Tue Sep 17, 2013 8:37 am by VWJake
Hot ****! It runs!
Only for about 15 sec last night as it was late, there is no donwpipe or muffler, and we live "in town".
I replaced all 3 freeze plugs and replaced the felpro headgasket with a Victor Reinz gasket ( steel bottom, composite center, copper top). The gasket still weeps under pressure. I'll heat cycle and retorque and see where we're at then. The head and block surfaces are pretty F'n flat. I couldn't pass a .0015 feeler gauge anywhere. The finish feels a bit course, but without the proper tooling there is no way for me to know what the finish is rated at. I tried starting it late last week with a 6v battery but it wouldn't turn over fast enough. Last night I static timed it with a test light and series wired 2 6v optima batteries. I applied 6v to the coil and 12v to the starter after topping off the float bowl and putting 5gal in the tank. Bango! She lit off almost instantly. Later this morning I'll fab a new bracket for the alternator and get a belt so I can run the engine for a while to get everything set up.
Since the starter doesn't like 6v I'm just going to go 12V now. The truck was converted to 12V previously. I have no idea how completely though. I'm guessing they put 12V field coils in the starter and I know the generator is 12V. I recently bought a 6V Delco 10si alternator and 6V coil thinking I was going to go back to 6V (believing the starter was still 6v). Now I'll get a 12V kit for the alternator, wire in a ballast resistor for the coil and carry on with 12V. I already have the resistor on the shelf and alt. kit is cheap.
I'll post up more progress and photos later today. I'll try to make a video or two as well. Got some errands to run and it's still a bit too early to fire it up again. My neighbors like me and I'd like to keep it that way.
'55 IH R-122- BG265 w/TBI fuel injection
'64 Porsche 356 C
'68 and '73 BMW 2002s
‘14 VW Passat SE TSI
3 Vintage Sears garden tractors ('66-'74)