Aircooled VW South Africa

Anyone converted the watercooled wbx motor to aircooled before?

Most steps look simple as lond as the standard crank is used. The only thing I can't figure out is how to convert the stud pattern.
I'm thinking it best to weld the old stud thread openings closed and drilling new ones.

This company does it in the USA: http://rockyjennings.com/

I happen to have a 2.1 WBX motor lying around and every time I walk past it I can't help but wonder if it can be done on the cheap.

M

Cheap it will not be, if you consider the engineering work and mods that need to be done to the block.
ie: water jacket removal, head stud offset, sleeve spacers, just a few items to consider.

there has to be a reason that Rocky Jennings is the only person on the planet who does it regularly....

Try finding bearings for one of those.......

IMPI wrote:Try finding bearings for one of those.......

Could I have 3 chicken teeth pls

Luckily for me the bearings are already new. I can keep the sub assembly as is, only need to cut off the sides. Then close and redrill the studs, then machine for somewhere around 90mm type one sleeves. Upright fan conversion and type one heads.

But then things aways seem easy until you try it

Rui - you mention spacers - why would I need them? Is the opening in the case too big?

Whichever way you go with the pistons the deck hight is going to be a issue, so 2 possibilities will arise.
Spacers needed if are going to use non-sroker pistons (A's) if you are using stroker pistons (B's) then the base of the sleeves will need to be machined down.
This needs to be done to acheive the desired deck hight.
There is also the option of retaining the stock 2.1 Hydraulic lifters, but cam options on using them is verry limitted, so what gets done is the lifter bores get resleeved to use solid T1 lifters, huge cost in that.
Then if you intend on using this setup in a beetle tranny the flywheel needs changing and a new clutch kit to match is required.
It will be much cheaper to go a stroked & bored T1.

Sometimes good to explore unfamiliar terrain...

On the Shoptalk Forums there is a subforum dedicated to the wbx/oxyboxer. There may be useful info.

If you have the dedication and courage, and understand that it wo'nt be easy, go for it.

Mc Donald engineering in JHB (do they still exist)? used to be a good place for specialist aircooled machine work. Maybe talk to them as well. They might have done it before.

Dawie wrote: Mc Donald engineering in JHB (do they still exist)? used to be a good place for specialist aircooled machine work. Maybe talk to them as well. They might have done it before.

Yes they still around, but ........ $$$$$ Get ready to pay, and their ability has slipped, not who or what they use to be.

I still like the idea - thinking Deutz Diesel cylinders. You can machine them to any size. Then the only problem is the stud relocation.

Why?
You end up with a motor with an oil filter as standard, 76mm stroke and bigger sump!

Problem is the close spacing between adjacent cylinders on wasserboxer, same as type 1. The Deutz cylinders are used on type 4 engines, because of the much wider spacing between cylinders, leaving space for cooling fins in that application.

Here's a thread from the earlybay forums by a Norwegian guy building an oxyboxer:

http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31076