How to Rebuild Your Volkswagen air-Cooled Engine (All models, 1961 and up)

Tom Wilson's book brings the mystique of engine rebuilding down to a level that your average backyard mechanic can understand. It is as easy to use as John Muir's book when is comes to rebuilding a VW engine. It does not take hundreds of hours to do nor does it take thousand of dollars. Rebuild kits with cylinders, pistons, etc are relatively cheap and, if these parts are servicable, a gasket kit and rings will be well under a hundred dollars. I rebuilt my engine for about three hundred dollars and it runs like a charm. It took one week to do part time; about twenty hours. Little in the way of specialized equipment is needed. Machining, if needed, is usually minimal and not costly. I only have the usual range of socket wrenches and stuff and no specialized equipment. Muir's book even tells you how to make inexpensive substitutes that work excedingly well. Wilson's book cuts to the chase and tells yo what you need to know. If you have an average level of mechanical ability you can do this.

Tom Wilson's book brings the mystique of engine rebuilding down to a level that your average backyard mechanic can understand. It is as easy to use as John Muir's book when is comes to rebuilding a VW engine. It does not take hundreds of hours to do nor does it take thousand of dollars. Rebuild kits with cylinders, pistons, etc are relatively cheap and, if these parts are servicable, a gasket kit and rings will be well under a hundred dollars. I rebuilt my engine for about three hundred dollars and it runs like a charm. It took one week to do part time; about twenty hours. Little in the way of specialized equipment is needed. Machining, if needed, is usually minimal and not costly. I only have the usual range of socket wrenches and stuff and no specialized equipment. Muir's book even tells you how to make inexpensive substitutes that work excedingly well. Wilson's book cuts to the chase and tells you what you need to know. If you have an average level of mechanical ability you can do this.

Having just recently finished rebuilding a 1200 engine, my experience with Wilson's book was frustrating. Not only are key details about the 1200 engine omitted but issues such as compression ration/deck height are poorly explained and the uninformed reader is left to guess. This is fatal when considering the composition of modern, lead replacement fuels which require a lower compression ratio. Other important issues not covered are - how to get the timing right when inserting distributor gear shaft (which should be done after crankcase assembly), lubrication details (using white grease for assembly as he recommends clogs oil galleries), checking bearing crush for big end bearings, as well as adjusting rocker arm geometry. Having said all this this happens to be the only book which deals with rebuilding in this depth, so it is useful but think for yourself! Another important aspect is the cost of a rebuild and the number of hours required - expect to spend thousands of dollars and hundred of hours of time. Although the book claims to make rebuilding easy, without the proper machinery and tools rebuilding is time consuming, costly and annoying. Expect to either buy or borrow specialised tools such as large sockets, micrometers, depth gauges, etc and to pay for machining work such as regrinding values, crank, etc. Rebuilding can end up being merely a reassembly task of work completed by a machine shop.

If you are planning on rebuilding your VW or Porsche 914 engine, or are even just curious about what's involved, then this is the book for you. The book is broken down into several excellent sections: engine removal, teardown, parts interchange, reconditioning, assembly, and burnin. Detailed B&W photos document every step involved. This is by far one of the best how-to books out there, and is almost all you need to rebuild your engine (factory manuals would help to supplement the book too).... it's a great buy, and definitely worth purchasing even if you're not going to rebuild your motor, but want to know what's involved, or why your mechanic is charging you so much. I'm currently writing a similar book on rebuilding the Porsche 911 engine, and I'm modeling it after this one.

If you have an aircooled VW and you're planning to rebuild the engine then you need this book. Use it in conjuction with the proper service manual like Haynes or better still..the Bentley Manual. This book makes rebuilding a VW engine much easier. The writing style is easy to understand and not boring at all. If you're serious about your Beetle this should be in your reference library