First time vintage speed 1200 build, looking for input.

[VW Man 53]

Hey guys, i've built plenty of stock vw engines, i've had my hands in plenty of other things, i'm in the midst of rebuilding a cummins V6 V-378 out of a front end loader. I've never done any kind of hot rodding to anything, i have a 65 bug i've mostly completed bodywork and paint on, i tore down a 1200 i got for cheap for the 65 that was seized up and free'd it up pretty easily. I have shelves, totes and cabinets, full of NOS and used parts.
The engine actually looks really sweet inside, no ridge on the cylinders, probably low miles, i cleaned it up nice, my plan in my head is as follows. (Fair warning as i said, i'm going off of reading books, and forums, i have no performance experience, so feel free to give me your input, it's what i'm here for.)

-I'm going to get the case cut for stock size camshaft bearings (feel free to advise me if you know someone who can do this for me besides Rimco in Cali, i'm in NY)

- I'll be using the stock 69mm crank from a 1600 with NOS 1200 connecting rods which will give me 5 more mm of stroke compared to the stock 1200 crank

- Stock 1200 77mm Pistons and i'm going to remove 2.46mm of material off the top of each piston

- By removing that much material, my combustion chamber will be .100" tighter than stock, raising compression

- I have two exceptionally nice zenith 32 carburetors, each on their own center mount manifold, i hope to rebuild one and run it on a center mount

- I'm considering possible adjustments to the valve train as far as size, possibly a mild cam? feel free to let me know what you think, i'm just experimenting for fun here. Looking for the wisdom of those who have experimented.

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You CAN save them all.

[TinCanFab]

Do you know that the 1200 rods wont fit a 1600 crank without clearancing the sides? You can get shims to raise the cylinders up rather than cut on the pistons. I believe AA sells them now for 77mm pistons. A header and running your carbs as duals and a very mild cam is all you need. You can get away with more aggressive cams with dual carbs. VW limited the hp in stock form by choking the intake and exhaust. They did this on purpose so people wouldnt drive them hard for warranty purposes.
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They're never really ever finished 58 rag build...
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=658092

[VW Man 53]

[VW Man 53]

I went ahead and mocked up one cylinder with a cracked piston and old rod to calculate my compression ratio.
With my intended clearances regardless of whether i shim the cylinder, machine the piston down, or both (decreasing the current height by 2.36mm (.093"), my deck height will 1.08 mm (.042")
from what i've read that will give me between 7.4:1 and 7.7:1 compression ratio, which is dependent on where my heads fall from 43-45cc's which is what they should be at from the factory.
My questions at this point are:

-Has anyone removed material from piston hats? how much in your experience is it okay to remove?

-If i use shims and a center mount carb, how much shimming have people gotten away with before they had to modify their manifold?

-Do you feel those compression ratios will be suitable for reliability and longevity of the components i'm choosing?

-what mild cams do you feel might be suitable for the way this build is looking?

I included pictures of the carbs and piston hats below, the blue intake is slightly different from the silver, it has a bend in the preheat riser and the remnants of an empi sticker. thanks for reading.

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You CAN save them all.

[Mr. Mike]

Looks to be a fun project! You may want to read up on the buyer and seller feedback page before using the services of Rimco or anyone out there.
Cheers!
Mike
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1964 Sedan 6 volt

[VW Man 53]

[anthracitedub]

Mofoco has done them.

[VW Man 53]

[anthracitedub]

That’s too bad... he done a case for me a few years ago... and i have 2 more I’d like to do in the future.

[mark tucker]

check the piston dome thickness, if its thick than I would cut them witch would also lighten them. if you were after max cr then you could machine them for max cr too leaving the portion thats up in the chamber there and taking off at the quench area's. ( AKA pop up piston's/domed pistons). I would go with lots of port work&bigger valves and devider between the ports separating them as far as possiable...witch to me would be up to withen 2" on the carbs or run 2 bbls carbs on each head and keep the runners separate the entire way. thus bigger carbs bigger power, more tq.more cam shaft too. good luck with your project, and stay way from rimco's rim jobs. if I were 30 years younger and had time and old motor.....I would have a fun time making something.

[VW Man 53]

[anthracitedub]

FWIW, I recently built a 69x77 40 horse. I shimmed the cylinders, the stock intake bends open to accommodate the width change quite easily.

[VW Man 53]

[bcrazy]

[anthracitedub]

[VW Man 53]