Hello All,
I've got my daily driver '73 Std. Beetle. I've got a complete 2.0L type IV engine in the garage and the '76 van it came out of. I've got the Joe Cali book. What I need is a few parts and a little advice...
First, the engine. The van's been parked for about 10 years due to an undiagnosed fuel injection problem. A couple years before that the engine was "rebuilt" by my friend's granddad (now deceased). I've pulled off the 1/2 cylinder head. I am going to clean them up and check for cracks, but judging from how nice they look I think may have been redone as part of the rebuild. There's no reason to think the seats have dropped or anything horrible like that. Before I took it apart I did a compression check and got 115-130 psi, except for cylinder 2 which only made 70 psi. The barrels still show the marks from a home hone job but the rings look clean, so I assume the rebuild consisted of cleaned up cylinders and new rings. If I'm doing it, I want to do things right, which to me means new pistons and cylinders, and if I'm doing that I figure why not go with an oversize 96mm set. The 96's sold by Aircooled.net seem kind of pricey though, on the order of $600 bucks. What is the difference between theirs and the sets you see on eBay for less than half that price?
For cooling, I'm leaning toward the DTM shroud. My only problem with it is that I want a thermostat on the engine, which I understand can be retrofitted if you're mechanically clever. Also the car has a nearly complete A/C system that I do eventually want to get going again. Anybody know about mounting the compressor with a DTM shroud? I believe that The Legendary Shad Laws has a type IV engine and A/ C...any pictures of his setup?
Now, the car. Eventually I'll go with a re-geared overdrive transmission, but thats not in the immediate plans. However, the driver's side C/V joint is pretty worn and I don't imagine it will survive long behind the 2.0L engine. The car isn't going to be a dragster, just a spirited daily driver, so will standard beetle C/V joints be enough or should I plan on upgrading to something stronger?
Obviously this will be a big project and I'm just getting started, but I've got enough time and money to throw at it to get it done in a few months. Any help from the group in this would be greatly appreciated!
Peace, Harry
PS. The deal here is, I'm trading my buddy the complete, running Mexican 1600dp from my Beetle for the complete, non-running 2.0L type IV from his van. We're both happy, but I was just curious if this sounded like a fair trade to you guys.