crazy vw v-twin engine project

[motorlou]

Hi guys, my name is Lou. i have been lurking around for awhile now reading and pulling tech info. what a great site! i am originally from california, born and raised. a couple of years back i decided to relocate overseas to chile where my wife and parents are from. in that time i also spent some time in Oz. and new zealand working. when i was in california i had a shop building chopper motorcycles. i would work with both harley and metrics, i love all engines to be honest. my dad was an auto mechanic by trade and we had a shop growing up. i always dreamed about having a vw bug but for some reason or another i never did. to make a long story short i have had a dream for the last several years about a very special project. i thought i would come here to share the vision and also ask for technical help from the gurus themselves. here it is.....i want to make a v-twin engine using barrels, pistons and heads from a vw bug. the thing that attracts me to this is that the parts are so readily available and budget friendly. vw's have a big following and it also allows me to have different cc displacements at my leisure, unlike harley, which i have owned many mind you. i will be casting my own cases and utilizing harley connecting rods, modified flywheels and cam gears. i am attaching a link to a youtube video of a radial engine made using vw barrels and heads. it is not a v-twin but basically what the guy did to the heads is what i will be running on my project. i will leave you guys a few pics of some of my past project. i hope you like them and i look forward to sharing pics and info about this project for anyone that is interested. thank you in advance, Lou

[motorlou]

forgot the youtube link dooooh!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyRJeZ6s8uM

[67rustavenger]

Well, it appears that you have fabrication skills. Those bikes are nice and very different.

Now casting a "V" twin case will be a challenge to be sure. But go for it.

IIRC there was a company in Chile that was attempting to make 6,8,12 cylinder VW based engines. I didn't see one running just pictures of the cases. It was an interesting adventure for sure.

Instead of a "V" twin. Why not try a "V" 4? That would be really different.

Good Luck.

I'll be watching with interest.
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[motorlou]

thank you for the reply, yes sir i considered a v-twin in a v4 configuration but i am into the skinny looking engines. i have been studying this for a while now. i will be fabricating this in two versions: a small to mid range cc displacement and then a big cc displacement. version 1 will have stock size cylinders/pistons and 2 versions of cylinder heads (stock valve and big valve), ranging from 77mm-92mm bores and 69mm strokes, this will give me cc displacements of 642-917CC. version 2 will be the big bore engine with big valve heads only. i will change the stroke to 82mm and use 90.5mm-94mm pistons/ long cylinders (possibly stroker pistons) which will give me cc displacements of 1054-1138cc. i am studying another option that would allow me to bump this version up to 1300cc. this is all very loose terminology that i am talking about here. there are many variables and technical stuff to consider but this in general is what i got planned.

[EverettB]

Sorry but it appeared that your original photos in this thread were not a VW and were removed from the site.

If that was a mistake and it was a VW-powered motorcycle or a motorcycle utilizing VW parts, please repost them.
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[motorlou]

sorry bout that guys, they where just pictures of choppers projects i built to show some of my work. once i start posting pics will the pictures of this vw based vtwin engine project be ok? i am using vw heads, cylinders, pistons, pushrods, oil pump ect. i thought this would be something cool to show here even though it is going to be a motorcycle engine.

[EverettB]

Yes, the new stuff will absolutely be ok.

For your old stuff, if it's not VW, post it on http://imgur.com or another free source and you can link to them here.
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[HankScorpio]

Cool idea, definitely a challenge.
The one thing I'm curious about, is the Vtwin a good design? Sorry I'm not a motorcycle guy, or an engine designer. The weird crank design in the VTwin has always seemed questionable too me. Like an early experiment that should have died off but didn't. I have suspected it only lives on because you would loose the unique Harley engine note with a more complete conventional design...
Also check out the docu-drama miniseries Harley and the davidsons I can't recall if it was history channel or discovery but really entertaining early history of the company

[motorlou]

yeah you are totally right on all that. being that i started with japanese bikes and moved on up to harleys, you come to realize the differences in technology(and accept them!). japanese bikes are definately precision machines while harleys are a big chunk of iron as sharp as a bowling ball ha ha ha. for me it is the feel of the bike and the sound that make the experience. i know that i am not making a high performance machine with this project but i have a few ideas about the flywheel design and other technical aspects that will make this project at least equal to or alittle better than harley technology. thats the challenge anyway. at the very least it will be a good looking engine! ha ha ha

[motorlou]

alright guys, well today was my 45th birthday so i figured i would kick it off by starting my 45 degree vtwin project...oh the irony ha ha ha. anyhow, i was givin a load of mixed parts from a 1600 and 1300cc engines mostly bad but a few good here and there. today i cut the heads and next step will be to put them on the lathe and mill. here are some pics of what we are looking at. mind you this is a prototype so i am not worried about cosmetic of the parts at this time, just funcionality. i will be using the 1600 jugs and some harley connecting rods. i am making my own flywheels so i will be able to give this whatever stroke i want. i will begin with a 74mm stroke and the 85.5 bore= +/- 849.73cc (two jugs). also some pics of the jugs i am copying from the rotary engine.

[motorlou]

sorry, this is what i am copying

[motorlou]

alright guys, i am in need of some technical help now. i have to make a decision on which cylinder/piston kit i will be purchasing for this project. let me breifly explain what i will be doing and hopefully the logic will make somewhat sense. basically i am reverse engineering this design. i will be designing the engine to the biggest specs i can get it to by using bolt on cylinders/pistons without changing the cylinder bolt pattern on a stock 1600cc engine. that will allow me to go smaller if i want. i have tried to inform myself as best i can reading topics on the samba relating to boring spigots ect to accept bigger cylinder barrels. i was given a 1300cc motor with a few barrels and also some 1600cc barrels with pistons. i went to the shop this afternoon and verified that the 1600cc barrels do fit the 1300cc engine spigot like i have read on the samba. i measured the spiggot the best i could with a ruler. the spiggot measured 89.5mm(90mm?) and then there is another 5.5mm(6mm?) to the cylinder bolt. does this sound correct? ok now what i need to know, how big does the spiggot have to be to accept a 92mm cylinder piston kit like the one in the ebay link? if there is too little meat on the spiggots left between the cylinder bolts and the outside diameter of the 92mm barrels, perhaps i'm better off using smaller 90.5mm barrels?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VW-92MM-1835cc-Bug-Type-1-...mp;vxp=mtr


http://www.ebay.com/itm/VW-90-5MM-1776cc-Bug-Type-...mp;vxp=mtr

[motorlou]

ok, did some more digging around the samba. are the specs below correct?

85.5/87 slip-in/88 slip-in = 90 mm case/93.8 mm head

90.5/92 thinwall = 96 mm case/98 mm head

92 thickwall/94 = 97.25 case/101.1 head

Then, there are these two hybrid configurations offered by AA:

88 thickwall top/thinwall bottom = 90 mm case/98 mm head

92 thickwall top/thinwall bottom = 96 mm case/101.1 mm head

[gears]

Lou, your fabrication skills are absolutely amazing. I think you'll get more traction (and answers to your questions) posting on the performance forum.
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[Pruneman99]

Very cool project. I've seen that VW radial engine before. I want one. I'm not sure what for, but man that thing is crazy! I guess I woul have to build an airplane around it.

But since this is a engine build, (even though is not anything close to stock) it utilizes VW engine parts. If you have it moved to the performance engine section, there are a bunch of guys that eat and breathe the technical side of these parts, machine them daily, and build all kinds of radical engines. You would get answers to technical questions a lot faster over there.

[motorlou]

sweet man! i really appreciate the feedback. i will ask the administrator if he can move it for me or i will start a new one over there. trust me, i have a million tech questions so ya all better be ready ha ha ha

[motorlou]

[motorlou]

hi guys, had my topic moved over here because i have alot of technical questions (prolly better answered over here). does anybody have a 92mm stoker piston for some dimensions? thanks

[FeelthySanchez]

Sure, Lou.
I've a NOS 38 year old NPR (remember them, a once-popular Japanese brand?) B stroke set sitting right here.
Just let me know what dimensions you would like.
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[57BLITZ]

you can go to 94mm without relocating studs.
You might want to go with "B" stroke P/L kit . . . ya gotta have yer skirts miss those flywheels!!
I have a set of 90.5 "B" Cima/Mahle that i have yet to assemble and can measure.
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