Lots of progress over the last week. I found myself a welder to handle the engine mounts so I can focus on the other things. Ed put a Porche engine into an old VW Beetle, so I figure he's at least got the right outlook. I never saw the finished product, but it was his daily driver until he sold it for the K5 Blazer he drives now. We want a daily-driver TDI-powered VW Bus, so its game on. We spoke earlier this week, and the running plan is for him to bring his stuff over next weekend.
The backlog of prep-work now looms large. Before I can really get the new engine in a place where it can get fitted, I need to get the old one out. So, I spent the last couple of days doing just that. Well, Friday night I drained the fuel tank, and I spent today getting the engine out. It is now on the garage floor next to the new TDI. Gotta give thanks to Richard Atwell for his website (www.ratwell.com) providing step-by-step how to remove your bus engine instructions. I'd done it before, but it had been almost 2 years since I last dropped it (to replace the clutch), so a spoon-feeding reminder was welcome. Cedar, my 6 year old, helped. He's got a touch with tools already.
Once the engine was out, I got to thinking about the fuel tank behind the firewall. I'd planned on pulling it to clean it, but I was sore and tired from the engine pull. Fortunately, it was only about 2pm so I had a couple of hours of good daylight left. Knowing that once the TDI was in, I wouldn't want to pull that tank, so I set to pulling it out. 8 screws and a wrecking bar later, the firewall was out. VW put 2 extra screws under the transaxle mounts that were unreachable without dropping the transaxle. So, I popped them with a bar. I pulled the straps with a 13mm, and cut the tank vent rubber and started pulling the tank. The '72 bus didn't have the top-access hatch, and it has a drop-ceiling to contain the engine noise. The tank got hung up on that, so I had to pry-bar that out so I could pull the tank. The tank was in great shape. The black paint was still very good, almost no rust at all (very tiny surface spot only), and all of the rubber looked pretty good with only one vent rubber having a breach. Even the gauge sender looked new-ish.
Once the fuel tank was out, I took some measurements, and I don't believe I can reuse the existing tank without some modification. The TDI engine has injection-related material extending beyond the flywheel by almost 8 inches. There is less than 2 inches between the transaxle mate-point and the fuel tank. Problem. So, I'll be leaving the tank out while getting the TDI engine positioned for the welder, knowing that I'll have to drop the engine at least to the ground (not all the way out) so I can get a tank in there.
Tomorrow, body willing, I'll be freeing the ATV jack of the old pancake engine. I should starting to think through how high I'll need to get the ass-end of the bus to slide the new engine under and in. I constructed a faux-engine out of wood for Ed to use, but I'm not 100% sure its 100% right. As long as his fabrication is adjustable, and his rates are low enough, we can weld up the mounts with the box and figure out the TDI installation effort after my man Justin has been able to go through the engine with me. Considering how much effort dropping the TDI will be, I may just pay for it with cash instead of flesh and time.
I know its feast or famine with my postings, but that's the way my project and my life have been. I still hope to have this project completed in time for some Summer camping. Now that I've pulled the engine and the fuel tank, there's no looking back. Accordingly, I'll start selling off parts of the old engine to start paying for some of the little things I hadn't planned for. More later...
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