Oddball 72 Standard Canadian Beetle Build

[SingallZ]

Hello Everyone,

First post, but also I've been building this a ton over the last year and posting stuff up on instagram. That said I thought why not try and post some stuff up here too (see what the professionals think)

Link


A little history of whats above, I bought the car with a good body but completely blown motor and steering/suspension/brakes held together with tape and hope. Not a bad little car now but undrivable when I first got it.

It now has the following:
CB Performance Aluminum block
Forged Scat 78.8 crank
“Forged” 90.5 Mahle pistons
Scat C45 cam
1.25 ratio rockers
Scat H beam rods
Scat Super-D heads
Dual valve springs with titanium retainers
CB Performance high strength aluminum push rods
Type 2 oil cooler and welded Fan shroud
Bosch Alternator conversion
CB performance 26mm full flow oil pump
2023CC @ 9.5:1 compression
Vintage Speed Exhaust
EMPI disk conversion, and drop spindles
2" narrowed beam
6" widened rims from Deepveez here on Samba

I call it an oddball because its a 72 with a swing axle, not sure how it got that but maybe it wasn't completely phased out when they started building IRS or a swapped pan, who knows.

More to come as I finish and fix other stuff.

@Mods: If this isn't the correct location for build threads please let me know

[Buggeee]

It's too bad someone parked that gaudy red car in front of your beautiful bug for that last shot.

The motor looks like art to me. Sounds smooth too. Makes me want to build a motor this winter. I really like the small fog lights.

Tasteful build.

Thank you for sharing.
_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[neil68]

Canadian “standard” swingaxle Beetles were sold alongside IRS models up into the mid-70’s. My brother’s 71 Beetle was bought new from the dealer in Red Deer, AB and was swingaxle with a Z-bar equalizer spring.

Your 72 is a beauty! Where are you located?
_________________
Neil.

Der Kleiner Rennwagens
68 Beetle 2332 cc, 204 WHP
12.5 seconds @ 107 mph
Dynojet Test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9B_H3eklAo

[TX-73]

I like everything about it, nice work.
_________________
My 1973 Standard Beetle Build SOLD
Click to view image

[joey1320]

Absolutely gorgeous bug.
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**1971 Super Project
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[ashman40]

[Lingwendil]

Gorgeous car.


What foglights are those? I like them!
_________________
73 super beetle thread http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=649622 Back on the Road!

Modify your Kadrons for SVDA http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8115884#8115884

Cast iron VJU4BR8 SVDA reference thread- https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

Need replacement filters for original Kadron aircleaners? WIX #42087 is a perfect fit, as is Napa Gold #2087!

[SingallZ]

Thanks everyone for the clarification on the swing-axle, figured it was probably something like VW just using up what was left in the parts bin

[SingallZ]

EFI time! (from CBperformance) Should make for better low end torque, top end power, throttle response, and engine protection. I've hoarded together enough for a full conversion with sequential injection and spark, proper ITBs, LS2 coils, o2 sensors, MAP, ATS, Head temp sensor, TPS, Fuel Pressure sensor, Voltage sensor, Crank position sensor, Cam position sensor, and IACV (for the cold starts).

I know everyone will probably be like why spend so much, carbs are great! I've never owned a car with carbs. I'm a programmer, I grew up tuning Subaru's & Honda's, and this is something I've wanted to do before I bought the car.

Many many updates to come

[SingallZ]

Dug into this over the week end and the thing that spawned all this was a crappy oil leak turned out to be a leaky rear main seal. I followed the shop manual on seal depth but its all performance parts with weird requirements so I'll set the new one deeper next time.

Leaky rear main seal

Pretty fly artwork

because you can never have enough power, I'm going to 2.1L with lightweight AA forged 92mm pistons

Still working on getting them all balanced

Also to quell my paranoia on 92 pistons I'm going to a thicker walled cylinder barrels (94 walls)

EFI coming I'm going to re-do all the wiring (also need to fix this shit), every time I put on the headlights or indicators not good things happen

When I took the old pistons out I noticed this, so I split the block, only one lifter was destroyed, so either bad lifter or bad break-in. Also old lifters were SCAT lube a lobe lifters on a SCAT C45 cam (for others if they're wondering)

The original plan was to not tear into the block and only modify the pistons/heads. As part of that I'm moving to beehive springs, my hope is a little more spring pressure than singles but not as much as what I was running with duals

And go to a much, much, much lighter lifter CB performance lifter with a milder Engle cam

more to come

[SingallZ]

Tons of updates for the next few weeks, starting with the heads. I got a new set of heads. I never liked the Scad Big D's and the cost to fly cut them out to 94mm pus reseat the valve was just under the cost of just getting new heads so I upgraded a little.

New slightly more expensive but totally worth it heads CB Performance Panchito 044's

Scat Super D heads. Almost no air was getting through them, and the casting look like shit. (you get what you pay for)

Head the heads flycut from CB for $50 to 58cc, looking to run 9:1 compression

Also, I've always like the single groove CB's valves have. New valves vs old, the single groove are the new ones and will secure the keepers a little better

Going to beehive single springs. I'm not going to rev this like crazy so this is a nice compromise between dual springs and single springs

Also checked the installed height on the springs. I didn't do this last time and was probably floating a little

Adding a shim to get it within spec (1.70"), this will also save the spring seat with wear over time (hard metal spring vs aluminum meh, spring vs hard metal shim yay)

Next up clean out the valve guides. Used a gun barrel cleaner, was perfect.

With any new set of valves I've always lapped them in, just in case something was damaged and to ensure proper startup

Little wider band then I'd like, but still a good seal (out of the box LEFT, lapped RIGHT)

Also these heads have a provision for a head temp sensor on them so drilled out the post, tapped it, and added the sensor

Finished product vs out of the box

So much more to come

[Syncronaut]

[SingallZ]

Rebuild continues

Cam thrust setting:

Grinding down rings 0.014 and 0.016 for top and bottom compression rings

Test fitting and setting piston deck height/clearance

Sealing up the bottoms of the barrels (I use permatex copper for high heat considering where its going)

hmmm sooo satisfying

Half the block assembled

Test fitting new type 4 barrel cooling vs old type 1 (I can see why they made the change)
NEW TYPE 4

OLD TYPE 1 (total shit)

To get there I had to finish up cutting the push rods to length and setup valve train geometry

Cutting push rods, went to dual taper aluminum, and I cut them with a quality pipe cutter

Bashing the ends into the rods, I use old lifters as anvils (and a hammer):

finished end:

Finalizing lift at the valve, had to goto 1:1.1 ratio rockers to get lift to around 0.460" inch. If I went to my 1:1.25 ratio's it jumped to 0.540"inch lift at the valve (max is 0.520") and I don't want to do any more machine work on these:

Cleaning and assembling the new rockers, also getting the spacing of the rockers on the rods correct. You use shims between each rocker to get it within 0.005" - 0.007":

Nerdy valve train weights, this should be very quiet, less floaty, and revv'y

OLD:272.45 vs NEW:203.99 == 68.46 gram savings per valve (X 8 valves and total weight savings of 547.68g across the entire valve train) ;D

Also just a shot of my work bench, spend a lot of time standing/sitting here:

Complete long block assembled (yay), I can finally move on to fun stuff.

Next up wiring:

[bnam]

[quote="Syncronaut"]

[pittwagen]

In Canada standard beetles only came with the swing axle until the end of 1973 production. Gearing was the same as the IRS axle. IRS rear axles became standard in 1974. An exception was the Basic 110 beetle in 1975 if I remember correctly.

So here you go a January 10, 1973 production beetle with alternator and paper element air filter that became standard in January 1973.. 1600 DP. I believe I am the second owner. 66,000 miles since new. The 1972 baja wheels were optional in 1973. I have an original accessory brochure.

[SingallZ]

[SingallZ]

Productive afternoon of test fitting the tins, cutting & swearing, swearing & cutting...

Also got the exhaust on, looking forward to hearing what equal length sounds like.

,

Once I've got it running I'll wrap them

[pittwagen]

My numbers all match. In fact the engine and trans have never been out of the car.

About this time in 1973 we were looking for a new car after having frozen our butts in a 65 deluxe. So we went into one of the VW dealers in Winnipeg and saw one almost identical to the one above. Looked down under and saw the swing axle and noted that the rear axle was different than that of a friend who had a 72 Super Baha SE.

We were about to go for the Standard and the saleman said "we have a special model coming in a couple of months that you might want to wait for".

And this was the special model. Still have it. Love your car, by the way.

[SingallZ]

Finally moving on to the fun/unique stuff. I plan to mock up the entire engine then, fit the wiring loom, vacuum lines, and fuel lines. After thats done I'll tear it back down paint the engine tin and exhaust (powder coat if I can) then re-assemble and toss it in the car.

New throttle body with injection ports

Assembled unit with air temp sensor installed

Had to go with a different intake manifold setup to accommodate the fuel rails, hopefully this throttle bar linkage won't warp in the heat

Hall-effect cam sensor to support sequential ignition (LS3 coils)

Crank sensor, this was a pain to fit and still needs adjustment (fiddling with to get 0.020" distance between the reluctor wheel and sensor). Also had to fit up the serpentine belt for the fan/alternator

What I've got so far

and the permanent fixture next to where I work

[SingallZ]

Completed the engine bay fuel lines and breather lines

AN all the things:

CAD mock up of dimensions of the engine bay firewall. Not much room behind in-front of the engine. Used this to position the coils, regulator and breather lines.

I haven't made up brackets for the lines yet, don't want them rubbing on the back

Here you can see nothing is routed in front of the engine

Mostly because of this intersection of breather lines, fuel lines, and throttle linkage

Heres everything routing in the back. Brackets will mount the lines to the shroud, just waiting on some grommets I ordered before covid (who knows when they'll get here). Also you can see the breather lines from the valve covers, these will help oil drain through the push-rod tubes by alleviating back pressure in them. I bought these covers specifically to do this, but never hooked them up.

Shot of the LS2 coils, pressure regulator and return line

More to come