Aircooled VW South Africa

SFR...... is a factory recon motor, maybe the "R" stood for reconditioned, and the number has been re-stamped, you will notice that the block surface has also been refaced, and the new number stamped. The ideal block would be a later type with casting marks AS21 or the look out for the Audi logo, stay away from the single oil relief case, they are oooooold and have limited oil flow. AS41 blocks are also OK but get the one with case inserts and 8mm studs, good blocks are becoming hard to find as they have been line-bored so many times that they are scrap, good heads are just as hard to get hold of, of the last 4 motors I have opened up not 1 block would I trust using again and of all the heads only 1 had no cracks or some sort of damage, be prepared to do some searching.

This is starting to sound like the advice I was looking for.

Yes I do have plenty of time to do this so I'll start looking for a good block for now. Any idea what I'll be paying for a good used TP motor?

So I should look for a motor AS21 or AS41, is the AS21 a better motor for performance?

Do yourself a favour, before you start shopping, decide what you want and how you want it, this will prevent you buying parts twice (like I have done) when you change your mind. If you are going to build a complete new engine, 1915cc screamer, buy a good case, if you want a 1600 screamer, get a newly reconditioned engine, negotiate a price without heads, that way you have a good crank, oil pump, dizzy, rods, pistons, cylinders, flywheel and clutch already. All you will need is to mod the crank, and buy heads, carbuation, cam and valvetrain.

The difference between the AS41 & AS21 as I have read, is the content of aluminum mixed in with the magnesium prior to casting the blocks, AS21 have like 2% more ally. making the AS21 a slightly stronger case, this is what I have read, and the AS21 is a newer casting. If I buy a motor I prefer to get it as a stripped unit as I can see exactly what I am getting and can value the items accordingly, I also take a vernier along to measure things up. The motor has to come almost for free, or I will do the above.
On an interesting note I was offered a motor that the owner claimed was in running condition and was still in the car but the electrics were stuffed so he couldn't start it, I checked it out turned the pulley over OK had plenty of end-play so I told the dude I would take it from what I saw gave him R200 deposit and I would pick it up the next day after he removed it. Came round to pick it up the next day I then did a couple of more checks, this time I tried to turn the flywheel it would not turn all the way round, but the pulley did, I figured the crank was broken, and the dude was convinced otherwise, to cut a long story short the block was opened up by him, the crank was snapped, the block was damaged and was scrap, 2 rods and the cam had also taken a beating. I got my deposit back after some convincing, but that is the reason why I will always prefer to read the book inside rather than just look at the cover. This policy might have cost me a good motor or 2 but at leas I don't buy junk I can't use, if the motor is not running then I consider it junk.

You see once you've read the posts you can ask intelligent questions to clever people like TonyZ and calooker and then the Space police won't have to get all DarkSide on your ass... Cause now we all speaking Klingon and the AS41 won't get confussed by the AS21....

PLUS with having woken up on the wrong side of the galaxy and what with screwing up my O2 mix I was a bit cranky..... PMS.....Poor Me Syndrom.....

I have been thinking seriously about what I want from the motor that I am planning. 1st thing I want is a motor that will last and not have reliability issues. 2nd I want this motor to be relativly ecconomical. 3rd I want the motor to be strong enough to be able to easily and ecconomically maintain a speed of about 120Km/h on highway in both a Beetle and a Split window combi.
Now I know the increase in engine size would 9/10 mean increase in fuel consumption, so I was thinking with the experience with aircooled motors between you both TonyZ and Calooker that you'd be able to give me an idea of what size motor would be suitable for this application.
It would be nice to have a 25xxCC motor, but wouldn't be practical for me as first of all I'd like to use it as a daily driver as well. I was thinking about something in the region of say about 1800-1900.
I would appreciate your valued input on this sized engine in regards power, reliability and ecconomy.

Thanks for your advice guys, I'm really starting to learn a lot about this very lovable hobby.

The question begs again,.,,....

How big is your wallet???

Man now that's a sensitive point. I started a business just over 3 years ago and things are only starting to pick up now, so wallet had to be sold to pay for other more important stuff
I hope to have about 500-1000 available per month withing the next couple of months, but I think I'' be able to pay for a motor now.

BTW I saw some Mahle/Cema pistons & rings on aircooled.net I think for $40 and balancing to within 0.5g for another $40 and the barrels about $60, is that really too good to be true or am I missing something big here?

I cant find that post...
Best bet is around $200 for the piston set. Or you could always use Steve, pay $150 and not recieve them becuase he forgot to send them. Yes Rui, I am cursing myself now

Damn who is Steve so I can try any avoid him?

Dont worry, Steve is a guy I tried buying parts from in the US and calook warned me about his service, but I already had placed the order.

Must have left a mark....


So comming back to TonyZ point....... How much moola, bucks, dosh, greenbacks, pounds, quan, Rands, money (total) have you budgeted for this engine? R10 000, R5 000, R15 000.......

Hey Tony, let me know what happened.

original bufget was R9000
kinda blown that a while ago