Oil & AMSOIL By Pass Filter Change on 67 VW Beetle
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VW Beetle Oil Change, By-Pass Filter Change and Tightened Fan Belt
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I changed the oil and tightened the fan belt on my 67 VW Beetle. I installed AMSOIL Z-Rod Synthetic Motor Oil and changed the AMSOIL By Pass oil filter. AMSOIL Z-Rod protects flat tappet cams as well as protects from rust and corrosion for long periods of storage.
AMSOIL Z-Rod Synthetic motor oil for classic cars or hot rods has extra zinc for the enhanced protection of the flat tappet camshaft this engine has. I had been using AMSOIL Dominator Racing Oil, but that's for 2,000 plus horsepower engines and this engine only has about 53 horsepower. Z-Rod gives great wear protection and its formulation enhanced with corrosion prevention additives. A much better choice for this little car.
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On cars such as this, with older flat tappet cams, we need to avoid the API SN or API SM or newer oils as well as the ILSAC GF-5 or newer oils as these have greatly reduced the levels of zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) to protect pollution control systems such as the catalytic converter which this car does not have. Reduced ZDDP in a modern car with roller cam(s) might be OK, but those newer motor oils will eventually damage the flat tappet cam on an older car.
Notice on the back of the bottle of Z-Rod synthetic motor oil it lists the application for API SJ or API SL (for older cars). You can click the photo of the back of the AMSOIL Z-ROD Synthetic Motor oil to enlarge it and read really good information provided by AMSOIL on the back of the bottle.
On this particular 67 VW Beetle I've installed some things that make it unique. At one time I ran this little car everywhere and rarely did much for it, yet it continued to take me everywhere. That little antenna ball on the stinger pipe is to help prevent people walking by from tripping over the pipe and injuring themselves. It also helps prevent some careless person from running into that stinger pipe at the fast food restaurant drive-through.
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The red arrow shows the location of the oil precharger or preoiler. When I first turn on the key, it I wait a few seconds, this shoots a charge of motor oil through the system under pressure to eliminate a dry start even if the engine has sat up for more than a year. That is connected to the oil system via of the AMSOIL By Pass oil filter system.
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In that photo below the yellow arrow shows the oil feed to the By Pass filter taken by installing a T fitting where the oil pressure sending unit is. In this case using 2 T fittings as the oil sending unit, shown by the white arrow, needs to go in one opening. Then on the second opening there is a temperature sender, shown by the red arrow. That temperature sender is installed directly in the path of oil flow to the 3rd opening to the filter itself where the yellow arrow is pointing.
That yellow arrow points out the inlet connection to the By Pass oil filter. This particular By Pass system only takes 10% of oil flow so as not to disturb oil pressure and engine oil flow. Don't try to do this with a full flow filter as that would probably starve the engine for oil pressure. This system is designed to be installed this way, but if you want to install a full flow oil filter you will need to probably get the help of a qualified mechanic as the engine would most likely need to be removed to make that sort of installation.
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As shown in the photo below, I'm no longer using a Bosch 12 volt coil. Here you see a yellow Accel coil, shown by the yellow arrow. That coil needs the ballast resistor on the + or positive side of the coil, shown by the white arrow. The goal here was to have a coil that wouldn't get too hot and make the engine easier to start hot. I noticed the later air-cooled VWs built in Mexico switched to coils with ballast resistors. I'm thinking they were also trying to reduce coil heat.
The mechanical fuel pump has been removed and an electric fuel pump installed at the fuel tank at the front of the car. That fuel pump produces too much pressure and required that fuel pressure regulator, shown by the red arrow. There's a fuel pressure gauge just past the regulator to monitor fuel pressure. I did this to reduce heat from the engine case transferring to the mechanical fuel pump making the car hard to start when hot due to vapor locking of modern gasoline with the 10% ethanol. Not going to go into detail here, but it was a serious problem, especially if I came off the highway to buy gas after a long period of running at high speed. Getting it up to speed again on the highway was tough until the air fan started pulling in fresh cooler air to cooled down the engine some. With the electric pump I seem to have nearly eliminated ethanol vapor lock.
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Part of running one of these cars is occasionally checking the tension of the fan belt which is easy. In my case I forgot to use my thumb to push against the belt, but noticed it was too loose when I started the engine after the oil change to pump up the filter and check for leaks. Before it got too hot, shut it down to adjust the fan belt. Needed to recheck oil level anyway.
In the photo below the yellow arrow shows the upper pulley that drives the generator (or alternator on newer VWs) and the air fan located in that doghouse behind the generator. Using a larger slotted screw driver you can lock that pulley from turning as you remove that nut with a wrench. There will be shims between the inner and outer halves of the pulley. In my case the belt only sightly too loose, so I gambled by removing just one of the thinner shims. I lucked out and belt was perfect when I reassembled it. Just remember to put the shim(s) you removed with the other extra shims that should have already been on the outside of the pulley so you can have it to replace back if you need it in the future when you replace the old belt with a new one. Always reassemble things the way they came apart. In this case the slots on the pulley are different widths, so it won't go back 180 degrees wrong. As you retighten the nut, let it rotate the engine as it tightens to allow the belt to retrack itself properly onto the pulley. Once it's going round and round with the nut bottomed out, you can insert your slotted screwdriver again to stop it from turning and finish tightening the nut.
Having a loose fan belt, especially at highway speeds, can cause the engine to severely overheat if the engine air fan is not able to spin fast enough due to slippage. Since this is easy to check and adjust, do it occasionally to be sure. The video at the bottom of the page shows the belt properly adjusted with the engine running.
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I like to use one of these longer funnels to add oil to any or my cars. Capped at the bottom to prevent dirt and insects from entering when you store it away. Top has a snap-on type cap to keep it clean when not in use. It has a screen in it to filter new oil in case something the wind is blowing accidentally flies into the funnel it won't go into the engine. In my case I swatted at a mosquito while adding oil and it wound up in the oil in the funnel. No problem as the screen caught it. You can buy these at just about any auto parts store.
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I've had some people complain, "That funnel you bragged about takes too long to flow oil into the engine!" if that bothers you, undo that screw-on part (blue and black in this case) and just pop out the screen. Problem solved. Just be careful nothing rude falls in there while adding oil with no screen in place. Yellow arrow in the photo below shows the location of the screen.
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In the case of the engine oil, that AMSOIL By Pass oil filter does filter so effectively that oil changes no longer necessary. It can filter particles approximately 10 times smaller than the smallest particle that can cause wear. This Z-Rod synthetic motor oil is so durable and resists oxidation or degradation so well that is should remain perfect for many miles. I only need to change that filter at around 30,000 miles according to AMSOIL. I often change it around 25,000 miles. Once the filter is changed I draw an oil sample into an oil sampling bottle, provided by the oil sampling lab of your choice. I generally use Oil Analyzers Inc. The red arrow shows a cap plug that must be removed first. This is there to keep that area clean since an oil sample must never be contaminated by anything foreign like dirt and sand. The white arrow shows the on/off valve to allow oil to flow into the bottle. With the engine running I remove the cap/plug, put the oil analysis bottle under that opening, then open the valve. I shut off the valve when the bottle is full, clean everything up with a clean paper towel and replace the cap. There's a form to fill out that the lab will need to know to do a proper analysis. They need to know what kind of oil, viscosity etc. They need to know what kind of engine (diesel, natural gas, gasoline, etc) and miles driven. Once ready just ship the bottle to them and they send you a complete report.
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Oil analysis not only checks the condition of your oil, but can give clues to an engine problem such as coolant in the oil or fuel dilution. Air cooled engines, such as this one, wouldn't have coolant in the oil, but fuel dilution or wear metals from a defective engine part would show up. I've seen engines at the end of their warranty show severe metal in the oil that indicated a defective cam due to the type of metals. On more than one occasion that car owner went with the lube analysis to get the engine repaired on the warranty before the engine actually failed (which might have happened after the warranty had expired).
Last but not least, on these older VWs there is an oil bath air cleaner. It's so simple to maintain no photos necessary in my opinion. You pull of the preheat hoses and loosen the screw clamp at the base of the filter so it can be lifted off the carburetor. Undo the snap-down clamps and lift the top part off to expose what's inside the bottom part. This will be filled to a certain level with motor oil. Empty that out and you'll find some nasty sludge or dirt at the bottom. This is the dirt that it filtered from the air while you were driving. Have some rags and paper towels ready as wiping this all out can be messy. Once clean, fill to the oil level line and reassemble the snap-down top. Put it back on the carburetor and tighten the clamp at the bottom. Reattach the hoses and you're ready to drive.
On some VW engines I've seen people do away with that oil bath air cleaner and put on one of those little ones they sell at the auto parts store. That might be easier to maintain, but won't give you more airflow. In fact, you'll get less airflow. Also, the wrong filter might allow some rainwater down into your engine. The stock oil bath VW air cleaner won't let any rain water into your engine. Rain water is lethal to any engine if it trickles down inside.
On some VW engines I've seen people do away with that oil bath air cleaner and put on one of those little ones they sell at the auto parts store. That might be easier to maintain, but won't give you more airflow. In fact, you'll get less airflow. Also, the wrong filter might allow some rainwater down into your engine. The stock oil bath VW air cleaner won't let any rain water into your engine. Rain water is lethal to any engine if it trickles down inside.
Video of my engine running after completing the oil and filter change and adjusting the fan belt:
At YouTube
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