Canadian '68 Street/Strip Beetle

[neil68]

It was time to pull the engine for a check-up.  I was concerned about valve guide wear, but after checking, the valves all seem to move smoothly with very little side play evident.  I'll swap out the valve springs, as I have a spare set of the CB VW650 on hand.

The 10-year-old Scat 1.4 rockers are still in excellent shape:



The mag case seems fine, with no leaks or cracks detected:





Will try some aluminum dual-tapered pushrods this year, as the Beetle will be driven more on the street (daughter has moved out and taken our Mk3 Golf with her).  These are Logmech 7075 pushrods:

[BeetleBug]

Thank you for sharing your updates with the rest of us!

Did you perform a leak down test?

Best rgs
BB

[Nico86]

Where did you get your pushrods? Got more infos about them?

[neil68]

Where did you get your pushrods? Got more infos about them?

Here is the website with contact information for Logmech:  http://logmech.se/eng/products/engine/pushrods/

[Nico86]

Thank you 

[hotstreetvw]

Neil,

What is the taper sizes?  Your running 650 springs to what lift?

[neil68]

The pushrods taper from 11.9 mm to around 8-9 mm depending on what length you cut them.

I have a Raptor 06908 cam with 10.8 mm lift and with my Scat rockers it dials out to 15.2 mm.

[neil68]

Finally got the engine re-assembled and took the Beetle for a drive around the neighbourhood.  Seems to run very smooth, especially with 6-month-old fuel in the tank

The aluminum pushrods have quieted things down as well.

With the 84 mm crankshaft, the cam lobes come very close to contacting the counterweights.  This is with 10.8 mm lift (0.425") at the lobe:



Johannes turned down the camshaft to clear the H-beam rods.  It gets very tight indeed:



Deck Height is 0.5 mm initially...a bit too tight:



Installed 1.0 mm copper head gaskets, to bring the deck to 1.5 mm (0.060") and 10:1 CR with the valve notches:



Still using an old Berg Centerforce dual friction disc...saves gearboxes:



When I re-installed the fanshroud, I noticed that three of the four tabs holding the air intake ring were broken...40 years of engine vibration had taken it's toll.  Decided to braise the tabs, and then gave them a quick shot of rustoleum paint:



'75 FI doghouse shroud has some interesting air scoops.  Fan is an OEM German 38 mm welded by Gene Berg to prevent the blades from becoming shrapnel:



Wasp Stage 2 header pipe #1.  Pressure plate is a KEP Stage 2 on an EMPI lightened chromoly flywheel torqued to 405 lb ft with a 36 mm Bugpack chromoly gland nut:



Pipe #3.  They require smaller nuts under the curve (supplied with the CSP kit), but I rounded off a couple by overtightening them, so I'm using larger copper nuts from Concept 1 on top:

[neil68]

Well, it was a mixed bag of weather this summer...one of the coldest summers on record.  Still, I managed to get the Beetle to the track on nine weekends for the Street Legal races.  Played with the jetting, but couldn't get the F4 e-tubes to work well, so ended up going back to F2.  The engine just seemed to accelerate better with F2's.

Still running in the mid-12's and will probably look at reducing the vehicle weight this winter.  Would love to run an 11.90 next season.  The valve guides are still leaking a bit, so I'll probably have them replaced this winter.

This was supposed to be our last weekend of racing, but nature once again intervened:

[Nico86]

Nice to see updates Good luck for the winter works on it!

[Jesse/DVK]

Very nice car and times!

Is your crank wedgemated?

[neil68]

Not wedgemated.  CB crank with 8-doweled EMPI flywheel and Bugpack gland nut torqued to 405 ft lb/550 NM.

[neil68]

Picked up a nice 70's style Herrod Helper reproduction from Gilmore Enterprises and had it powder coated Savanna Beige.  Very nice quality aluminum that is a duplicate of the old steel version sold back in the day:

[BeetleBug]

Not wedgemated.  CB crank with 8-doweled EMPI flywheel and Bugpack gland nut torqued to 405 ft lb/550 NM.

Why so little torque? The only thing that connect your flywheel to the crank is friction and it need torque. I torqued a Scat 38mm nut to 2000nm once without hurting anything. On my own engines I use 1000nm but then again I have adjustable clutch slip.

-BB-

[henk]

Not wedgemated.  CB crank with 8-doweled EMPI flywheel and Bugpack gland nut torqued to 405 ft lb/550 NM.

Why so little torque? The only thing that connect your flywheel to the crank is friction and it need torque. I torqued a Scat 38mm nut to 2000nm once without hurting anything. On my own engines I use 1000nm but then again I have adjustable clutch slip.

-BB-

Really 2000nm?what torque wrench do you use for that.
Mine is 500nm as well.

Henk!!!

[BeetleBug]

Not wedgemated.  CB crank with 8-doweled EMPI flywheel and Bugpack gland nut torqued to 405 ft lb/550 NM.

Why so little torque? The only thing that connect your flywheel to the crank is friction and it need torque. I torqued a Scat 38mm nut to 2000nm once without hurting anything. On my own engines I use 1000nm but then again I have adjustable clutch slip.

-BB-

Really 2000nm?what torque wrench do you use for that.
Mine is 500nm as well.

Henk!!!

I used my trusted torque master tool. 2000nm was no problem at all.

[Nico86]

Picked up a nice 70's style Herrod Helper reproduction from Gilmore Enterprises and had it powder coated Savanna Beige.  Very nice quality aluminum that is a duplicate of the old steel version sold back in the day:

Looking really nice, can't wait to see it on the car!

[Zach Gomulka]

FYI, I tried out the Helper on my 72 once... All it did was make my oil temp go up

[BeetleBug]

FYI, I tried out the Helper on my 72 once... All it did was make my oil temp go up

Zach, you did not drive fast enough 

[neil68]

Yes, I'm going to try out the Herrod Helper primarily on the drag strip, to see if there is any effect at higher speeds. Some have said that they gained somewhere around 5-10 kph at the top end of the drag strip...and greater stability in windy conditions (it's always windy where I race in western Canada).

I'll check my city driving temperatures and report back. Typically my 2332 cc runs on the cool side with oil temps of 180 F, probably due to the MS230 heads, FI doghouse cooling system and Hoodlum deck lid intake.

[Zach Gomulka]

I did not try it on the strip, that will be an interesting test. I did have the car up near 100mph, I didn't notice any difference in stability. Looking forward to your results Neil.

[neil68]

Did some test fitting today of the Herrod Helper:

[BeetleBug]

I did not try it on the strip, that will be an interesting test. I did have the car up near 100mph, I didn't notice any difference in stability. Looking forward to your results Neil.

Since the air does not follow steep angles very well it is rather obvious why you did not notice any difference Zach. For it to work it need to be mounted above the rear window. If it was A LOT larger with HUGE side panels it would help on the side stability.

I forgot properly close/lock my engine lid and it bounced up in the launch and was held up by the original springs at 130 mph. It did not move at all and I even have that on film if I can find it. Just google aerodynamics and vw beetle and you will all the info you want on this interesting subject.

-BB-

[neil68]

It seems that there is quite a variety of experiences with the Herrod Helper.  Some have said that even at 75-80 MPH (120-130 Km/h), they noticed much better handling on the highway in windy conditions or when passing a large truck. Others said they didn't feel any difference until 90-100 MPH (145-160 km/h). Since I live where the wind always blow, I'll be interested in the effect.

Apparently Dean Lowry added one to his 133 MPH salt flat Beetle and went 141 MPH the next time out. I notice that the New Beetle has the spoiler primarily under the rear window, although some have it above. It seems like VW can't quite decided.

[Erlend / bug66]

I did not try it on the strip, that will be an interesting test. I did have the car up near 100mph, I didn't notice any difference in stability. Looking forward to your results Neil.

Since the air does not follow steep angles very well it is rather obvious why you did not notice any difference Zach. For it to work it need to be mounted above the rear window. If it was A LOT larger with HUGE side panels it would help on the side stability.

I forgot properly close/lock my engine lid and it bounced up in the launch and was held up by the original springs at 130 mph. It did not move at all and I even have that on film if I can find it. Just google aerodynamics and vw beetle and you will all the info you want on this interesting subject.

-BB-

This one?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MbtbHH5Mjbg

[BeetleBug]

I did not try it on the strip, that will be an interesting test. I did have the car up near 100mph, I didn't notice any difference in stability. Looking forward to your results Neil.

Since the air does not follow steep angles very well it is rather obvious why you did not notice any difference Zach. For it to work it need to be mounted above the rear window. If it was A LOT larger with HUGE side panels it would help on the side stability.

I forgot properly close/lock my engine lid and it bounced up in the launch and was held up by the original springs at 130 mph. It did not move at all and I even have that on film if I can find it. Just google aerodynamics and vw beetle and you will all the info you want on this interesting subject.

-BB-

This one?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MbtbHH5Mjbg

Cool. Thanks Erlend. There is a other one from the rear but I guess everyone get the point.

[neil68]

Picked up a "Kamei-repro" front air dam here in town.  It's made in fibreglass by an Australian company called V-Force Performance:

[neil68]

Ended up using a spare spray can of Duplicolor "Desert Sand" to colour match the air dam/spoiler.  It turns out that it's actually a fairly close match to the factory L620 Savanna Beige...not perfect, but close enough for a spoiler that will hang under the front bumper:

[neil68]

Did the test install and it went fairly smoothly.  I used four 5 mm bolts, as per the old Kamei instructions.  However, I drilled only into the bottom of the bumper for the four bolt holes, as I didn't want to drill the fenders for two bolts:

[neil68]

Finally got the Wasp muffler installed after modifying the Berg traction bar, changing the disc brake caliper line to a banjo fitting (for clearance) and adding a 3.5 cm extension to the collector.  I was able to use one of my Weber window bolt holes for one of the two muffler anchors and drill a second hole just forward of the firewall: