Aircooled VW South Africa

Over last weekend I sourced a new fuel pump to replace the facet which got gummed up in all sorts of 4year old fuel gunk.
On Monday this week Vader came around and watched me install the new pump and then helped me start the car. After 5 min of trying, the bug started right up and revved its guts out. This thing revs quick!!! After 2 min of this playing around, it sucked in a tappet cover gasket and spilled 1 litre of oil on the garage floor.
No issues, cleaned it all up and moved the car out of the garage.
We then fitted the lambda sensor and wired it all up.

Vader then wet himself when one of my neighbors came home. HOT!!!!! Wow!!!

Then Tuesday morning I fitted the engine cover and called a towing company to take the car to Jesse Huggit for a dyno session to tune the carbs so I can drive the bug with piece of mind.



I then arranged for the workshop to fit my new rear calipers. Then went to visit Thumper. After 5 min I get a phone call saying I have 2 right side calipers so they cant bleed the system. I then quickly arrange another pair, go collect them and drop them off. All good now. Brakes fitted and ready to run.

Today I went around to to dyno centre to find Jessie and his crew scratching their heads. Apparently the car has been driving them mad all day.



But they got it going in the end.
So I take the car for a spin. Well, I ws slightly dissapointed, but seemed to feel a popping around 4000rpm. This turned out to be a defective emulsion tube that has some machining slag in it.
This was replaced and the cars responsiveness picked up 10 fold. But then it bogged down. I drove it back into the dyno shop only to hear the fuel pump banging away making a lot more noise than usual.
Result: I ran out of fuel. Walked to the petrol station and bought a litre. Put this into the tank and drove the car to the station - R200 later I gave the car another blast down the road. This time I seemed to feel some popping again (possibly going lean). The bug has now been left at the dyno centre again and will hopefully be ready for pickup tomorrow sometime.

Slowly making progress.

Nice work Tony! At least you got to drive the beast

I like the wheels, they look very cool

At last!!

It is great to see pics of the car and also to hear that it's running.Sounds like the curse of the Darkside has been very busy!

Now this took you a while um hu 4 years well dont worry I`m not one to talk

WellI did buy the first bits for this engine in May 2001...
I did put the engine together in 2007 and its now finally taking final shape.

Going to pick it up in the morning with Ron&Gill.

Power is still limited as I have the unported manifolds on at the moment, but that will change once the engine is run in and gets the final dyno session....

I have been reading about this monster for some time now! Great to see it finally on the road.
Well done Now go scare some small school children, just don't get too close, that 2332cc might just suck one in.

Tony.. you are getting there..At least you can drive a beetle this weekend if all goes well

And he will have the DarkSide as a recovery vehicle....

drove it almost 100km today!!!!!!!!

Runs a little warm, will have to see what I can do about that. As for scaring little kids.... can you say tinitus? Its DAMN loud in that car.
I still have a few small issues to deal with, but its getting there.

Any numbers on the performance?

Not yet, engine no-where near its full potential. The manifolds I have on have not even been ported. I have installed these to limit the power available until the runnin in process is complete.

clocked up 200km over the weekend.

Car is very difficult to drive, but I think that has a lot to do with the carbs being set very rich.
Also replaced my dizzy (kombi) with a 009 and electronic ignition conversion to try rule out any other issues I might be having. Then found a defective spark plug lead. So much for the Huco sets being "as good as" a set of Bougi Cords.

I also replaced a damaged strip of the rear engine bay rubber, which brought the oil temp down 5 degC. Now I need to seal some small holes in the cooling tin which will hopefully drop the temp a little more and then also plumb in my external oil cooler. We will have to see how much progress I make. I am off to Durban this week, then only spending another week in CPT before going back to work in Europe. Any further progress will have to be made next year Jan or Feb when I get back again.
I'll keep you all posted.

Tony, You have manage to do a lot in a short amount of time and 200km is not to be laughed at! Congratulations

Thanks DD

Next week Monday I want to spend a fair bit of time on the N7 clocking up miles. With any luck I'll put the other manifolds on on Monday night and then off to the dyno again on Tuesday.... but lets try not to rush things, might not get anywhere near that point.

So far the car has been doing fairly well but popping and staling at 4000rpm. So I decided to pull the carbs and fan housing.

I changed the manifolds for the big ones, cut the fan shroud a little to make it fit better and installed new spark plugs and leads.

Today I hit the 500km mark. With the new bits, she revs easily up to 5500. This without pushing her too hard. The carbs are so loud that they set off car alarms when I open up the throttle. My ears are ringing. 150km/h without blinking. I accidentaly did a 20m wheel spin cutting in front of some moving traffic, in second gear - OK was turning a corners, so one tyre came loose, but its still a novelty.

I cant wait to do another 500km and then get it onto the dyno for a power run.