How to tell if it has Hyd. lifters ?

It is unlikely that it has hydraulics but since it has no number under the generator stand then it is obviously a replacement. If a factory unit has been fitted then it will have an oil filter unit attached to the oil pump at the rear. If you are still not certain, then you will have to remove a head cover, rocker assembly and pushrod, then look down the tube with a light. If it is hydraulic, you will see a circlip in the area where the pushrod sits on the lifter.

Seems like you could just pop off one of the valve covers and with the tranny in neutral, rotate the engine until you see a rocker arm move all the way to the position where the valve for a cylinder is fully closed, and then push on the side of the rocker arm that makes contact with the pushrod. If there are hydraulic lifters in there then you should be able to slightly move the pushrod in a downward direction and it should spring back up on its own. I think. :-) At most you'd have to just unbolt one rocker to get it out of the way and then push down on the pushrod to see if it goes down and springs back up. If it does then you have hydraulic lifters. If it kinda bottoms out against the lifter and won't budge then you have solid lifters.

You think wrong. It takes several minutes for a hydraulic to leak-down. Finger pressure won't ever do it. The best way to tell is to run the engine so the lifters are all pumped up. Shut it down. Turn the engine so that your favorite valve is at full extension. Measure. Go drink a six-pack and come back. If it hasn't leaked down shorter, it's not hydraulic.

I had a Mexican motor, no numbers, with no oil filter that was a hydraulic motor. One thing I did notice is that it said Brazil on the side of the oil "pan" just below the pushrod tubes. I could collapse a lifter (push in on the push rod side) as long as I had not started it in a while.

These engines use type4 lifters.

a start. I have a Mexican engine with

other post said, look for a filter pump and go

All Type 1 cases are made at VW Brazil. They then send them up to Mexico where they install the pick-up tubes and assemble the engines for their market. The cases destined for Mexico are dual relief, while all the ones for the Brazil market are single relief (from the same casting). Mexico used to make cases for themselves and Germany, but their foundry was destroyed in the 80's and Brazil took up the slack. Germany stopped making cases around the time they stopped making Bugs.

There are quite a number of VW Brazil parts in the Mexican engine and transmission.

exist due to the fact that these hydraulic

to see a Mexican Beetle up close and see if

Maybe not *your* finger pressure but I've depressed the cap on a hydraulic lifter with my fingers with no problems many times. Another poster on this thread confirmed they've done it themself too. Ben Gully- "I could collapse a lifter (push in on the push rod side) as long as I had not started it in a while."