What Kills An Engine?

[evanfrucht]

[spencerfvee]

HANDS DOWN THE DRIVER i dont know how many times guys come in to the shop and say i was onley driving 55 mph and the motor just stopped .then there friends come into the shop .and tell how he was runny the dog shit out of his bug trying to do burn outs or trying to pick the frount tires off the ground lol lol theres guys out there that can kill any VW motor made lol just my two cents spencerfvee

[FreeBug]

HEAT doesn 't kill engines, FEET kill engines.

There is a recurring theme here, though, and it murderised one of my engines, too: the exhaust valve. Hottest place in the whole engine.

Also, if such an overheat has crippled the engine, try adjusting the valves after it cools down. Things in the heads move around quite a bit when that happens.

As for lugging vs. dropping a gear, I'm not sure. In my experiencce, it uses less gas to drive at the lower rpm. Less gas=less heat, and the cooling sytem is quite sufficient for the engine, no matter the rpm.

But yeah, when I found my type1 baywindow SERIOUSLY overheat goin up a STEEP hill from sea level. Yes, I did go down a gear (it might even have ended up being two), but I ALSO lowered the speed, finding myself in a similar position but one (or two) gear(s) down. What matters most is to lower the LOAD when an engine is seriously overheating. And accept a big sacrifice in speed. I was three countries away from home, and it needed it to get us home, and it did. Everything fell back into place as soon as the hill flattened out just a critical little bit, a tipping point.

I climb up a few feet almost every day (around 2500) , and the heat generated in those 15 minutes never even come near the temps I would see on the highway. But busses also have short boxes, And I'm rarely carrying the full 1.1 ton payload.

In my water cooled car, it's the other way around. Weird.

[nextgen]

I have always said i have no clue what VW was thinking when they put the T-1 engines in the buses. That said a heck of a lot of people bought them.

A bus is not just heavy due to it's weight. There is a lot of cubic square feet in it and you can be sure the space is not wasted. Beds, Tables, extra seating like a Sofa.. Then comes your friends and party on!!

The T-4 conversions helped early buses, but the 73 and later that had T-4 heavier buses and again cubic square feet.

When people bought buses do you think most of them had the mechanical ability to put a nail in a wall to hang a picture. Those drivers had no clue about engine vs the weigh of the bus.

Most guys now know what to expect and also keep in mind it is freaking heavy.

When I was talking about my blow engine that was in a stock 73 Bug with a T-1 engine, now my bug is stripped, not even rear seats, rugs, sound deadening insulation or headliner.. I would say less then 1700 lbs.

The 2.0 T-4 is hardly working to push my bug.
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[FreeBug]

[nextgen]

Wow that is 5070 pounds !!!

So we are talking 5400 pounds, that is about 3 Bugs being pushed by the same engine size engine.

What would i do with out the Google Conversion Calculator???????
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email: [email protected]
The TYPE IV UPRIGHT CONVERSION MANUAL
BEETLE MAGNETIC DEFLECTOR SHIELDS
LETS TALK DUBS https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=joe+cali+ghia https://letstalkdubs.libsyn.com/ep-200-joe-cali-ty...qI3xJTCzjs

[orwell84]

I agree with the feet thing. In the mid 90’s I drove from NH to California in my bus. I was running a questionable crate engine, but I had driven it for a couple years with no issues. Died a slow death which started somewhere in the plains states climbing toward the continental divide. Stayed at a campground in Utah or Nevada halfway up a mountain with snow on top, burning desert at the bottom. It was still going when we got to California but just barely.

An engine that can putter around New England for many thousands of miles will melt itself between Omaha and Fort Collins.

[&Dan]

The break-in for a Type 1 engine I built was a 3,500-mile trip in 105-degree August heat. in a damn Bus! Named that engine "Lucky". Good happy motor.

[mark tucker]

what kills a engine....usually morons do.

[Zundfolge1432]

[challomoner]

[&Dan]

This is beginning to remind me of the old tech acronym, PICNIC:

Problem
In
Chair,
Not
In
Computer

[orwell84]

[FreeBug]

[Zed999]

Likely the only difference a 2L would have made to a business was a bigger fuel bill. Split vans had even smaller engines.

Here in the UK in the 60's and into the 70's all roads went through the centre of every town, heavy vehicles crawled up hills at 5mph where you could not pass and there were enough of these slow vehicles that a great deal of time was spent waiting for your turn to try and pass them, them waiting for an opportunity. In the mid 60's my father took me on a walk to see a wonderous thing - a new Motorway. The first to make it all over 60 miles out of London. He explained that people would be able to zoom from one place to another. We stood on a bridge and waited for a car...and waited... and waited. After about 10 minutes a car came dawdling along at about 40mph. lol How times have changed.

[udidwht]

Perhaps Colin could chime in on this. I believe in all his cross country driving and testing he found no adverse effect of lugging up hills vs not.

Personally speaking....

Not keeping the bus at 'peak' tune.
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1972 Westy Hardtop/Type-4 2056cc
96mm Biral AA P/C's~7.8:1CR
Headflow Masters New AMC 42x36mm heads w/Porsche swivel adjusters
71mm Stroke
73 Web Cam w/Web solids
Dual 40mm IDF Webers - LM-2 - 47.5 idles/125 mains/190 air corr./F11 tubes/28mm Vents - Float height 10.45mm/Drop 32mm
Bosch SVDA w/Pertronix module (7.5 initial 28 total @ 3400rpm)
Bosch W8CC plugs
Pertronix Flamethrower 40K coil
S&S 4-1 w/Walker QP 17862
3 rib 002 Trans
185R14 Hankook tires

[oprn]

Full throttle up hills at less than 2000 rpm will definitely take a chunk off the life of an air cooled engine!
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[&Dan]

Finally had a chance to disassemble the lump and see whut's whut.

Yeeeege...looks like #1 turned to powder and went away.
Dissolved the CC down to the seats. #1 exhaust froze up in guide, bent the pushrod, all she wrote.
The exhaust from this cylinder is evident from the heat exchanger spigot, it appears as a gray aluminum discharge.

Look at the remains of the piston clinging to the top of the cylinder.
Man, that got hot. Of course the rings lost their tension and are buried in the ring lands, never to return, making for a dandy ashtray.

3/4 head looks decent, valves still pretty proud of their seats.

The endplay was minimal, the thrust bearing outer looks fine but of course bearing surface shows clear sign of oil starvation- flaky.
The cam bearings also show some trauma, but cam journals look decent. Lifter faces look fine.

The rod small-ends feel quite tight against the pins. They will need re-bushing.

The case, crank, remaining three pistons and so forth appear unaffected. Gave the journals a quick polish.
If the case passes light and bore measurement tests I may attempt to throw it together with a different set of pistons- sadly, the set [and the main and rod shells] were nice Kolbenschmitts- new cam, rod and main bearings and a pair of heads and decent rods to see if at least a portion of the wreckage can be reclaimed.

[mark tucker]

leened out a tad too...and detonation....and.....woudlent bother me a bit as I wont use any of that like of stuff any way good or bad what I see is like a faranggie sees....opportunity!!!

[spencerfvee]