The Cal-look Lounge

The old myth of it being a must to have a CW crank to keep from bounding the case main web
this stand?
I just torn down a 69 non CW x 88mm, engle 110 cam, ported heads with 40 webers,
stock weight flywheel and a berg heavy pulley along with about 80,000 miles on the motor and
 the case still looked good. If it wasn't burning oil I would have kept running it.

was I lucky ???

If the engine has been built properly and not abused as in run over 5000rpm a lot it´s no reason why the case chould be pounded out in 80k miles.
There were built a few million of those engines without counterweights on the crank, and many of those engines still run today without having been overhauled once!  ;)

I think the issue of having a cw crank or non cw crank is how high will the engine rev and how balanced the crank is with flywheel etc.

But i'm not a mechanic so you will have to ask the pro's here. 8)

Were you lucky (?) YES!
1.You do not state if it is slip in barrels. If thats the case, I would bet my days pay, that the engine has NOT made 80K miles. More like 8K miles. If it is machine in barrels, they can easily take that kind of lifespan.
2. If it really has covered 80K miles in the same set up, the valve guides are very worn, which also can be used to determine the real mileage.
3. Non CW cranked engines in that set up can live, and for quite a while. The key word is balance, lightweight and as JS wrote, not too many rpms.

I have seen engines in that configuration (or regular 1600´s) that lived from 10 to 68000 miles. The one I saw with 68K on the odometer was used as a daily driver by a norweigian girl, who´s parents lived around Lofoten. So it took some long trips every once in a while. Anyway, the engine was so beat up by then, that the only thing we used from it was the flywheel and cool tin. Buit she had a large size right foot too ;D

When I sell my 100 hp 1600 type 1, built out of basically stock parts, I instruct the customer of exactly that: In daily commute do not rev it higher than 5000 rpm. and keep the last 700 rpms up to the limiter to "special  occasions" where you need to state an example or pass a truck :D
I expect these engines to have a lifespan at about 40-45000 miles before they need to be taken apart and inspected.
T

Torben, That motor was balanced, bored 88's not slip in's, I comuted 260 miles a day with that motor and outside temps ranged from 60 degrees to has high as 108 degrees going from the coast to inland. I ran it at freeway speeds of 70-75 and sometimes more when in a hurry. I have been trying several different combo's over the past several years. on my third 1600 with a single carb. and what is interesting is the 69x88 with dual 40's got better mileage and lots more power.
I was just amazed the case wasn't shot. the lifter bores were good. and yes the heads needed guides.
thanks for the comments

Alright. Well, you have been good to it, and not beaten it too much over time. The fact with the better fuel consumption is a somewhat overlooked fact with the use of dual carbs that are properly adjusted.
T

My Karmann Ghia improved it's mpg figures with dual carbs too, from 26ish to over 30 (UK gallons though!) - a couple of miles of town driving and then a 15 mile squirt along a motorway. No other changes, just the carbs. 1/4 mile dropped from 20.2 to 18.3 too!