Aircooled VW South Africa

Edmond wrote:Awesome mod there Mr z I love it when people can make custom parts in house as its always a hassle trying to find a decent shop to make stuff without cocking it up or making Boer maak n plans on it. Dig your awesome man cave

Did you notice your vice in action? I fixed it btw (made a new spring), but have not had the chance to make it pretty. Its a great vise.
When you came to visit, the cave was empty which is why I didnt bother opening it up for you.

Very nice Tony! The workshop is looking good I'm sure a lot of guys on here would love some of the tools and machines you have there. Do you think the oil pressure is better due to leaks that were eliminated or maybe a better routing and flow? I take it you did check how well th oil pump fits in the casing? I know there are some guys that o-ring the oil pumps due to loose fit causing oil pressure issues when hot.

Wow Tony, really like it! That's quite a solution you've come up with there. Some real outside-the-box (case) thinking... Must be nice having a workshop, set up to do things your way. Did the mod change your ground clearance by much? Are you still able to fit the tin behind the pulley, or did that require modification? If your oil pressure problem is resolved, Wentzel is probably correct in suggesting it was caused by leakage between the pump and casing, resulting in loss of pump suction. Gene Berg machines an o-ring groove (as Wentzel suggested) in the OD of the pump, on the cam-side of the inlet and outlet ports. The o-ring provides a seal to compensate for more than optimal pump-to-case clearance. How long the o-ring will do its job, is another question, so possibly not as robust as your solution. Maybe you've already tried the o-ring mod...

I thought about the O-ring pumps. But honestly, I dont think this would have solved my issue. The pump is a tight fit in the case but I didnt measure it. However, my logic tells me that if it was the pump seal, then the oil pressure problems would manifest themselves at low rpm when air has time to get sucked in. At 6000, the pump is moving a lot of oil and even though there is a larger pressure diff the air simply wouldnt have enough time to make that much of a difference (not enough to turn on the oil light).
I had 7 liters of oil in the case... it just didnt make sense. The only logical thought I have is that the suction tube is cracked or has a hole and when the oil level drops enough, this is uncovered causing a total loss of pressure.

As for ground clearance, it doesnt do the car any favours. I knew this going into the project, so I removed my 4QT CB sump and refitted my original 2QT thin-line sump. So my ground clearance is probably a little better than it was before.

The high level mark on the dip stick is approximately at the level of the pump suction port. I don't know if you normally run your oil level that high. If the case-to-pump joint is leaking, and the normal oil level is above the pump suction port, there would probably not be loss of oil pressure, as the pump still sucks oil, not air. This would be the valid at low RPM when the pump outlet flow is equal to the sump return flow.

At 6000RPM, a lot of oil is pumped out of the sump, and hangs up in the valve cover area, due to limited return flow path through the pushrod tubes. The left hand side head, is particularly prone to oil accumulation at high RPM, due to oil system design, feeding more oil to the LHS of the motor. The late Bob Hoover also had quite a write-up on this phenomenon, hence his oil system mod. I've also come across a video where a guy put a window into the valve cover to demonstrate oil accumulation in the LHS valve cover. The cover was just about filled to the top. This could cause a sufficient drop in sump oil level, exposing the pump suction leak to air instead of oil, resulting in a drop in oil pressure at high RPM.

Then again, the leak could be anywhere on the suction side... Your design bypasses all the possibilities in one go, good job! Just watch out for road kill or the odd brick in the road.

Awesome engineering Tony.
When are you getting the furnace for the aluminium casting? [WINKING FACE]

eben wrote: When are you getting the furnace for the aluminium casting? [WINKING FACE]

dont laugh... this has crossed my mind numerous times but I have decided that this is a road I dont want to go down

Tony Z wrote:

eben wrote: When are you getting the furnace for the aluminium casting? [WINKING FACE]

dont laugh... this has crossed my mind numerous times but I have decided that this is a road I dont want to go down

I was being serious.
You don't need anything big I reckon.

Since I have just returned to work, its about time to do a little update.
Between 4 weeks of courses and helping with the baby, time for projects has been minimal.

My two major projects were doing a set of "Tony" heads for Donovan D. He is loving them and his bus now accelerates in 4th uphill where previously he'd be reaching for 3rd.

Then onto Angrrr. I had to pull the engine again for yet another gearbox shaft seal leak. The seal looked fine, but it was nicely leaking oil. This is now the 4th time I am replacing this seal. So... I decided to do things my way.
Step 1 - go buy a seal.
Step 2 - take it to a company who specializes in seals and ask them for something better.
result - smaller shaft seal with 2 sealing lips.


Then we thought, well, why not use two???


So now I have 2 seals in the place of 1... hopefully this is the end of my seal problems.

After putting everything back together, I took it for a drive. All is well but bizarrely the clutch now slips. Maybe from the seal leak, maybe it just needs adjustment.
Thankfully after adjusting the clutch, it no longer slips.
Proof??? 22m of proof

The view in that photo looks strangely familiar Tony...

Your bug would be the ideal test-platform for your new type of "Tony gearbox" seal which you could market later as an aftermarket performance product

sounds like a good idea Eben.
Looking at the photo, I can see your familiarity. But no, not Yzer, this is 20km from Malmesbury in the Stellenbosch direction.

I'm surprised to be making my mark here in these hallowed pages. The last while I've been chatting to Tony in regards with building an engine for Mossie, aswell as a few other things, he then had me over today, I think mostly so that I could see what air-cooleds are capable of. We first had a go in the Bus, and I have to confess, this man knows his stuff. It's smooth, responsive, it's a driver.
What waited for me was an animal of different stripes. ANGRRR. I can't do it justice. You may have read these pages, but it's an experience of itself. All encompassing. You'll hear the famed pump howl, before it jumps to life. I would've thought with that much cam it would be miserable to start, idle and drive. WRONG. You'd be forgiven for almost thinking it's a standard car with a pipe. It's that smooth. But there's so much more. I can only call it a visceral experience, you hear it, you feel it, you smell the tyres burning and most importantly see the Rev gauge and Speedo running like they're on steroids. . There's so much going on, enough gauges to look like a cockpit, and with good reason, that's how it feels when Tony winds it up and lets it go. This thing cooks tyres like it's a job. It screams, snorts, and mostly, it's fast and fun. It's been said many times here, it's a street car and a driver. I had my doubts, but I was silenced and am now a believer. I've been in many a "fast" car, M3 and M4s, Golf Rs etc. I promise you this built beast is way better, and with a full interior to boot, it might aswell be luxury. My words simply cannot explain, and Tony is a great understated guy, the VWs do the talking for him!

Most importantly thank you for all the fun and having me man! I haven't smiled behind the wheel of a car lime today in years. You've got a buggers paradise, and I can't wait to see what you have in store for us all.

TonyZ is fast becoming legend... wait for it... dary!
Angrrr is something very special.

The legend of The ChromeDome!!

So I made the trip to meet Tony for the first time and to see what all the fuss was about regarding ANGRRR.

I was inmediately impressed by Tony's Man Cave and tried not to trip on my jaw while at the same time hide my tears as he showed me all his toys. Tony has being advising me on my 1915cc build for my son's car and discussion were based around that. Tony clearly knows his stuff.

Then the moment of truth arrived, Tony fired up ANGRRR and straight away the deception was revealed that this was no ordinary Bug. The phat rev counter & fuel ratio monitor gave a hint that there was something serious going on under the hood.

I slide into the Recaro seat which hugged me like a mother hugs her child and we set off out the driveway. For the first few minutes she felt like any other Bug while she was warming up. We eventually pulled over, Tony turned to me with a grin on his face and said I can now start to film. Then he dropped the hammer and ANGRRR came ALIVE! I was fumbeling with my phone trying to focus on everything that was happening with the rev counter, speedo and just trying to hold on all at the same time. In second gear we were already at 100km, then 3rd at 145km, after that she was off the clock roaring down the road flexing her muscles. We had some traffic and were buffeted around by hectic 40km winds but ANGRRR sat like she was on rails. Some tacticle driving as Tony braked hard to make the turn home brought the ride to an end all too soon but for the next few days I'll have "RECARO" tatooed on the back of my neck as a reminder from the force of being pushed into the back of my seat.

Below is the video link but unfortunately it doesn't do the awesome experiance any justice.

https://youtu.be/hvtwTBNsxJc

Tony you are the MAN and thanks again for an enjoyable afternoon as well as all the advice.