Rebuilding an Engine

[thext94]

It's been awhile since my last noob question, figured I'd give it a go...

How did most of you guys learn to work on engines?
I want some kind of project to work on while the bug is in Arizona because I have a lot of free time. I'm tempted to pick up a cheap non-running engine and just see what I learn...what better way to learn than just going for it?

[zzhayward]

I was 15 years old in 1970 and got a 59 beetle with a bad reverse gear for $150. My neighbor several blocks down owned Buzz's Buggies and had lots of VWs and several trannys. I washed parts and started wrenching for him in exchange for parts. I changed out that tranny in my high school friends garage (unheated in Anchorage in the winter-- 16 degrees below zero). One thing to remember is the difference between steel and aluminum. If you are used to American cars the torques are different. You can strip out vw bolts and such real easily as they are not in steel. Use a torque wrench.

[Mal evolent]

couple of guys named Briggs and Stratton were my gurus

VWs are more like motorcycle engines than American car engines.

read and heed:

http://www.aircooled.net/gnrlsite/resource/articles/t1hpeng.htm

http://www.aircooled.net/gnrlsite/resource/articles.htm

http://www.msgulfcoastvwclub.org/TechPages/Tech6.html
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73 Beetle Baja, Ghia front brakes, Type 3 rear brakes, 2220 ( 94 X 80 ), Weber Progressive, Bosch SVDA, '97 Mustang seats

Baja Bugs for Volkswagen Virgins: Index

[thext94]

Those are some great sites, thanks mal evolent. Looks like I'll be doing some reading

[modok]

I started with small engines too, working part time in high-school, them moved up to motorcycles, then volkswagens, then regular cars, now mostly trucks and heavy-duty industrial engines

I guess ships are next? I better move tot he coast

[66brm]

[Cusser]

I was the 1st employee as a teenager at Tim Ransom Import Automotive in Phoenix, was helper.

These days I might recomend the Bug Me Video on engine rebuilds.
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[kme9418]

I was 15 years old, read every Hot VW magazine and still have my really old, greasy Haynes manual that I read cover to cover back then. I bought my current '69 without an engine for $125 and got a non-running engine out of a boat built out of PLYWOOD in a junkyard and tore into it. Rebuilt several for me and friends on a dirty garage floor. Never had any of them blow up on me. This was all before Al Gore invented the internet machine of course.
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KME9418
1969 VW Beetle

[ALB]

I started tinkering with my first beetle at 17; first an oil change and tune up, then a friend who was more knowledgable and I put a Holley 2 barrel and header on it, did my first rebuild at 19. Do all the above suggestions you can, and buy that motor and tear into it!
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On a lifelong mission to prove (much to my wife's dismay) that Immaturity is Forever!!

[fredy a]

this and my friends

http://www.amazon.com/Rebuild-Volkswagen-air-Cooled-Engine-models/dp/0895862255
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sorry for the spelling

[mark tucker]

started at about 6 with gokarts& lawn mowers,at 12 wrote my first book with pics,how to compleatly rebuild the motor&trans on a honda SL125., boring out v8's with old clamp on boring bar &building hotrod car motors&automatic transmissions at 16. at about 18 started working in a forgin car shop,mostly MG,Trimuph,lotis,alffa romaeo,fiat. AT 20 I was racing,making good money,building automatic transmissions for a living.Re machining automatic trans parts to add extra clutches for more horse power holding&drag racing . at 22 worked at a regular old garage ,effing boring,butr I did learn how they "rebuilt" raidators.(witch I never did again) at 23 I started working at a speed shop,then headed up the new machine shop,(trained by the factory reps)Engine balancing,flowbench,porting,sunnen ck10&cv 616,sunnen rod hone&capgrinder,85B blockmaster,rottler boring bar,flywheel grinding,seat&guide machine,& many other things, at about 27 we were bought out by a big marina.(I had been building big inch high hp reliable pussy boat motors for a good while, both NA&supercharged)
built ran&maintained motors&trans for $500000.00-$750000.00 pussy boats.I it was a hard job but somebody had to do it.trained a up&coming offshore race boat driver to not be skeered at wfo in a skater.he went on the become a multi time off shore power boat world champion.
and some how along the way I sold my street car that made me megga bucks racing(bad dission,worst thing I have ever done in my life) .at 40 I built my brother a 496 supercharged motor for his niel&parks dragster.he let me drive it 1 time.it had skeered him,I aint skeerd of shit, fun run.
around 44 started racing ihra topsportsman qualified #6 at the world finels, then switched to NHRA top sportsman and hit the road for a few years.
and some where along the line I started hotroding this lawnmower motor powered bug.
start small, use your eyes&ears.a working brain is good also, but I have seen it done with out one.dont be skeered to ask any thing you dont know, but be ready to have ot filter through the shit that gets flung to find the correct answer(s)non of this stuff is hard at all.there is no differance between a chevy,ford,mopar,vw, toyota,datsun. mazda does have a few that are different ,and I rebuilt my first rotery mazda at age 19. it was a basket case,and ran great when I was done. piston engines are piston engines no matter how you shape them or what is written on the valve cover.if somebody says the vw isant like a chevy,well you might not want to get your info from them as they probably dont have a clue. water cooled??air cooled?? what cools the watter?? AIR.

[neil68]

I had a 1776 cc motor built by a supposedly reputable shop, and paid a deposit (mistake #1). The final price was $1,000 higher than quoted and the motor leaked oil and had compression issues right from the get go. Because it was a "custom" motor, they would not warranty the problems. So, I ended up tearing it down and rebuilding it...found that they did not install some of the parts that we had on the list (eg. stock flywheel, instead of lightened).

From that point on, I have built my own engines. Other than machine work for boring the case for larger cylinders, you can learn to do everything yourself including clearancing the case for longer stroke crank/rods combos.

Tom Wilson's book: http://www.amazon.com/Rebuild-Volkswagen-air-Cooled-Engine-models/dp/0895862255

and the appropriate Bentley shop manual are useful guides.

You'll need a bench mounted engine stand: http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ACC%2DC10%2D1410

and some metric tools, floor jack and a torque wrench. Go for it and if you have any problems, just post on this forum and many helpful responses will guide you through the process.
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Neil.

Der Kleiner Rennwagens
‘68 Beetle 2332 cc, 204 WHP
12.5 seconds @ 108 mph
Dynojet Test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9B_H3eklAo

[sts9292]

Back in 1979 my brother-in-law had a 1967 VW Bug in his back yard in pretty rough shape. I convinced him to sell it to me for $150. I took it home and my dad and I pulled the engine out. Bought a manual and with my dad's help (more of his work and knowledge than mine ...) did my first rebuild !! I was 15 at the time and those learnings started my long love for air cooled VW's. Nine (9) so far and never a dull moment. From stock to not-so-stock.

Trying to get my 13yr. old hooked on !!! We'll see ...

[Arnolds64]

Buddy of mine that was older by a year bought an old Chevy Impala and helped him work on it. No manuals just went for it. Screwed up a lot but we learned a lot. Cheap back 40 years ago.
My first Car - 65 Chevelle SS - Paid 85.00 for it. Mother said it looked very nice for 85.00 ad asked how it ran and I said it doesn't. LOL! Owner said it had a bent crank. Had a loose crank pulley. Fixed it and drove it for 4 years. Swapped in a 396 after high school and bracket raced it. Ran High 12's and drove everyday.
Worked part time during college at a Montgomery Wards Automotive Busting tires and doing batteries. Worked other summer jobs for my brother in law at his Gas station doing tune ups, oil, tire work and their again started doing light engine and trans work. Then one summer worked for a VW shop. Did everything except build engines and trans. Learned a ton from the owner that was an incredible mechanic and grew a fondness for the VW engineering. Bought a few back then for College cars too. Since then I have had many cars of all brands always doing HP Bolt ons and so forth on them. Hate Stock boring cars. ( Current Daily is an 02 Audi TT 225, Now at 265hp & Lowered) Got back into the Bug Drug by one of my sons buddy's Father at Birthday party 15 years ago. He had a 356 Replica and several other cars at a barn outside of town. Told him about my experience with VW's. Gave me the idea to build one for my older sons first car and later once both guys go to college take it back for a toy. Well I now have it to myself. Luckily it made it with the same motor and no accidents.

As Neil says - Get some Books and the Bug Me Video learn and learn. Get some good metric tools and for God Sake's a Good Torque Wrench. These are much different than water cooled engines. Go on here and search for engine builds. There are some really good tutorials. Also go to www.shoptalkforums.com and www.Cal-Look.com for great input as well.
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64 Bug, White, 2017, Dual Weber 44's, Engle 130/Engle lifters, Home P&P'd 40X35 heads, CB 4340 nitrided crank, Eagle knock off H Beam 5.5" rods, Lowering Beam, Rancho Trans, Traction Bar. 225X60's rear, 145's front on Porsche Chrome Nipple Wheels.

[DHP65]

I was born into a VW family...the 1st VW i drove (age 6) was a 2386cc with IDA's, superflows and a FK87 cam....actually it was at the dunes and I ran over a greasewood bush , ...my Grandpa left on vacation on day and I had the Idiots book and built a 1776 with A 110 cam... I was 18 yrs old...Progressed from there read all I could kept building and did a very good job and kept getting more jobs.....John at aircooled.net and Jake Raby were big influences on me. I prefer to let my work speak for me rather than be an internet expert or very outspoken.
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www.thespeedshack.com

Facebook link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Speed-Shack-LLC/85283449603

[stealth67vw]

I built my first engine in 1988, when I was only 13. In 87, my Dad bought a 68 bay window bus with an 1835. The engine broke a valve spring shortly after and did some damage to the head and piston. Most of the parts were non stock old school dune buggy parts, Holley Bugspray, Norris cam, Berg square port heads, GME chromoly rods etc. So I pulled it out to determine what was salvageable. Not much of this engine would interchange with other junk my dad had laying around so I put it under the bench for a later day(still own it today). So the bus sat until my Dad had money for another engine or usable core. My Dad needed something soon because it was about November and the rain had begun for the winter. He was riding his 1987 Suzuki Savage motorcycle to work for most of the summer and fall.

One day while walking my dog I came across an abandoned bay window bus full to the roof with engine parts. I later learned a local VW shop, Volkscraft (Newark,Ca) had loaded it up full of junk parts and dumped it in the field where I found it. I made several trips with a radio flyer wagon to get as many parts as I could before the city towed off the bus.

Out of all the junk, I came up with enough parts to build a 1600 single port. I did not use 1 new part, even bearings. So with my John Muir book I slapped this thing together. I had about $25 out of pocket cost, Hi Temp copper RTV, red Loctite, 2 cans of black spray paint and a Bugpack engine adapter mount. I was lucky, as my Dad was a factory GM trained mechanic and could hot tank parts, hone cylinders, do valve jobs, etc. This saved him/me a bunch of money.

I put it in and the thing ran! It leaked oil and ran warm but it ran. So off my dad went. It lasted about 6 or 7 months, lost oil pressure and started knocking. He knew it wouldn't last long but he knew he planted a seed in my head and I immediately starting collecting parts for the replacement. This one I wanted to do it right. It would be my first performance engine and I was still only 14. Here I am 24 years later and still trying to build a better engine than the last one.
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John Bates
JB Machining Services
1967 street Bug 2276 w/ 48 IDAs, 2050lbs with driver
7.76 @ 89.55mph 1/8 mile
12.27 @ 109.56 mph 1/4 mile

https://youtube.com/shorts/GmifEu5QvnA?si=OIw8eM7QU3LMhtiz
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT68foYFS/

[Glenn]

I taught my son when he was 15 how to rebuild a 1600DP. That was 6 6 years ago and it currently has 45,000 miles on it in my friend's Beetle.
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Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

Member #1009

#BlueSquare

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