (VW enthusiasts) for taking time out from their own projects to help with shifting the engine in and out of the van today.
Tomorrow should be a case of simply putting the starter motor, fuel line and tinware back on. However, as I’ve learnt this week, never expect things to run as smoothly. I won’t be holding my breath, but should the van be running tomorrow I’ll be the happier than the Easter bunny! It’s been a long and frustrating week at times (and I seem to have spent most of my time in Lee’s workshop) but it’s been good fun too and I feel I’ve learnt a lot more about the van’s mechanics at the same time. Cheers, Lee.
Fingers crossed for tomorrow folks. Have yourselves a Happy Easter.
Well, so close, so far- ah that Lee sounds like the key to much of it- Let’s hope we hear the familiar sounds of the VW when I next check back- ever onwards- TT from Australia
Still wanting as many cups of tea as poss along the way? I’ve got friends in France, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria and Australia, if you’d like me to get in contact with them…?? 🙂
Always keen, Clare! Thanks!