Subject: The Maestro's Quiz, Part 2, Jan 29, 1996 Previously, in the Maestro's Quiz, a Turkeyized 356C Engine, brought into the Maestro's Shop last week, had: 1. PEGGED the oil pressure at over 80 psi! and: 2. A copiously-flowing stream of Liquid Gold coming from the Flywheel end of the engine. Previously Asked Questions: A. Was there anything wrong with this Turkey engine? Answer: Yes! But this is as to be expected with Turkey engines! B. If something was wrong, what was it? Answer: See (1) and (2) above. C. And if something was wrong, what was the REASON? Let's do (2) first. No, it wasn't Liquid Gold- it was OIL from a MASSIVE oil leak! The Maestro eyeballed Clutch Side of the Flywheel- and noticed an 8-armed, slightly asymmetrical, "starburst" pattern- radial streaks of oil radiating outwards from the DOWEL PIN HOLES of the FLYWHEEL! "Uh oh," said the Maestro pointing to the Evidence, "THAT'S Real Bad News!" "The little leaks are from the Crankshaft Pin Holes, which means that the interface between the Crank and the Flywheel is messed up- and LEAKING oil right where your new clutch disk would've been had I put it on! The Maestro went to his tool kit and pulled out the 10 foot long, extendible 3/4" Breaker Bar, used to remove EVERY flywheel nut so far, no matter who overtorqued it or by how much. The Maestro showed the Juggler where to stand on the Engine Stand, placed the 36mm socket on the flywheel nut and began to apply Torque. Before he exerted any significant Torque, the flywheel nut LOOSENED! Oh, God, thought the Maestro- the previous Turkey FORGOT to torque the Flywheel Nut! As the Maestro explained the Possible Ramifications of this, the poor Customer got ever the more scared with every word. "If you had put this engine into your 356, fired it up and drove it down the block it probably would have RUINED the engine," said the Maestro. "The flywheel would have elongated the dowel pins of the crank, the crank would have elongated the dowel pin HOLES in the flywheel, and the moving crank could have messed up the inside of the case breaking off the Main Bearing tabs in the Case and requiring ANOTHER overhaul, plus a Thousand Dollar Crank and a several hundred dollar flywheel!" The Maestro was pulling the flywheel as he said this and just as he got to the end of the Speech, the flywheel came off, as cued, and the Maestro stared at SHOCK and DISBELIEF at the end of the crank! Were the Dowel pins elongated? Was the Crank History? Nope, the Customer had the luck of Gladstone Gander- the dowel pins were fine! What the Maestro was staring at in Shock & Disbelief was something that WASN'T there! What wasn't there was the: FLYWHEEL OIL SEAL!!! The previous "mechanic" hadn't installed the FLYWHEEL OIL SEAL- but had delivered the engine to the Customer! Hell- That's Gross Incompetence! I believe the Bureau of Auto Repair castrates for that! Or at least oughta yank the guy's license forEVER! This one oughta make the Movies! You listening, Jerry? So, the Maestro sets the end play, puts in a Flywheel Seal, Torques the Flywheel Nut and fires the beastie up again. Would the leaks still be there? Nope. Amazing how installing a Flywheel Seal stems the flow of Rivers of Liquid Gold. There was still one nagging little Problem, however- The Oil Pressure Gauge was STILL pegged at 80PSI! And didn't cone down from 80psi even when the engine got pretty hot- which, with no cooling fan it did in 3.56 minutes. The Maestro, engineer that he is, wanted to find out just what the damn oil pressure WAS! Sooooooo, he got out his Generous Electric Nuclear Pressure Gauge, "Liberated" from a defunct Test Ring long, long ago, but still functioning. Recently Calibrated in 1968. With a 5" face, this gauge is accurate to 1 psi, leaving no doubt as to what any Engine's Oil pressure really is! The Maestro even used it on Jerry Seinfeld's Engine to see just how LOW it was (ans: 16psi). So, the Maestro hooked up the Nuclear Pressure Gauge and fired the engine up again. Which brings up to the: QUICK QUIZ OF THE WEEK: What was the ACTUAL Oil Pressure of this engine, both idling and at 3000 RPM? And: Why? KEEP THE 356/912 FAITH! The Maestro WHOA!!! 120 PSI! And that was at IDLE! The Maestro revved up the engine to 3000 RPM- the Gauge almost, but not quite, PEGGED, at damn near 160 PSI! Double WHOA! The engine had a Hundred and Sixty PSI Oil Pressure- about 3 times Normal! The Juggler asked the Obvious Question: "Uh, is having such high Oil Pressure BAD? Like will it cause damage to the engine?" The Maestro had to think about that for a while. What would 160 psi Oil Pressure damage? And that is the Question for this week! WHAT BAD EFFECT(S) WOULD 160 PSI OIL PRESSURE HAVE ON A 356 ENGINE? The Maestro had to think about that for a while- as the engine was warming up. First he thought about the Crank and the Bearings. Nope, the the Crank and Bearings like to see lots of pressurized oil. They'd be OK. Not the rockers- they'll be happy to see more oil too. AH- what about the OIL COOLER- it could burst! But the Maestro tests Oil Coolers at 125+ PSI and the good ones don't blow out. (The Bad ones whistle like Banshees though!) But then his Engineering Brain began to think about other parts of the engine. He's been told Tales of Oil Seals popping out when the oil pressure got too high. 'Course the Maestro's NEVER seen a seal pop from too much oil pressure himself! The Maestro glanced down at the Pulley and Crank area of the running engine with 160 psi pressure. Nope. No leaks. The seals hadn't failed yet! But then the Maestro's somewhat twisted brain thought of one thing that could REALLY cause damage on an Engine with 160 psi oil pressure. Something that, ironically, happened to NOT be on this long block the Maestro had running! That's right- THE OIL FILTER CAN! With a diameter of almost 4" the Oil Filter Can has about 12 square inches. Subjected to a pressure of 160 PSI, that's almost 2,000 pounds Force a-pushin' on the top of that Oil Filter Can! That's One Ton, bo'! And the Bolt holding the can top on about half-inch, so the Stress on the Bolt is some 10,000 PSI. What's the Ultimate Strength of a Thirty+Year old Oil Filter Can Bolt? Fortunately, since this was a Long Block, the Oil Filter Can wasn't hooked up! attached. The Maestro leaves the demonstration of the dangers of applying 160+ PSI to the Oil Filter Can to the Student. And is VERY happy that he wasn't bending over the oil filter can of the assembled engine! Or you might not be reading this! Now WHY was there 160 psi in the first place- on a Turkeyfied engine yet??? You just answered your own question- the Turkeyfied engine must be the reason! So, the Maestro had no choice but to pull the Pressure Relief Valve, which meant that he first had to pull off the Muffler, the J tube on the 3/4 side and its Heater Box. THEN he could finally pull out the Oil Pressure Relief valve and spring to see what the Story was here! Was it merely a stuck plunger? Or something really esoteric. Actually, it was more like what the Maestro suspected- the Turkey VW Mechanic had used, of course, some "Trick Hot Set Up " OIl Pressure Relief Spring to raise the Oil Pressure. Unfortunately, the spring he chose had a REALLY THICK wire diameter- so thick that when compressed just a half inch or so- the coils met. Having the coils meet is called "coil bind", and once this happened, the spring ain't no spring no more! It's a SOLID! And won't compress no more. Which meant that the plunger, no matter how hard it tried, couldn't ever depress the spring enough to uncover enough of the oil return hole to lower the pressure below 160 psi! Sigh. So, the Maestro replaced the spring with a Real Porsche one. Reinstalled all the stuff he took off to get to it, and fired the engine back up AGAIN! This time his Nuclear Oil Pressure Gauge remained sub-Critical, showing 45 psi at idle, 60 psi at 3000 RPM. The 356C was back to Normal. And the engine now ran- sort of OK- a bit rough since the flywheel had not been properly balanced, but certainly acceptable for a Turkey engine built by a VW mechanic. That was all the Demons the Maestro could exorcise that day, but he figured he did do a decent demon decimation for one day. But would the Turkey strike yet another blow? Would there be Something Else lurking inside just biding its time, waiting to strike an economic Death Blow? The Maestro'll let you know. Until then: KEEP THE 356 FAITH. The Maestro.