Hi Guys
Has anyone got any advice specifically for removing the engine from a '71 Ghia?
Im intending to pull mine as I need to investigate whats going on with the TC, first thing I noticed after removing the rear tin is that how little room there is to pull the engine back (only about 2"), do I have to remove the exhaust? Also secondly I cant see the top engine bolts from the top of the engine, I know that one side has to be undone from below on my year model but I cant even see the other one from above. I dont know if its dirfferent with the beetle and if there's more room but this looks like a real daunting task :-\
One other thing, I intend to support the rear of the car on 10" high ramps and probably place axle stands under the front, do you think this would give me enough clearance to get the engine out from underneath?
Thanks
Airhead
Hello there!
Whether you have or have not pulled a VW Aircooled engine, I will tell you as if you have not. This makes things go smoother for all!
I have personally never removed a A/S Ghia motor, but a Bug one I have. I will give you some standard Aircooled VW engine pulling tips. Unlike the manual transmission models, there is no clutch pressure plate on the flywheel and no long transmission input shaft to stick out and catch the pressure plate or back of the engine. Once you have unbolted the 4 8MM headed torque converter bolts, push the torque converter back into the transmission with a large screw driver so it won't pull out with the engine and jam you up.
Do you have a stock muffler? Header? I know that on a non A/S bug with a header, the header should come off the clear the input shaft and pressure plate better. A stock muffler you can get by. An A/S bug however.........I was able to easily drop the engine out and reinstall it without yanking the header off.
When pulling any VW Aircooled upright engine, it is always a good idea to remove the front generator pulley 1/2 and belt. Also, remove and plug off the tranny lines and fuel line. Disconnect the nessecary engine electrical and control valve vacuum lines, remove the heater fresh air tubes and the front breast plate. Disconnect the throttle cable, heater box cables and heater box cabin pipes.
An A/S engine needs only a couple of inches for the flex plate to clear the tranny bell housing. The ramps on the rear would help out pretty well with the front leveled off with jack stands. If you have dropped out the engine but can't slide it out under the back of the car, lower the front back down, this will raise up the back enough to slip out the engine.
A/S engines have no engine bell housing studs (at least my 69 bug didn't), only very long bolts, 4 of course. If you Ghia is bone stock, the bottom ones will be bolts. The uppers will have 2 slide-able studs with 2 nuts behind the fan shroud. Pull the bottom 2 bolts first, slide the jack under the engine and put slight pressure under it, then remove the top 2 nuts from behind the fan shroud and push the studs into the tranny to clear the engine bell housing. Pull the engine back, making the sure the torque converter stayed in the tranny, and slowly drop it out like any other Aircooled VW motor. Remember some of the engine securing bolts will not come out of the tranny bell housing, all that needs to be done is to unscrew them and pull them away from the engine.
Now you are able to do any repairs needed to the tranny/engine.
After all your issues are repaired and you are ready to reinstall the engine, there is a couple of things to check:
Make sure the torque converter is fully engaged in the transmission. If it not fully engaged, the engine will not completely seat up to the tranny. If this is the case, DO NOT PULL IN THE ENGINE BY TIGHTENING DOWN THE BELL HOUSING BOLTS!!!!!!!!! THIS WILL DAMAGE THE TRANNY, TORQUE CONVERTER AND COULD BREAK THE ENGINE CASE!!!!! The torque converter is fully inserted if the engine mates up to the tranny bell housing and the torque converter has to be slid out slightly to bolt up to the flexplate.
Getting an A/S engine back in is kinda tricky. The engine does not have the bottom bell housing studs like a manual engine does. It can sometimes be a butt to center and clock the engine correctly to start the bolts. To help alleviate this a little, make sure the car is level while it is in the air, that way you don't have to tilt the engine front or back to mate it to the tranny. A little patience goes a long way! Once bolted backup, reconnect and install every thing. Fire it up, check for leaks, and check the ATF level.
I have removed manual Ghia engines, they can be a real pain! A Ghia A/S engine should be much easier to deal with!
GOOD LUCK!!!! And let us know how it goes and what the tranny issue was for future A/S tech help!
-Evan.
Hiya Air,
Nothing specific to an engine removal in a KG, but..........................
You mentioned that you were concerned that there was only about 2 inches of "play" at the rear of the engine. Two inches is more than enough room to disengage the torque converter from the flexplate. Basically, all you have to do is unscrew the four torque converter bolts, move the engine to the rear about an inch and the engine will drop straight down. Of course this assumes that you have unhooked hoses, undone wires, pulled bolts outta the way and all the rest of that engine dropping stuff you gotta do.
Oh, and FWIW, the height of the engine (heat exchangers up to the top of the fan shroud) is about 24 inches. With my floor jack under the engine I had to allow for about 30 inches between the floor and the bottom of the fenders for engine removal. However, you can "cheat" on this somewhat. On a Bug (and I'm guessing a KG) once the engine is down on the jack (or the floor) it is possible to remove the engine through the rear wheel well. That may give you some additional clearance. You might check it out.
Airhead,
'71? If it is as VW intended, it will be just 4 bolts holding the engine to the trans. With the top ones, the starter motor (top) is one with a nut on the engine side and the other (the painfull one) goes into a threaded insert in the engine case.
I can't remember if you have to drop the clutch servo, or whether it just makes life harder. If you can undo that bolt enough so it frees the engine, just leave it there.
Getting the ATF oil feed pipe to the pump off can be an adventure. Be careful. One or two posters here twisted it into spaghetti :o . Cap the pipe off or let it drain into a clean container for reuse.
And once the engine is back in, don't forget to torque the 4 TC bolts. Also, don't use Loctite on those little suckers!
HTH
Volkenstein
Hello, Just another tip, the driver side upper bolt is much easier to remove if you have about 18 inches of extension and a universal. Just put your 17mm socket on and loosten from in front of the vac servo. Good luck with it.
Guys
Thanks for your valuable help as usual this place truly is a fantastic source of AS knowledge.
Evan thanks for the detailed intructions - much appreciated.
Ok a dumb question whats the best way to drain the ATF and from where (pics?) just one other thing
is the 8mm socket that I need for the TC bolts just a std socket?
Airhead
Hiya Air,
The answer to that question will depend on the torque converter bolts themselves.
There are two different head patterns. One is just a regular six sided hex head. A standard 8mm socket should work just fine on that. On the other hand, some torque converter bolts have a 12(?) sided head and that needs a special socket. So, take a look at yours and act accordingly.
Evan did a good job there...
just remember when installing the engine...
the torque converter has splines that need to be aligned..
otherwise the torque converter is damaged.. non repairable..
also use a New torque converter oil seal and engine crankshaft seal
if its been in there for a long time...
once the torque converter seal is moved , when its old and hard
it WILL Leak... You can use either seal... I have...
Sean,
I always disconnect the pipe going up thru the tinware...
never the one on the pump...
I have a couple of spares that have been twisted...
and always use two spanners... one to hold the pipe and one to do up/undo the hose..
they are always tight and need to be tight to seal...
best of luck
LEE
Thanks for the advice everyone, have just about removed everything now prior to pulling the engine, the previous owner had replaced the tc bolts with 4 allen key socket heads which came out ok after removing the heat exchanger to get in, hopefully the engine will come out ok tomorrow with the help of
Automatic Samba/Auto (aka Phil) he's a top bloke.
Airhead