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Fri Jul 17, 2009 9:00 pm

Have to play the 'Proud Dad' role here and tell about my daughter building her own motor.

Quick history....At 14 my daughter bought her first car, a '74' bug.......

.........and spent about 2yrs restoring it.....

Came out purdy dang good 8)

At the time we put in a used motor, it ran good for the past few years but now needs attention. So for the past year she started saving her babysitting $$$ and about a month ago she started ordering parts. She wanted a daily driving but something a little stonger than a 1600, didn't have a big budget and decided on a mild 1776.
So we found a used case, an AS21.

The wife let us take over more space in the basement and she started tearing it down

Turns out it was a welded case, not completed filled in but we were very happy :D More to follow soon........

Fri Jul 17, 2009 9:18 pm

That is a nice looking bug. I think it's very cool she is rebuilding it herself. Good luck with the rebuild.....proud dad! :)

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Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:30 pm

Very cool!

Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:54 pm

Very cool dad. But daughter should really wear nitrile gloves. The oil and junk are very hard on bare skin.

I always wear nitriles on teardown.

The engine got saved in time. LOoks like it is ready to eat a bearing.

Sat Jul 18, 2009 3:12 am

Very good.

So whats the new engine spec just a stock 1600 bumped to 1776?

get her to port her own heads next http://www.cal-look.com/tech_head_porting.shtml

Sat Jul 18, 2009 3:27 am

Coming from a mildy skilled (at best) guy that has been around VWs for the last 30 years, yet still is too intimidated to attempt my own rebuild and opt for the assembled long blocks.....I read with envy. You've raised a good kid there. Congrats on both the beautiful bug and the tallented daughter. Way to go dad!!! :D

Sat Jul 18, 2009 4:59 am

Nice! I can't wait to do this with my daugher. She is only 2 1/2 but she keeps telling me that she wants to build her own engine and that she wants a "Beetle Bugger"! So that will be fun and the wife cant complain that i will be bringing more VW's into the yard! :lol:

Sat Jul 18, 2009 5:52 am

The way I see it, they can complain all the want, as long as I have a couple of them.

Sat Jul 18, 2009 6:44 am

Great DAD, you cannot help but be a extremely proud father. Heck all of us are proud of you and your daughter.
She will know the engine and hear any lil thinkg that may sound out of sync.
Does she do transmissions?

Sat Jul 18, 2009 7:48 am

That's just great to see. You have every right to be a proud Dad, congratulations. =D>

Sat Jul 18, 2009 7:59 am

Way cool Scott! 8)

Max

Sat Jul 18, 2009 8:12 am

I think that's awesome on all fronts.Gloves and eye protection are a good idea,too.Keep us posted with your progress.

Sat Jul 18, 2009 9:18 am

The dirty hands, grease,and pink top are memories to cherish for ever :D Nice work proud papa !!!

Sat Jul 18, 2009 9:21 am

I've a grease-monkey as well - and look forward to the rebuild/restore with her. Thanks for the encouragement.
:D

Sat Jul 18, 2009 9:50 am

nsracing wrote: Very cool dad. But daughter should really wear nitrile gloves. The oil and junk are very hard on bare skin.
I always wear nitriles on teardown.
The engine got saved in time. Looks like it is ready to eat a bearing.
She wears gloves most of the time, she found out what cleaner and whatnot does to bare skin :shock: It did lose a bearing or something, you can see lots of metal shaving in the bottom of the case in one of those pics. We got it for free and took a chance it wasn't toast.

krusher wrote: Very good.
So whats the new engine spec just a stock 1600 bumped to 1776?

Pretty much. We upped the cam slightly from stock to give it a little extra bump.

ddwbeagles wrote: Coming from a mildy skilled (at best) guy that has been around VWs for the last 30 years, yet still is too intimidated to attempt my own rebuild and opt for the assembled long blocks.....I read with envy. You've raised a good kid there. Congrats on both the beautiful bug and the tallented daughter. Way to go dad!!! :D
I'm in the same boat, I guess I should mention we're not doing this motor totally on our own. We've got a friend that owns a great local VW shop and he's mentoring her through the building of the motor.

Once the case was apart we had it all machined. Another nice suprise was it had never been machined so we had a virgin case to start with. Next, clean, clean, clean......

Next was building the crank. Did lots of sanding to get the clearances we wanted.

More cleaning.....

Assembly and checking for clearances

Final assembly :D

Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:13 am

Great job!

If you don't have one a bench top engine stand will really come in handy and make assembly so much easier. http://cbperformance.com/catalog.asp?ProductID=1051

You can probably find a used one for much cheaper too.

Good luck and have fun!

Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:45 am

she's a future miss america ! very cool 8)

Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:18 am

Nice job. Be sure to catch the smile on her face when if first fires up.

Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:31 am

Very cool, great job. I now need to know where to get the pruple gloves?
I have two daughters that have started working on the family cars/truck.
I get to stand around like a Caltrans(Calif joke)foreman and tell them what and how to do it.

Nice color choice on the bug 8)

Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:32 am

Great job. It is really nice to see a teen with real ambition. I know that Bug will never never be out of tune.