el taller del VW: HOW-TO TRIM/FIT ENGINE TIN

I should start by saying that I'm pretty picky on my tin fits...and that I could easily spend twice as much time making them perfect. We use the Empi aftermarket tins on our engines. They fit great with a little adjustment shown below.

1) The first step is to fit the piece of tin that goes behind the pulley. On our engines we almost always have a full flowed oil pump and case. When fitting this tin I like to hammer a small dent into the tin to provide clearance for the full flow fittings. Additional dents may be needed around the oil pump, depending on the style of oil pump and oil pump cover used. Be sure to check your pulley/tin clearance....I like to use sand seal pulleys with the provided pulley spacer to help space the pulley out from the case/tin.

2) Next trim the cylinder tin for your intake manifolds. These are trimmed for ported heads and IDF manifolds. Its better to take a little more around the intake than not enough. I would have trimmed the cylinder tin the same if I were installing stock manifolds. I also like to cut the outer edge off. This will give you a little more room to get the engine seal installed once in the vehicle. Finally, Check fitment around your exhaust ports...I like to install the exhaust and trim the cylinder tin so that it will drop on with the exhaust in plalce.

3) We use the Empi 36 style doghouse fan shrouds. They have a nice round look, and come without all the extra holes that a stock shroud would have. I tack weld all of the fins inside the shroud to prevent any of them from coming loose. In the past we've had engines where the fins come loose after a few thousand miles and rattle inside the shroud...its a very annoying sound, and even more annoying to remove the engine to fix it.

4) Now I fit the cylinder tin to the fan shroud. Depending on the stroke, rod length, cylinders, and cylinder shims, the fit of the shroud to the tin changes. This engine is pretty close and minimal work is needed....I was able to use a deadblow hammer and move the cylinder tin into the fan shroud. On larger gaps, a pie-cut and welding may be required.

5) Once the cylinder tin is in place, the rear tin can be trimmed. Depending on the year of your car, you may need to trim less. As a general rule of thumb; any car that originaly came with a 25 or 36 horse engine will need to be trimmed as much as possible. While a 61+ car will need less trimming....You can always fine tune this piece of tin while your installing the engine into the car. This engine is going into a 59...so I'm going to trim it all of the way.

6) The front tin is fairly simple. Cut the sides off to match you cylinder tin, check the throttle tube hole, and move it(they usually need to be). If your installing a breather box, put some holes into the tin to allow the breather line to pass through.

7)Check the doghouse fitment to the back of the shroud. This aftermarket piece is a little sloppy, and required some trimming.

8)If your installing a breather box; now is a good time to figure out where/how your going to mount it. These cheezy Empi breather boxes work great. You'll want to mount the breather box as high as possible to promote good oil drainage. I'll weld nuts(or bolts) to the fan shroud to mount the breather box. Usually, I'll mount the box on the back side of the fan shroud where it'll be out of the way, and out of sight...but this engine is going into a truck, and there is a bed support in the way....so, I mounted it on the front.