Aircooled VW South Africa

I need some advice please.
My son has recently bought a 1976 Beetle which had been partly stripped so we could not fire it up before parting with his money but all looked okay so we went ahead. It has been reassembled but there's one issue that could possibly be disastrous...
There is a punctured hole in one of the pushrod tubes causing a massive oil leak and my resident mechanic says it will cost around R6500 to repair.
This includes head and piston rings, new gaskets and the pushrod tube with the labour

I don't know enough about these engines to attempt it myself so wanted to find out if you guys think that's a fair charge for a repair like this?

It's obviously not as easy as just replacing the pushrod tube alone, hence the gaskets ect....

Thanks
Dan

I'd expect that job to cost more in the 4-5k region.
However, if he is replacing the valves on your heads too, then its worth it.

Your other option is to get a set of expandable pushrod tubes - these can be fitted without taking the head off. OK, they will leak after a while, but its a cheap fix for now

Your mechanic is taking a conservative approach by proposing a top-end rebuild while you have the engine out and stripped.

If everything else is OK except the pushrod tube, then all you really need to do is pull the engine and strip the ancillaries just far enough to remove the relevant cylinder head, replace the damaged pushrod tube and reassemble and refit engine. That should take you less than a day working on your own.

This would be a good job to attempt, so you can build your confidence in repairing your car yourself.

But your mechanic may be correct in assuming that a top-end overhaul is a good idea. It's probably a good idea to remove both heads and inspect them carefully for cracks, receding valve seats, etc. You'll probably also find that your engine needs a good clean, which will take longer than the repair work.

@'57Oval:

I'm assuming that you're not averse to getting your hands dirty, but you lack experience with aircooled engines. Given the scope of work mentioned, you can do it yourself, armed with a good workshop manual or internet articles.

Just did that job myself knowing very little about the beetle and using Youtube and the manual.

Still have to put oil back and start her but definitely not a one day job if the cylinder barrels come away from the engine block when taking the heads off to replace the pushrod tubes.

I bought all new tubes and seals for R500 odd.

GOOD ON YOU.
JUST FOR INTEREST SAKE, WHAT OIL ARE YOU USING?

MARK

Gastrol Multigrade 25W50 I think

I use SAE40 monograde on all my aircooled engines.

73type2 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 21, 2017 1:51 pm I use SAE40 monograde on all my aircooled engines.

Should I rather get rid of the Multigrade and change to above, will I cause damage ?

Maybe others here are more knowledgeable, but here is what I've gleaned from reading some manuals and the internet articles: SAE30 mineral oil was originally used on the Beetle, so I'm sticking to the SAE40, as I've done for the past 20 years, with no ill effects. Multigrade synthetic oils have a lot of advantages for modern high performance engines, but is a bit of an overkill for the old Beetle engine. I don't think it hurts to use the multigrade.

For stockish engines I use 15W40 multigrade.

On my big engine (2332cc) with a stock sized oil pump, I am now running a 5W30 and my oil pressure is still too high. So those guys saying that you need a bigger oil pump and 20W50 are smoking their socks or their engines are losing plenty pressure.

Thanks for the advice guys. We decided to bite the bullet and remove the engine to do it properly. We're doing it ourselves so hopefully it will run like new in the end