Hi Peter, single HD valve springs will be fine with an Engle 100 camshaft. This cam is designed to give max power at about 5,000 rev's. If you go for duel springs you have to get your heads machined for the second set to seat on. The standard cam gear are riveted on, If you want your engine to sound a bit like a turbo engine; you can put straight cut cam gears on it lol. Any upgrade of camshaft will need bolt up rockers and really you need to put upgraded push rods in. As your engine will not rev too high, you can either use steel ones or there are some upgraded aluminium mix ones that you can use; you do not have to go for the expensive chromalloy one's. Standard VW valve adjusters are fine with the 100 cam. Hope this helps, Rob

Hi Rob,

Yes, thanks that certainly does 

My engine sounds fine as it is so I shall leave the straight cut gearing be I think

I know I should know this, but bolt up rockers.... What do I have now then? My rocker assembly is the standard stuff
and I would have thought it would be fine, my engine has never seen 4500 rpm in its life 

I have looked at the push rod options and was wondering about that, will the standard type not be able to cope?
The cam isn't wild or anywhere near it, its almost standard other than the slightly longer valve opening time and lift...

Thanks for all the info 

Peter

Hi Peter, the spring washers on the VW rockers wear and fall in half sooner or later and then it loads the spring clips which fly off. Bolt up rockers use shims to space and give the rockers the right lateral movement but have bolts in the ends of the shafts rather than the spring clips. They also have shoulders in the middle section instead of the inner spring clips. If your rockers are good, you can just buy the bolt up rocker shafts and fit your rockers to them. If you put an upgraded camshaft in your engine, Yours will let the engine rev another 500/750rev's; it does change your driving style lol. New standard push rods might do the job if you don't use the new rev's but with the stronger springs, I would recommend upgraded push rods.

Rob

Very similar spec to when I refreshed the engine in Tango, just didn't go as far as regrinding the crank or new cam.

Just ordered some new bolt up rockers for mine as the ones on there originally were badly worn.

I have just ordered a SVDA dizzy from here http://www.simonbbc.com/distributors/4cyl-standard-electronic/bosch-powerspark-electronic-distributor-vw-beetle albeit without the electonic set up, to replace the 009 on mine, will be interesting to see what the quality is like.

Interested to see how you get on with Modus, nice to kniow there is someone fairly local if they do a good job

Cheers,

Paul.

Its done quite a few miles that's all so I thought I better look at the cam as well,
I have just sent a mail to america and will see what its going to cost for the bulk of it.

I have had a reply about the crank regrind, £80... And am still waiting to hear back from Modus, hopefully
they will come back to me, they are sooooo close, almost on my doorstep 

That photo I posted of the crank earlier.....
It apparently has got to handle 8000 bhp, in Top Fuel!

I always though it would be much larger 

Peter

Ok.....my 2p worth.....

Before you strip the engine check the end float. This will tell you an awful lot before you strip anything.

Case:-
Get it properly (and I mean properly) cleaned. This involves taking out the oil gallery plugs to allow all the oil ways to be cleaned out. Tap for threaded plugs to put back in.
Check for wear around the main bearings and for end float. If it needs recutting make sure you go somewhere that recuts both sides of the main bearing thrust face like Stateside do. Most places only recut one side.
Check that the bearing locating dowels are tight in the case and use loctite if necessary.
Check lifter bores for wear. Check cam bearing bores for size and damage.
If your engine has M8 head studs it will already have case savers fitted from the factory. If M10 then they do not, but check all the studs for tightness - if you don't need to replace them then do not take them out. My 2054 ran on stock m10 studs that I left in the case without any issues.
Steel backed bearings if you can get them are vastly superior.

Crank:-
Check for scoring and re grind as necessary. I would also look into getting it and the flywheel 8 dowelled. To be honest by the time you've had it re ground, and 8 dowelled it's not much more money for a new CB performance counter weighted crank (they are under £200) which will already have this. A counter weighted crank will always be a massive improvement and stops the crank hammering the main bearings.
Get the entire rotating assembly externally balanced (crank, pulley, flywheel, pressure plate)

Flywheel:-
You say yours is already lightened. Get it refaced if necessary, and 8 dowelled and balanced as above.
Over torque the gland nut to 400ftlbs.

Rods:-
Stock will be fine. Check little ends for wear, threads on the bolts for damage, and also check there is no evidence of shells spinning in the big ends. Match them all for weight.

Cam:-
Engle 100 will be fine. You will also need a cam gear to suit it. Use new lifters. Use double thrust cam bearings.

Oil system:-
Oil pump will need to be an early type one as all aftermarket cams use the early type pump drive. Use a new oil pump. Full flow oiling you've got covered. Fit a new oil cooler as they are impossible to clean out properly.

B&Ps:-
Don't pee about with honing and re ringing. Just replace. 1641 for a buggy is well worth considering.

Heads:-
Check for cracks between the valves before you do anything else. If they are cracked they are scrap.
Take all valves out and check guides for wear. Replace guides if necessary. Check all valves carefully and replace any suspect ones. It's good practice to replace all exhaust valves as a matter of course, but I've reused them before. Calculate CR and machine as necessary. I'd aim for 9:1 for road use on unleaded. Good gains can be had simply from a bit of die grinding inside the ports, and also port matching the inlet manifolds to the heads (you'll be surprised how bad they are as standard). Relap valve seats.
I seem to recall you saying yours were just machined 1300 heads? You will see an advantage in upgrading to 1600 heads.

Valve train:-
The stainless pushrods tubes are nice and reasonably priced. There is no need for expensive spring loaded ones.
Single valve springs are all you need. You do not need dual ones!! For an engle 100 you'll get away with stock springs, but I would suggest replacing with new as 40 year old ones can go soft.
You can get away with stock push rods if you are using stock springs, but if you use uprated springs you'll need uprated pushrods. If buying pushrods then get cut to length ones and sort the geometry out properly. If using chrome moly push rods valve clearances can be set to "loose zero". If using stock pushrods then stick to stock clearance.
Replacing the rocker shafts with bolt up ones is a very good idea. Check the rockers for wear including the bores. Throw the awful crinkle washers away and shim the rockers properly. (This is very frustrating and the shims are quite expensive as you need a selection)

I'm sure I've forgotten something but that'll do for now.....
Jon

Heavens Jon, thanks for all that, a concise and manageable list if ever I read one 

Believe it or not most of its on mine already, I must say that though I have always not looked forward to having to do this
but actually I am and it will be quite enlightening.

I have found a place in Tunbridge Wells that regrinds crankshafts, they arnt cheap though, all I need to do
is pull the engine from my Beetle and swap it over.

I will be able to then strip my engine and measure everything to see whats what.

Thanks to everyone who has offered me tools and advice, I do need it as it happens, having never rebuilt
one of these entirely, in my life.

I have read up on everything and its unbelievably straight forward, in a way it really peeees me off to see the prices that
are being charged to build these things and I have had quotes over £2000.... Hey Ho! 

I will post stuff in here as I go....

Peter 

Peter,

They are not difficult - you have to bear in mind it's pre war engineering. On that basis bear in mind they do have some pre war materials and tolerances. However they do have some peculiarities, and all too many are badly bodged and absolutely worn out.

There are also a few special tools that most people don't have access to. However many are actually quite easy to make. Eg I have made my own oil pump puller and tools for changing valve guides.

£80 ish is about the going rate for crankshaft regrinding. I have got away in the past with just repolishing journals that are only slightly marked with excellent results.

Bill Fisher's "how to hot rod Volkswagen engines" is an excellent read. Full of old school information. You'd be welcome to borrow my copy if you like.

Finally when it comes to rebuild time I recommend using plenty of graphogen assembly lube to protect all those new parts. Assemble the crank and cam and torque the case halves up. Then make sure the crank rotates freely and smoothly by hand with no binding before assembling any further. Keep checking this as you add parts to make sure there is nothing going horribly wrong. Finally once it's all assembled again, leave the spark plugs out and turn it over a few times by hand to make sure nothing is binding. Once refitted (leave the plugs out) fill with oil and crank it over on the starter until the oil warning light goes out. Only then refit the plugs and attempt to start the engine.

Jon

Thanks for that Jon,

Just one quick question, the double thrust issue and machining two sides...

Is that on the cases, either side of the web the bearing sits in ?

Peter

Correct. The rear main bearing should be a tight fit in the case, and has thrust faces either side of the web in the case. What happens with time is that due to the lack of counterweights on the crank, the engine slowly beats itself to death, and this allows the bearing shells to move in the case. This then means that the thrust faces either side of the web get pounded as the bearing shell frets backwards and forward. This is where the end float in a worn out engine comes from - it's actually the main bearing moving backwards and forwards in the case. You can obviously see that to properly repair this both faces (ie either side of the webs) need to be machined and an oversize (thrust) bearing fitted. Sadly many machinists only recut one side of the thrust face on the web so the bearings soon start fretting again and before you know it the end float is back.

The dual thrust cam bearing reference is due to the fact that as standard only one side of the bearings have thrust faces one them. You'll see when you strip it- it's a horrible way of doing things, and I've never understood why VW did it - the cases are machined for dual thrusts they just never fitted them for some reason.

Hope that makes sense
Jon

Thank you for all this very interesting info, it's brilliant and I am sure it will be really useful
to a few more than just me.

I think I shall copy all this detail as it's so informative and I then can go through it all.

I understand that now about the double thrust and was wondering if I had missed the point,
I hadn't and it's really just because I haven't seen any ads for under size thrust flange's in any bearing
sets I have looked at. So I will check that out.

This is all interesting because I may actually be able to have this done at work which will make the whole
thing far more enjoyable.

I shall be in touch about all those tools you mentioned at some point, my plan is to first have the engine out of the Beetle,
swap over a couple of thing's and ensure my buggy is on the road, then I can start to strip my engine and see what's going on in there

Hopefully your bug is still going strong ?

Peter 

Thank you for all this very interesting info, it's brilliant and I am sure it will be really useful
to a few more than just me.

I think I shall copy all this detail as it's so informative and I then can go through it all.

Peter, can you put your summary up on your site please, we will never find it if we need it otherwise
Cheers
dave

Done!

I made a quick link in the Tools And Ideas page, it downloads a word document.

Look for 'Jon's Build Tip's....

http://www.manxmaniac.co.uk/toolsAndIdeas-1.php

Jon

Don't shoot me down.... But a thought just occurred to me!

If the web in a case needed to have its thrust faces cut and to ensure the cases lasted longer
between rebuilds, would it be acceptable to minimally thrust cut both sides to clean up, then
machine (in a lathe) a new maximum underside thrust bearing's 'thrust faces..... To suit the cases.....

The case web would be in limbo so to speak as far as the standard sequence of thrust under size goes, but
have the advantage that it wouldn't have been machined as deeply...

Peter 

Peter,

You are absolutely spot on. That is the correct way to do it, and what stateside do.

Sounds like you've got your head around this now.

However the case is also likely to need line boring as the bearing seats are likely to have worn out of round as the bearing frets back and forth. So the bearings not only need to be other sized on thrust, but also oversized on their od, plus undersized on the id if the crank has been re ground. This is why you'll see three measurements given on oversized bearings.

Hope that makes sense.
Jon