On Sunday, Hal dropped by for another round of "let's get this bus going". He brought with him an upper starter bolt, a bunch of steel and some more ideas for mounting this engine. So, while he worked on engine brackets I worked on getting the starter mounted.
Bracketing
During the week, we talked about using a pair of Passat engine brackets to attach the sides of the block to something. Hal had performed some research and it seems the Brit's do these kinds of adaptations more than the Americans. They depend more heavily on the side mounts than on the mount surrounding the timing belt. Since the Passat and the Audi A4 mounted 4 cylinder engines longitudinally (front-to-back, not side-to-side), these models had brackets we should be able to use. Hal found a local guy on a chatboard that was selling a pair, so we connected for a purchase. I overpaid, and he denies it ($75 for the brackets, $20 for his soul), but we got what we believed to be brackets that work. It turns out that the Beetle TDI has a unique turbo that is a part of the exhaust manifold. When we consider where the turbo lives in a Beetle (close to the firewall), we conclude that this unique manifold/turbo combination was a space-savings effort. Unfortunately, it makes using the left (driver's side) bracket impossible. We will use it as a template for a flat-steel bracket, and then I'll sell the VW one. For a fair (my soul can't be bought for $20) price. The passenger side bracket doesn't fit very well either. Hal is going to work on some kind of adaptation because that side of the engine has considerable contouring and fabricating one from scratch would actually take more time, and would probably be harder.
Start and stop
Hal brought a hex-driver upper starter bolt with him. So, while he wrangled the brackets, I worked on getting the starter in. The upper bolt turned out to be about a nut-thickness too long (it wasn't a VW starter bolt, it was one he got at the hardware store), so we cut a short section off. Once I got the adapter on, we noted that the adapter wasn't sitting flush. The lower corner was hung up on the transaxle. Time to grind. I had completely cleaned the outside of the transaxle when it was dropped back at the beginning of this project. This meant that I could dab som axle grease around where the adapter was hanging and use the grease to tell me where it was binding. Simple process: dab grease, attempt to attach adapter, wiggle adapter, remove and grind down where the grease marks are, repeat. After removing about 1/4" of aluminum along one edge, the adapter settled in. I tightened it down and fed the starter in. I could feel the splines of the starter gear engaging with the flywheel as I settled it into place. I bolted down the lower bolt and feel-fed the upper bolt in after the lower was tight. Using a 17mm socket with an extension, I was able to tighten down the starter. The TDI starter will now start this bus. I have since removed that starter (as it is a rebuild candidate) and I'll be calling around today to find a good local shop to rebuild it. I don't have much confidence in those $99 specials on the 'net for a TDI starter. I'd rather spend $99 locally to get the original rebuilt.
Well, we go camping next weekend, and Hal will be taking next weekend to do other things. If the starter is ready, I'll mount that up. If not, I'll probably focus on the hole where the engine lid will eventually go. Again, I don't want to move the engine until after the mount work is done. More later...
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