How to Rebuild VW Air-Cooled Engines: 1961-2003. Prescott Phillips

      Remove the three oil cooler nuts with a 13-mm wrench. There will be two nuts underneath by the 3-4 barrels and one up top toward the split in the case.

       12. Remove the Sump Plate

      By now, most of the oil has drained from the case and the entire engine can be flipped upside down. Remove the sump plate by removing the six nuts with a 10-mm socket. Pry off the sump plate with a screwdriver.

       13. Remove the Oil Strainer

      The oil strainer can be pried off the bottom of the case. It was intended to be serviceable by cleaning out and reinstalling it. This one is beyond that point and will be replaced.

      Just look at that sludge! This engine was definitely neglected. Though obviously bad, it could be much worse. There are no signs of water damage; that thick, protective coating of goo preserved the sump area well.

       14. Remove the Oil Pressure Relief Plungers

       Special Tool

       Use the special tool you made to remove the plugs. A couple quick blows directly on the head of the tool with a ball-peen hammer will shock them loose. The plungers should come out with a magnet.

       If the plunger is stuck at the bottom of the bore, an easy way to remove them is to start threading a 1/2-20 tap into the backside of the plunger. It works every time without buying a special plunger pulling tool. This is the same tap we use to install case savers.

       15. Remove the Valve Cover

      Rotate the engine 90 degrees in the stand. With a large screwdriver, pry the valve cover bail down. Remove the bail by pulling the ends out of the holes on either side of the head. If the valve cover is stuck, wedge the blade of the screwdriver between the boss for the end of the bail and the edge of the valve cover and pry up.

       16. Remove the Rocker Assembly

      Remove the rocker assembly by removing the two nuts with a 13-mm ratchet. The spark plugs can come out at this time as well. Note that the rockers aren’t touching a couple of the valves, which is not a good sign.

       17. Remove the Pushrods

      Pull out all four pushrods. Put them directly in a large plastic cup to catch the oil draining out of them. Rotate the entire engine 180 degrees in the stand and repeat steps 15, 16, and 17 to remove the valve cover, rocker assembly, and four pushrods from the other side.

       18. Remove the Head Nuts

      The heads come off at this point. They are held on with special nuts and washers. Remove the eight nuts using a 15-mm socket and impact wrench if you have one. Start at the ends and work your way to the center when taking the nuts off.

      Don’t be alarmed if the nut gets stuck to the stud and pulls the entire stud out of the engine case. Eventually, all the head studs will have to be pulled out and case savers will be installed.

       19. Remove the Head

      Once all the nuts are removed, it’s a matter of pulling the head straight up off the barrels. This may take some gentle persuasion with a dead blow hammer. Be careful not to hit any of the cooling fins on the head, which are cast aluminum and rather fragile.

      Sometimes the barrels want to stay with the head while you pull them up over the studs and that’s fine. Just be careful not to drop a barrel on your foot. The pushrod tubes will either stick to the head or simply fall out. They will be replaced, so discard them.