Great news. Just got back from Regency after registering the bus. Fortunately there was an old rego sticker still on the windscreen so I was able to fill out the rego form with the old details and get the bus registered. Now all I need to do is get the engine finished off and the brakes overhauled. I also ordered a personalised plate too. :D
Earlier yesterday I paid a visit to Paul at Volksfactory and picked up some goodies to get the engine finished off. I was also lucky enough to source an original style air fliter bracket from his parts stash. Things are really starting to come together and the few missing parts that I needed have fortunately been sourced in a relatively short space of time.
Last night I stripped off the remaiming head and took a closer look at the cylinder and pistons that had been soaking overnight in the parts washer. The cleaned barrels measured up at 85.5 dead which is great news. I picked up a set of stock pisting rings from Paul and checked the ring gaps in the cylinder along side the original rings. The old rings were either incorrectly sized when installed or have worn considerably. They do not look to be excessively worn, and the barrels are in very good shape, so I suspect that they were not too particular when they originally built the engine.
Way back when I used to work for Fords in the late 80s the bores and pistons were sized according to four size ranges. These were simply known as A, B, C and D. When the engines were assembled the cylinder bore was measured with a gauge, and the appropriate piston installed. This is obviously not a precise science and very much open to error and loose tolderances. I can imagine that VW engine in the 70's was probably not much better.
With the cylinders in a very useable condition and the pistons not showing too much sign of wear I think that the new set of rings should easily see another 40 or 50k. Well worth the price of a set of rings. I took the time to hone one of the bores and re-mic it. Honing the bore is necessary when installing new rings as the bores become 'glazed' This highly polished surface prevents the new rings from bedding in correctly and results in a poor seal which in turn results in poorer performance. Honing the cylinders is a pretty simple thing to do and simply requires a cylinder hone, a drill and some light oil. With the the first cylinder honed I rechecked the ring gaps and the bore diameter. All well within tolerance. :D
I also took the time to inspect the heads a little closer. I was originally considering replacing the exhaust valves as I was led to beleive that this is one of the weak points, however after some consideration it is more likely that by the time that an exhaust valve gets dropped there would also be other more noticeable damage. The heads show none of the usual symptoms, no cracks between valve seats, no damaged or burned valve seats, no loose valve seats, no play in the valve stems, so I am simply going to re-seat the valves and cylinders and be done with it.
Next step is finish off cleaning the 1600 parts up and get the 1300 stripped down.