Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
What does the Superbeetle need (and deserve)?
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I got the throttle cable installed today!
Anyhow, the engine is in the Bug. So the next steps would be to get the rest of the hoses and wires hooked up and then start it, break in the new engine and get the thing tuned!
The alternator, fuel line and throttle are hooked up. Now to get the ignition sorted out. I have to hook up the fuel cut off valve, automatic choke, reverse lights, an electronic distributor and an emissions air pump I'm installing to aid ventilation of the crank case and EVAP canister, as well as the air hoses for all that. I have a bunch of mini 30 amp relays I want to use to along with fuses for all that.
I also have to block off the EGR port in the intake manifold. (Although I keep thinking of things to use that for, like some sort of cabin controlled air/fuel ratio adjustment or a place to put a mounted starting fluid system).
I also have several gages to wire in and install. These are a cylinder head temp gauge, oil temp gauge, oil pressure gauge and an air fuel ratio gauge. Most of the sensors are installed except the cylinder head temp sender since mine is for use on a spark plug but I've heard bad stories about doing it that way so intend on installing it somewhere else on the cylinder head.
After that, I know the front end is in poor shape and shakes and shimmies a lot down the road, especially after 40 mph. So that's on the list of things to fix.
After getting the thing running I want to use the air/fuel ratio gauge to finely adjust the air/fuel ratio. After reading a lot of info on it, it seems to be best to run quite lean, leaner than 16:1, at low throttle and then enrich to a 13:1 at full throttle. This should be easy to do with the air fuel ratio gauge and several pilot and main jets.
The distributor I got is a CB Magnaspark digital distributor. I can setup my own spark curves on it. After doing a lot of research I see it's going to take a bit of tuning. The distributor has a line running into it that can make it run at a set spark advance. I'm going to use this for idle. Basically if I am stepping on the brakes it will go to 7.5* advanced (the idle for the 34 PICT-4 carburetor). Once the brake lights go out I'll set the distributor to advance to where it gets the highest vacuum reading and RPM with no load. Then I'll go around with it floored and find where the advance number that's just a few degrees before any pinging. The part load settings will require several tests to determine what spark advance makes the best torque at XX manifold pressure and XX RPM without any pinging (the distributor will give a readout on my laptop). Once that is all done I will set the spark tables to match this since this will be theoretically the most efficient spark curves.
Another thing I'd like to do is also shorten the pushrods so I can remove the shims under the rocker arm shafts. I had to do this since 1, I was able to increase the compression ratio due to using a different close-to-stock cam grind by Web Cams which of course moved the heads closer to the case. And 2 because I'm doing all the Bob Hoover oiling mods and the swivel type rocker tips take up quite a bit of space even after I filled down the bottoms. Actually I have some elephant feet on there for now since I lost one of my ball-swivel types and had gotten the elephant feet for free along with new rocker arm shafts.
That's the main stuff I need to do. I also have to put in the head liner, do a little body work, not much, get the front heater hoses and fresh air box arranged and installed as well as a few odds and ends here and there like door handles, the window washer container, find a radio, etc. I also have a complete set of parts to install an auxiliary heater up front that is in very nice condition.
I also have two sets of rims and if I end up keeping this car I'd like to put on snow tires on one set.
So far about all I've done is rebuilt the engine with new VW dual port heads, rebuilt and very meticulously balanced rods and rotating assembly and a lot of ceramic coatings along with a few mods like the HVX mods and the V groove in the connecting rods for directing oil to the pistons for better cooling I also rebuilt the carburetor and found, cleaned and powder coated all the OE pieces of engine tin including the thermostat and flaps assembly. I also installed a larger type-4 oil cooler and an oil filter and added a thermostat that actually will divert all the oil either through the oil cooler on the engine or not at all. The pistons are hypereutectic and I set a 0.040" quench to help increase flame speed and efficiency and at the same time reduce the chances of detonation. The engine is a 1600 dual port with dual heat rises and a stock 36 PICT-4 carburetor with a working accelerator pump thermostat. It's topped off with a nicely painted 1972 oil bath air cleaner with a new Golf/Jetta air heat control thermostat.