72 VW beetle engine rebuild

[cgarr]

Well it finally puked. Leaking too much oil and no compression on one cylinder. I will post the rebuild progress here, its been about 30 years since I rebuilt one of these so this should be fun. One question, who is the best supplier for engine parts like gasket kits, big bore cylinder kits etc? I taint going to go crazy with this, I will keep it pretty much stock. The old time suppliers I have used in past were places like bugpatch and Clyde's buggies (CB)

[Jagshund]

That 'leak' rivals the Gulf spill . . .

[Tim Hancock]

I have not rebuilt one since highschool in the 80's, but back then JC Whitney had the cheapest standard rebuild kits. A quick Google search shows they still sell them starting at $250.

Here is a link that might make for a nice refresher on some various routes to go. Engine Costs - Tech Review - VW Trends Magazine

There is/was a place in Toledo called Mini Performance that always has specialized in VW engine machining/building. I assume they are still in business as they machined my 911 heads for me several years ago. If you need some head machining work, they might be of interest to you.

[cgarr]

I forgot all about JC Whitney! complete rebuild gasket sets for $14 P&C's big bore $140 forged scat crank $395 worth going all out compared to what I am used to!!! No interest or payment for 90 days too!

[cgarr]

Progress!

[jyl]

I like those old Bugs. Cool to see you're keeping one on the road. Any hot-rodding planned?

[Brando]

Ditch the Solex and go with duals!

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by cgarr

Progress!

Brings back a lot of memories.... In highschool, I could have my engine out in 15 minutes flat.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Brings back a lot of memories.... In highschool, I could have my engine out in 15 minutes flat.

Me, 45 minutes. Memories indeed. I must have dropped 10 of those.

[EarlyPorsche]

Good progress and best of luck. Make sure you measure the lifter bores. A friend of mine rebuilt a bug engine twice because of a "knock." Finally, someone told him that his lifters are probably rattling around in the bore. He checked the tolerance and sure enough that was the problem. You can have your bores sleeved really cheap out in CA.

[Carrerax]

Ya know.....a few beers and you can get a 911 motor in there!...well a few beers and a torch!

[cgarr]

Well I found the problem. I could almost spin #2 cylinder head nuts off by hand. Thats the easy part now I have to machine the case the same for all 4 cylinders and flycut the heads to match. Thats why it was popping and leaking a lot of oil.

[Evans, Marv]

Craig,
The last VW engine I built was a 1,776 (cause it was the biggest displacement w/o machining the case), dual carbs and a mild street cam, and a really good balancing job. I really loved that engine in my '65.

[NY65912]

CB Performance aka Claudes Buggies.

I've bought tons of good parts from them over the years.

They supplied me with parts for an 1835cc, big valve heads, dual 44mm Webers back in the early 80's. I grafted a 901 into my Karmahn Ghia. Very fast car. I raced a '80 911 SC on the FDR here in NYC. They guy could'nt believe I was keeping up with him, especially when we both threw 5th! Great days!

Be careful it's another slippery slope

[HelmetHead]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

Craig,
The last VW engine I built was a 1,776 (cause it was the biggest displacement w/o machining the case), dual carbs and a mild street cam, and a really good balancing job. I really loved that engine in my '65.

I also built a 1776cc motor for mine...lightened flywheel, balanced bottom end and a scat procar tranny with 4 something ring and pinion...which was good for about 70mph at redline totally worthless on the freeway but what a HOOT from stoplight to stoplight!



Although its been 20 years since i've messed with Vdubs...These places I bought from still provide performance and restoration parts.

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Good luck!
Einar

[widebody911]

I've done a few of these...

[NY65912]

VW's.....the gateway drug to Porsches.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Me, 45 minutes. Memories indeed. I must have dropped 10 of those.

Same here then finally made mine a "Baja Bug" with the rear center section cut off and could drop the puppy in 10-15 minutes.

Loved the old bugs... if I had a bigger garage would get another one!

[rcooled]

For parts, as well as good tech info, try aircooled.net. Stay away from J.C. Whitney. It might be more cost effective to just replace the piston/cylinder set instead of machining the existing stuff. It's cheap insurance against future problems too. Same for the heads. If you flycut too deeply, you'll raise the compression ratio causing the motor to run hot and invite pre-ignition. It'll also alter the rocker arm geometry which can lead to damaged valve stems. You can compensate for this by shimming the rocker assys or shortening the push rods. If you're gonna open the case, don't be tempted to have the main bearing saddles line bored. This will ruin the case.

If you have a stumble off idle with that motor, replace the mechanical advance distributor with a stock vacuum advance unit. That'll cure it.

Here's a link to aircooled.net: VW parts for your Aircooled Volkswagen-Aircooled.Net Aircooled Volkswagen Parts

The best air-cooled VW forums, tech help and classifieds can be found here: TheSamba.com :: Volkswagen Classifieds, photos, shows, forums, and information

[cgarr]

Got a little work done on the case. One head was loose and worked the cylinder into the case so it had to be machined flat again. I took off .020 and will use the same thickness base gasket for this one side. Next is to flycut and rebuild the heads. I ordered all the parts, it only came to about $450 with all new p&c's lifters, oil pump and all the other goodies.