engine block
Asked by migration_bmuyco16 Oct 04, 2010 at 08:45 PM about the 1968 Volkswagen Beetle
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
is the engine block of a 68, made of aluminium?had it repaired in a machine shop to
put steel sleeves?do you think that will hold on for a couple of years???
9 Answers
original vw blocks were a mixture of aluminum and magnesium. don't know what kind of "sleeves" your talking about. could you be more specific about the work done?
migration_bmuyco16 answered 13 years ago
thanks for the response....Im not a mechanic, just an enthusiast..im referring to the rods holding....the engine block and the cylinder heads...what they did at the machine shop was installed "sleeves " as they terms it by putting a "sleeve " with threads so that the rods would hold in place...so when I use torque wrenches it would pull off/out...btw...the firing order is 1432 right.thanks in advance.
ok. that is installings case savers. that is a good thing. some vw blocks came with them from the factory. it is a wise upgrade to have them installed if they were not originally in the block. remember to torque the heads down the correct way. if you over tighten the heads it can cause the case savers to loosen up.
migration_bmuyco16 answered 13 years ago
thanks so much....im beginning to love the beetle community...next time i needd help i know who to ask.
no the case is made of magnesium the cyl sleeves are made of steel pistons are aluminum and the heads are aluminum. there have been many attempts at building the ultimate engine but sleeveing the case isnt something ive seen before
if you would bother to read his other posts, the machine shop installed threaded "SLEEVES" to help hold the head rods in place. overseas they call the head studs "HEAD RODS". what they did here in the U.S is install case savers into the block. what case savers are are steel threaded inserts that are installed into the block. this allows the head studs to have something better than the mag case to grab ahold of. vw actually did install case savers on some engines from the factory. most (sad to say) did not have them from the factory. it is a very common thing to add, and a must on any hi performance engine.
migration_bmuyco16 answered 13 years ago
hey chris, followed your advise and the engine is now running, but with another concern...i sent you an email also about it. Irreguar RPM just had my engine rebuilt...now the rpm is irregular....the idle seems to go up and down. well, still not using it and trying to figure it out. battery new, ignition coil ok, i have one of those distributors that has no adjustment slots....and ive recently cleaned the carburator ...thoroughly. i know you can help me. I'd appreciate it.
