My '66 engine is going back together

[Donny B.]

I broke my motor a while back when it ingested some hardware from inside the air cleaner.  Had to repair the head and replace valve seats.  I also ruined a piston (it had a hole completely through it).  I was running Berg special 90.5 cylinders and pistons and they are very pricey even one at a time so I decided to up the displacement with some 94mm cylinders and pistons.  At the same time I bumped the compression a little.  I am still running much lower compression than anyone on the Lounge, but Oh well...

Here are a few photos from the progress over the past two days.

[louisb]

Looking good Donny. So does that make it a 2276? What cam? Don't you have a set of IDA's stashed? Might be a good time to try them out. 

--louis

[Donny B.]

No IDAs, just DCNFs.  I have a friend that wants to sell me his, but right now the money is tight.  It will be a 2165, it was a 2007.  Cam is a K8 and I love it.  I have Berg 1.4 rockers.  It should be fun.

[Bryan67]

I`ll bet it runs a whole lot better with more compression and more displacement.

[Donny B.]

Nope, 8 +, but not much more...

[Jim Ratto]

94 x 78 is a great motor. Looks good. Do you always use that red cam lube? I don't trust that stuff....

[Donny B.]

Do you always use that red cam lube? I don't trust that stuff....

It's Torco cam lube.  I have been using it for a while. I am running Udo Becker tool steel lifters so I don't think it will be an issue.  I figure it will end up in my Oberg pretty quickly.  I used to use STP back on the day.  The cam is already broken in.  The lifters I took out were starting to pit, but the cam showed no sign of wear yet.  This is the 4th cam in this engine, all the others having gone flat or at least on their way to flat.

[Zach Gomulka]

Good to see it's going back on the road soon, Don! Let us know how it drives compared to the last combination.

[Donny B.]

Will do.

[Donny B.]

Here are some more pictures of my progress.  Notice the o-ring on the sump to seal it to the engine case and the special washer to seal the drain plug.  These are Earl's part numbers.  The sump plate has o-rings around each stud and one big one around the diameter of the sump plate to seal it to the case.  No gaskets.

[louisb]

Did you have to have a groove cut in the sump? That's a slick way to do it.

--louis

[Donny B.]

Did you have to have a groove cut in the sump? That's a slick way to do it.

Yes.  It's just like my sump plate.  I have encouraged the Bergs to machine them that way.  They are listening, but I don't know if it will work.  They have a sample of the sump plate as well....

Call and bug them, perhaps it will happen.

[Jeff68]

That's it, I'm going to do this too.  I thought about and designed the same thing but never had it made. O-ringing the bottom of the sump, around each sump plate stud, and the drain plug / bolt - brilliant!  I'm so surprised that there hasn't been something like this offered by any of the VW Aircooled Aftermarket companies.  The only thing I wanted to add to the design was to try and machine in fins (if possible) to kind of match  the bottom of the sump.  I think the fins would interrupt the sump plate bolt area though.  I've seen billet sump plates out there but none address the potential leak points that Don's has here.  I think there is a market for a sump late like this. Nice Work Don!  Did you machine it yourself?  I like it!

[Donny B.]

Did you machine it yourself?  I like it!

No.  I had a friend Tim Tesnow do it for me.  He has been maiking the sump plates and machining the o-ring groove into the sumps for a while at my suggestion.  He has recently moved out of state and no longer has the resources to do this.  I have suggested to Alistair at the Bergs that they do them.  We'll see.

[Donny B.]

Made a little more progress this afternoon.

[Jim Ratto]

looking good 

[Diederick/DVK]

don, what kind of heads are you using? those ports are pretty large.
looking very proper and tidy! did you not need any shims on the rocker shaft? i can hardly make them out. just wondering...

[Donny B.]

The heads are Berg GB865.  On one side I needed to use a .015" set of shims otherwise nothing.  I am using Berg 1.45 rockers with a K8 cam.  The heads were ported by Mick Wooten.  It's a narrow engine.  I had to shorten the barrels because I am using Porsche length rods with a 78mm Berg crank.  No barrel spacers or copper gaskets.

[Diederick/DVK]

wow, that is narrow especially having to cut the barrels given your rel. low CR.

[Donny B.]

Yeah we took about .040 off the cylinders to get the deck down. 

[67worshipper]

lookin good don. it,ll be a hoot to drive thats for sure

[Donny B.]

Got a little farther yesterday.  Hopefully I will get it in the car over the holidays.

[181]

whats up with the 6 main case nuts? Are they Nylocs or the self sealing nuts? If they are VW sealing nuts, I believe they are supposed to face the red side (plastic) towards the case?

[Donny B.]

Yeah the 6 main case nuts are the German self sealing ones.  Sorry, but I am an old Gene Berg kind of guy.  He said to turn them out so I do.  I have never had a leak.  Remember there are o-rings around the studs between the case halves.  I suspect that there was a tech notice by VW a very long time ago regarding this.  I have never turned the read sealing side in. 

[181]

OK, I have my main studs shuffle-pinned so no O-rings are used. So I used the sealing nuts with plastic directly against the case, with no washers.
 

[Donny B.]

In those cases I use a small bead of RTV on the underside of the washer and still turn the seal out.  It has always worked well for me.  I like the washer because it helps spread out the force when I torque the nuts.  I really don't like to go without the washer.

[181]

sorry double post

[stealth67vw]

When you use the red sealing nuts in, you can get incorrect torque readings.

My 2165.

[Jim Ratto]

I use either non-seal or use red seal with red seals OUT. I use Loctitie 574 under 12mm washers, and a smear of 50W oil on threads and underside of 12mm nut.

[Donny B.]

A couple of photos of my trial fitting of the exhaust to the engine.  I was having exhaust leaks where the heater boxes bolted to the header.  I had flanges with gaskets, but the flanges were too thin and warped causing leaks.  I wanted V-band clamps, but I couldn't find anything smaller in diameter than two inch.  So I ordered three sets of 2" V-Band clamps.  Then I had to figure out how to adapt them to my current 1 5/8" exhaust header.  I found some 2" O.D. steel tubing with a 1 5/8" I.D.  I cut some rings about 3/4" long from the tubing and welded them to the V-Band parts.  I then fitted them over the 1 5/8" tubing of the header and the heater boxes and welded them in place.  The result is what you see in the photo.  I don't have any fancy welders so I used my little gas welder.  It isn't real pretty, but should end the exhaust leaks.  I have one left over V-band clamp and have to decide whether or not to put that on the collector to tail pipe connection.  Time will tell...