OIl, sealants ect.
Another one people will fight to the death over. What oil and what sealant. To preface, I would be happy with any high zinc racing engine oil. The zinc and additive packages for solid lifters, flat tappet cams, high pressure and high heat. These are super necessary being that Vw engines are designed with all of that. I personally like conventional non synthetic oils. These are what I was raised on and know to work. My fathers Moto Guzzi air cooled has over 300,000 miles on it and has never been apart. Rotella T4 engine oil is my go to for air cooled engines. It has all the properties you need in my opinion it is also affordable and readily available. I have pulled quite a few engines down that have ran Rotella for its life span and everything looked perfect. No excessive wear at all.
This brings me to a very important part of engine oil… change it, change the screen, change the filter, change it. Your engine life span depends on your maintenance it is such a cheap and easy task when compared to a new engine.
Nexted we will go in to sealants, every one has their own way and there is a lot of ways that work. I seal everything,I don’t want a leak or a drip out of a new engine. It is understandable that through time on my transpire these are some what a cave man design, how ever I want the highest quality I can Achieve. For this I use and recomend the use of Yamabond T4 it is a silicone replacement. Made for dirt bike and motorcyle case haves.I was introduce to this produce while my brother was a sponsored motocross rider for Yamaha.Lets face it these engines share way more with motor cycles then the standerd car. It does not get hard like rtv and traditional silicones, and seals up better then Dirko and Elring style Porsche sealants. It will squish down to almost nothing on the tightest of surfaces and take up .001-.003 on larger ones. I do not use or recommend the use of aviation sealant or Indian head sealant. With my families back ground In aviation this is not a common product use. It is nasty,It runs into bearing journals and oil passages. Once it drys out it commonly cracks and leaks. I know a lot of builders use it but I see nothing good with it.
To quote Don Gibson from D&D buggies “your not chalking a tub”. I believe sealant should be used sparingly. Smoothed out or a small beed, If you are adding loads of sealant to stop a leak you have much bigger problems.