Aircooled VW South Africa

Checked the oil, and drove her to Logo Day!

Drove it today, was driving stupidly trying to overtake a truck, missed a shift and the engine revved to 7000 RPM

Heard a loud bang so clutched it and pulled over. With my heart in my throat I opened the rear lid to see what went wrong.

The loud bang was the fanbelt that snapped

Drove it home very carefully. Motor seems to be fine, I've pulled the rockers and pushrods to check for a bent pushrod, but everything is okay.

Testament to the strength of the standard Type 4 engine that it didn't throw a rod or similar after that stupid mistake!!!

The best part is that only the top part of this engine has been touched, the block was never opened while in my possession...

Unfortunately, life happened and I wasn't able to attend the logo day today.

In other news, after seeing a picture of the car on another forum with a roofrack with stuntbikle attached, a local cycling company wants to use the car in their product catalog So just have to tidy one or two areas and it will be in a formal photoshoot

Had some new tyres fitted to my green 73 Baywindow. The old tyres still had lots of tread remaining but were very old, it was too risky to drive with them. They were Kelly Springfield's.

Eventually got to connect the one set of fog lights!!!

I spent the weekend at IMPI's replacing the engine and transmission in my 63 Dormobile.

Thanks to the IMPI family for the hospitality and hard labour!

Bugger built the new transmission from a heavily abused Fleetline box and RGBs and the results speak loudly for Bugger's magic hands. The new trans runs quiet and shifts smoothly. Thanks Bugger!

IMPI built me a 1776 with twin Weber 36IDFs and what a SWEET engine. I'll start a separate thread on this build and particularly the costs of building a mild performance custom type 1 engine to give forum members a sense of what goes into a proper engine build (mostly lot$ of money ).

Because of spending most of the time up to my elbows in grease, I didn't take many pics, but Sarel Wagner dropped by on Sunday in his new Jag and took some pics and vids of the start-up.

Here's what I have:

Boer maak 'n plan. I forgot my 46mm socket and power bar. IMPI didn't have one and we didn't find one in a quick trawl of the Orkney pawn shops, so we borrowed a 46mm spanner from a neighbour. But how to apply a cheater pipe to a big spanner?


And the end result:



The pics of this engine installed just don't do justice to the work of art (and MAGIC) that IMPI produced. The 36hp fanshroud has full doghouse internals and is a work of art all on its own.

Right after getting the bus running again on Sunday, I loaded it up with all my tools, a large trolley jack, and the old engine and transmission (about half a ton's worth), and headed back to Lindequesdrif. Even on a tight new engine and driving slowly the power was amazing. I reckon the new engine is giving at least double the power of the old one with great torque. I'll post full specs in a dedicated thread.

The engine still needs some fine tuning and I need to properly tighten the new oil pressure sender, which leaks a bit, and get the alternator to charge, but otherwise it ran sooooo sweeeeetly on the way home, carrying the load with ease and flying up the hills, which was the main purpose the engine was built for.

Thanks again Armand, Wouter and Yolanda!!!

Thats great news and progress Fig, this was on your wish list for a long time

Fig I`m Glad you got your Bus running with the new motor and box now you can get the feeling of the ratios with a bit more power and next one we will use the Bug center as I sugested to you

Yes Impi`s work Quality is also a testament of his passion to the ACVW`s

Fig, you should know better.....
please move your fuel filter

Otherwise looking awesome. Get the engine on a dyno to get the carbs perfect and see how she feels then

Tony Z wrote:Fig, you should know better.....
please move your fuel filter

Otherwise looking awesome. Get the engine on a dyno to get the carbs perfect and see how she feels then

IENA PA HET GEPRAAT

tony where to do you move your fuel filter? I suppose there should be one at the fuel tank's outlet aswell?

anywhere outside of the engine bay - next to the gearbox near to where it comes out of the tunnel is a pretty good place

Tony Z wrote:Fig, you should know better.....
please move your fuel filter

Otherwise looking awesome. Get the engine on a dyno to get the carbs perfect and see how she feels then

I was wondering who'd be the first to say that!

IMPI had the filter there while he was running it on his test bench. I will definitely be moving it before I drive the car again.

Lovely, can't wait for your engine thread!

Drusky wrote:Lovely, can't wait for your engine thread!

It has started here:

http://www.aircooledvwsa.co.za/viewtopi ... =1&t=21317

Any plans with those air filters fig? I will share my experiences with those types. They are absolutely useless. Dust passes right through them even when coated properly with that K&N spray oil.

After installing those filters on my bus I did a trip through the Cederberg, I decided to clean the filters after the trip and was horrified what was inside the filter housings. There were big particles of dust that had passed straight through. The filters were properly oiled up and well sealed in the filter housings. My engine bay is also very well sealed.

After this I immediately went and bought these additional foam filters which also get coated in the oil. They made quite a improvement and it helps just to clean these outer filters on a regular basis. I have been told that good quality paper filter elements are available in place of those mesh filters but I have not managed to find them yet.



I am still not happy with this setup so I have made some adapters in place of the filters that I can link to a central filter. I bought one of those Donaldson Cyclonic Type filters to do the job. I just have to “T” it off in the middle for each filter. I am sure this will solve the problem, and I can direct the intake via a duct to one of the fresh air intakes on the side like it was done originally.

Here is the attachment I have made for the intake pipe from the carb to the air filter housing in the meantime.