Chris Perdue wrote:
>>From: "Mike Rocket J. Squirrel
>
>
>>I don't recall
>>looking at it and thinking, "My what a big old sloppy opening around
>>this shaft!"
>>
>>What did I not see?
>>
>
>
> LOL...on a stock replacement engine, like yours you did not see a seal on the
> crank end...you should have seen some grooves cut into the pulley "snout" that
> goes into the case though..those grooves are similar to the threads on a
> screw....or an auger...as the pulley turns they act as a pump to pump air into
> the engine case to vent the crankcase(out the tube from the oil filler to the
> air cleaner)....when the pulley "pumps" air into the case it also pumps in
> *any* contaminants in the air...which will end up in your oil....i'm sure you
> have heard(read) Bob Hoover state that you change the oil in a vw to clean
> it....this is why....if you need pics i have several engines in various stages
> of build and teardown....

Oh ho! I /have/ seen those threads! They are there to blow air into the
crankcase?!? Is there no end to the ingenious little wonders lurking on
and within these engines? I'll be hornswoggled. I wondered why Bob
Hoover described the crankcase of the VW engine as being open to the
air! Frequent oil changes would indeed still be needed.

Here I was assuming that the hose from the oil filler tube to the air
cleaner was to handle piston ring blow-by . . . never occurred to me
that they would purposely try to inflate the case.

But . . . how much air can them winky little grooves pump into the
engine? And why are they trying to do that, anyway?

Let's say, then, that a fellow puts on a "sand seal" -- does it also
block the air inlet? What happens to the crankcase ventilation? WHAT
HAPPENS THEN, MAN?!?
--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westphalia: "Mellow Yellow (The Electrical Banana)"
KG6RCR
-=-=-
Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the
earth's surface relatively to other matter; second, telling other people to
do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill-paid, the second is pleasant
and highly paid.
-- Bertrand Russell
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