Day Three-Stripping Down

ACVW engines are shrouded in a puzzle of bent steel sheets which form a convoluted system of ducts and passages through which air winds, picking up heat on its way back out. At 4,600 rpm, a Type IV fan moves 1,700 cubic feet of air (that's a box of air about 12 feet on a side), per minute, through this maze with the sole purpose of shedding the engine's heat. 

(A snarky aside: Those who are inclined to affix scoops to their ACVW (any model) should let their beast idle sometime and put their ear up to the air intakes. Even at low rpms, you can hear that fan sucking plenty of air in. An ACVW mechanic I know told me once that those scoops often rob the engine of some air; VW never had a problem getting fresh air to the engine--if anything the problem they had was getting rid of the used air. If the air is already leaving at some set rate (which it is), no amount of trying to shove more air into the intakes is going to make the stock fan more efficient.) 

Anyway, all that ductwork has to come off.

The idea is strip this...

...down to this.

A lot of little stuff comes off during this stage. Tater Tot thought these intake manifold spacers looked like sunglasses.

Dismantling it is pretty straightforward. One piece, however, calls for bigger guns. I don't have a flywheel lock, nor the means to fabricate one, which means I can't get the flywheel off by myself. It's held on by those five bolts in the middle of the big round thing. They're on there really tight. So, we plopped the engine in Gertie and headed down Russell Street to Mountain Imports.

Melissa ran in and asked if they'd hit it with an impact wrench to loosen it. They said they would, just pull it around. Zraap, zraaaap!, zap!, zraaap, zaap and it was loose. No charge.

During this brief operation, Gertie got to sit next to a younger first cousin. I asked the guy zrapping the bolts off if it was just me, or was this not the ugliest color a 911 could possibly be. He smirked in knowing agreement.