The Green-Go, 65 Beetle build thread

[Pruneman99]

.035 would be near the edge. Most agree .040 is about the safe limit. Sure some people have definitely gone tighter and had no issues. I'm sure they were using good quality accurate parts, and employing good measuring skills.

[danhay]

I've got the compression ratio, deck height issue sorted:

Installed CB 5.5 Rods, (it had 5.394s) Heads are getting fly cut to 58cc. With a .030 barrel shim, and a .040 copper head gasket, that will give me a .046 deck height, and 8.7:1 compression.

The machine shop is busy so I'll be waiting on the heads a while. So, I wired up the tach, oil temp and pressure gauges and ran wire to the engine bay for them.

I installed the Kennedy stage 1 clutch and pressure plate to keep things moving forward.

Anything else I can do to this engine while waiting on the heads?

[danhay]

I got my heads back! He did a great job dialing in the chamber CC's, even unshrouded the valves for me.

If I remember correctly, static CR is 9.5:1 but the effective CR is in the neighborhood of 7.5:1. Should be a good pump gas motor.

Got the heads mocked up for rocker arm geometry, measured for pushrods and ordered Chrome Moly Rods from Smith Bros. pushrods. Yes, I could have cut them myself. But I don't trust myself.

I had to mock up the tins and exhaust.. not sure what to do next, fit up the tins I guess, they need a lot of clearancing around the Big Beef manifolds.

[Pruneman99]

Looking good. Did you end up going with the copper head gaskets? I've never used them, but I believe they need to be annealed before use or they will leak.

[danhay]

[danhay]

About ready to stab this thing in there, waiting on a few odds and ends to finish it up.

[danhay]

Anybody still reading this?

Got the motor stabbed in there, and even the decklid fits and closes! I thought sure with the big beef manifolds I'd have to run stan-offs. The passenger side air cleaner does hit the lid and bump it out a slight bit, but not enough to worry about.

What's left:

Make AN oil lines to external filter

Sort engine wiring and new gauges

Wire/mount electric fuel pump, relay and aux switch so I can shut it off separate from the ignition,

Spin the motor over without the rockers and plugs to get oil pressure,

Install rockers and plugs, first fire up with cam break in..

Decklid fits!

[vwuberalles]

Looking good!
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1973 Superbeetle: 1st car, owned since age 12. Update thread --> https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9919140#9919140
1967 Kombi: Owned since age 17, Dad's retirement project.
1966 Beetle: My new project. (SOLD) Build thread--> https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678040

[sportin-wood]

[danhay]

Well, It's almost time to spin this thing over and get oil pressure. I put in a battery and have been sussing out some wiring problems. In fact, I almost burnt the car down with a shorted out parking light wire. LOTS of smoke. I had to replace all the wires going to the LF headlight bucket. Turns out after much investigation that I had the wires reversed on the parking light bulb. When they are reversed, the headlight shorts to ground on the body.

I've got the fuel pump relay mounted, I need to wire that and then mount/plumb the fuel pump. Don't have any pics of all that, but I did push it outside so I could stand back and see the stance with the weight of the engine. Even though it could be lower in the front, I'm happy with it.

[danhay]

I'm not proud of this fuel pump mounting situation, but I'm in "Just get it done" mode. I didn't want to bury it under the tank so at least it's serviceable in this location. Also, don't tell any thieves but I put a simple pull switch on the dash to cutoff the fuel pump relay. Anti-theft, as well as it's nice to be able to work on something with the key on, and not have the pump running.

I used a Painless fuel pump relay kit. I love Painless products, I've wired entire cars using their stuff and I highly recommend it.

[slayer61]

Dood, your car is badass. Keep up the good work!
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[danhay]

[danhay]

It’s alive!

https://youtu.be/NXS09n6dCek

[Pruneman99]

Cool! Sounds good. Don't let the kids scratch up that beautiful car with their handlebars!

[danhay]

[Pruneman99]

Little issues like the linkage always needs a bit of adjustment. I'm sure you will have a few shakedown runs before you get everything dialed in.

[danhay]

This thing is a rocket! I haven't driven any other high-performance VWs... my 66 I had 17 years ago was a 1600 dual port so I don't have much to compare it to but dang...

I stood on it in first, bang shifted 2nd and 3rd and pretty sure broke the tires loose on the shifts.. was up to 70 before I could blink!

This thing really likes high RPMS!

One problem: It has 2 different front fenders on it, as evidenced by the different placement of the turn signal. The other problem is the driver's wheel opening is smaller than the passenger..

So when I braked hard to slow it down the driver front tire was rubbing the outer lip of the fender. I realized the little bit of fender gap get's smaller when my fat butt gets in, and I haven't driven it with a passenger yet.

I wanted to avoid this, but it looks like a narrowed beam is in my future....

[Pruneman99]

We await the in-car video of you ripping through the gears!

[calvinater]

Try rolling the fenders with a baseball bat.
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"Albatross"!