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Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:50 am

The heads should have factory vent tubes welded on to vent the rocker chambers if they are 914 porch heads.

If you do decide to hack your engine bay, make sure you seal engine bay from air entering from under Bus so that all incoming fresh cooling air is from side vents.

That rear facing fan will suck all the recycled hot from the engine going past the hot muffler creating a hotter running engine.
Those heads do not like excessive heat (sinking valve seats).

I used the same engine configuration with 914 cooling tin in a Ghia back in my teen age years. The only part I cut was the rear sealing area where the decklid closed down (on a bus that would be the rear valance). The sides where fine and I modified the tin on the engine tin on tranny side, so the I did not need to cut firewall.

Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:39 am

thanks brett, will keep that in mind. and krusher, it can and does. but thanks for the support. and for the rest who are worried about hacking up the engine bay, i have not had to cut a thing. the engine rolls right on in and the rear door closes just fine.

as i see it, i bough a $1000 truck that sat for sale for 12 years... i bought a 914 engine for 900 bucks complete because everyone wanted 3-5000 for shitty carb 1600cc motors.... i could spend the extra 1000 to convert it upright and downgrade it to carbs from fuel injection and ruin the reliability, or i can make the thing work! ive seen others around with similar set ups so it CAN be done.

didnt mean to rant, but i have actually had a lot of nay sayers whining about original this and that. im proud to be driving the truck no one wanted.

if i may ask krusher how you are so sure the engine doesnt fit?

Sun Sep 26, 2010 8:31 pm

its been a while so thought i would post some progress! :D

i have been off in the bay window forum as they have helped me out tromendously trying to get the motor working.

sorry for the late reply everyone!

pictures hey!? well i can show you what i have so far...

but of course the engine:

the engine bay far from finished. note the bug tranny & bug rear trailing arms.

more wires my god it never ends:

underside work:

for those who have told me it will never fit without an upright conversion. Door closes with room to spare! :D:

rear engine mount test fit(moustache bar):

rear engine mount fab(moustache bar):

Jan 30/09 day one:

Aug 30/10:

Aug 30/10 (in need of engine):

i have more images to add soon, the engine is in the truck now, and is running. im just setting up the throttle cable, bleeding the brakes and it should be good to go!

thanks again! :)

Sun Sep 26, 2010 8:43 pm

also finished up my simple audio set up & thought i would share.

didnt want a deck / unsightly electronics as i hate cds always scratching and the cool ones can get real pricey! So, installed a Iphone / Ipod dock in the ash tray of my 59. simple, sleek, hidden. perfect for me.

i have 2 5-1/4" polk audio speakrs powered by a 200W rms clarion amp & a 10"kenwood sub powered by a 300 watt amp. all run to 2 line level controllers on the dash to control volume and bass.

the knobs and ashtray arent epoxied yet in the vid, but are now in the stock stereo positions and are rock solid.

forgot to mention this set up doubles as gps car nav / handsfree for the phone over the speakers, MP3 player & radio via various app's offering over 25000 stations! :) im impressed.

ALSO, under the dash i have about 3 feet of audio cable with a standard plug for either the iphone ear jack / any other mp3 player or phone which also fits my laptop! :)

check out the vids & let me know what you think!
cheers

the external cable

using the cable for games!

other vids i have:

Sun Sep 26, 2010 9:25 pm

one more of the start up prior to some trouble shooting :)

Sun Sep 26, 2010 11:05 pm

What they were saying about it not fitting, is that with the rear apron in place, you will need to trim something, which with the configuration you are running, it will end up being the apron. You will want it in place for sure, and make sure it is sealed, otherwise you will be pulling the hotter air coming from the exhaust into the fan, causing the motor to run hotter than it is supposed to.

Mon Sep 27, 2010 8:59 am

yeah, i will start fabbing the engine tin soon, instead of hacking anything up for the rear apron, i will be fabbing one from scratch also. because the engine sits so tight theres not a huge gap for air unlike the stock engine.

i have already started to plan the engine tin, will just be simple sheet metal pieces, with a rubberized fire retardant material to seal tight up against the motor.

as to avoid the heat being sucked in the rear fan i plan to put a muffler on each corner keeping the hot air away from the center of the bus.

Mon Sep 27, 2010 5:12 pm

The 914 rear engine tin is better for modifying that the 72-79 bus rear tin.

It is much easier to modify than make from scratch. It fit around fan and comes up to a flat surface.

Exhaust heat is not as much of a problem as recirculating the hot air that come from cylinders under engine.

For your fuel injection, have you found a late bay tank and fuel pump.
It will give you more fuel capacity and have all the proper return lines for fuel injection. Many have done the conversion to bay fuel tanks just for the extra capacity. If you do a search you will find lots of info for the swap.

Thu Apr 07, 2011 7:04 pm

Thanks for the tips everyone! the project has been sitting all winter but it is together for the most part! the motors were from 914's, pulled to upgrade them.

as for the bigger fuel tank i wish i would have known that mod prior to buying a new split tank & rigging a fuel return in where the sender hole is.

for those concerned the firewall was not cut at all, i have pictures that i can add a bit later!

im back from working soon and hope to have the thing finished. i have talked to a few vw shops about rebuilding the motor from scratch which will make me feel a lot more confident driving it.

on top of it all, many have PM'd me asking how i rigged my IPod stereo... well here is a run down so you dont have to message me!

i call this the GreeksPod mod:

hi there!

You have to buy a connector "dock to rca" basically the dock connector shoots off to 2 rca and power wires for charging...

as for the volume knobs i ran the rca thru an inline line leveler for the master volume control, having 2 amps, i was able to piggy back the amp power but to have a bass knob i had to run another rca line all the way up to the knob location then back to the amp. a lot of wiring but the only way i knew how to do it...

works good.

so dock to rca > rca to leveler (volume)> leveler to speaker amp with a rca Y connecter > speaker amp rca (other Y connector) to knob > knob all the way back to sub amp....

the bass knob complicates the shit out of it but is nice...
the volume knob controlls speakers and bass together which is nice too so i can turn everything down quick.

i had some issues with the damn volume control being disabled when you dock it and nothing i did including hacking my iphone helped...

so, i ran a line level controller for the volume and one for the bass.

from the dock connector rca to the line level main volume knob. from the knob out to the Y connector on the speaker amp. from the Y to the other line leveler (bass) from the bass to the other amp for the bass.

complex to wrap your head around ill try and make a diagram.

heres the basic line levelers i used
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_3792_Absolute+...trol-.html

drew this up for ya... its rough but how i have it... my knobs are in the stock holes in the dash... as for mounting it in the ashtray i simply cut a rectangle in the bottom, shoved the dock through bent the inner metal piece down used a twist tie to tie the dock to the metal piece i folded down. then i taped the bottom hole and used black automotive goo rubber cement type stuff. i poured it in, which filled about a half inch of the bottom of the ashtray. i drizzled the goo over the metal bent piece and dock adapter part also, which dried and ended up being super secure and strong... will take some pics as i can.

have fun everyone!

Fri Apr 08, 2011 8:58 am

After seeing the engine installed. The cooling fan is going to be to close to the decklid.
Are you going to cut a hole behind the license-plate to get air flow into the fan.
It worked out fine for my Ghia because the decklid had alot more room between it and the fan.

Fri Apr 08, 2011 9:18 am

yeah i have thought about that quite a bit, as i cannot deny it is a close fit.

i will have to get photos when i am back home, but the custom rear apron i made has the latch moved for the hook on the rear door. when the rear lid is closed the hood and striker are actually located within the center of the fan hub :D

odd for sure, but its very minimal and everything has nice tolerances to make sure its safe. if the fan hub makes contact with the rear door latch there will be other problems im worried about :P i also stiffened up the rear apron by inserting a 1/4" thick x1.5" flat bar and welded it in nice for lateral support...

as for cutting a hole, you hit the nail on the head! i am planning to offset the licence plate an inch or so and find a company that will create some nice louvers for behind the plate. my logic with louvers is that it will keep the water out but will allow air to go in for added circulation.

i also relocated my intake to the drivers side panel with a 4" aluminum intake, i think it will allow for significantly lower intake temps rather than sucking in hot air from over the motor.

Fri Apr 08, 2011 2:44 pm

This truck looks cool. I love the Type 4 engine. I would event think a 2.1 Vanagon WBX would be cool and just hide a radiator somewhere. They have got to be populating junk yards by now. I am damn proud to see any old splitty back on the road no matter what drive train. Plus it is sitting low. Keep the pictures coming.

The 388 ring gear may be a tough one to push, so I can't wait to hear your post after the first test drive.

Tony P

Fri Apr 08, 2011 4:10 pm

I applaud the extra effort to NOT hack this truck. Make it yours without butchering. Well done. Just because people get a good deal on something like a type 4 engine, and the project car was unloved, does not give a good enough excuse to do a crappy and hard to reverse set of mods!

Sat Apr 09, 2011 5:11 pm

Hey Tony, what do you mean about the 388 ring gear specifically?
and yeah, i agree with you both and have tried my best not to hack anything more than absolutely necessary.

If someone wanted to reverse my mods, they have a couple cuts in the engine bay to tack up and a few holes to patch where i ran wires! that's it! as for my rear apron, it was toast anyways.

Anyways, i have a ton more pictures to post, and wanted to fix the missing images in this thread but am unable because the posts are locked or something! so i will start another thread and post the link here :)

thanks for all your support! :D

Sat Apr 09, 2011 7:23 pm

XPafiolis wrote: Hey Tony, what do you mean about the 388 ring gear specifically?

The late model Beetle Transaxle is normally equipped with a 3:88 ring and pinion final drive (non hypoid) gear. The 60 Type 2 normally had about 4:12 ring and pinion and the further gear reduction at the outer egde of the axle to lower the gear further. The final drive on a early type 2 after reduction gears is like 5:13 or something close.

You have removed the reductions by using IRS, and you are using the Tallest final drive gear ever offered by VW, so this will take some serious power to push. The type 4 should be up for the task, especially with smalller tires that will help you out to lower the gear some. I prefer the 4:12 on a Bus without Reduction boxes. My last t4 powered bus was a 66 Kombi with 1971 1700 Porsche 914 engine that was factory 86hp with factory dome pistons and higher compression running Dual Weber 44's. I was a little sluggish in the mountains, but worked really well in Florida. I drove to the VW classic in Cali around 97 in that bus. My buddy Rafferty had a 3:88 and IRS in 65 on that trip I think, but I don't recall exactly. Either way you will love the cruising speed, but the power may be lost down low.

Tony P

Sat Apr 09, 2011 9:44 pm

He does gain some back in the low profile tires. The originals would have been 27" tall and now he is running 175/55R15 smart car tires, diameter 22.6" ? (Correct me if I'm wrong Chris.) This means that the tire rotates approx 1.19 times to achieve the same distance as the originals. 3.88 x 1.19 = 4.635 final drive.

Sun Apr 10, 2011 4:25 am

DMUIS

Yes that low tire helps alot for sure, but the late model beetle the Transaxle came from had 165 tires not the bus tires, so the 3:88 is calculated on 25.4 inch tires, so the calculation is a little off, but you are on the right track.
From personal experience Rafferty had the 3:88 on his bus and the same time I had 4:12 and a higher HP engine than him. So I have driven both setups on a full bus. This is a Truck that is much lighter and he has a hot engine, so this may work out really nice. Can't wait for his feedback after the first drive.

Tony P

Sun Apr 10, 2011 12:20 pm

Hey guys, thanks for the optimism! i know that all these numbers will have a major impact on how the truck drives, but have no idea how to wrap my head around these, im more artistic than mathmatical! i have no idea what the diff is between a 3.88 or a 5.88 its all french to me!

by the way, i thought i would mention i had to re-create a new post on my project as i was unable to edit this one and there was many dead linked images :x

to make things simple please all shuffle over to my new post! The motor updates and vids are all coming today!

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4...highlight=