Author Topic: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)  (Read 26400 times)

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Offline owdlvr

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #30 on: March 07, 2010, 10:05:38 AM »
Good tip! I was going to just spray the flaps though, and maybe powdercoat the rest.

-Dave
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'95 F150 - Unfortunate daily driver...

Offline Chris W

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #31 on: March 07, 2010, 12:59:59 PM »
Powdercoat it for sure!

Offline owdlvr

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #32 on: March 07, 2010, 07:50:07 PM »
Thought about it today...and I really don't want to sandblast all this stuff again. Local bike shop guys told me about a new powder coating guy in Squamish, so I called him up.

Tin was picked up about half an hour ago, on to the next part of the project.

Who can tell me the secret to removing the factory thermostat from the rod? Currently the two are still married to a cylinder head.

-Dave
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Offline Bruce

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #33 on: March 07, 2010, 08:01:06 PM »
The rod simply screws into the top of the thermostat.  Once you remove the t'stat bracket, you unscrew the t'stat from the rod.

Offline owdlvr

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #34 on: March 07, 2010, 09:02:45 PM »
Thought that was it...but for obvious reasons didn't want to twist until I knew for sure!

Thanks.

-Dave
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'71 Type 1 - Rally Car Project
'75 Type 1 - Heirloom
'95 F150 - Unfortunate daily driver...

Offline owdlvr

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #35 on: March 12, 2010, 04:36:25 PM »
Art, Rob and I have been talking for a long time about building an engine that's more fun. The Spring Thaw is a mere 50-odd days away, and I just prepped a stock carb for rebuilding...so that means it must be time to toss that aside and build a new motor!



Dropped my case off with Darren (again) this time to be prepped for the 90.5 Pistons and Cylinders. Once that's done I'll do a preassembly check, send out the required bits for balancing and then hopefully have this broken-in and installed before the spring thaw. New engine build will be 1776cc, 40mm/35.5mm heads, forged crank, Scat C20 Camshaft, 1.25 ratio rockers, Scat I-Beam rods, fully balanced with an Accusump to protect against starvation when cornering. I haven't ordered the carbs yet, but will do that right as the engine is ready to go into the car. Still to be decided is the exhaust system...I'd LOVE to get the CSP unit, but spending that much on an exhaust pains me.

Photos of random engine bits...because it seems this thread is all about random pointless photos!


C20 Cam, which I've had for quite some time..


Big valve heads, need to see if I can get these port and polished before assembly. Not a job I want to tackle myself.


Mahle forged piston and cylinder set. Also have Total Seal rings to put on these.


Scat i-Beam connecting rods.


Accusump with valve, cable control and cable mount. I'm thinking of working the cable mount into the shifter assembly and placing the accusump in the rear luggage area. That alone presents some packaging and line issues, but I'd rather not install it under the car as I could end up doing some gravel events in the next year.


Scat lightened flywheel.

Who should I talk to about balancing the rotating assembly, and who should I talk to about a mild porting/polishing of these heads?

-Dave
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'71 Type 1 - Rally Car Project
'75 Type 1 - Heirloom
'95 F150 - Unfortunate daily driver...

Offline Chris W

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #36 on: March 12, 2010, 04:42:25 PM »
Looks like a nice set up. Not sure about balancing, but for heads Darren K would be a good place to start.

Offline Geoff

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #37 on: March 12, 2010, 05:07:15 PM »
Talk to Darren Krewenchuck...aka Kroc for all your head porting work!

kroc@shaw.ca

Offline owdlvr

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #38 on: March 12, 2010, 07:32:24 PM »
Talk to Darren Krewenchuck...aka Kroc for all your head porting work!

kroc@shaw.ca

That'll be easy, I'll trade him my case for my heads :P

-Dave
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'71 Type 1 - Rally Car Project
'75 Type 1 - Heirloom
'95 F150 - Unfortunate daily driver...

Offline Bruce

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #39 on: March 13, 2010, 12:15:11 AM »
For balancing, talk to Dave at Hi-Performance Engines in Bby near Lougheed and Willingdon.

Offline owdlvr

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #40 on: March 22, 2010, 10:20:00 AM »
Will post more later...but this was my weekend:



-Dave
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'71 Type 1 - Rally Car Project
'75 Type 1 - Heirloom
'95 F150 - Unfortunate daily driver...

Offline steveo_32

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #41 on: March 22, 2010, 10:08:43 PM »
Look like your toaster is broken, I would get colder spark plug, yup,  20L of prop wash should clean that up just fine!
1958 Samba 23 Window
1963 Ghia
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Looking for a barn find oval!! something un-screwed with(or split)

Offline Chris

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #42 on: March 22, 2010, 10:32:30 PM »
jb weld and a file, that'll be like new!

Offline beetleboy

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #43 on: March 29, 2010, 11:22:27 AM »
heya dave, nice engine parts and choices....what carb(s) are you going to use? 

Offline owdlvr

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #44 on: April 19, 2010, 11:39:33 PM »
Hmmm, due for a post in this thread! Over the past month I've done quite a bit as far as the motor is concerned. After deciding to take my tins for powder I realized the effect would be much better when you see it "built" as opposed to in pieces. Never mind that though, it's FINISHED!  :D



I need to say a big thanks to Art at AVR for helping me out with parts selection, taking care to keep within my budget...and for taking the time to answer simple build questions. To Rob @ AVR for taking sunny drives and hand delivering parts, not to mention being that friend who kept interested and asking for new updates. Bruce for answering every question I had...typically the night I asked it. And to Darren Krewenchuk who saved my mistakes, machined my heads, dropped by my house to help tune the carbs and seems to be teaching me all the tuning I need to learn.

After a rather tense moment of waiting for it to build oil pressure the first time, I attached the coil and it fired right up on the first try. I've only put 50 miles on it so far, but I'm so stoked. It's going to be a tonne of fun. The complete set of build photos can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhdynamics/sets/72157623600653087/

Since you've all seen a million VW engines...here's a few things I did differently...


I suppose the first thing is my Accusump oil accumulator. I've ditched the 2qt sump I had below the old engine in favor of the Accusump, since it will be more effective against oil starvation. Basically it holds an extra quart of oil at the same pressure, should the pressure drop it automatically feeds that quart into the engine. I've got a manual valve on it that allows me to block off the accumulator before I shut the car off, thus storing a quart of oil at operating pressure (typically I pull the valve at 3000rpm coming down my street). Before I start the car, open the valve and it pressurizes the engine as though the oil pump is running. No more dry starts!


Last minute crankcase breather/catch can. Found it in the Moroso catalog saturday morning, Lordco had it to me early aft so I could fire the car up in the afternoon! This unit *just* fits behind the kadron carbs...if you don't mind welding the bracket to the firewall. Won't fit if you're using the tar boards though.

Random Engine Porn...






And because I thought it was funny...



-Dave
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'71 Type 1 - Rally Car Project
'75 Type 1 - Heirloom
'95 F150 - Unfortunate daily driver...

CHEECH

Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #45 on: April 20, 2010, 07:59:09 AM »
NIce work Dave. Glad to see your back on the road  PDT_Armataz_01_37

Offline Geoff

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #46 on: April 20, 2010, 08:05:12 AM »
Nice job Dave!

Offline beetleboy

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #47 on: April 20, 2010, 12:09:00 PM »
wow dave....looks pretty awesome.  night and day difference eh?  congrats dude.

Offline owdlvr

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #48 on: April 21, 2010, 10:55:34 PM »
Definitely a night and day difference. I had to call my dad and ask him why he's never done a performance engine in all the year's he's owned VW's. Always stock! The last few days have been spent on short drives, a couple of highway runs, and doing my best to keep my right foot from exploring the potential underneath it. The Spring Thaw is coming though, and lots of work to be done!

Picked up a new present today...you might remember these:



Which are now these:



For those of you who missed it earlier, it's essentially a completely overboard way to add some height to the gas pedal for heel-toe shifting. Since I'm crazy enough to have this milled out on a CNC rig, I figured I might as well make it height adjustable. We made a last minute change to 5mm hardware vs. my original 4mm, so I can't pop them into the car until I pickup the right stuff.

The Canton Racing cable for the Accusump valve is, not surprisingly, poorly designed for a rear-engined car. With my Accusump placement the cable is *just* long enough to get within reach, but not long enough to really go anywhere useful. Ideally I wanted the handle pointing straight up so that you push down before starting the car, and pull up just before shutting the car off. Alas, that long silver section means no dice. For now I've mounted it beside and just ahead of the seat adjustment lever. It's not perfect, but will work for a few weeks until I determine if there's a better option.





-Dave
--
'71 Type 1 - Rally Car Project
'75 Type 1 - Heirloom
'95 F150 - Unfortunate daily driver...

Offline Bruce

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #49 on: April 21, 2010, 11:49:21 PM »
The last few days have been spent on short drives, a couple of highway runs, and doing my best to keep my right foot from exploring the potential underneath it.
NOOOO!!!! 
You need to put as much load on the engine as possible while breaking it in.  High load equals high cylinder pressures so the rings get forced against the cylinders harder.  That way they seat in much better than if you baby it.

Offline owdlvr

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #50 on: April 22, 2010, 10:49:54 PM »
I said doing my best...I didn't say I was successful :D

I too come from the "break it in like you stole it" department...was trying to be a *little* more gentle then when I break in an Audi 5-cyl engine (which are considered bulletproof and I always had at least one spare!)

For the first 100 miles I'd been keeping it to 3/4 throttle blasts, hard on and hard off the throttle. As little cruising at one speed as possible. I rolled off 100 miles this morning on the way to Whistler and started hitting WOT, with the same on-off blasts. Seat the rings, teach the poor thing that it's not going to live an easy life, and change the oil often...

-Dave

p.s. 1/2 throttle will get it right-sideways in the wet. :D
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'95 F150 - Unfortunate daily driver...

Offline owdlvr

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #51 on: May 31, 2010, 11:58:08 PM »
Well...that was interesting!

It's been a month, definitely time for an update. Unfortunately the bug hasn't moved in that month...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IOZP9C_3ik



I put 2500 miles onto the car before the Spring Thaw Classic Car Adventure started. We made it through day one, but mushroomed a pushrod playing with a 356 4-cam on the way to our lunch spot. A quick change in the vinyard parking lot, and we were back up and running. Day two was uneventful, at least as far as the new engine is concerned. But day three, well, that was quickly roasted in the first few km's as we spun rod-bearing number 4 coming down the hill from Sun Peaks. I think you can see it in the following photos, but the colour change on the big end is significant. The end is completely black.

 

Tear down of the motor revealed a pressure relief valve which is lightly sticking in the bore. Definitely don't recall that while building it, and I was sure I checked it a few times. Otherwise everything checked out. Roasted the rod, rod bearings and decided to swap out the crank due to heat damage. The journal has blued, and the crank isn't deathly expensive...so I'm replacing it.

Also found exhaust #1 lifter was pitted, just a little, but enough that it was a problem waiting to reveal itself. So, added to the list was lifters...and a cam due to some marks I wasn't stoked about on the lobes and bearing surface. Hmmmm...I've almost got a whole new motor going here! :P Big thanks to Art and Rob, who once again took care of me in the parts department.

Not being one to sit back and do nothing, I did find some time to squeeze in a few chores in between coaching in Quebec & Whistler, Traveling to Toronto for a week and my 'real job'. Oh yeah...and the weather has been good for Mountain Biking too ;). Anyways...

Carbon Gravel Guards:


Took care of the Wheel-wells and inside of the fenders with POR-15. Haven't used it before, but we're using it on the Mustang so I thought why not.


Installed some new Eccentrics for greater camber adjustment...and then finally got around to popping the new rubber and wheels on the car. 205/60/15's on 15x6" wheels. No sway bar on the front to make them work, and it definitely limits the turning radius over the 195's, but it's a work in progress!
 

Tonight I finally started on the rebuild of the engine. Checked the rod bearing clearances (even at .0015), installed the timing gears and started cleaning off the pistons. Anyone have a quick method for cleaning the carbon off? Usually I use injector cleaner and soak them, but doesn't seem to be working this time. Tomorrow it's off to the balancing shop, and I should be assembling this weekend.



-Dave
--
'71 Type 1 - Rally Car Project
'75 Type 1 - Heirloom
'95 F150 - Unfortunate daily driver...

Offline owdlvr

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #52 on: June 10, 2010, 12:21:20 PM »
Well, the first test drive was Tuesday...but it wasn't entirely successful.



Had no problems with the drive to Whistler, until I arrived into town and slowed down. MASSIVE smoke show out the tailpipes and all I could think was "awww *%$@ I blew another one". Popped off the valve-cover on the 1/2 head, and found nothing but clean oil (first good sign) and then popped the cover on the 3/4 head. WHOOPS! Dumped 3/4 of a quart of synthetic oil onto the side of the highway. After letting the car sit for a while, I drove it 1km to a buddies place with nothing more then a wisp or two (likely off the oil-soaked engine from pulling the valve cover), I called Art and discussed some options.

Shamefully parked short of our destination...



So the theory of the day called for a little testing after work. If I could drive the car at low revs without smoke, it probably wasn't going to be a horrible conclusion...Driving home at 2500rpm or less is a rather painful experience, but completed with out issues. I did get some wisps of smoke at times, but when I jumped out to check, it was always the oil I dumped on the heat exchanger.

In the meantime, it was suggested I vent the valve covers. Test covers were made by drilling and tapping some 1/2" nipples into old covers. I then ran the vent line from the left cover over the trans and into the right wheel-well. Vice versa for the right cover. For now they're just popped into some empty water bottles, so I can see if I'm getting oil, vapour or a mix coming out. Once I know what's coming out of the lines, I can then decide if I put a breather in each wheel-well, or if I need something high on the firewall that can drain back into the sump.




(excuse the zipties...it is all temporary for testing :P)

With the new vents in place...it was off to whistler again this afternoon...or so I thought. We made it about 10min up the highway before there was a smoke show out the back. Pulling over I found the 3/4 cover dripping oil fairly quickly onto the heat exchanger. Geesh, what now? It's all downhill home, so I was able to coast it almost the whole way back. Pulling the valve cover tonight, things became pretty clear on what the issue was. Weird. I've been doing this for years and _never_ popped a valve cover gasket in wrong:



I've used a bit of Aviation 3H to hold down the new gasket, ran the car at idle for 10min and found no leaks...so today it will be off again to do another short test. In the meantime, I thought the car could use a bit of a pep-talk and reminder of exactly what type of relationship we're supposed to have :P





-Dave
--
'71 Type 1 - Rally Car Project
'75 Type 1 - Heirloom
'95 F150 - Unfortunate daily driver...

CHEECH

Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #53 on: June 10, 2010, 12:32:46 PM »
LOL... Thats awsome Dave. Hope it all works out for ya and lookin forward to seeing you on sunday at Mission Springs :)

Offline owdlvr

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #54 on: June 10, 2010, 05:05:10 PM »
LOL... Thats awsome Dave. Hope it all works out for ya and lookin forward to seeing you on sunday at Mission Springs :)

I have a renewed hope that the bug and I will be making it down to the Rag Run (vs my F150). Managed to take the car on a repeat of yesterday's trip, this time without the oil leak issues. Took it around town for a few errands and so far it would seem the movie viewing helped! Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to get the oil out of the heat exchanger. I'll probably have to drop the engine this weekend though, I've got a few leaks likely due to the crankcase pressure.





Success! (on a small scale)

-Dave
--
'71 Type 1 - Rally Car Project
'75 Type 1 - Heirloom
'95 F150 - Unfortunate daily driver...

Offline Bruce

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #55 on: June 10, 2010, 09:26:29 PM »
It will happen again.  Here's how you fix it for good.  If you can do without driving the car for a day, take the valve covers off and clean away all traces of oil.  Glue the gasket to the valve cover, then place it on a spare dry cylinder head and leave it overnight.
Move over to the heads on the car.  Get your automatic centerpunch and put a couple of hundred divots in the rail all the way around so you make a lot of grippers that will bite into the gasket. 
Once the gasket glue is dry, transfer the valve cover to the engine.



Since you are going to sustain rpms for long durations, you MUST use a full engine breather.  You must have at least one

Offline owdlvr

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #56 on: June 10, 2010, 10:20:06 PM »
Thanks for the tips Bruce! I was going to pull the car into the garage tomorrow night to re-do the sump to case seal, so I might as well go nuts with the center punch as well. My 'test' valve covers have 1/2" hoses, so it's just a matter of plumbing them up through the tin the next time I drop the engine.

So I gather by the fact that I need some 'teeth', the gasket gets sucked in vs. me simply making a mistake installing it.

-Dave

--
'71 Type 1 - Rally Car Project
'75 Type 1 - Heirloom
'95 F150 - Unfortunate daily driver...

Offline Bruce

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Re: Dave's 1969 VW Beetle (56k beware)
« Reply #57 on: June 11, 2010, 09:40:09 AM »
So I gather by the fact that I need some 'teeth', the gasket gets sucked in vs. me simply making a mistake installing it.
Correct.  The gasket gets sucked in during high rpm.  Bigger engines do it more.