$6500 for a 36 hp rebuild

[sconord]

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=214432
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[Miguel Arroyo]

I believe he is recognized as an expert. However that is a lot of money. If you just want performance and not "original look" get something else.

[Jake Raby]

When I built 36 HP engines I charged 5K for one done right.. Finding parts is a NIGHTMARE! I would spend 2 solid days locating everything for a rebuild on the phone..

All of it adds up to time, and time cost- effort, especially exceptional effort costs even more..
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Jake Raby
Raby Engine Development
www.rabyenginedevelopment.com
"I've never given anyone Hell, I just told them the truth and they thought it was Hell"

[65BAJA]

I want to know how much HP one of these things puts out. $6.5k for biral cylinders and dual port Okrasa heads is probably a good deal if the build is quality.
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All the good deals in the world will still make you poor.

I'll finish it!... Some day....
Edit, I started in 2003 and still haven't built a driving Baja. lol

[nsracing]

I did a longblock 36HP last year. The gentleman told me that this one shop was asking $2800 for a longblock...blah..blah...blah and so forth.

I did the job for under $750 to build this thing and he provided all the parts. I did all the machine work and detail work. Well...needless to say, if some can charge that much for a straight assembly without even doing critical machine work, I think it will not be long before others catch on too.

I can tell you that I had so much fun machining the parts on this tiny motor. The heads are so freaking small it was hilarious.

I think shops are charging more because they can and they know you will pay for it. Much of the toolings out there are geared to late cases and so forth. Not too many shops are tooled up for this tiny motor.

But make no mistake, there are small operators out there that will run circles on a lot of shops that do charge a lot.

Just shop around.

I learned it is not nice to make fun of someone else's work. When it comes to machining VW parts, I will just keep my fun to myself.

Good luck.

[60sunroof]

nsracing did you really look at what is for sale here?it's not just a old 36 with a teflon cam gear is a very rare piece.

yea you might be able to put out a 36 together with n.o.s parts or good used
but when you have been around as long as this guy and can source the special parts on this motor you will charge for them to.

[clearsurf2001]

[Alan Willis]

That is NOT a 36hp rebiuld people, that is an OKRASA 1500cc CONVERSION MOTOR!!! Hell yes that motor is worth $6,500! Actually it is worth MORE than that! Any 50's gearhead would love to have that motor for the power it produces alone! Know your facts about a motor before you bitch about a price!
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die schwarzen Schafe #666

[sconord]

For sake of argument, It is worth $25,960.

OK, that being said... What does it do that makes it worth that. Power wise. Is it a 36 hp case with 1500cc pistons? Or is it a 36 hp case pushing the power of a 1915 or 2200cc engine?

Is it meant as a 36 hp case that acts as a sleeper engine?


Also, if it does produce a 2200cc type output, how does it do it?

Simple questions, not a flaming war. Adults please...
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[tuna]

[sconord]

Perfect. Now I get it.

It is keeping the vintage look with having more power (1200 appearance with 1500cc power).

The way the ad sounds is that these engine produce monsterous power.

I did not know if they were getting >1915 power out of them. If they were, I would want one.
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[coolairX2]

This is an identical Okrasa engine I built for my 50 split. I purchased the P&C's from Joe and built the engine myself. It is a 1500cc and runs very strong. I have not dyno'd my engine but it feels stronger than any stock 1600' engine, but not stronger than a performance 1700 or 1800. I am going to drop it soon and raise the compression a bit more. I could have used a Porsche crank and bump it to 1600cc which is the max you could 'easily' get out of a 36hp case. I would guess hp at 80+ with pretty good torque off the line

Anyone at the last Litchfield may have seen my car with this engine. It is a sleeper Okrasa as it looks identical from the outside.
As far as the price its expensive but any Okrasa is going to cost some fairly large coin. I paid 3.5k just for the basic Okrasa parts 3 years ago. This included (unstamped block, crank, heads, new P&C's, carbs, manifolds, lightened flywheel). Then add the machining, balancing, case Dow plating, new parts (912 83mm P&C's($900 alone), Isky grind cam, fuel line, balance tubes, crank pulley etc). and you are into the 8-9k range easy if someone is building it for you, so all in all its not a bad price.

-Craig