Safari Turbo/Megasquirt Fuel Injection Project

[CobraJet]

Fiatdude, That is one clean looking engine compartment on a neat old bug!

What year is that '57 or '58? My old bug had the same rear window and same tail lights. Wish that I had pictures of it, only took pics of the engine. It was my 1st taste into VW's (late '70s) and I still remember how it surprised many with it's performance.

BTW, how did you run all of those wires front to back? I remember running about half that many in the channel through my roof line and had one hell of a time fishing those through!

[Clonebug]

Small update,

Pulled some of the oil plugs out and then rewashed the whole case again at work with a hot water pressure washer and some degreaser sprayed on for good measure.
It's looking pretty clean if I do say so myself.
I also pulled the oil pressure relief plugs, springs and pistons. I used a piece of vacuum hose I had laying around and it happened to be a tight fit into the pistons and they came out like butter!!! WOOT!!
The machine shop also called and said my crank was finished so I went and picked that up too.
All main and rod journals came out nice and round but they are 0.10 in. under.

The mains on the case are standard and the thrust is like new.

I am going to have to start ordering parts soon.......

I have found that the CB unitech rods are not in stock at CB Performance or VWParts.net so I need to figure out which rods to use unless I want to wait till February.....NOT.

Anyone have any suggestions as to which rods to use instead?

Clonebug

[Piledriver]

I have a set of the Unitech+ rods, I had them modded for 24mm pins,plenty of meat to go larger if desired.
They are completely in spec, and within 1/8th gram total, about the same end to end.

Having said that. next time, I will be buying the SCAT I beams, simply based on the rod cross section at the base of the beam that gives me the willies (solely on appearance, but I visualize an unnecessary stress nightmare lurking there based on a few comments from folks who should know)

The CB rods are certainly stronger than stockers, but laid side by side with the equivalent SCAT rods there is a huge difference.

[Clonebug]

I have a set of the Unitech+ rods, I had them modded for 24mm pins,plenty of meat to go larger if desired.
They are completely in spec, and within 1/8th gram total, about the same end to end.

Having said that. next time, I will be buying the SCAT I beams, simply based on the rod cross section at the base of the beam that gives me the willies (solely on appearance, but I visualize an unnecessary stress nightmare lurking there based on a few comments from folks who should know)

The CB rods are certainly stronger than stockers, but laid side by side with the equivalent SCAT rods there is a huge difference.

I'll go check them out.

Thanks Pile.

Clonebug

[yvre]

If money is tight, why not using stock rods? They're pretty strong.

[Coyote]

If money is tight, why not using stock rods? They're pretty strong.

the rods, but not the bolts. in a turbo application I would not trust them.
Scat I beam are very fine and strong with ARP bolts and they are balanced end to end. I am using them in my engine. Even if the budget is tight, I think it's better to rebuild a strong bottom engine.
For peace of mind, a good rods set is a cheap investissment.

[Clonebug]

Update,

I Have to say that I don't have much experience with building or rebuilding engines but I think I do have a fair amount of common sense and I can do pretty well anything I put my mind to. It will just take me longer and I might have a screw up or two.
This "H" case engine I have been running for the last 5 or so years has served me well even though I probably abused it more than it deserved and it just kept on running.
It has never left me stranded in all this time.
That said... I started taking it apart tonight with the slim and possibly stupid hope that I could save the pistons and liners and reuse them to save some money.





This is where the common sense comes in and here are some more pics of what I found.

I am almost sure that something is very wrong with my #2 cylinder and piston. The clearance between the piston and liner at BDC is very large. I was able to slide a 0.012 in. feeler gauge in there. #4 was just as bad but #1 and#3 seemed a lot tighter.....weird.

I measured my pistons at the bottoms and came up with 3.365 in. on the skirts and 3.345 in. at the pin boss areas. The piston tops above the rings were 3.345 in. also. This is all with my mic slide gauge and not a "C" style Micrometer. Haynes said 3.36 in.



Rod end play was 0.012 in. also but according to Haynes manual it is actually still in spec since max is .016 in.
I think just to be safe I am going to toss the P/L's and start new.

Heads look pretty good to me but I could be wrong. I would say they look pretty darn good considering that I was not the easiest with them during my education period.
They are a little black but the last few runs were pig rich too. Valve tops look good and rockers seem nice and tight.





Here is my thoughts on what to do.

Use the stock crank since it polished out nice and is in spec at .010 under on all journals. I plan on not going above 5500 rpm and only that high in very short bursts if at all. Most times will be 5000 rpm max.
Get a set of Scat I beam rods with 3/8 bolts since the CB Unitechs are out of stock.
Silverline bearings for mains and rods. Get double thrust bearings for the cam.
I am torn on the cam. Due to price I am thinking a stock cam and lifters to stop the snowball effect. approx $75.00
Higher lift cam requires new springs, solid rockers, and and higher cost cam and cam gear ( approx $200.00) where as stock comes with a gear.
If I ever go FI it will be with the German plenum stock setup and CB ends. I do not want to have too much reversion to ruin the idle quality by having too much overlap.
Reuse the stock aluminum pushrods. They seem in great shape.
New push rod tubes.
I am tempted to look into the AA 87 mm 1641 P/L kit at $119.00 since it is cheap power but am concerned that they will not hold up to 12 to 14 lbs. of boost. Otherwise it would have to be the 85.5 mm stock set which is $199.00 or more. Mahle 1641 P/l are over $350 which is out of my range at this time.

If I had the disposable income I would love to build a 2165 or a 2276 but the budget and/or economy does not allow that at this time.
Besides..... I would probably kill myself with that much power........

Any advice to the contrary is invited as this is a learning experience for me and I am willing to change things for the better if it makes sense.
My original goal was to do a stock turbo project and low budget so I should try to stick with that.

Thanks
Clonebug

[shok]

All I can add is it seems you were on the verge of having more power than the car could really put down, and the only thing that held you back were the carb issues and the clutch, so yeh a bigger motor would probably make something bad happen
Aren't the 1641 P&Ls the ones that get a bad rap for being too thin and warping? I don't think the extra 41 cc will even matter in your setup from a power standpoint.

[CobraJet]

I had the same thing happen on my T4 1700. My thoughts were to do a quick and cheap throw it all together engine. I was hoping to reuse the P&C's but after measurements with a mic, it just made the best sence to go new.

[Clonebug]

When I got done cleaning the AE engine case the other day I stopped and picked up some Sea Foam Deep Creep to protect my freshly polished crank from moisture damage and since it worked so well for that i thought I would spray a bit on the case hardware too in order to keep the bolts from rusting.
I sprayed it on the oil pickup and all the case studs and then by that time most of the outside of the case was covered.
I also sprayed a bit on the rest of the case to protect that too since I don't have a firm timeline on reassembly.

This morning I go into the garage to get a little fresh air and ponder my junk pile when I walk by the AE case and see this!!!!

You can see the shiny spots where the Deep Creep is covering the case and here is a little area that is not covered surrounding a funny looking spot.



If I look really close it looks like a casting fault but could it be a crack in the case????

This would really SUCK!!!!



Now I'm all in a panic!!!

Clonebug

[kubelguy13]

Have you mic'd the bore with the case together?

Stick a soldering torch on the crack and see if the crack seeps oil
if it does it is a crack if it doesnt it is a casting flaw.

[Clonebug]

Thanks Kubel,

I will give that a try.

I hope is is only a casting flaw. I looked at it again a while ago and it didn't seem like anything more than a casting flaw but the torch test will tell.
I don't have the fancy mic tools so I had a guy inspect it with a journal jig and it came out standard. When I bolt it together with just the two center bolts hand tight it is daylight free so it seems to be in good shape.

Clonebug

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Got a hold of Rob @ Action Auto Parts and the grinder is in Tacoma: Delta Cams @ 1-800-562-5500.

His grind is a W100 or a W110 which is like an Engle Cam and Rob (an old AC guy) thinks they are pretty good.

Rob got into cam gears but that is something you would have to talk to Delta about (as what you have or need and so on). He also faces lifters.

Lee

[Clonebug]

Got a hold of Rob @ Action Auto Parts and the grinder is in Tacoma: Delta Cams @ 1-800-562-5500.

His grind is a W100 or a W110 which is like an Engle Cam and Rob (an old AC guy) thinks they are pretty good.

Rob got into cam gears but that is something you would have to talk to Delta about (as what you have or need and so on). He also faces lifters.

Lee

That is the same place I was referred to by Nate.

I guess I'll have to break down and call them. They have a pretty cool website though.

http://deltacam.com/camshaftgrinding.php

Check out some of the videos on the clickable pages....cool stuff!!

Edit

I just called them and I will be sending my cam and lifters in for regrind.
They are going to grind it to a more compatible turbo grind for me.


Clonebug

[Coyote]

My bet : it is a casting flaw.