Sterling #S009

[Brett Proctor]

If anyone is interested I think I still have their card. They had other stuff for kit cars also. Mostly hardware. I can post their address if anyone is interested. It took about a week to get it, if I remember right

They have their stores on the UK ebay site.

Brett

 

[Brett Proctor]

#S009 gets a 1998 subaru 2.5L DOHC engine*dance of happiness*

The last couple of weeks has turned up some good finds. Found a 2.5L subaru in a pick a part salvage yard for $250. We'll see if it was a good find or not when I start rebuilding it. Also found a kennedy adapter kit for it on craigs list for $400 complete. So the body work stops and the motor rebuild begins. I guess I'll have to start looking at my options for parts. To keep it stock or not that is the question.*hmmm*

Later
Brett

 

[letterman7]

Good deal, Brett! Sounds like you're making great progress with the transformation that should result in a fabulous street machine!

 

[ydeardorff]

Oustanding M8!
Are you going to make it turbo?
Graphite pistons, with ceramic cylinder sleeves?
Fully balanced and blueprinted?
I look forward to seeing your rebuild.*rock on*

 

[Brett Proctor]

I wasn't planning to post the rebuild but if you want to see it, I guess I can post it.

Brett

 

[Brett Proctor]

Started taking the engine apart yesterday and the findings are not good. Even though the engine turned over and the timming belt wasn't broke and it looked good from the outside the insides revealed that water had been mixed in with the oil and the timming belt was one tooth off on #2 and#4 intake cam so this engine has not had a good life and the person that worked on it didn't know what they were doing. Not sure yet if the cam being off caused any damage to the valves.

I'll get more into it today to see if I can tell were the water came from. The #4 cylinder was rusted alittle where the water settled on the bottom of the cylinder wall. All so it looks like the cylinder walls maybe nikasil coated and there is no sleeve to bore out. I haven't looked at what my options are at this point untill I find out what all needs to be fixed. I may have just bought a $250 boat anchor.

I haven't pulled the crank or the pistons yet. I'll do that today and see how they look.

The bus CV's came in yesterday so I can bolt the drive shafts up now and that will finish up the build for the drive train.

Here are some pics of the engine and the cam being off.

 

[letterman7]

Ouch.. that sucks. That's probably the main reason I don't try to work with used stuff. I'd rather pay out the nose for a rebuilt motor and get the warranty with it. About your CV conversion; why? Just for the stronger joint? How are you handling the Beetle stub axle part of that?

 

[Brett Proctor]

Got the engine apart and the damage doesn't look to bad, I'll know more today when I start to clean the parts up. Rod bearings are shot. The babbitt coating on the bearings was worn through to the copper. The main bearings were in better shape, the babbitt material was still there but showed signs of impurities in the oil.
Crank and rods look to be in good condition and should be usable.

Before the rods were pull they were stamped with the cylinder number that they came out of.

Haven't gotten into the heads yet but I think one maybe warped alittle.

I'll have some pics and a better idea of the engines condition later today after it gets a good wash but it looks like it can be rebuilt. It will just need everything new.

Brett

 

[Brett Proctor]

Here's some pics of the engine apart

First couple of pictures are of the pistons with the bearings to show the damage to the bearings. The gray part is the babbitt material that the rods ride on and the copper lays below that and should not be showing.

The cases main bearings show that the babbitt material is still there but is pitted from dirt or it could be from the water that leaked in.

One other thing to note is the webbing contruction at the main bearings of the case. This appears to be one strong engine. It also has more than enough bolts holding it together. Just when I thought I had them all out I found two more. This is a well designed engine with lots of potential.
I can see now why its so popular.

Two years ago I sold my solvent tank because I wasn't planning to rebuild any more engines and I needed the space. After a short time of attempting to clean some parts today I came to the conclusion that there is no way I'm going to get this thing cleaned right without one, so now I'm checking around for a solvent tank.

Brett

 

[Brett Proctor]

Got more pictures. This time of the head.

Pulled the valves today and checked out the heads for any cracks. This was just a preliminary check. As you can see they need a cleaning bad and the other head is about the same. After I get them cleaned I'll be able to get a better look at them at check for problems.

I was asked about the pitting on the bearings. The bearings are replaceable(they are not part of the block) and come in under sizes(however the cam bearings are part of the heads and if those are damaged the heads are junk). So if the crank or the rods were damaged(to a point) they can be ground down and a undersize bearing is used to make up for the material that was removed from the crank and/or rod
and your back in business.

I'll probably end up getting new valves(the ones that were pulled showed signs of pitting) , springs, retainers and valve stem keepers. I'm Thinking of doing a mild porting job to the heads since I have it apart. Nothing to extreme, this engine already has 100 hp over what the VW engine had so I see no reason to go crazy.

 

[Brett Proctor]

About your CV conversion; why? Just for the stronger joint? How are you handling the Beetle stub axle part of that?

Sorry Rick I totaly forgot about your question.

There was a few things that made me switch over.

First The stock type 1 cv's needed to be replaced(two were worn out) and I was told that the Type 2 CV's would fit the stock type 1 drive shaft and I could use the
stock type 1 drive shafts for the conversion. This was not totally true. Yes the type 2 CV's fit the type 1 drive shafts but the center race on the type 2 are thicker and the retaining clip cann't be installed. To fix this problem material needs to be shaved off of the drive shaft so the type 2 CV can be slid on far enough for the clip to be installed.
I quess I should do a post on this mod to show what I ended up doing to make it work.

Second: I was rebuilding the transaxle and it was a direct switch over for the cv flanges
C13-16-2300 - EMPI - FORGED TRANS DRIVE FLANGES - FIT ON BEETLE IRS TRANS TO BUS CV JOINT - SOLD PAIR

Third: One of the stub axles was bent and needed to be replaced and the conversion for that was a direct swap
C26-525-101 - CHROMOLY STEEL STUB AXLE - BEETLE DOG-LEG TO BUS CV JOINT WITH 8MM THREADS - SOLD EACH
I bought this stuff from a local dealer just incase it didn't work, but it did.

So those were the things that dictated the swap plus like you said the type 2 are stronger.

Later
Brett

 

[letterman7]

Ah, interesting. I didn't know the stub axles could swap out without having to replace the bearing races. Never having done that, what's involved with swapping the axle? Is it held by a circlip or something?

 

[Brett Proctor]

Here are some pictures of the type 1 CV compared to the type 2 CV and the modification to the drive shaft to make it work and the difference in size between the two.

 

[Brett Proctor]

Personal note to myself: I HATE packing grease into cv's.

One down.

 

[letterman7]

*laugh* Yes, packing grease sucks... How did you modify the axle; did you lathe it down or simply grind the excess away?

 

[Brett Proctor]

I wish I had a lathe to do it. It would have been alot easier. I'm still looking for a good reason to justify getting one.
I kind of made up a home made lathe to do it.

 

[Brett Proctor]

Just thought I'd update this build if anyone is following it.

Waiting for my solvent tank to be delivered so I can start cleaning the motor parts. While I'm waiting for that to be delivered I've been porting the heads. Nothing exotic but just cleaning them up.
This motor had over 200,000 miles on it and after going through the heads I've found that the all the valves needed to be replaced. They can be reground but I prefer to just replace them. After all they do have alot of miles on them and I'd rather just replace them to be safe. I'm looking at after market valves right now. After all why put stock back in. Why not go better.
Valve seats weren't in the greatest shape either but they can be fixed.

Crank ,rods, and pistons will be balanced.

Heads will be resurfaced

Crank will be polished (to reduce friction).

I haven't checked the rods yet to see if they are within specs

Going with forged pistons(better than cast)

The cylinders will have to be bored to the next oversize which is .020 over. After that there is no other option but to resleeve.

I've been checking out the junk yards for seats,steering columns and mirrors. Found a set of mirrors out of a RX7 that looked good so I got those(electric). I may have found a set of seats that will work. I'll let you know how that pans out.

After all the engine work is done I should have a motor that will last for a long time

Thats about it for now

Later
Brett

 

[kirk]

I found a Fiero tilt steering column on fleabay for very cheap and it is short enough to use for this kind of car. Also there are aftermarket steering wheel release adaptors readily available to ease getting in and out as well as theft deterent.

Kirk

 

[Brett Proctor]

Thanks Kirk

I'll check into that. I'm looking for a small compact adjustable steering column that looks like it belongs in the car. I'm not to interested in the removable steering wheels. I'd like to stay away from them if I can.

Thanks
Brett

 

[kirk]

I am using the Fiero column because I have a Fiero wire harness that will be used for everything and it plugs right into the columns accesories. This will give me a functioning light switch as well as wipers and ignition swith. This should free up the dash a little bit.