My Pete rebuild

[Nostalgic]

I can't count how many times I've heard diesel mechanics say that they hate (or won't) work on autos. I can say that without a doubt, I'm the opposite. As much as I hate VW's maze of nazi engineering, I'd rather diagnose and repair those every single day than have to do this 6 days a week lol.

I took advice from a respected mechanic that he adds a little sealant on the clutch housing gasket - BAD. If it wasn't for my OCD paranoia that caused me to pull it off (again), I would have had a nasty leak in no time. Despite the fact that I put a VERY small film around the oil port section, it was enough that when torqued down, it dislodged and moved the rubber gasket inwards on the tight radius. I'd take a picture, but I may have thrown the gasket a couple of times and then crumpled it up like a pop can lol.

I thought by this point, the feel goods would start as I'm on the home stretch of assembly, but I'm still waiting.



In the meantime, I've been looking at this ugly heat exchanger...



I was going to go with an air cooler, but I would want solid lines running the rail up to the radiator. I wish they made Nicopp lines bigger than 3/8, but for the price of a coil of stainless, and all of the fittings, I'm just going to stick with the liquid cooler and plan on changing it out at 4-500k.