Screwing around with a Eurovan!
- Thread starter Cole
- Start date
Cole
Expedition Leader
Boy....that has to be the load question of the century:bike_rider:
REALLY depends on what you want to do with it!
What kind of riding do you want to do with it?
Fwiw, I lived off my KTM last year and put 18k miles of exploring North Americas back roads.
But....my wife and I also have a set of KLR650s that we store on the road, fly out and ride to a new destination, store them and fly home.
Cole
Expedition Leader
Thought I would give you guys a bit of an update to satisfy your Monday morning living vicariously through the web needs!
I've spent the last few days running around having parts tested or replaced. Some of the parts that were good just got cleaned up with air tools and abrasives (I just cussed at them until the rust was gone:coffeedrink
, then painted.
I had to rebuild the new oil pump with the old pick up tube. This meant doing a LOT of cleaning of the old tube to make sure it was totally clean.
Also have to reuse the Eurovan specific oil pan and valve cover. So those needed lots of cleaning to make them worthy of the new engine.
I've replaced lots of old corroded factory nuts and bolts with new factory hardware!
I've spent the last few days running around having parts tested or replaced. Some of the parts that were good just got cleaned up with air tools and abrasives (I just cussed at them until the rust was gone:coffeedrink
, then painted. I had to rebuild the new oil pump with the old pick up tube. This meant doing a LOT of cleaning of the old tube to make sure it was totally clean.
Also have to reuse the Eurovan specific oil pan and valve cover. So those needed lots of cleaning to make them worthy of the new engine.
I've replaced lots of old corroded factory nuts and bolts with new factory hardware!
Cole
Expedition Leader
Thanks. I'll still be into it for WAY less than even a comparable "Weekender" version. 3x-5x less at this point:Wow1:
I'd love to figure out the AWD. It will have to wait since the engine project came up :snorkel:.
Cole
Expedition Leader
Think I may actually make some notable progress today. It's been tricky to sneak out in the garage with a 13 week old daughter around.:wings:
Got a bit done yesterday. It's just been lots of cleaning, and not the type of cleaning that makes you go "wow, look at how clean that is". More the type of cleaning that makes you go "ugh, finally its clean enough to not cause problems!":snorkel:
Here is an example of what I've been dealing with. There are a few things that must be swapped from the AXK Eurovan motor to the BDF Jetta motor. Things like the valve cover, oil pan, oil pickup tube, oil cooler, oil filler neck (start to see a pattern here?) I have to swap over a bunch of oil system parts from a motor that had an oil system problem. So everything must be cleaned to a fault to make sure to not contaminate the new engine.
Here is the underside of the valve covers. Note that the one on top has already been media blasted once and I've spent about 2 hours with various degreasers, even soaked it over night and lots of scrubbing.
I finally got it clean enough to see that the black plastic end piece was removable. (I wish I would have taken a picture of this when I started, you couldn't tell the black plastic end piece was a different material than the Aluminum cover. How crazy is that?
When I removed the cover I discovered a whole new valley of crud. Took quite awhile to get it clean enough to install.
The interior angles, hose mounts and oil filler mount are totally different on the Eurovan valve cover. Which is why it had to be reused.
There was no way that nasty old cover was going over this new valve train!
Once the parts were finally clean enough (no picture), I filled the motor with new Mobile One oil and pulled the oil pump drive and primed the pump with an air ratchet. Normally I'd do this a bit later in the process but the oil pump drive lives under one of the headers. Which means to access it you must have the intake and header off.
Then the valve cover was finally ready to go back on with as many new parts off the new cover as possible. (And a bunch of other stuff magically hopped onto the engine too)
Got a bit done yesterday. It's just been lots of cleaning, and not the type of cleaning that makes you go "wow, look at how clean that is". More the type of cleaning that makes you go "ugh, finally its clean enough to not cause problems!":snorkel:
Here is an example of what I've been dealing with. There are a few things that must be swapped from the AXK Eurovan motor to the BDF Jetta motor. Things like the valve cover, oil pan, oil pickup tube, oil cooler, oil filler neck (start to see a pattern here?) I have to swap over a bunch of oil system parts from a motor that had an oil system problem. So everything must be cleaned to a fault to make sure to not contaminate the new engine.
Here is the underside of the valve covers. Note that the one on top has already been media blasted once and I've spent about 2 hours with various degreasers, even soaked it over night and lots of scrubbing.
I finally got it clean enough to see that the black plastic end piece was removable. (I wish I would have taken a picture of this when I started, you couldn't tell the black plastic end piece was a different material than the Aluminum cover. How crazy is that?
When I removed the cover I discovered a whole new valley of crud. Took quite awhile to get it clean enough to install.
The interior angles, hose mounts and oil filler mount are totally different on the Eurovan valve cover. Which is why it had to be reused.
There was no way that nasty old cover was going over this new valve train!
Once the parts were finally clean enough (no picture), I filled the motor with new Mobile One oil and pulled the oil pump drive and primed the pump with an air ratchet. Normally I'd do this a bit later in the process but the oil pump drive lives under one of the headers. Which means to access it you must have the intake and header off.
Then the valve cover was finally ready to go back on with as many new parts off the new cover as possible. (And a bunch of other stuff magically hopped onto the engine too)
Arctic Travelller
Adventurer
Awesome thread. What I would like to know is how the hell did the inside of the engine get to look like that? Didn't the previous owner have records that indicated regular oil changes with Mobile 1? Do you think he was ripped off, lied about maintenance, or was the engine radically overheated at some point? A spun bearing is almost unheard of these days except if an engine is run out of oil or overheated. I also wonder about breaking in a new motor using synthetic oil, old school wisdom said to wait a few thousand miles for things to bed in prior to switching to synthetic. Anyway, great build.................Arctic Traveller
Cole
Expedition Leader
I've gotten to know the previous owner pretty well. He had receipts for frequent Mobile 1 oil changes. He is a bit of a motor head himself and imported an old school Mini Cooper from Ireland.
We have discussed the inside of this engine quite a bit and have come to the conclusion that he was probably being ripped off.
I remember hearing the thing about breaking in a motor on regular oil, but so long ago that synthetics weren't very popular yet. So who knows? I know Porsches at least always run synthetic Mobile One from day one. Guess we will find out!
Cole
Expedition Leader
Well, I decided that since the stock Crack Pipe lasted 152k that there was little value in a $100 aftermarket one for me. So off to the dealer today to pick up a new factory one for $34!
Somehow the 15 mile trip to the dealer took 60 miles....:wings:
Then over the next 4 hours this happened!
When I did the timing chains I brand new O-ring for the thermostat housing. It's expanded to the point it doesn't fit. So that stopped me for the day. Once I get a new one there really isn't much left to do.
Need to reassemble the CV shaft and install the front of the van!
I also took the time today to add a nifty retrofit from my 1993 parts van!! Can any of you Eurovan experts identify it in the picture above?
Somehow the 15 mile trip to the dealer took 60 miles....:wings:
Then over the next 4 hours this happened!
When I did the timing chains I brand new O-ring for the thermostat housing. It's expanded to the point it doesn't fit. So that stopped me for the day. Once I get a new one there really isn't much left to do.
Need to reassemble the CV shaft and install the front of the van!
I also took the time today to add a nifty retrofit from my 1993 parts van!! Can any of you Eurovan experts identify it in the picture above?