How did you learn to build a performance aircooled engine?

[leec]

Hi guys,

It's something I would love to have a go at but the sum £ of all parts makes it expensive trial and error

That got me thinking, how did you (who builds hi po VW engines) learn?

Lee

[Mike Cott]

I'm currently gathering parts for decent build, yep need plenty of ££££'s. I've only ever rebuilt my 1600tp in my bay so not really any expertise just enjoyed doing it that much I thought go for it I read on John Mayers webpage that "no replacement for displacement"...inspirational!!!
A lot to cock up and go bang but you learn I suppose  
I'm learning a lot from reading a lot on here, love it!! Could do with a lottery win tho

[Martin S.]

The Berg bible. More recently my buddy Steve S. (who complimented my Berg build when he took it apart). 

[glenn]

I had a old core, so i read a few books and gave it a shot.

I've built over 40, since the first one back in 1978, and have not had a single early failure.

[Jim Ratto]

I watched a kid a year older than me do it (badly) when I was in high school 1988. Figured I could do better. Got a job at a VW speed shop in 1990- that was huge in the learning curve.
Books are great, and indispensable. But trying things and keeping track of where you can do better the next time is the real way. I've been doing them since '88 and still find ways to be better on the next one. Except I'm doing one more and then I'm retiring.

Keep things clean. Use best parts you can afford. Take your time. Get a copy of Without Guesswork and the right tools. If in doubt, stop and think. You'll do great.

Jim

[Neil Davies]

Hi guys,

It's something I would love to have a go at but the sum £ of all parts makes it expensive trial and error

That got me thinking, how did you (who builds hi po VW engines) learn?

Lee

Build a cheapy one first Lee! First one I built was a 1641, which went with a '70 that I had years ago. That gave me the confidence to build a 2180 which I made lots of mistakes with. I completely miscalculated the compression ratio when I first built it - far too high so it melted a hole in a barrel and straight through the head. Rebuilt it and added a copper head gasket which has improved matters. Then I found that the carbs were overfueling and it filled the sump full of fuel and spun a rod bearing. Had the crank reground, new bearings throughout and rebuilt it again. Then the rod that had spun snapped a rod bolt (shouldn't have reused one that got hot!) and broke the cam into four pieces on its way out of the case!
For the next season I built a 2276 with a flanged crank, Pauter rods and Superflo heads. That ran so much better until a piston fell off the end of a rod at 7800rpm... Part failure rather than anything I did as far as I know, although it was a bit of a mismatch of parts and never ran to its full potential.
I'd certainly build another motor, but I learnt so much on every build I did. I'm much more confident with top end rebuilds though!

[modnrod]

My uncle had a street racer old-school 1835 when I was mid-teens, and he was forever blowing the thing up. It was costing him races and money, and I had built a cheap hotrod out of wrecking yard parts where I worked by then, so together we pulled it down and tried to make it rev better without blowing up.
After a few goes we started getting it together.
Then my Opa used to come up through the hills every few months in his 1600 Kombi to visit.......he would sit inside drinking all mums coffee while I tuned the old POS for him again to try to make it work another few months. 
Etc, etc, etc.

[karl h]

i had a buddy a couple of yeras older than me who had a 1600 with dual solexes and was building a 1835. watched him closely a lot of weekends and started on my 1776 (berg influence). beat his oval on the first outing in the quater   (my car was lighter and the clutch worked better) he was pissed