New project and a few questions

[philaber]

After wanting a baja project for 20 years I bought one on a whim.
Here is what I have.
1. Rust free 1969 beetle with front end damage. Front beam looks good. New pans in it. IRS bug trans.
2. Wide eye baja kit.
3. GD code type 4 motor with fuel injection.
The list of what it needs is too long to get into and can wait until its closer to starting up.
I am getting a set of carbs for the motor as soon as a friend can find them in his garage.
I also can get a bus transaxle on the cheap that was pulled from a running wrecked bus. He pulled 4 or 5 and has 1 or 2 left but wont know if its a 002 or 091 until it gets dug out of the storage trailer.
Tire size to be determined later but oversized.
Plan on it being a spring to fall daily driver that will need to do highway to light off road.
I do have a few questions about using the type 4 motor. I dont want to convert it to top cooling yet because of cost and I want feel how the extra weight off the back makes it drive.
Will I have to change the tins to keep it cool or will the stock tins do the job?
Would it be better to run the bus IRS with the conversion kit or change the flywheel to fit the type one trans?
If I switch out the tranny will I need to run stub axles or is changing to bus hubs an option?
Sorry for the long post and any facts or opinions are welcome.

[dustymojave]

I'll let Vanapple post his thoughts on the T4 engine. If you swap to a Bus 002 or 091 trans, you can use the Bus CVs inboard and out if you swap the stub axles for ones that have flanges for T2/T4 CVs. No need to swap the whole hub. Those stubs are available all over the VW world.
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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.

[Vanapplebomb]

The Type 4 motor is a great platform for building off of. Rock solid bottom end, especially the 1.7/1.8 bottom ends. Super strong cranks, etc. the 2.0 engines weren’t quite a strong on the bottom end, bust still miles better than a type 1 was from the factory.

Here is the bad news, the GD engine was a 2.0 bus engine. This mean you have the smallest valves heads of any factory Type 4. It probably ran pig hot at some point in its life due to the fuel injection and stock cam. The Bosch Ljet was advanced in its day, but can be a pain to keep in tune over time. Many times they started running the engine too lean with age, causing it to heat up, crack heads and drop valve seats. The stock cam was pretty good for the 1.7 engine, ok for the 1.8, but really was inadequate for the larger 2.0...again, making it run hot. Bus engines also had lower compression (by having large dishes in the piston crowns) than the passenger car counterparts. So they are kind of a lump.

The good news is you can run flat tops to bump the compression up to a reasonable level, run a cam more appropriate to the size engine you have, and give it a good set of carbs. That alone will be a huge improvement. Swapping the cylinder heads to 1.8 heads will help get more flow and durability.
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1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[philaber]

Thank you both for your replies.
Just picked up a 1970 "Porsche" 1.7 with a Webber 2brl so I think this will be the route I go.
All told still under $700 invested total but still not on the road lol.