Overhead-camming a Type 1 engine

[Jadewombat]

I added the cam saddles and drilled the drain holes for the oil back to the sump. The plate will actually be square instead of that curve I cut into it to match a valve cover gasket. At some point here I'll start on drawing it up in CAD.

The bigger picture plan is to 3D render a model with the plate and cam saddles separate so I can make adjustments, 3D print up a plastic model, more adjustments, then the machining of aluminum.

[VolksRodT]

Hey, JW;
I think you're on the right track. ~25+ yrs ago, Pete Ardemea did something similar w/a chev n fordv8, & has since done all kinds of different head mods/add-ons. The parts used for heads swaps aren't important, but the idea(s) n maybe parts used for his early endeavors might be worth looking into, may save you some trouble & time. I have most of the past articles on Pete, but couldn't find them now if you paid me. IIRC, he used Fiat buckets, forget what he used for shims/lash caps. Toyota(?) cam gears n belt(?). It's the cam boxes, drives, etc that are important. Found a few links, one is selling an article from HotRod ~'94. Might be able to read it, or find it. Also the article from StreetRodder was good for parts.info. Pete lost all his tooling, parts, etc in a CA fire years ago, got some back, & is now into serious engine design/building for speed records. Searching should get you more info.

Hope I'm not causing a problem here, links are only to convey info I can't any other way.

Street Rodder, June 1994
page 94, "Convert Your Small Block Chevy to an 8000 RPM Single Overhead
Cam Motor." The article shows the Chevy conversion in detail, with a
couple of photos and some mention of a Ford Windsor conversion. It's a
cam carrier that bolts in place of the stock valve cover, two custom
Schneider cams, a custom front cover, and a mix of off-the-shelf foreign
car timing gears and belts. The price for the Chevy kit was $2595.
(Contact info is probably way out of date).
Pete Aardema
7801 Mission Center Court
Suite 200
San Diego CA 92018
619-279-6500


HotRod 2001:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aardema-Chev ... 2672190377

https://www.woonkymobile.info/super-sna ... heads.html

FWIW.
Marcus...

[Jadewombat]

Thanks Man, yeah absolutely I will check out Pete's stuff. Very interested how he did his oil passages.

I'm just starting to knock the rust off my knowledge of mocking things up in AutoCAD. The nice thing is as you said being able to change the dimensions around with different parts and move things. The valve and valve spring relative to the VW head casting don't change, but everything around it I can (bucket, cam position, etc.).

[Jadewombat]

Anyone know what type of aluminum I need to be shooting for? There's several different grades out there:

https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/metal ... num-plate/

Starting to draw it up in AutoCAD. I did a simple drawing to be able to measure how much the lifter needs to stick out of the top of the plate at an angle. The T1 head has an angle of ~10-11 degrees from vertical.

[Jadewombat]

Not too much going on with it lately. I fabbed up a valve spring removal tool as I'm not about to drop $50 on one. Popped out of the springs and made an extension so I could measure the angle of the valve from vertical which is 10 degrees.

[Jadewombat]

Mocking up and measuring a virtual lifter in AutoCAD to find out how much 10 degrees affects the stickout.

[Jadewombat]

Marcus, I tried calling Pete but couldn't get a hold of him yet. No new progress on it as life keeps getting in the way. I'll be getting a 3D printer this year to start making mock-up parts. I watched a few of this guy's videos and it's reassuring to know freevalve is doable outside of Koenigsegg.

I would really much rather go this route than mess with camshafts, lifters, cam gears, belts, etc. The plate is still necessary though and oiling passages.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ljwk-ByvjI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3cFfM3r510

[VolksRodT]

Hey, JW;
Not sure what freevalve is, isn't ringing a bell - yet. However... Ya, you knew that one was coming... . Quite a few yrs ago, is some vw mag, there was an article that really got the minds' gears turning - & has never quite left, leaving some sleepless nights. It was an article on a proof-of-concept using electric solenoids (think large pinball-flipper type solenoids) to actuate the valves, & a computer to time them. So, it could idle like a kitten, sip fuel like teetotaler, & sound n act like a fueler when needed. Never saw anything more on it, done in the 70's maybe, so computer was quite primitive. Seriously wish affordable components to duplicate that would be available. then it's just programing... Hahahhahha. ;( .
BTW, another idea might be to use desmodromic-style rockers on the ohc. See: Ducati. Why? very little spring pressure is needed. Saves a lot of power being used, keeps a lot of heat out of the engine oil, & at least in some small fashion, saves some small cost on not-needed-parts, & valve-float is hard to achieve. Of course, the desmo stuff makes up for all that... hahahhhaha... ;( .
Marcus...
Well, I'll be dipped. thanks for the links. Cnc, 3D printing, etc, don't have the stuff, nor the tech, much less the knowledge. Programing - forget that! ;( . Do have the interest though. Very interesting. Would be interesting to combine this, SS tech, "singing manifolds, & the Firestorm igniton system. & then add: Stanley Meyers "fuel" injection system. Probably end up fighting each other, but I'd be game. Probably end up getting snuffed sooner rather than later for attempting to revive "forbidden" fruit(s). Still game to try... . Trying to acquire all the tech, esp the last one, is 'way outta my knowledge-base. Electronics are *not* my thing. sadly. ;( .
Marcus...

[Jadewombat]

Yessir, will have to check out the Ducati style. The guy put a light spring in there as a failsafe in case the solenoid stopped working the valve won't interfere with the piston.

There are many, many reasons for more precise valve control (you can use a square wave instead of a sine wave to hold the valve open longer) different "cam" profiles across the whole range...the thing that always has bothered me about modifying VW engines is you change one or two things and the reliability goes way down (dual valve springs mean more load on the valvetrain and engine, etc.). Koenigsegg did a freevalve on a generic 4 cylinder turbo engine and generated 50% more power. My guess is a significant amount of the 50% gain isn't just the valve timing, but you're simply not compressing very heavy valve springs anymore and the engine spins freer.

I love Koenigsegg's stuff and his videos. He's done a lot of innovative things that make you question the other car manufacturers essentially follow each other all these years. Check out the one on his direct drive transmission.

[Piledriver]

"direct drive transmission."
The engineering wonders of a big ass lockup torque converter.

The freevalve stuff actually rocks. Google is your friend (most of the time).

The fellow on youtube, give him props for trying, but those pneumatic solenoids arent doing anything but on/off, and not at any reasonable speed.
The freevalve stuff is not really much like that, beyond the fact it uses solenoids to control valve motion. it actually controls the motion...

you can make damn near anything run for some definitions of "runs"/

[Jadewombat]

I agree there's probably not a solenoid you and I could buy to give higher lift (control how far the valve goes in and out) but it's still worlds better to, again, free up a lot of wasted mechanical energy on the drivetrain to not compress 8 springs and to be able to control the "cam profile", different durations across the entire rev. range...well worth going down this road to try it.

[Chris Andrews]

Well, I'm diggin where this thread is heading.

Perhaps contact Bryan Hyerstay, a NHRA G/Dragster competitor and record holder.

Brian runs bespoke CNC billet DOHC cylinder heads on his air-cooled Type 1 based engine.