VW engine remove/replace in 1:04?

That's pretty impressive. I am wondering if people doing this sort of thing are allowed to do any type of "preparation" before they attempt this.

I'm referring to loosening hose clamps, nuts/bolts, lubricating bolts/nuts in a pre-attempt teardown/reassembly; those sort of things.

Also, I wonder if there are any requirement for properly tightening fasteners during assembly. Does not seem to be.

I would like to see them take a typical VW "off the street" and see what the time would be.

I was privileged to once work for Arthur Stanton, the man who first imported the VW Beetle to North America in 1949.

The early 36 and 40 horsepower engines were held to the transmission bell-housing with but four bolts. This was true for subsequent models: the Square-back as well as the Kombi trucks and minivans. The engine literally hangs off the transaxle.

A typical VW trained mechanic could easily remove the engine, remove the pressure plate, driven disk and throwout bearing and reinstall the engine in less than an hour BY HIMSELF.

There was no need to remove the engine lid and because there is no seperate exhaust system or liquid colling systems to disconnect it was common for them to have the car returned to the lot outside in less than an hour.

Embarrassment was likely for any experienced mechanic who could not beat the "book rate" on this operation by at least 50%.

The fuel line to the tiny mechanical pump was a slip on connection. The throttle linkage pin was held on with but one screw and jam nut and the wire to the electrical choke was also a slip on. The oil bath type air cleaner stayed on.

The levers for the cable operated fresh air heating systems on later models were also 30 second disconnects.

The procedure was simple enough and used a conventional lift and a 1/2 ton hydraulic jack.

The car was driven onto the lift and raised slightly. The hydraulic jack was rolled under the engine at the oil screen plate and pumped some until the engine's weight was taken off the transmission.

The four large nuts holding the engine in place were removed, the aforementioned disconnects made and the engine/jack pulled back about 3 inches to clear the shaft on the gearbox.

The mechanic then operated the lift, raising the car high enough to clear the engine for whatever subsequent operation needed to be performed. The process was simply reversed to complete the job.

I can't imagine any such operation being performed as fast on any other type of transport except perhaps a bare bones Harley-Davidson or the ubiquitous Piper Cub.

I've lost track of how many times I've done the operation, without a lift, on 356 Porsche's and type 111 VW's who shared Dr. Porsche's common design philosophy.

But NEVER as fast as the Guinness record holders!!L.J.

I have a lot of fond memories of that old VW. It was my first car project, and it turned out to be surprisingly fast after the big bore kit, big cam, Holly 2-barrel, headers, etc. Scared a few V8's with it. My favorite story is when I had to pull the engine in the winter and it rained all night and then froze. When I got up in the morning to put the engine back in, every nut and bolt and all the parts were encased in ice. I had to take a hatchet to chop up the ice, put the chunks of ice in a bucket, and melt it on the stove before I could put the engine back in. Here are some old VW commercials you might enjoy:

VW commercial 1

VW commercial 2

VW commercial 3

VW commercial 4

"Volkswagens were first exhibited and sold in the US in 1949, but only sold two units in America that first year. On February 17, 1972 the 15,007,034th Beetle was sold. Volkswagen could now claim the world production record for the most-produced, single make of car in history."

""I have a lot of fond memories of that old VW."

A lot of us share that fondness Route89.

My early years in the car business set the stage for many of my successes in later life and, regretably, also set the stage for the subsequent massive failure by our major car companies who continuously ignored the hand writing on the wall for three decades!.

They sat on their collective hands as the VW and subsequent foreign makes ate into their market share.

The subsequent demands of federal regs also robbed teenage shady tree mechanics of a chance to acquire mechanical and diagnostic skills. Today's cars require diagnostic equipment costing more than a house to buy. Open the hood on today's cars and you can't even see the pavement any more!

The effect of that lack of experience has compromised our current engineering school grads to the point where most of them, thick with institutional theory, have little real world experience of how things are made or how to fix them. And their designs reflect this!

I once taught a CADD class to electrical engineers. Many had masters degrees in computer science and had not once ever seen the inside of a PC!

And then people wonder about how we got into the current mess.

L. J.

"I don't think, therefore I am not" - Scott Hasbrouck

I had a 65 Baja, nice thing about that was I didn't need a lift to pull the engine. Just pull the rear cage, put a floor jack under the motor, pull the four bolts and the other connections, then pull the jack back away from the car! It only took me 30 minutes to pull the engine and the transaxle by myself. I was just an 18 year old kid with no training, just the "complete idiot" book to go by. Those days are gone with these new cars, aren't they?

To follow up, this is impressive, but the design does lend itself to rapid R and R of the powerplant.

I would submit that the engine changes during the 1970's by NASCAR racing teams during races was as equally impressive. These were engines that had blown or otherwise were failures during the event. The teams would pull the engine and replace it. They had to deal with the extreme heat, plus having to disconnect the exhaust, linkages, plumbing (cooling/lubrication), engine mounts, and so forth.

The record for this was less than seven minutes, if I remember correctly. NASCAR in essence banned the practice by requiring that the original engine block remain in the car during the event, if I again remember the regulation correctly.

I was once a mechanic at a VW dealership, and just about any of the mechanics could remove an engine in 5 minutes or less, without getting in a hurry.There were always exceptions to the rule with a stripped bolt or nut.We had a little trick for putting the motor back in:We wrapped self-sealing rubber tape around the top mounting bolts, which would keep them from free wheeling during re- installation, making this a one man job.

Doing the job without a lift is much harder, as the bumper must be about waist high to clear the engine during removal.

Guest -

I just did something similar with my BMW e30 starter - they use bolts instead of studs, and there's no way in hell to get a wrench on them from the back, you have to drop the back end of the transmission. So, I took some airplane epoxy and glued them in. A lift would have been nice for the VW, but I could get the engine dumped on the ground in an hour myself. Getting it back in was a little harder. The thing I regret the most is not taking the VW Rabbit engine and transmission I had and putting it under the front hood of the '54 bug. 4 wheel drive, twin engine - everybody told me the engines wouldn't 'synchronize':

Twin engine Tiburon

Twin engine VW

VW Van racing

I modified a vice-grip to fit snug against the fan housing when clamped onto the bolt head.