Your first engine build

[stealth67vw]

I built my first engine in 1988, when I was only 13. My Dad bought a 68 bay window bus with an 1835. The engine broke a valve spring and did some damage to the head and piston. Most of the parts were non stock old school dune buggy parts, Bugspray, Norris cam, Berg square port heads, GME chromoly rods etc. So I pulled it out to determine what was salvageable. This is when I learned about big bores, big cams and big heads. Not much of this engine would interchange with other junk my dad had laying around so I put it under the bench for a later day(still own it today). So the bus sat until my Dad had money for another engine or usable core. My Dad needed something soon because it was about November and the rain had begun for the winter. He was riding his 1987 Suzuki Savage motorcycle to work for most of the summer and fall.

One day while walking my dog I came across an abandoned bay window bus full to the roof with engine parts. I later learned a local VW shop, Volkscraft (Newark,Ca) had loaded it up full of junk parts and dumped it in the field where I found it. I made several trips with a radio flyer wagon to get as many parts as I could before the city towed off the bus.

Out of all the junk, I came up with enough parts to build a 1600 single port. I did not use 1 new part, even bearings. So with my John Muir book I slapped this thing together. I had about $25 out of pocket cost, Hi Temp copper RTV, Loctite, 2 cans of black spray paint and a Bugpack engine adapter mount. I was lucky, as my Dad was a GM mechanic and could hot tank parts, hone cylinders, do valve jobs, etc. This saved him/me a bunch of money.

I put it in and the thing ran! It leaked oil and ran warm but it ran. So off my dad went. It lasted about 6 or 7 months, lost oil pressure and started knocking. He knew it wouldn't last long but he knew he planted a seed in my head and I immediately starting collecting parts for the replacement. This one I wanted to do it right. It would be my first performance engine and I was still only 14.

It was a 1641 with a C/W DMS crank, Rimco 12lb flywheel all balanced, CB/Eagle .429"x286* cam, ported by me CB 041 heads, Dual 36 DRLAs, header and hideaway muffler, 8.3:1 cr. This engine hauled ass for what it was. This engine lasted for years but it ate a lot of gear boxes. It was in my Dad's 68 bus, his 1970 Ghia and finally into my first 67 in 1993. I had a sump stud nut back off in 1995 and the engine met it's demise, otherwise it would probably still be running today. I ended up trading the heads for a Rajay turbo kit like in the Bill Fisher book and built a 1600 single port just for this turbo. The crank had to be ground .030 under but I found a Berg c/w crank cheap and gave the .030 crank to Sheep for his STF buggy motor. The 36 Dell's were traded for bare 44 IDFs.  Everything else from the 1641 was junk. The turbo was more head ache than what I was used to so I pulled it off and started collecting parts for my 1776 from all Jim's 1776 war stories.

[sheep]

Wow, good story and at 13 years old!!!!!!!. When I was 13 all I cared about was playing with my peter

[stealth67vw]

So what ever happened to that .030 crank? I remember Rob Lockett at Buggy House told me and my dad an 1835 was a worthless pile of shit.

[stealth67vw]

Wow, good story and at 13 years old!!!!!!!. When I was 13 all I cared about was playing with my peter

Some things never change. 

[Bewitched666]

My first engine was built when i was 16 years old.
Me and my dad built my first 1679cc engine

Had stock ported and polished heads
69 cw crank
chromo pushrods
40mm dells
straight cut gears
w120 cam and 1:25 rockers
high volume oilpump with spin on filter

Ran like hell that engine,haha

[louisb]

My first engine rebuild was at age 15. Though probably not what your thinking. I was working for my uncle who was a mercury marine mechanic for the summer. A customer had flipped their sport fishing boat with the motor running. It had filled with salt water which sheared the crank in half. I had been working there for about six weeks learning the ropes from my uncle. (WWII Navy vet, hard as nails, gruff and didn't take any nonsense from some wet nose kid. And I was one of the nephews he liked.

After bugging him for a couple of days about this motor he agreed to let me rebuild it under the supervision of his full time assistant. I tore the block down, checked all the internal parts, and decided what we could reuse. (Not much since the motor had continued to run under water for several minutes before imploding.) We took the block to the machine shop and had them bore the block oversize. (Engine was a 2 cylinder, 2 stroke engine.) We had the head surfaced and new valves, etc. I got to build the block up and learned about checking clearances, gapping rings, all the stuff you need to know to build an engine. Put it all back together and it ran great. My uncle was to be responsible for mounting it in the case and attaching the rotor shaft and cowl.

Well someone coughmyunclecough forgot to torque down the bolts that held the prop shaft assembly to the block. The owner takes it out about six miles off the coast and the whole prop shaft assembly fell off leaving them stranded. They had to get the Coast Guard to tow them back to shore. Now mind you I didn't touch the engine after the engine rebuild, but guess who got the blame for not tightening those bolts.

Still it was a fun summer. Going out with my uncle fishing all night and getting drunk, then having to be at work at 8 am the next morning.

--louis

[Jim Ratto]

I built my first at 16-17....the 1641 I described in my Getting Even story. Built solely for chasing other VW guys and showing them brakelights

[Jim Ratto]

So what ever happened to that .030 crank? I remember Rob Lockett at Buggy House told me and my dad an 1835 was a worthless pile of shit.

Is that the crank that ended up in the Sand Slug? I remember it was .030 or something, non counterweight. We wanted cheap and light.

I still kind of wish you would have built the s/p turbo....it was so interesting and different. Well so was your 1776 anyway.

[stealth67vw]

The crank I gave Frank was a DMS c/w crank. I'm not sure where it ended up. I did put the turbo on the singleport but it never ran very satisfactory with the sidedraft Zenith.

[Zach Gomulka]

I built my first motor at 17, my senior year in high school, after the top end rebuild failed because of pulling headstuds on my stocker. So my dad sported me a dual pressure case, a virgin (never align bored) that was so pounded out it needed .060" to clean up. I traded in my crank for a c/w from Demello, stuck in a 110 cam (cuz thats what dad said to do), and used the new 85.5's and dual ports that were meant to go on the stock engine. By that time I was reading the "How to Hot Rod VW Engines" and some Gene Berg stuff, so I ended up hemi cutting the heads, and then flycutting to get the CR back up  I thought it would rock! We used dual "Febers" (single barrell knock off Webers with home made linkage). Everything else was pretty stock. We got it runnning just before my 18th birthday in March, and it felt pretty fast!! Later that year it turned a 18.72 in the quarter with a slipping clutch and 3/4 throttle. Over the next few years I kept tuning on the engine and car, and slowly brought it down to a 14.87. I sold the motor to a friend, it dynoed at 93hp with the belt on, and its still running in his car to this day. It is getting a little tired though Great little motor. Cant wait to build a "clone" one day

[Peter]

i m building my first motor now....
hope it stays together 

[stealth67vw]

What is it?

[Peter]

82 x 94
the hardest part for me is getting all the measurement equipment,
i m lucky i can use some tools from my job , but still.. not easy !
like this.. it takes ages but i ll get there some time

cheers, Peter

[Jordy/DVK]

the hardest part for me is getting all the measurement equipment,
i m lucky i can use some tools from my job , but still.. not easy !
like this.. it takes ages but i ll get there some time

 LowBugget.com sells nice cheap sets for the "Do-It-Yourselvers"...

 I'm thinking of ordering a nice set (and more parts) from AJ, for my own 1915cc or 2165cc (still to decide)...
 Especially now everything overseas is dirtcheap...

[nicolas]

the hardest part for me is getting all the measurement equipment,
i m lucky i can use some tools from my job , but still.. not easy !
like this.. it takes ages but i ll get there some time

 LowBugget.com sells nice cheap sets for the "Do-It-Yourselvers"...

 I'm thinking of ordering a nice set (and more parts) from AJ, for my own 1915cc or 2165cc (still to decide)...
 Especially now everything overseas is dirtcheap...

2165! 2165!

i think redex is still selling his excellent crank here on the lounge. not dirtcheap, but you could safe a lot on shipping and customfees... it has to be good quality.