Aircooled VW South Africa

Hi guys! The scenario: removed flywheel to replace crankcase seal. Did not find any rubber o-ring seal (around dowels) and only 1 shim for adjusting end play. With o-ring the flywheel sits very tight and now there is not even a very small endplay movement. Should I replace the o-ring even though I didnt have one? My muir book says not to replace if I did not remove one...

some models came out without an O ring (older models I think). Does the flywheel have a groove cut for the O ring?

Ja, there is a groove but I am actually not very sure where the o-ring should go as I didnt have one to compare with. The books are not very clear about this even in the photos/drawings. There is a groove on the lip of the flywheel that will take this o-ring. My parts guy figures I must have this seal I am concerned with the absense of endplay with this seal installed. Is this an issue?

Early flywheels didn't have the O-ring seal only a metal "shim", the problem is that dudes mix & match flywheels and may have this situation, if the flywheel has the recess for the o-ring then use it, it is better than the "shim" thing. You need to double check your end play, it is crucial, needs to be measured with a dial indicator, if you feel no end play when you push/pull on the flywheel and the motor turns freely, then you are in the ballpark, but you need to check to be sure. Clean everything 100% o-ring groove must be 110% clean, then lube it with some grease, after replacing the O-ring grease it also, will stop the O-ring from damage when fitting the flywheel, get the grey/silver O-ring, the black ones are real crap.

Its been a while since I last did one, but if memory serves me correctly, the O ring groove is "inside" the protruding section of the flywheel, near to the dowel pins.

Dont forget to grease the crank seal before you put it in (the crank can burn it)

Sad sad story....did not put in o-ring....now streams of oil is leaking after engine was started!!! New clutch will probably also be messed up now? Will have to pull engine again and try to get this seal installed. What is your opinion of the clutch plate? Replace? This is vey expensive!!!

The clutch plate is what will suffer if it has been under a constant shower of oil, but if you only started the motor and it hasn't been driven leaking oil like that then the clutch plate should be fine, to be on the safe side once you remove the clutch again give the clutch plate surface a good clean with thinners & a brush, it will wash out any of the surface oil, then take some sand paper about 80 grit and give it a good rub down that will remove any oil that might have penetrated the surface. If you feel you are not up to doing that then you can always get the plate redone about R150.

Thanks calooker. I only started it yesterday for about 5 min. It is a genuine sachs kit (for old 6v flywheel) that took me hard time to find. I will definitely follow your advise regarding the cleaning of the plate. It takes me about 30min to remove the engine and about a day to put back in!!! With very sore arms thereafter! But I always say that learning the hard way is the best way!