68 baja build

[bikesndbugs]

Yeah its a 12v
Picked up a clutch and the rest of the doghouse parts.
Hopefully going on this weekend.

If I feel up to it I'm getting wisdom teeth pulled

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[bikesndbugs]

Got some done. Motor is half in struggling to get it fully installed. Not sure why.
Brakes are together but need a full system bleed.

Dohouse cooling is now on my new motor.

New clutch and pressure plate.

[dustymojave]

My wisdom teeth were all 4 pulled one day when I was 20. 4 hours of surgery. Drugs were fun afterward until I sobered up.

Sounds like you're making progress.

[bikesndbugs]

bad news.
that motor i bought has an odd sound. sort of a knock but not heavy enough to be and rod knock and sounds like its not as deep as a rod knock possibly wrist pin.
so not sure what im gonna do. does appear to have brand new single port heads. and maybe the case is good.

[bikesndbugs]

Been beating around the bush for a while but it looks like I have to actually build a motor.

My buddy just bought a 62 baja. No lift bigger wheels and widish tires. 1600sp with a zenith carb. Runs good burns oil but is way faster than my car.
Actually slides in corners.
Unlike mine
I now understand what dusty meant when he said predictable that car does exactly what I want it to.
Mine on the other hand does not.

Discussed it with my dad. And ive come to the conclusion that my issue is motor more so than. Anything else.
Looking for a really snappy motor. Similar to my friends.


Thick wall 1835 with a mild cam? That doesn't leave carb money.

Standard 1600 single port with a bit more of a cam and a good carb?

I have 1600 single port heads in good condition and another brand new set that have no vaulvetrain.

Leaning towards single port for that reason.

I have the dual kads do those give a "snappy" feel?
Possibly a double barrel webber.

My uncle offered me his old webber one but its on a 2180 or something like that so might be too big.


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[sideshow]

You want to be thinking big motor, small cam. Single ports are fine and while offer less peak, they remain popular in off-roading.

John C has some down to earth advise http://www.aircooled.net/vw-performance-engines/

[bikesndbugs]

i was thinking bigger cam smaller motor as i tend to drive flat out alot when offroad and spend alot of time at wot

[sideshow]

Video game driving style is not useful off road, unless your goal is to break as many parts as possible.

[CentralWAbaja]

Video game driving style is not useful off road, unless your goal is to break as many parts as possible.

Well shoot now you tell me!

[Ol'fogasaurus]

i was thinking bigger cam smaller motor as i tend to drive flat out alot when offroad and spend alot of time at wot

If you are planning on driving WOT (standing on the loud pedal) then get yourself a lot of tools, parts and basic materials along with a hefty check book or card

[bikesndbugs]

my wot usually happens in washes and corners to get the rear to slide out a bit.
through rough stuff i take it easy.

i dont want too much top end for reliability sake and so i dont always have to rev it high.
i was thinking maybe an engle 110 with an 1835 thickwall or 1776. thickwall 1835s require decking though right? so mild cam 1776 with daul cads.

as far as heads idk

[dustymojave]

The thick wall 92mm cylinders are the same casting and external machining as 94 cylinders. I've observed issues with the sides of the barrels interering with the head studs. The case does not need to be "decked" as you put it, but the bores in the case need to be the same as for 94s. that cuts into the case savers for the head studs and weakens the case in that area. I don't approve of 94s and don't approve of thick wall 92s. Some advertise 2mm thicker wall than for 92s, but it would be 1mm per side, not 2mm per side. If they are the cylinders that do not interfere with the head studs, then the walls are no thicker in the stud grooves than the 92s I've used since the early 1970s and that were used to build the winningest engine combination in the history of offroad racing - the 2180. My early 70s cylinders touched 10mm studs and were right next to 8mm studs. I still consider those to be the biggest cylinder that can properly be used in a VW T1 case. Sure...Lots of people use 94s to build 1914s and 2332s, but I've seen a number of failures related to using them. I've had "thin wall" 92s last for 300,000 miles of on and offroad hard use. Pre-running, racing off road, and daily driver. My own for instance. Never had an issue with failure due to thin cylinder walls. I drove the same 1835 in my daily driver. You've seen pics of my 1965 with it climbing jeep trails, and used it without rebuilding in my HiJumper to win races and a championship, then used it for play for many years and hundreds of thousands of miles. Never once overheated that engine. Finally cracked that case at the end of the main oil galley and popped the plug to end its life. And in fact, a few years ago, I had the set of 92s out on the bench that I bought in 1973 and used in that 1835, and a set of new 85.5mm stock 1600 cylinders, at a time when there was a discussion online about 92s not being reliable because of the thin-wall issue. The walls measured the same thickness at the stud groove and at the fins. I still don't buy into the BS about "thin-wall" 92s. There MAY HAVE BEEN some cheap brand sold in the 1970s that had particularly thin walls, but I never encountered them. Cylinders NEVER fail at the base spigot where the thick wall cylinders are truly thicker than the thin walls. Ensure the cylinders you get are quality by buying a quality brand.

As for single port vs dual port...Yeah...I prefer dual ports. But I have a great deal of respect for single port heads too. Tough to find single port manifolds for Kadrons. They exist, but are not common. Talk to Jeff Laine at Kaddyshack about them.

[dustymojave]

Oh, 100 or 110 0cam make good sense for general offroad.

Dunes guys want lots of top end hp @WOT. They'll tell you to get a bigger cam. Then they can buy you a new gearbox to replace your grenade.

I had lots of fun in my '58 Baja for decades with a 1385 (40hp 1200 with 1500 size 83mm cylinders) with a Norris 330 cam (same as an Engle 100) and stock heads with a stock 28mm Solex. Climbed lots of hills around 4x4s that had failed. Flew over whoops cresting them, with that little engine. One good thing was that while I wore out a couple of gear boxes, I never broke one with that combo.

Tire size can help with apparent power. Too big of a tire for engine and gear ratio can bog the engine down. Your friend may have 4.37 gears as well as the bigger carb while yours probably has 4.12s.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Where you ride in the sand does make a difference. In the Imperial Dunes things are more wide open than in other areas and you can use the higher speeds but where I ride there is only none area where one can safely get higher speeds. Where I ride it is more like trail and hill climbing but in sand base.

The cam grind I had ground for me was what is often referred to as a "grunt" or RV grind. Basically it is a cam with a high lift but a shorter duration which gives you more torque at the bottom end. The grinds Dusty suggested I think are closer to the RV grinds so it should be a good mix for sand and off-road where you are working more at slower/bottom end speeds where torque is more important than it would be at the top end.

As far as engine size things are a bit difference now that the AA pistons and barrel sets are now available. Also consider "stroking" your engine for more bottom end torque. It might be a bit more expensive but as long as you don't good with too big of a stroke you aren't messing with opening up the case either.

Just some thoughts.

Lee

[sideshow]

Its like 30 minutes to swap a basic baja motor. Don't over think this like it is the last swap you will ever do.

To get by, just make the best stock parts, solid designed, conservative carbed, nothing made by EMPI.

If you want to do a hi-RPM mill, reduce the curb weight by at least 1,500 lbs first and bring a tow/recovery vehicle.