2.0 KCC 356 Speedster - www.356speedster.co.za

[Golfmad]

Nice progress !!!

Those are such pretty engines you know

[flatfourfan]

yup, I agree. Once you have all the extra wiring off as well as the heater pipes and water pipes and pipe work for AC and PS, then it's really a pretty barebones engine.

My air intake will be a freaking work of art. Well it'll have to be in order to fit in the damn small place that I have for it. I so don't want to go with a cone filter.

I just need to find a guy that will bend the PVC pipe into the shape that I want it.

[Tony Z]

cant you just buy schedule 80 pvc and glue it together? You can buy all types of bend angles for that stuff.

[flatfourfan]

Hey Tony

I've been struggling like nuts to get an outer diameter 72mm - 74mm pipe. so it looks like I may have to go down to 65mm, not really keen on that.

[calooker]

Hey Tony

I've been struggling like nuts to get an outer diameter 72mm - 74mm pipe. so it looks like I may have to go down to 65mm, not really keen on that.

I might be able to help, with PVC pipe, it is a 3" from the US was used for shipping running board moldings, will check actual dims tonight, has a thick wall so i'm sure you could take a few mm off to get it to 74mm.

[flatfourfan]

3" is workable. Lemme know.

Cheers

[Golfmad]

What about these silicone pipes people use on turbo cars - they come in a couple sizes.

[flatfourfan]

I only want two silicone pipes, one on the TB and one on the airbox. I want as much of the pipe inbetween made out of plastic as it'll have 2 x 45, 1 x 90 and then a long section in the middle.

My plan of action is to avoid all the bling and to have an almost stock looking engine bay. Even my silicone pipes will be black, with stock vw clamps.

[flatfourfan]

So we had some issues............surprise surprise, it was the wiring. We want to use the plug at the back of the car as a stock motor so that if the time comes to pull the engine, it's a simple case of just disconnecting the plug. All the wiring for the engine, with the exception of the alternator will go through this plug. I was DREADING having to cut everything off and go through it again.



The fuel pump wasn't priming, the injectors were'nt clicking as well as a few other things. Plus having a dead battery wasn't making my day any easier. So We went through the harness and pulled the last of the wires through and nothing. Engine turned over, but nothing else.

Armed with a new battery last night, Willem traced the issue down to a relay that had been wired wrong, simple error and an even simpler fix. Fuel pump primes, injectors click away. I was dreading pulling the harness, but dreading even more that I had a faulty ECU, willem tested it on his bus and it started and ran perfectly...phew

So now it's time to make some final adjustments with the fuel hoses and then to start her up. Flush out the coolant system and then once that's done, we can top everything up and then fire away.

I also found out that the pulley system on the test motor is different to pulley system on the import motor as the import motor has the extra pulley for power steering, so it sticks out further. I told Willem that he could take what he needs as his motor has the normal single pulley. This will give me the 3cm odd of clearance that I need, so the exhaust can be fitted this weekend as well and the car can come home for a bit of final fitting. We're going to use this exhaust for a bit to sort out the bugs and then Willem and myself will be making a custom mandrel bent unit.

Getting there.

[splitfan]

looking good Gary , keep going man its the final stretch !

[flatfourfan]

I keep on telling myself that one too. People seriously underestimate the amount of work involved with this conversion. I still don't regret doing this for one second.

[Tony Z]

keep it up! Will all be worth it in the end

[flatfourfan]

so............finally.

1 simple wire swapped and she started up first time. This is probably the 3rd-4th start. The hesitation in the beginning is because my starter is not among the most healthiest and the motor has damn good compression. Video and pics from my BB, hence the cruddy quality.



The knocking that you hear is the big truck exhaust hitting against the body of the car. They have to change my mountings for it on Friday and also do a new tail pipe as the current one isn't going to work. But you can hear at 20sec when I pull the exhaust away it's dead quiet.

I've actually decided that the truck exhaust will remain on as damn it sounds throaty. Because my whole exhaust system is less than a meter long, I need every bit of silencing that I can get. I will however re-do my downpipe.

And after a lot of trimming the engine lid also fits. Albeit, I'm going to have to trim my vent at the back so that it won't foul my oil breather. But from the outside, you won't see any indication of what's in the back unless you peak through the engine vents.











Yup, all of the bottom of the engine lid had to go, because of the shape, it's actually damn stiff and once we put the gussets under the hinge points, you shouldn't be able to see any different..........from the outside.

Next step is 4 water leaks that I have on my main water pipes. These will be sorted by the shop on Friday and there is a small one out back that I'll do as it's on the engine. Car will now unfortunately be off the road for the next 2 weeks as I have family commitments that I can't break and then on the 14th, we'll do the final settings and make the cross member.

Many people have asked me if going EFI is worth it and also if going 2.0 over 1.8 is worth it as well. On the lighter cars, the 1.8 should push a car like a beetle along with no issues whatsoever, but I wanted the torque more than the outright power and the price difference between the two is marginal. The parts are basically the same and also easy to get. The issue is space. The height of the 2.0 8v long block that I have means that it's had to be squeezed into the back. I'm sure that you could look into clocking the motor on it's side, but on a beetle, you would probably run into issues. This has only JUST fit into a speedster and I have way more space than a beetle on the sides.

As for EFI...............only time will tell. One thing I do know running fuel lines, fuel pump, and return lines etc is a pita of a job and that's not even touching the wiring. I kept it easy and stuck with stock mp9........so it was all plug and play. But it still look some sorting out to do.

[flatfourfan]

Time to post an update as I had 2 days off to sort out some niggles.

With the exception of a small water leak at the blank off plate at the back of the engine as well as a small one on one of the main water pipes, the car gave me no surprises. Both have now been sorted and so my water system is finally sealed.

A new scoop plate was made this weekend that will hopefully get me sorted with regards to not having to cut the lower section of the bumper. The back of the car has easily dropped another 30mm, so the stance looks way better than it used to. There is a lot of weight hanging over those back wheels with the exhaust accounting for at LEAST 15-20kgs. the stance at the back is touching a bit of negative camber, but I can handle that until my suspension mods have been done.

My temp gauge is reading 90 degrees as we have a feeling that the thermostat is not an 82 degree unit like we were told. We've driven the car and the fan has not turned on once during normal driving. I have had the bumper off though, this afternoon will be the first time that it's been back on.

This afternoon is the cars first proper shake down drive, so armed with Willem and a bag 'o tools, we're going to hit the road to see what is what with the car. After a few intial tests, this is where we stand.

- rear engine mounts are shot and will be replaced with 2 V8 mounts.
- we have to tap the intake manifold for the intake sensor, so that will have to come off so that we can do it properly. I also want some of the holes and open pipes on the manifold closed up to clean it all up, so this is a good time to do it.
- I'm not 100% happy with some of the wiring in the engine bay and so I want to get my harness shorter and neater. With the Molex plug being attached to the firewall.
- Cambelt needs to be changed as well as the tensioner.
- I want to wrap the exhaust as well as make a heatsheild so that I can keep the engine bay cooler.
- Air intake, this is going to be a mission of note and I'll probably start on this first.
- We're fitting a modified golf starter with beetle parts for a hybrid of sorts.

Most of the above will be done once the motor is pulled to allow for easy access.

I've worked on a price list of everything that we've done as well as all parts needed for this swap that I'll update this weekend for anyone interested as well as some new pics and a video or two.

We're also taking to a guy that builds off-road cars to build me an IRS set up for the back. Everything will be custom made for the car and it'll allow me to run a Kombi gearbox out back. I was hoping to do an engine lift, but I need to go up at least 2" and I can't spare anything because of the height of the 2.0 8v. So IRS it is.

[jolas]

good luck with the test run later - awesome project you have going here