Kostov Motor Continues

Well we had some interesting things happening with the motor and adaptor. First was an issue with the adaptor not fitting properly. I had one side that was actually .024 out and you could see a gap on one side. When I turned the adaptor it would bind. Turn it another way it would seem to fit right. There is a notch on the top of the adaptor that designates the top of the transmission. I finally got it to move and it looked good. So I finally bolted it down and slowly, ever so slowly tightened the 6 bolts and when there was significant pressure I heard a loud pop and a relief of pressure and it all fell into place and fit perfect. I think that one of the clips that holds the bearings in place was not fully seated and was causing a gap of .024 and it was enough to cause a pretty substantial wobble. But after installing all the bolts something pushed or gave and the snap ring popped back into place. Mind you, these are not weenie snap rings. These suckers are massive and have some serious holding power. Nothing is weenie on this adaptor.
  Another issue was with the flywheel. The flywheel is a lightened and balanced 12 pound flywheel that still retains the starter gear. It is a built in gear and not a removable ring. Some of the VW flywheels have a removable starter gear ring. Most don't. It is also set up for 8 dowel pins that have an offset so the flywheel can only be installed one way. I put on the flywheel and it was cocked to one side and when I pressed it on it lightly gouged the inside of the dowel pin holes. That makes the holes larger and the pins no longer hold properly. This will cause the holes to become enlarged over time and eventually failure. So the only way to salvage the flywheel is to have the holes cut to an oversize of 11/32 and put in over sized dowel pins. They only come in extra long lengths which was another problem. I purchased along with a new flywheel some extra long dowels. A common practice among the VW guys. Well, crap, the dowels were too long. The holes in the crank end were not deep enough and we were unable to fully seat the flywheel. The flywheel is also held in place with a large Gland Nut which is torqued to 225 ft-lb of torque. Thankfully I had my must have tool for all air cooled VW guys. The Torque Meister. It is a torque multiplying tool that allows you to torque the gland nut or wheel nut to 225 ft-lb of torque with only 25 ft-lbs of effort. Amazing. No more breaker bars and busted knuckles getting them off or on. It is a magic tool for the VW and oh my god. If you must have a tool, that is the one to buy. There are now generic Torque Meister Tools. They all work perfect. Get one.
  One other issue was with my brush ring and field connection to the brush ring. Being that I put in a new brush ring things did not fit exactly. One of the connection cables from the field winding to the brush ring was too short. It also had a bad end and I wanted to replace the end. I had a spare but the spare was even shorter than the original. Ug. Well, I found that the one in one of my motors was hacked and the end I wanted to replace was good and that the one that had the bad end was still good from the bad end to the other. So I went to the store and purchased a splice for that sized cable. It was made with heavy duty copper and would be perfect for my needs. So I cut the end off the bad one and spliced it to the other after cleaning the bad stuff off. I also kept the original covering and I shrink wrapped the connection to prevent shorting. I put the cable end in and it worked perfect. A little long but a quick heavy zip tie got it out of the way of anything. The motor is now together and working fine. I have installed a Stage II clutch setup but it may not be good enough. Remember that Jack Rickard burned up a Stage II with a Warp9 and we will be having an 11" Kostov and we will be pumping in a full 156 to 192 volts. I can still keep my foot out of it but quite frankly I doubt I will be easy. If I burn it up I will replace it with a Stage IIII.

Pete :)