Transaxle Rebuild Begins

Tonight I started on rebuilding the transaxle. The first step was disassembly, this is going fairly well with the exception of the release of 45 year old gear oil smell; it will take a while to dissipate. Overall everything is in great shape; I’m mainly rebuilding to clean it up and reseal everything. Even the reduction boxes at the end of the axles are in great shape. The reduction boxes allowed VW to use what is basically the beetle drivetrain in the bus, at the expense of top end speed. Reduction boxes like this are not used on any other road-legal production vehicle with the exception of the original military-derived Hummer H1; but in the Hummer’s case it’s done mainly for ground clearance.

Gear Reduction Boxes Axle Tubes Removed Rear Brakes

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Engine Assembly Continued

Engine further assembled and moved to the floor before it gets too heavy to move by hand. At this point it’s complete enough to be installed but this will have to wait until the transmission, fuel tank, and engine compartment are finished.
Engine Assembled Engine Assembled Engine Assembled Heat Exchangers

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Engine Parts Painted and Engine Assembly

Engine parts painted and then engine assembled.
Engine Parts Painted Engine Assembled

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Engine Parts Primed

Small Parts Primed

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Big Parts Blasted

Today the remaining unblasted parts that were too big for the blast cabinet were media blasted outside. The parts were then hung up and primed. Many of these parts will be black, I should have the black paint completed in the next few days.

Blasting big parts Parts after blasting Parts ready for paint

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Engine Parts Ready for Paint

Engine parts made ready for paint. Some various other things done also, I’ve been forgetting to take pictures recently.
Engine parts ready for paint Engine parts ready for paint

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Engine Parts Blasted

Many engine parts media blasted today.

Engine Parts Blasted Engine Parts Blasted Engine Parts Blasted

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Front Left Wheel Well

Today was basically a repeat of yesterday, with the same treatment (clean/etch/paint & spindle flip) being given to the front left wheel well. Pictured below is the, now dried, front left wheel well. The end result with both flipped spindles is shown at right. It’s tough to fully picture since it’s on ramps and the bumper isn’t installed, but this looks like it will be a good height.

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Front Right Wheel Well

Today I worked almost exclusively on the front right wheel well. The area had several unground welds from previous work on the front and rear floors. These welds were ground down and then the entire area was cleaned/etched/painted. To make access easier I first removed the brake/spindle assembly; I needed to do this anyhow in order to ‘flip’ the spindle to achieve a lowering effect. Flipping the spindle lowers the bus by about 3.5″ and closes up the wheel opening to top of tire gap, it also improves handling and just generally looks better. Going back to stock height would only require performing the same procedure in reverse.

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Transmission Tunnel Painted

Today the transmission tunnel was more thoroughly cleaned then etched with phosphoric acid and coated with POR15. This was very time consuming due to the many weird angles and hidden areas involved. Prior to cleaning/painting the many dents/dints to the underside of the transmission cradle were fixed.

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