Epic Day

Headed back to Litchfield for the weekend so I could bring over more parts to the machine shop for the bus engine. Had to bring over the the flywheel so they can balance the crankshaft with it bolted on. Also, had to bring these over. 

Mahle 94mm pistons and cylinders, the beans and rice of a quality 2.0 liter type 4 engine

Of course like every time I stop in to see Steve Daniels, we always end up talking for a while. He showed me the completed line bored case and Steve educated me on the many nuances of all things VW (basically his favorite topic). The crank bore was actually slightly egg shaped so the line bore helped make it true again. He also faced off both halves of the case so it fits together perfectly. The oil pump mounting flange was also faced off and another flange that I am not sure where it goes....

Up close of the machine engine case, you can see three machined surfaces ( kind of hard to pick out)

Apparently the connecting rods were on the upper end of "new" as far as their wear tolerance was concerned so they were left alone. Apparently the rods are extremely overbuilt and Steve didn't actually seem that surprised that they don't need any attention beyond balancing. Steve is also working on a Type 1 (bug) engine in parallel with mine. 

Left: My engine case, Right: Type 1 case, Center: My heads, Outback: Awesome machine tools

I have to say that after waiting for so long for the machine work to get done on this engine, it feels awesome to see the rebuild process moving along. 

After a morning at the machine shop Chris Hatch and I threw a couple of kayaks in the truck and headed to the lake. Sam and Ariel came too and we spent a while in the sun on Sabattus lake. Perfect weather, sunny and just that type of July day you wait for all winter long. Came back to Ariel's house and her dad offered to take us water skiing, I'd never been but I have wanted to for a couple years now. I was bound and determined to get up and ski by the end of the day, it took me about a dozen tries and I drank probably 3 gallons of lake water but I finally got it. It was wicked awesome and I am so sore, getting dominated by a boat for nearly an hour really takes a toll. Ariel was able to snap a sweet picture once I had gotten my feet under me and I will definitely share that once she sends it to me.