Danger Don's '71 Buggy... The engine

[Motorbike Don]

Howdy again,

Well I picked up the buggy. Guessing the first thing is the engine. It is a duel port 1600, that took a little Blaster and a wrench to rotate.

So, I want to keep this on a $1,500 budget if I can. The first thing I can think of is a light engine stand, with an adapter for the starter. They will be part of the budget.

If I can use the stand to work on small engines, I can get my business to buy it as well.

After that, building a control box to test the engine.

The goal here is to build a reliable, low maintenance mill from the start, with a decent amount of torque to get up a hill and put a smile on Ms. Millie's face.

Thoughts? Good plan? Bad plan? Recommendations?

[dustymojave]

The distributor body is rotated about 90° from where it should be. The carburetor is missing a plug from the throat. Might be lots of other problems not visible in the pictures.
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[Motorbike Don]

Dusty,

Yeah, good thing this is not my daily driver.

Gotta get this test running first to test compression, etc.

Donnie

[Dale M.]

THink I have about $75 invested for yoke and bellhousing and steel from abandon exercise machine from a junk pile....

Lots of details about "stands" in performance section...

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=288599

Dale
_________________
“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns" - Thomas Jefferson.

"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
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All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[Motorbike Don]

Dale,

Nicely done!

Donnie

[earthquake]

Your are going to need the dowel pins for the flywheel too.

Casey
_________________
74 CLASS 11 LOOK-A-LIKE
69 DUNE BUGGY
79 INTERNATIONAL SCOUT II
05 SCION XB SERIES RELEASE 2[#437]
95 Chevy C3500 dually
98 Ford E150
Link to Kelly J. Nolte 3/20/53 - 11/6/08
https://time-zonelabs.blogspot.com/p/about-kelly.html
DEATH TO CHINGERS!
[From a military recruitment poster in the novel "The Stainless Steel Rat" By Harry Harrison]

[dustymojave]

[Motorbike Don]

Casey and Richard,

I have the flywheel.

I most likely won't go lightened or 8 dow unless I have to split the cases.

Donnie

[Motorbike Don]

Well, looking like I will have to split the cases. The connecting rods have all kinds of slop in them.

The reason the engine did not turn was because of a broken rocker.

At least the heads are not cracked.

Sooo......

Looking at machining the case, and going with a mild build 74x88.

[dustymojave]

The only way I could imagine that you could break a rocker arm like that would be if the valve is rusted closed. And at that, I would FAR more expect pushrod failure.

The one photo shows quite a bit of rust inside the combustion chamber. So I suggest you get the valves working before you assemble the heads back onto the engine.

A possible source of water in the cylinder is an upward pointing exhaust. I recommend an exhaust that points down or at least horizontal. Even if you live in the desert.

Oh, for an offroad car except for a full body Class 11 style sedan, the sheet metal under the crank pulley is pointless. While it's apart is a good time to take it off and put it in storage or in the box of stuff to go to the VW swap meet.
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.