Aircooled engine building

[Mrorangecrush77]

Hello there!
I am looking to build an Aircooled engine for the first time! I’ve never done this before. Due to a coincidence of events that added up to myself receiving my engine completely disassembled, I’d like to know EXACTLY what I need in order to rebuild my engine for my dune buggy, I believe it’s a 1300 although I’m not certain. I have the split case and all the old parts although I plan on putting in new Jugs pistons etc, are there any other parts I absolutely need before sealing the case? If anybody has a numbered checklist of parts to purchase or get that would be much appreciated! I’ve never done this before but I’d love to give it a shot as my grandfather used to build them all the time!

[anthax]

Only way to know what you need is to clean and measure everything.
Even if you buy a new crank you still have to clean and measure it.
When all parts are looked over, you know what parts that can be reused or replaced.

[Buggeee]

I would recommend starting an engine build thread in the engine section as you saw with the clearencing of your transaxle or the 12 V flywheel, the people in the engine section are very eager to help and very friendly. Basically when the case is split I plan on replacing rod bearings camshaft bearings crank bearings and lifters. Whether you need to replace the rods themselves or the camshaft or the crank will depend on their condition. That will be determined by looking at the condition of the journals plus measuring them for new bearings. Before buying any parts though Inspect the case to be sure you can use it. https://dunebuggywarehouse.com/blogs/news/how-to-inspect-your-vw-type-1-engine-case Here is a link for a procedure for inspecting the case. You will have to learn how to measure the size of the holes in the case and the size of the journals in order to know what bearings to order. I use an inexpensive micrometer. Your case might need some machining called line boring and/or thrust cutting or it might not just depend on what you find in there. If your lifters have not been saved in the same order that they came out of the holes they will have to be replaced and they cannot be reused because they have been worked hardened to match a particular lobe Camshaft. If the used lifter is put with a different lobe it will grind down the lifter very quickly. You can always put new lifters in with any used or new camshaft and the new lifters will work harden to match the lobe of whatever cam shaft is in there because the camshaft is a harder material than the lifter. Those are just some initial thoughts. If your engine Cases from a particular year and you can figure that out by looking up the case number in the Archive section of this site, then you should get the Bentley service manual for that year bug because it will lead you through building the engine from beginning to end. Nowadays parts arive in a few days or a week from Amazon or Ebay or most vendors so I order as I go along. That manual plus the help on this site and you will have that thing going it will be really satisfying too good luck!
_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[67rustavenger]

This thread is a good step by step tutorial.
Jim explains the process for the garage mechanic.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640322&highlight=mystery
Take note, he's not using an engine stand during the tear down or build process. Even though an engine stand is nice to have. An engine can be built without one.
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[Zundfolge1432]

[Mrorangecrush77]

Thank you all!
I appreciate the quick response!
I guess where the concern lies is with making sure everything is there. I’m not sure if there is a kit that includes everything needed to go in the case. The biggest thing is just making sure EVERYTHING is there. The more I discuss about building a motor the more confident I feel, although it’s a matter of making sure I need the right parts. I’ll have to start my research on how to measure everything, but I know my case might have a small to little amount of corrosion on the base of the case near the oil screen, not sure if it’s from when the motor was built but I know that the motor sat inside for 40 years in the mountains of Colorado, so I’m assuming it was a cheap way to build a motor. Worst case I do know I can buy a “Mystery” motor on my local classifieds for around $100. Best part about it is I even have an engine stand! Overall this feels quite daunting for a College student who has really worked with small engines, but I feel this is a very possible thing to do, best part about It is my roommates are extremely mechanically inclined (as they are studying to be mechanical engineers and rebuilt an LS in the apartment last semester). I’ll be posting questions soon, as well as pictures of the case to see if it’s even usable.

[Mrorangecrush77]

Here are pictures of the engine after being disassembled. Keep in mind that I did not disassemble the engine. And it was cleaned up after the initial pictures. I will attach those as well. There are a lot of photos, hope I covered all the bases of what someone would look for just off a pictures basis, if I can grab any more pics to help out let me know!

[Buggeee]

At this point the most useful pictures are of the current condition after cleaning.

People have fixed minor corrosion at the oil strainer area with JB weld and you can search threads on samba to find those success stories.

Clear pictures of the combustion chambers of the heads will help identify cracks between the spark plug and valve, which is fatal. A small tight crack between the valves is not always fatal.
_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[raydog]

My opinion? I would start looking for a case. I would not want to be messing around with that sump looking the way that it does. Way too much corrosion. For all of the time, effort and money,, I don't think you are going to find much in that case that is salvageable, and worth try to save.
_________________
Come on, It's not rocket science. KISS

[Buggeee]

[Mrorangecrush77]

[67rustavenger]

The heads and upper valve train bits are toast. It's not worth the money to even try to have the heads rebuilt.
New heads are way cheaper than rebuilt. If you can believe that.

The lower end may be salvageable. Judging by the condition of the one piston, in one of the images.

You can attempt a case repair. You got nothing to lose there. Except time and materials.
Worse cases have been successfully repaired in these forums.
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[vwoldbug]

Is that a 40 up case.

[Busstom]

That's an early 40 horse engine (1,192 cc). Those don't even use cam bearings, the camshaft rotates directly on journals machined in the case. It probably still has its 64 mm crank and those look like the 77 mm pistons (at least in some pix, but I'm not an expert identifying those). As already stated, most all of it is pretty much lost to the ravages of water.

The case may or may not be usable, you'd want to have a specialist check it for cracks, both around specific oil gallery locations on the outside, and just in front of the #3 cylinder (some call it "behind"), which is currently hidden by the flywheel, that area was prone to cracking.

Even if the case is usable, it's not really something ideal to be powering a dune buggy, at least in my opinion. A dune buggy is meant to be fun, something you can rip around in and punch the throttle and get some whiplash, but that's not this engine. It wouldn't even be feasible or advisable to even try and make this engine into something like that. This engine, IF the case is usable, is better suited to somebody who is restoring a '61 to '65 (at least in U.S.A.) type *1 vehicle, and is going for originality in a restoration effort. (*Some early Buses, a.k.a. Type 2s, also used it, I think 60-61 or so).

If you want practice and experience assembling an engine, you can certainly clean everything up and reassemble it (without sealant!) over and over to your heart's content (the bottom end, that is, I wouldn't waste time cleaning the pistons, cylinders, heads, and such, just to practice on the top end).

You'd be miles ahead and better-served building up a 1600-based engine for your dune buggy....unless it's a vintage classic, that is
_________________
My name's Steve and it's pronounced "Bust 'em" (cuz people think I'm Tom) 😏

[Zundfolge1432]

I’d save the hardware, the crank gears, distributor drive, but many of the parts are 40hp specific and there is not a lot of call for 40hp stuff now. I wouldn’t waste any time on that case except many for a demonstration of how magnesium burns during a bonfire. You need to familiarize yourself with how to identify engines by serial number but even then it can be a mishmash of parts because of interchangeably.

I suggest Tom Wilson’s book “How to Rebuild your VW engine” which has hundreds of photos and an interchange reference to decode parts using casting and parts numbers.

Here’s a little bit of what I’m talking about, this book is invaluable for what you are trying to accomplish. Barnes n noble Carries this as does Amazon but I’d look on fleabay to get a used one.

[Mrorangecrush77]

[Mrorangecrush77]

[Mrorangecrush77]

Time to revive this thread.

Just picked up a case for super cheap, planning on starting the build soon.

Here are some pics