Aircooled VW South Africa

Posted: **Tue Sep 13, 2005 4:28 pm**

InsanePrimate

Joined: 10 Sep 2005
Posts: 2
Location: Crazy Monkey land
Posted: 10 Sep 2005 03:19 pm Post subject: Building a 1776/1915 in SA ?

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Hi all,

Anybody browsing this forum have any practical experience trying to build a 1776/1915 type 1 in SA ? Parts pricing / availablity / machine work etc.

Tony Z - I see you imported many parts, was this just simpler being over in Europe or are they just not available locally?

Calooker - that 94mm set still available ? Why you parting with it ? Are the pistons suitable for 78mm crank or only 69mm? (Will probably call next week, just got such bad flu I can't talk at the moment)

Thanks in advance.
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Being my first post I guess I should give some background. Saw my first Karmann Ghia when in high school and was hooked ! When I got married in 91, I sold my Jetta CLI to save money and bought a '60 Ghia with 1600 as my daily driver. Enjoyed it for a year before beleive it or not it got stolen ! Since then business has been crazy, but now that things have calmed down to a mild panic (and cash flow allows) I've got that itch again and I've seen a few in the junkmail that look like good project cars.

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Tony Z

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 12
Location: Cape Town or France
Posted: 12 Sep 2005 07:14 am Post subject:

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To be honest, I wasnt in Europe at the time of my imports. As for parts availability, most places only have the 92mm kits (1835). I still know of one kit lying around if you want me to make a few emails...

The machine work usually take a few smiles and some cases of beer, not much as its pretty simple.

I actually imported my parts at the height of the Rand dollar crash, I paid R11.08 for a dollar, still got the parts sitting waiting for my next order, hopefully will be next month.

The hardest thing to get in SA is the exhaust pipe. No-one is willing to make them properly. Wrinkled bends, small diameter pipes... Make it yourself or bring it in from overseas, but be warned, shippingis a huge killer. A set of heads will cost over $240 for shipping alone, then the original prices, import duties (20%), vat (14%) and any extras that theose idiots decide to impose depending on their mood (dont even bother trying to visit them to argue that the parts are not available locally, they dont care....)
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http://www.geocities.com/suicyde_vw

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InsanePrimate

Joined: 10 Sep 2005
Posts: 2
Location: Crazy Monkey land
Posted: 12 Sep 2005 07:12 pm Post subject:

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Thanks ! That helps me refine the budget a little.

Ive got some friends in the motor business, so I can get some fabrication done.

Re. 92 mm's I've heard the cylinder walls are thinner and possibly not ideal especially in our climate.

Any ideas what you can expect from your setup when you get it together ? You mention eating M3's

Cheers,

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Tony Z

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 12
Location: Cape Town or France
Posted: 13 Sep 2005 06:55 am Post subject:

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my 2332 is being build as a complete street car, aiming at 30 000 km between rebuilds, and possibility of using it as 100% daily driver, but more weekend warrior. Original idea was 150hp at the flywheel, but then the new M3 came out, so I upped the cam a bit and will aim for 160hp on the tyres.

Dont get anything fabricated in SA. You will end up with Toyota pistons in a honed out 88mm (ex 85.5) barrel. The Barrels are super thin and the pistons weight nearly double as stock.
The 92mm kit isnt the best, but many people have used it no problems. The 94s or 90.5s are the best by far. There are clinder head negatives that can arise from 94s if you want high compr, especially if you run 1914cc, but I can get to that later.
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http://www.geocities.com/suicyde_vw

Posted: **Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:39 am**

Hi Eben I still have the 94s, they are for a stroker crank but I a set for the 69 stroke is a email away. I have built 11 performance motors in the past 4 years 1641, 1835, 1914 and have a 2110 & a 2165 to complete I am currently building another 1835 with 42x36 heads, I also modify my own heads. I rebuilt my first 1500 motor in 1986 when i was still at school, it went into a 1500 69 bug I got for R350, it was later turned into a baja bug, with my first performance motor a 1678 (88mm pistons) went into that car. My last 1835 now sold ran 14.9 quater in my Spyder kit car. I import all my parts, the shipping of parts is no joke big $$$. The local guys shops are ripoffs, the machining of blocks heads etc is also quite expensive. It's not chaep to build a performance motor, hell it's even pricey to build a standard motor.

Posted: **Wed Sep 14, 2005 10:50 am**

The last engine I built for 94 cylinders... To have the case machined out for the barrels and the heads also, cost me 2 cases of Amstel.
My current stock valve heads cost me a case of castle quarts to get flycut 1mm. Should have gone for 1.5mm, but 8.1:1 is better than 7.3:1, hey the thing pulls 94hp on the flywheel, valves float at 6000rpm. Good fun to drive.

Posted: **Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:19 pm**

Hi all
I have built a couple of engines using the 76.4mm stroke WBX crank coupled with 87 mm oversize pistons a nice 18something is created
The cylinders need spacers and the case needs machining but it is relatively inexpensive Crankweld industries (JHB) can stroke them to 82 mm for a reasonable price as well. they also have a 5 bolt crank flange which is more reliable than the gland nut on a type 1.
The only catch is that you need a casing that cannot be larger than 0.5mm oversize. as WBX bearings only come in 0.5 OD.
Armand

Posted: **Thu Sep 15, 2005 7:55 am**

IMPI

One thing that I never actually thought about was the mounting of the starter. If I am correct, isnt the T5 flywheel 215mm. Do you use a different stareter or make up a mounting bracket for the starter.

You normally dont nned to go much over stock size with the T5 crank as the mains are bigger than the T1 and thus, much stronger.
If you know where, you can get the bearings up to 1mm oversize, but they are pricey and custom made.

Posted: **Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:05 am**

I have also done the WBX kombi crank mod using 94mm pistons, the type 1 casing uses a 1900 WBX rear main bearing 5mm larger than a type 1, the rest are type1 bearings Mc Donald?s engineering JHB even make a rear bearing custom. The WBX uses a 225mm flywheel / clutch setup, you need to use a flywheel / clutch setup from a 1800 type 4 215mm, you can also use the flywheel / clutch setup from the 411/412 1700 variants 210mm, no problem fitting these 2 setups in the beetle bell housing. You can make the 225mm setup work but you will have serious grinding needed in the beetle bell housing. Tony z I would be a bit worried if I had someone work on my motor that drank so much, Ha Ha!

Posted: **Sun Feb 19, 2006 12:33 am**

tThe best pipe builder is TNT in germiston. Better service and the exact job you want is done with a smile.We have had lots of headers for race cars and planes built by them, even from pictures and sketches. No wrinkles, large bore, no problem. Go and see them You will be impressed by the work they do.
Cheers
Bill

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:59 pm**

mmmm You don't think that's the problem with the force in the DarkSide......to much Brandywine and not enough tolerance on the flux capacitor