Aircooled VW South Africa

I kinda am not clued up in all this, read a few threads, as many as I could lay my eyes on, but still am ‘clueless’?!

When people talk of ‘building a mild-street engine’, I see that you boys have an input on this subject as you seemingly are quite clued up on the matter – as you yourselves own a few mean machines.

Now, what is the difference between:
1. bangin’-in a 2l a/c kombi engine which one can buy at veemotors (not sure of your boys take on this supplier)?
2. Building an engine with all the other stuff which every one speaks about – balanced this and balanced that, reground this and reground that?

If I got the 2l a/c motor, would that not be as sweet as 1776 motor (mind you, I am clueless, so this might be a dumb question, pls don’t throw lemons at me!)?

The cost of installing a 2l a/c motor and the cost of building a motor, do they compare? I at times see some guys on the forum mentioning R10k budget which they are working from, is this sufficient for a good ‘core’ build, then allow for other mods when finances come ones way such as exhaust, carbs, jets, etc?

If you get one of the "Kombi" motors then you need to convert to IMPI upright to make it fit nicely into the bug do you get carbs etc with
This above setup would cost you around R14K what is the price you got Quoted

If you build a std 1600 with slight higher CR clean the heads slightly billet cam and lightened fly wheel you will have a very reliable motor

a stock 2 liter engine was made for the busses. This is the one you are referring to. It will take a custom fan housing and alternator setup and some other small mods to make it work in the beetle. Then you still have an engine made to lug a bus around, so it's a torque engine, not a power engine. Also wont have much in the line of revs.

A 1776 is a modified 1600 engine. These are built custom according to your wishes and budget (so anything from 10K to 40K).

With a 10 grand budget, I would take a stock 1600 and do a few small mods to it, nothing major.

Bugger wrote:If you get one of the "Kombi" motors then you need to convert to IMPI upright to make it fit nicely into the bug do you get carbs etc with
This above setup would cost you around R14K what is the price you got Quoted

If you build a std 1600 with slight higher CR clean the heads slightly billet cam and lightened fly wheel you will have a very reliable motor

Not priced the whole 'job'. Got a price of recorn motor only, which was under R9k.
Reliable = more bhp??

Tony Z wrote:a stock 2 liter engine was made for the busses. This is the one you are referring to. It will take a custom fan housing and alternator setup and some other small mods to make it work in the beetle. Then you still have an engine made to lug a bus around, so it's a torque engine, not a power engine. Also wont have much in the line of revs.

That is indeed a point. Guess that this set-up might be good for towing a caravan!

Tony Z wrote:A 1776 is a modified 1600 engine. These are built custom according to your wishes and budget (so anything from 10K to 40K).

With a 10 grand budget, I would take a stock 1600 and do a few small mods to it, nothing major.

What would you (or anyboby for that matter) define to be 'a few small mods'? Is there a 'yard stick' to work from or is it solely personal preference?

Small mods are like I mentioned
Lghten fly wheel
Billet cam and not a regrind
fly cut the heads for slight higher CR
Clean the ports up and match port the intake manifolds to the heads
Balance all motion parts
Check for a Weber intake manifold or stay with std or even thin std carbs which are henns teeth
Just basic things

Pierre said: Small mods are like I mentioned
Lghten fly wheel
Billet cam and not a regrind
fly cut the heads for slight higher CR
Clean the ports up and match port the intake manifolds to the heads
Balance all motion parts
Check for a Weber intake manifold or stay with std or even thin std carbs which are henns teeth
Just basic things
Small mods are like I mentioned
Lghten fly wheel
Billet cam and not a regrind
fly cut the heads for slight higher CR
Clean the ports up and match port the intake manifolds to the heads
Balance all motion parts
Check for a Weber intake manifold or stay with std or even thin std carbs which are henns teeth
Just basic things

You do those to a type four and suddenly it doesnt feel like a tractor anymore!!!!!
Where the type four scores is the following
1 Its got an aluminium case as standard If you rally want life out of a modded type one then you need an ally case.
2 it comes in 2 liters and if you know a good machinist it will go to 2.4 with common stuff such as deutz sleeves and chevy v8 pistons
The crank is almost bullet proof
whether you do a cam for a type one or type four the cost is almost the same
the heads can take 50 x 40mm valves without welding I might say
the heads have got more fins so cooling is lss of a problem

the expensive part everybody talks about is the fact that gasket sets and bearings are harder to find and more expensive.
Then again to build a beetle properly will mean new heads, new case, new crank, new cam, pushrods, and then you get 2.4 liters
so Yes I am biased.
Armand

Not all type 4s are bus engines!
It's still possible to find 411/412 engines, it does take some searching and you'd be surprised when and where they pop out from. I still don't know what the plans are for my 1700, will discuss with IMPI for the best possible combo when i'm ready