VW Beetle Repair
and Photos

The pump has a pressure relief valve built in, and 30mm gears.The pump was fine, but I have issues with Bugpack quality. I found metal slivers in the pump, although these may have come from a bad "rebuilt" engine that I was sold. The gears had small machining burrs which I carefully removed with a file. I think Bugpack should be able to sell a pump that doesn't need cleaning up before installation. The instructions were not as useful as I think they should be.

It's a nice pump. I'd recommend it, but you should shop around to see if you can get better quality elsewhere. I just put one on my new engine!

Why does the pump need a built in pressure relief? With 26 mm stock gears and some luck, you might get away with no extra pressure relief.

However, with 30 mm gears there's a lot more flow. When the temperature drops (as it does in Virginia winters) the oil is thicker and outlet oil pressures at the pump can be very high.

What about those metal chips? I'm not sure they were in the pump but always, always, clean new engine parts before installing them. This is especially true of anything that has been machined, or has thread cut into it. New parts shouldn't have metal flakes, but they often do, and that's just reality. I recommend that you try to get higher quality parts without this problem, but that might not always be practical, or affordable.
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In order to use the factory torque settings you have to use studs. The bolt torque settings might be close, but the VW shop manual torque values are for nuts on studs. Torque values for bolts will be slightly different. Just go to your nearest specialty fastener store and get longer studs. Just make sure they don't protrude inside the case and hit the cam (again, someone wrote to tell me it is impossible for them to protrude; maybe that is true, but check to make sure.) Also make sure that they clear the engine tin and main pulley. You may have to cut the studs. That's OK. My specialty fastener guy (who supplies all the odd-ball hardware I need) says that metric threaded rod will work just fine. While you are at the store, get a couple dozen wavy washers.

The Oil Pump I installed on my old engine.

And add-on filter. On my old engine I installed the CB Performance Maxi-pump 3 which has 26 mm gears. This is the same as stock late model. (what's the difference between this and the Maxi-pump 4?). It allows for full flow filtering without tapping or modifying the case. It has the late model stock 26 mm gears (not the heavy duty 30 mm gears). Oil hose and filter adapter are Bugpack parts.

This job was a bear. I really needed the oil pump puller and pulley puller. I loosened a couple of case nuts on either site of the oil pump. I ended up tapping on a screwdriver on the edges of the pump to drive the pump rearward. I did alternate sides. Not recommended. I bent a stud with a stud removal tool: also not recommended. Just use two nuts tightened against each other to remove studs. CB Performance supplies some allen head screws. It turns out that these don't go into the case nearly as far as the studs you just removed. So, I only removed two studs, and replaced them with some longer studs.

I had to make spacers to go under the nuts, since the oil pump cover plate was explicitly designed for allen head screws.

This is a really tight fit with the cooling tin and pulley. It would have been better yet to get some slightly longer allen screws, since the supplied screws were kind of short. Remember, don't over torque these screws/studs. It's something like 5 foot pounds. I used a little medium strength Locktite on the nuts.

I had to file the bolt holes in the pump and cover. They were binding, and the pump is already a very snug fit. Don't forget to re-torque the case nuts.

I don't know how to get this pump out of the case. The oil pump puller uses the inlet and outlet holds in the pump. This new pump doesn't have an outlet hole in the usual place. It might be necessary to do the kind of gross thing I did and drive the pump out with a hammer and screwdriver.

Remote Oil Filter

I mounted the oil filter on the right (driver) side inner fender wall. It's was ok. The hoses held, but I was always worried they'd pop off.

I may have to take off the filter to get out the #3 spark plug. I bought some standard 1/2 inch id oil line hose. It's ok. The cooling tin had to be cut, and grommets put on the oil hose to protect it. At the bottom, the oil hose is about 1 3/8 inches (3.5 cm) from the exhaust pipe. It's going to get hot, but I don't know yet if it will melt. So far, I've driven the car a few miles and it's been ok. I might have to put in a heat shield. Maybe this wouldn't be a problem with an upswept baja type of exhaust (remember, I plan to turn this car into a baja).

I use the oil filter adapter with the vertical attachments. Every 90 degree bend increases back pressure. I put a Motorcraft HP1A filter on so I get an additional 1 quart capacity without adding a weird sump to the bottom of my engine.

In the photo below you can see the filter location inside the rear driver side wheel well. I had removed the engine comparment insulation. It was pretty far gone, and a mouse had put a store of seeds back there.

Here is a closer shot. A little dark. Very dark. What we see is a ratchet wrench on the #3 spark plug. I can reach it with the oil filter in place, but it is tight. Clearly, it would make sense to change the filter and plugs at the same time. I've considered other locations, and will almost certainly move the filter when I do the Baja conversion.

Oil pressure is at least as good as with the somewhat worn stock oil pump and no filter. Thank heavens. I have the pressure sender mounted in the stock location, which is downstream from the filter. I get around 60 psi cold, with 10W 40 oil, and around 8 or 9 psi hot, with the idle at about 1000 rpm. Any idle speed much lower, and my pressure drops below the dreaded 7 psi minimum.

Considering what CB Performance didn't tell me about temperature senders (or what they don't know about temperature senders), I'm wondering what they aren't telling about the oil pumps.

Special tools: oil pump puller, pulley puller, sheet metal tools.

Parts: hose clamps, grommets, longer screws or longer studs, spacers, Loctite.