'81 2 liter Type 4 build / rebuild

[Dusty1]

I'll say this right up front... I'm not a Type 4 guy. Parts availability for Type 1 is bad enough. Having said that, an '81 2 liter Type 4 rebuild dropped in my lap.

Ouch.

Anyway, what we've got is a tired stock '81 2 liter, hydraulic lifters, square port heads, dished pistons, allegedly suffering from a flat cam.

I'm planning to polish the stock crank, use a set of new AA heads and flat top pistons, new hydraulic lifters etc..

Does anyone have a "cheater" cam for Type 4 that will play nice with the stock fuel injection and a little more compression?

Budget is a sharply penciled $5k. I expect we'll burn through that pretty quick.

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"May you live an interesting life."

[Clatter]

Might take a peek at the build in my sig?
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Bus Motor Build

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[raygreenwood]

Quite a few of the bus guys say that the webcam 142 is stock 914 2.0L. That means it works with stock fuel injection.

A little it warmer and a good cam for what you are looking for is the Web #73. It also works with stock EFI with a small tweak or to and better than stock compression

Get new web lifters with it. Personally I would dump the hydraulic lifters. Ray

[germansupplyscott]

Web 142 will work well with stock Vanagon fuel injection. It can be combined with stock cylinder heads and exhaust. Web 73 would ideally be combined with modified heads and exhaust. There's no cost difference between the cams themselves but for a more budget conscious project 142 makes sense.

Agree with Ray above on using solid lifters instead of the stock hydraulics. You will need to change the pushrods but all the other valve train components can be used.
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SL

[Dusty1]

THANKS! All good advice. I might have a chance of getting it right the first try.

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"May you live an interesting life."

[raygreenwood]

As Scott is noting, the web 73 needs just a little bit more than stock....though I have run the web 73 with both D-jet and L-jet with everything else "pretty much" stock with very good results.

When I say pretty much....I mean .....the valves were stock. The 2.0L bus/vanagon engines have enough valve for the web 73. The exhaust should be upgraded (in my opinion) for any of the type 4 engines because the stock exhaust is restrictive and keeps heat in the heads. But, getting some correction to that can be had ....at least enough to make a tunable difference....by going to a BETTER version of the stock muffler. Just going to an Ernst factory muffler makes about a 10% difference in flow.

Going to something like a Vintage Speed .....as others have stated....can make a noticeable difference.

As for the heads, the 2.0L are not horrible chamber wise. None of the type 4s were. But some light unshrouding....added with more compression is what both the 142 and the 73 require. Right off the bat, you are going to flat top pistons.

That right there depending on whether the original pistons had a shallow dish or a deep dish and getting rid of the stock head gasket and probably the base shim will add about 0.6 to almost 0.9....maybe more to compression. Keep the deck tight.

The 142 its has been stated by many...and looking at it I 80% think they are right is that the 142 is a clone of the original cam that came in the Porsche 914 2.0L. The web 73 is in timing....a near cone of the original V series cam that came in the VW 411, 412 and Porsche 914 1.7L and 1.8L (except the euro 1.8L).....but has a little more lift and duration.

Because of the valve event timing and lobe center, both of these cams work well with the stock injection systems. The 73 is a little hotter than the 14w and absolutely requires better than stock compression to run its best. I would say 8.0:1 bare minimum from my experience. It will take a little bit of fuel mixture adjustment and timing tweaks.

Ray

[Alstrup]

Since the rest of the engine will be more or less stock (injection included) I am tempted to say that the 73 is too much for the Vanagon engine. It needs its torque to come on very early. So the 142 is the most I would install in such an engine for that vehicle.
Get the deck right and raise the CR to 8,2-8,3
spend time on getting the valves and seats perfect for lower lift flow.*
A VS SS143 type muffler would be dandy, but a gutted and modified stock muffler will do about the same if done right.
This will give the engine just that little more lower end power which it so desperately needs.
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https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=435993

[raygreenwood]

[Alstrup]

We are of course getting a little creative here, though not out of the ordinary, but one - could - have the 73 ground on a 105 LC. That would pull the torque downwards. That would make it pull about in the same area as the 142, but with slightly better exh. temperatures.

Not directly comparable, because the 1,8 is a short stroke. But, I have had customers try the 73 in 1,8 bus engines with corrected CR (8,5-9) even with dual 36 IDF´s and they have complained over lack of torque, but nice rpm power. One of them was later swopped to a 2 liter 914 cam, everything else the same. Torque came in at least 250 rpm earlier and the idle to 3000 rpm behavior in general was much better. Even fuel economy improved. That engine runs like this today counting 10 years.
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https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=435993

[raygreenwood]