My kitchen built 2276 dynoed at 165 PS. Engine tuning experts needed.

[181]

Some time ago I started collecting parts for my new engine. It will go to my lowered Thing and will be used as a weekend warrior, ocassional longer trips and strip.

So far I have:

new magnesium case, AS21, bronze bushed lifter bores, shuffle pins, full flow, cut for 90.5 register, steel inserts instead of alt. tower studs

Kolbenschmidt bearings (all mains, con rods, double thrust cam)

FK-8 cam, clearanced, with deburred edges of lifter lobes which were very sharp from production

CB lightweight lifters with  loctited internal snap ring



forged 4340 crank, within tolerances, inspected by a reputable shop, along with 12.5 pounds lightened flywheel and 6 pounds CB Equalizer pulley. Every part balanced separately and then balanced all together with my KEP1 springplate

CB billet steel on steel straight cuts

94mm Mahle liners turned for 90.5/92mm register

schadek 26 mm pump from Jim Ratto and a stash of Fram HP1 filters

CB 1.4 rockers

010 distributor with Bosch blue coil for start, maybe I will add CDI later

what is in research:

rods - will use balanced H beams and considering notching them for squirting oil on the underside of pistons to help cooling. Unfortunately I wasn´t aware of engine case squirters mod when ordering my case

pistons - Mahles? AAs? Wisecos? Are you familiar with the mod when a channel is drilled from oil slinger ring to the piston pin boss to help oiling a bit?

After I put this together, aiming for 9.5:1 compression, I´ll go with either Steve Tims Stage 2 or DRD´s L6 heads, DRLA 45s or IDAs but that is future. Cooling will be stock, Thing shroud with added venturi ring from EFI doghouse shroud. 1 5/8 exhaust, probably Sidewinder.



Chassis is following: sitting on AB beetle gearbox, Type 3 rear drums, Rhino urethane mounts, Mohr mid mount /loud as hell, Cofap oil shocks all around, urethane springplate grommets, urethane steering coupler and shifting coupler, Berg shifter, beetle beam with adjusters, stock width, Ghia disc brakes,HD sway bar, camber compensator.

Original steel 5.5 Sprintstars in the back and 4.5 in front,Pirelli P6 185/65 rear, Pirelli 145/65 front.  

[beetletom]

wow VERY cool!

[Bewitched666]

Your from Poland?

Mahle pistons will be fine,Wiseco's are better but more expensive.Remember to use the B type pistons for your 82 stroke and use a longer rod like a 5.5 rod.Your engine will be a bit wider but no problem in your thing i guess.

Succes with your build

[181]

I already have 5.4 rods with VW journals so that is what I have to work with. Currently I´m running a stock singleport 1500 with Kadrons, Scat linkage and 019 distributor, along with Bugpack header. I´ll add 1.4 rockers for the next season untill my big engine will be ready.

[John Rayburn]

The shorter rod will work better with a heavy car. Good choice.

[GreenTom]

Your from Poland?

Mahle pistons will be fine,Wiseco's are better but more expensive.Remember to use the B type pistons for your 82 stroke and use a longer rod like a 5.5 rod.Your engine will be a bit wider but no problem in your thing i guess.

Succes with your build

Hey the hi Po scene is growing quite fast in Poland

181 have funn with the build good luck

[Sam K]

That's a great looking Thing, 181, and it should be a ton of fun with the engine you're building.  I built a '74 Acapulco Thing for my fiance last year.

[181]

Hi guys,

I´m curious who is runing these pushrods in their hi-po engine? Please share your valvetrain combo and experience and if you are using straight and tapered version.

I´m deciding on what to use in my engine, I don´t like the extra added weight of Cr-Mo pushrods.

my valvetrain combo is:

2276ccm
FK8 cam
CB lightweight ligters
CB 1.4 rockers
42x37 valves
dual valve springs (Steve Tims Stage 2s)

Thank you.

Jan

[Peter]

i am using jaycee chromoly pushrods with cb 1.4 rockers,
the pushrods are stronger than aluminium ones, i just wanted to be sure, thats why i took them...
no problems so far, i think the valves start floating at 7500 in my car,
with heavy pushrods , heavy lifters and big valves and vw od springs, i m pleased with them
the springs are quite new, but i want to change them every two years or so..
doesnt the redline drop when the springs soften up?

cheers, Peter

[airstuff]

I was also thinking about JayCee pushrods with an FK10 in my future 2276cc

[181]

Well I messed up the question above. Originally I meant if anybody here is using Aircooled.net HD alu pushrods. Got some interesting and head-up responses on other forum.

Now I´m undear research of possibilities of my future exhaust. i´m set on 1 5/8 size and I WANT to keep my lower engine tins and thermostat. It seems that there are three possibilities:

Gene Berg GB 933S header "unobtainable"
Aircooled.net merged header with flanged J tubes
have the exhaust custom made somewhere

[airstuff]

I will just go with A1 lowdown

[181]

Now I´m mocking up the crank and I have a problem. Crank is a generic chinese 82mm forged crank and I´m using an installation kit from Bugpack which includes two woodruff keys for crank gears. I can hardly press them in to their keyways with my hand and I dont want to force them in BFH style. Am I suposed to heat the crank, freeze the keys for better installation, or can I lightly sand the keys for an exact press-in fit? Thanks.

[Diederick/DVK]

if i'm correct you're supposed to heat the gears.

[Peter]

i sanded one side of the keys just enough so i could tap them in with a hammer

[181]

thanks ruff, that is what I´m gonna do

[181]

I measured the keyways and the keys and they are out for 0.2 mm! Talk about press fit I have to sand them down.

[Jim Ratto]

I polish lightly (with 400 wet/dry) only if they are REALLY tight going in. I use a small nylon hammer to drive them in. Be careful some aftermarket keys are tight and sometimes they will "peel" and you'll get a burr that sheds off key after you drive it in. Could cause a (big) problem.
Yes the gears have to be heated to install. If the cam gear goes on "easy" without heating, you've got BIG trouble.

have fun

[Neil Davies]

To heat the gear up I use a piece of 1/4" steel plate on the gas hob in the kitchen! drop the gear on that and it heats up without any direct contact with the flame. I've also heard of people using the hotplate of a coffee maker - I've got one of those too!

[181]

Soo gentlemen..no I have brand new set of KS bearings and on the thrust set of bearings there are no tangs to fix the position of the shell in the case half.

-should I try to create one
-should i leave it as it is?
-should I leave it as it is and use thin smear of Loctite bearing retainer between shell and case half?

Thanks,

[181]

doublepost
 

[Peter]

just install them,
no need for glue

[Ohio Tom (DdK)]

That's a "Oops" on the cam bearings.
Yes, you need to create a "tang" on one of the thrust bearings.
Sounds like you are a handy guy, so this shouldn't be too much of an issue to handle yourself with some home made tools for the job.

My comments on your valve trane:

the measured cam lift will never live up to the advertised .382". Unless you paid extra money for a "blueprinted cam", you will find that the cam measures less. .360" would not suprise me.

This is not such a bad thing.
With your current rockers, that puts valve lift in the .500-.510" range.
That lift will work real nicely with your spring setup that you have.

If you had much more lift, then you would be killing your valve springs much faster anyways.

That's a sweet ride you have dude. I love it.
You are gonna put a hurting on some people with a 2276 in the back.
Rock on...
 

[Peter]

Oops i fucked up
sorry

[181]

here I´m again with my annoying question. I´m still not sure of correct answer and need an educated view on this. I´m not so sure if the deck height on a VW engine is simply the distance between top of the cylinder to the top of the piston.

Deck height is a distance between top of the piston and the quench area in the head right? IF I set up the deck height on a mocked up engine to zero and install the head without any shims and spacers, the deck height would be zero - right? So I need to use a cylinder spacer or a head shim of to put my deck height to desired 0.040-0.060 between top of the piston and quench area in the head.

BUT what if I use a 043 casting, which alrady has a 0.040 step in its casting, I assume it works as a spacer and it put my deck height to 0.040 right?

Common belief is that I do not count the height of the step to my deck height, but if I add a 0.040 spacer under my cylinder or copper shim under my head, it puts my deck height to 0.080, whis is "unhealthy" and not ideal, effectivity and performance goes to hell.

Can anybody explain this to me as a first time stroker builder?

My build is 82x94, 5.4 rods, flat top Mahle pistons.

My distance from top of the piston to top of the cylinder on mocked up shortblock is 0.015 (piston is in the cylinder, not out of the cylinder) so far and i have ported 043 heads on the way from head porter. The head chamber volume (quench area+step area is) 57cc. Now what should I do? I would like to have a compression ratio close to 9.5:1 give or take.

Please let me know what should I do, am I completely wrong with my uneducated theory?

[Peter]

hello,
on my engine,
i did like this:
install shims under the barrel so the pistontop sits flush with the cylinder
then i installed 1.5 mm copperhead gaskets to get a deck of 1.5 mm
so deckheight for me is 1.5 mm ( in the manual of the deck height measuring tool,
the say a min. of 1.5 mm is needed so the piston dont kiss the head )
doesnt say anything about a step in the head ,
but common sense to me says you have to add the step to calcyulate deckheight;
because with the compression r

[Peter]

sorry i fucked up my post
i wanted to say:
because this step is not a part of the chamber
as a last sentence

[181]

Well, Steve Tims recommended to use 0.040" head shims to achieve desiret comp. ratio and forget it.

I decided to share some pics of my engine build here: http://picasaweb.google.com/181.2276/2276#

Nothing major happened so far, but last week I´m taking my parts to balancer so it will start to be serious :-)

Feel free to comment.

[181]

ooh yeah, I lost my shop so all assembly work will happen in my apartment :-) Also added a bit of controversy to the name of this topic.

one angry kitty, went sterilisation on Friday so he needs some kind of--errrm..cooling? :-D

[181]

tossed away brazilian oil suction tube, replaced with german steel



CB lifters loctited



H beam notched rod



CB equalizer balanced (out for 4 grams, Cr_mo flywheel was out for 6 grams and 4340 82 mm crank was out for another 6 grams)