Parts is parts

I had one last maintenance item to deal with before I started mating the engine and transaxle - the engine rear seal. I had ordered one from "BleachedBora", but the part numbers got mixed up somewhere along the way and the part I got was a rear engine seal, but it wasn't the exactly right part. Apparently, gone are the days that VW makes the same part for all of their cars.

First, some orientation. The engine rear seal is what holds the engine oil inside the engine at the point where the driveshaft/crankshaft comes out of the engine to attach to the transmission. Ordinarily, people don't change these very often at all. In fact, most people dson't change them at all. If things start acting funny with their car, or there's an oil puddle they either sell the car or pay the dealer some ridiculous amount to pull the engine, seperate the transmission from the engine and replace a $40 seal. So, it seemed like it was a good idea to replace it when it was all exposed in front of me.
So, if you're looking at the crankshaft/driveshaft, there are 6 bolt head pointing at you going around in a circle. There are 2 others that are pointing at the ground that come up into the seal housing from below. These 2 from-below bolts are not the same for all ALH engines. Why!?!? So, I got the seal with the slightly smaller bolt holes, so the seal didn't fit. So much for preparing for mating engine and transaxle this next weekend. Another one is on the way, so I may still be able to get the engine/transaxle mated, but it will be a much longer day now.

Start me up...
I've spent some time over the last couple of days thinking about how I'm going to start this engine once its all together. The original 1972 starter will fit, but it isn't strong enough to turn a TDI engine. The TDI starter has a different bolt pattern, so it won't fit. There are "high power" starters out there, but the word on the street is they don't last very long, but they would fit, and would start the engine for a while... before they suddenly fail. So, we look to what the vanagon TDI converters do. They're lucky. They have a resource in Karl (at WestyVentures) that fabricates starter adapter plates. They make it so the TDI starter will fit into the bellhousing of a mid-70's through early 80's transaxle (the 091). Unfortunately, the 002 starter (for transaxles manufactureed between 1968 and 1975) and the 091 starter aren't identical. The shaft sticking out of the 002 starter into the bellhousing is 1/2" shorter. So, if Karl's adapter were to be used on a 002 transaxle, the gear would stick a 1/2" too far into the bellhousing, missing the flywheel. Argh.
Now is when you start thinking... why didn't I just buy the 091 adapter plate from Kennedy Engineering? That bellhousing would have fit my transaxle, and I could have used Karl's adapter. So.. back to the drawing board. I'm looking for a burned out TDI starter now, thinking that I may be able to fabricate something. If not, I may start looking for a KEP adapter setup for a 091 transaxle. This is where the money on conversions is lost. I thought I was saving money by not going 091 out the gate, and now I may end up there anyway. But first, I lose a bunch of time and money. Drat.
More next time--