Betty the Oval - Donovan D - ex-MINCE

[Herbie]

I bought my car with a 1776 with a C35 Scat cam and 44 IDFs. No idea what the KW output would be but it is ALIVE. If I put my foot down it is mad...just imagine how this engine will perform. Donavan do share a video once in the car so that we can get all jealous

[Donovan D]

I will post it up once its running.

Had a look and discussions on the engine started back in 2018.
Its difficult to draw the line when deciding on specs for an engine. I think the initial idea was a 1700.

[Tony Z]

The final decision was made a few months before you bought the crank. After that, there was no turning back.
Yea, it definitely did change from something with a little extra and fairly affordable, into something with a LOT extra and a tad pricey.

[Donovan D]

Except for the main fuel line still not being sorted things are moving along.

The beetle went in last week Monday for some touch ups, cutt, buff, polish and all the other terms the panelbeaters use.
To my surprise they phoned me on Friday to inform me I can collect.

She is back in the garage.
I installed the headliner some time ago without thinking, only to realise afterwards that the reason I did not do this sooner was because the ragtop needed to go in first. I wanted to install the ragtop after it came back from the touch ups.
So I had to remove the headliner, install the ragtop and redo it. Needless to say its not nice and smooth and I now have some creases.






Will take some more pics as I progress.

[Tony Z]

wow, that is looking good.
Pity about the headliner install, hope it goes smooth

[Herbie]

Absolutely beautiful...the term mirror finish in action!
N

[retrovan]

Excellent job, well done.

Herman

[Donovan D]

Been a while since an update, so here goes.

Ive been busy with getting all the parts back on and in.
Had a lot of frustration with starters. Bought a new high torque starter which just sounded like it was grinding away at the flywheel.
Borrowed the one used for bench testing at FFR with the same results.
Even removed the engine and back to Tony's place as we thought it might be the flyweel.
Borrowed an original one from Sean, which worked perfectly.
Then I changed the high torque starter for an original type aftermarket one, and still grinding noises.
Back to Sean to borrow the original Bosch one again to see if I could spot any differences.
After some investigations it appears as though the new aftermarkets items does go out all the way onto the flywheel.

I drilled a hole in my bench starter gearbox which shows the following:
Original Bosch





You can see that the stop is up against the gearbox
This is the aftermarket ones





Clearly visible that the starter does not engage fully.
Eventually ended up with an original starter after a lot of headaches and frustration.

So now that I could start the motor I realised the petrol pedal not returning fully as Im still using the original roller ball pedal with no return spring.
Added a spring to pull the pedal back, still no luck. Then noticed the cable rubbing on the gearbox so I made a roller for it. Still no luck.
This is an original cable which is just one solid cable, not the multiple strand type. Then after doing some google work I ended up using some of the original return spring parts on the old carbs to make a new return system, seems to be working.
The cable was also to to long by about 5mm, so I also had to shorten it in order for the little screw thingy to grab it.



Some engine pics:




Then after all of that came the first drive.
Except for the clutch that I needed to adjust Im happy to say that so far there are no other issues, except for some front windscreen issues.





....forgot to mention. I also have an intermittent shut off problem where sometimes the engine wont switch off with the ignition, Im guessing its ignition switch but still have to investigate it

[Eugene]

Lovely stuff Donovan

[Haans]

Wow!!
It skate along quit nicely
Haans

[retrovan]

The joy of the 1st trip,

Just note, you will never be done, you always find new things to do to them,

But thats the fun of a aircooled.

Herman

[acpaterson]

Looking real fancy Donovan. Nice work by Mr Z as well.

[Donovan D]

Still scratching my head with this engine that wont switch off.

What happens is the following.
Turn ignition to on - alternator light comes on.
Crank engine, alternator light goes off.
Everything works 100%, the engine starts and run, if I switch the ignition off and pull the key the engine still runs.
When I switch the ignition off the alternator light comes back on, with the engine running, reversed negative and positive ??
When I then go and pull the blue wire on the alternator that runs to the charging bulb the engine cuts out.

Back to basics for me, anyone able to answer the below.
Im running an alternator with internal regulator.
Is the terminal from the alternator to the charging bulb positive or negative ?
On the internal regulator there are two wires, red and green. Which of these should then connect to the terminal going to the charging bulb ?
Can it possibly be a bad earth somewhere ?

This is my wiring diagram for the charging system.

[Dawie]

If feed to ign coil is indirect... (As via relay, ecu, etc).

This can happen. There is a tiny current via alt light which keeps relay or electronic switch energized. Normally if switched ign power directly feeds coil, this small current is inadequate to continue sparking.

Try a diode in series with blue wire to alternator. Marking on diode should face towards alternator side.

[Dawie]

A diode with low forwards drop like 1N5819 or 1N5822 might be best. Yebo Electronics keeps them.