Battery, No reason for not starting

13th January 2012

The troublesome Friday 13th had arrived for some but this year I was given a lovely surprise and thus has become a lucky day for me for different reasons and is certainly one i will be noting in my diary.

Since my new year visit to my garage I had been experiencing problems with my battery not providing enough power to start the car and turn over the engine . I had wondered if this was because of the high compression with the new 1641 Barrels and Pistons. However in these austerity times, needs meant I had to locate a battery from a different source I had not realized although I had bought a higher amps battery that although it was a 60 amp battery it only had 335 amps of starting current( As seen in the picture above.). I was researching higher Capacity batteries and discovered quite by accident that most VW Beetle batteries where rated at 420 amp starting current or even 440amp. This clearly was the problem as I had more resistance due to higher Psi in my heads and a weaker starting capacity.

I rang my local dealer and he told me the Bosh 63 batter was rated at 44 amps with a starting current of 440amps . I would have to buy a different battery to solve this.

I also turned the buggy round in the garage so I could get better access to the engine.

2012 New Year

2nd Jan 2012

I wish to say happy new year to the readers of my blog . Not much activity or time has been spent on the buggy in the last couple of months as the weather has been seasonal and not permitted it. I ventured up to the garage today as the weather was fresh and sunny. I took the dust cover of the car and checked the car over. The fuel pressure was not showing on the dial so I new that the buggy was not going to start today. I hooked the car up to the buggy battery with jump leads and ran my car to ensure the battery had a stable load. Electrics and fuel do not ever seem to like coming through the winter . I turned the ignition over several times until I got the fuel pressure gauge back up to 3 psi . The buggy still would not start. I used some Carburettor cleaner down the throat of the Carburetors and tried again . Eventually the Engine started to fire. However I the engine stopped firing and the battery started to take a beating. With the fuel back up to its pressure I decided to leave the buggy for a day for the fuel to permeate the carburetors and free up the gantries.

I would try again on the next available day.

Engine faltering under acceleration

22nd Nov 2011.

I fitted the electrics to the rear of the buggy using the coiled wire protectors I had purchased . This gave greater protection to the wiring . With the engine rebuilt I still been having problems with acceleration that had been dogging my new engine for some time . I had tried replacing engine parts to solve this but to date had had little success. The problem was still alluding me and several friends could not resolve this problem either. It had been a busy month with other activities so I was unable to spend as much time as I wanted to.

I replaced the fuel pump with a new fuel pump regulator and pressure gauge in an attempt to see if there was a fueling issue that was preventing fuel reaching the twin carburetors. The fuel pressure was correct and providing 2.5-3 psi on the gauge. I pressure tested the heads and they all came out the same over 980 lbs on each cylinder suggesting I had good compression.

I tried swapping the distributor to see if my 009 distributor was failing this did not improve the situation.

I know I am running 32 Venturi in my DRLA carburetors and am now wondering whether my poor running is because of this ? I rang VW Heratige who told me that the 32 Venturi where better suited to a larger engine they suggested running 30's. I would have to see if I could locate some replacement Venturi/ Chokes to see if this was the fault.

** Photo of Dellorto DRLA 40 Venturi/ Choke provided by courtesy of www.Dellorto.com

Upgrading replacement heads with Heavy Duty Valve Springs

11th Sep 2011.

It had been some time since my problems with my valve springs as I had found it quite difficult to locate some good second hand 1600 heads. Amazingly I found these eventually on hht://www.volkszone.co.uk web site and they where only a few miles away from me the whole time. I was lucky that the heads that I found had come from an engine that had only done 1500 miles or less so the heads had effectively already been run in.

I had managed to find some Heavy duty springs for same on eBay and new that they would have to be fitted to the new heads. This was as I had found to my cost that the standard springs would not take the compression from the ham and high lift rockers. I had also decided that rather than find chromoly push rods at this time I would use a set of bolt together 1:2 rockers I had purchased already.

The first thing I did with the heads was to remove the springs and valves and clean the ports on the heads. This in simple terms means smoothing the inlets to the ports with sand paper or an electric tool.

Fitting the Heavy duty Springs turned out to be a challenge my converted spring removal tool bent under the strain. I knew I would have to buy the bigger valve tool that I had tried to buy the last time from Cool Air before Bug Jam but decided this time to buy it from VW Heritage it arrived a day later.

The tool came in two package a package containing a split pin and the other containing the tool in separate bits. Amazingly there was no instructions for assembly but fortunately I had seen a diagram that I loaded up onto my site before showing it put together. The tool is a fantastic piece of kit but you need to learn how to use it. Firstly there are small pieces of tubing welded to the base these have to be aligned on the valve head . You cannot simply place the head on the tool and do all the valves without moving the head. Secondly when you press down on the arm after locating the tool head on the valve as in the picture the spring gives a little before it hits this block on the base. You need to press the arm quite hard after this to break the seal between the collet's and the retainers, they will usually let go with a thud and the spring will compress allowing the collet's to be picked out of the retainers with a bradel. Once the collet's are removed the arm can be released to allow the spring to be removed. The head then needs to be adjusted before this procedure can be repeated. The new collet's and retains are also heavy duty and it is easy to tell the difference. I found it a fiddle to get the Heavy Duty Valve springs on the tool and head. The main reason for this was the springs seem to be longer as well as thicker. I found that balancing the spring and retainer on the head and pulling down the tool head so it touched i could then push the spring and retainer into the tool head. I also found it difficult to get the collet's in place i found that insert in one then releasing the arm centralized the retainer and made it easier to fit the second collet in. The bradel was extremely useful to move these small collet's about as it had a sharp point.


Once I had fitted the Heavy Duty Springs I fitted the heads to my engine block. The heads push onto the barrels and are bolted up to 35 lbs/ft or 3.2 mKgs depending on your torque ratchet. The Heavy Duty Valves are easily identified as the retainers are a different shape. Once I had the heads torqued up I realized I had forgotten to install the air deflectors under the barrels , these are very important and slot under the barrels. They cannot be fitted with the heads on so I had to remove the heads and refit them a good lesson learned her check they are fitted first. I then fitted my 1:2 bolt up rocker arms you can see they are very similar to the Scat Pro Rockers but do not have quite so much lift. I torqued these up to 18 lbs/ft ( torque settings) I had broken a stud in the past and new these must not be over tightened. I fitted the tine ware over the heads and refitted the fan housing and the Alternator. these are fairly simple jobs apart form ensuring your fan is running freely there is not much more to it than bolting the tin ware together and using the alternator strap to tighten up the alternator. I moved my strap bolt round to the side so it did not foul the linkage kit . I fitted the carburetors and linkage kit with new gaskets (most important). I then left the engine over night so that it could cool enough for the valves to be adjusted. I used my own procedure to adjust the valves.

I just had the electrics to reconnect and decided that it was in need of a little restorations. I had used some spiral wrap before and decided that I would use this to protect the loom . I would have to purchase this and would refit the electrics next time.

Removing and refitting Barrels & Pistons from a twinport beetle engine.

11th August 2011.

It is a very say day today that we remember 10 years ago the atrocity that happened and only hope it makes us stronger.

My previous exploration of my engine had left me finding oil in my barrels and I was lucky to be able to buy some 1641 B&P to fit in place of my 1600 b&P . I had also realized that I had Scatt pro street 1:25 rockers bolted to my heads in addition to the Engle cam.


Removal
Removal of the Barrels and Pistons is fairly straight forward but you need a pair of long nose pliers and a rubber mallet and a socket set drive. I start by removing both cylinders on one side. Making sure to note which cylinder was which by placing them in different areas. With the cylinders carefully removed the pistons are exposed great care should be taken not to scratch or mark them if you are intending to re-fit. Use the pulley to careful turn the engine so the no 2 cylinder piston is at TDC . This will give you maximum room to get the gudgeon pins out. Use the long nosed pliers on the two tabs that come down and gently pinch them together , shield the crankcase so this can not pop into the crankcase. With the gudgeon pinched together it can be retracted from the piston. The Gudgeon circlip clip can then be removed from the other side of the piston. The Gudjeon pin can then be pushed out of the piston either with your fingers or the end of the socket wrench. It might be necessary to tap the wrench using it as a punch with the rubber mallet to remove the pin. Be extremely careful to pad the piston so that it does not knock against the case studs. As the Gudgeon pin is with drawn the piston will fall of the connecting rod. This will give to the opportunity to inspect the brass bearing in the connecting, you should also check it with the gudgeon pin for excessive play. With the no 2 B&P removed place the piston in no2 Cylinder so you can keep the two together as it is not good to mix them up. The no1 piston is then removed in the same way rotating the engine and removing circlips and gudgeon pin. Once both cylinder barrels and pistons have been removed you can proceed with cylinders 4 and 3. start with Cylinder 4 and then move onto cylinder 3. With your barrels all off they can be re-honed or new rings can be refitted . A piston ring compression tool is needed to get the pistons back in the barrels they can be purchased cheaply through motor factors.

Refitting.
Before refitting your Barrels and Pistons I find it a much easier job if you prepare them before fitting them to the engine. It is imperative your rings are fitted correctly and the gaps in the rings are non adjacent to each other. If you have purchased completely new Barrels and Pistons your Pistons will already be in your barrels. If they are not you can use a piston ring compressor to compress the piston rings. I use the Clarke piston compression tool . This is a good tool that has a sprung steel construction that can be tightened by the 1/4" drive to fit tightly onto the piston. always leave 2mm from the top of the piston when this jacket is fitted. so that the piston will nuzzle inside the barrel. With the piston and compression tool fitted and sitting on the top of the barre; the piston top 2mm should be inside the barrel. I find it is useful st spray the barrel with spray 3in 1 oil before this. A piece of wood can be inserted into the crown of the piston and used as a punch to swiftly but gently drive the piston in to the barrel. Once you have repeated this for all four barrels we are ready to get them setup to go in..

The final planning and time spent here can make the pistons easier to fit. Start by placing the four pistons out on the floor in the patter that they will fit the crankcase. Turn each one over in turn and check that the arrow on the pistons all point the same direction. On the engine this will be the flywheel and these arrows will keep us orientated on either side place the flats together as they would be fitted to the engine work on no1 piston first the right back one. rotate the piston so the arrow faces to the back gently pull the piston out of the barrel so that it just exposes the gudgeon pin hole. When you have exposed it place a circlip in the piston on the side the arrow is pointing too. Repeat this for all four pistons. This will help you later when it comes to fitting the pistons spray a little spray oil on the gudgeon pins and piston gudgeon pin holes. The gudgeon pins can be gently pushed into the four pistons the circlip we placed earlier will ensure this goes in the correct side. Stat with piston and barrel one hold it against the crankcase check the piston is facing the fly wheel and locate the connecting rod in the piston . Push the gudgeon pin through the piston onto the circlip. You may need to reorient the engine pushing the connecting rod on no1 to T.D.C before you can connect the two parts. You must remember to put the gudgeon pin in the front side of the piston Use the pliers to pinch the circlip together and carefully put the circlip back in . Guard the crank case so this cannot fly into the case should it spring out whilst you are installing it. Next get no2 ready repeat the procedure check the arrow is pointing to the flywheel. Move the engine so that no2 is at T.D.C. Nock in the gudgeon pin and remember the circlip. Swap sides and start with No 3 check the arrow on the piston and barrel is pointing to the flywheel and fit as above. Cylinder 4 can then be fitted.

You should have your cylinders now fitted mine took about an hour to remove and 1/2 an hour to fit.

Another broken valve spring

10th August 2011
Bug Jam had been an excellent trip and much fun had been had up there the weeks after had been initially a discovery of improving the performance of the engine. I changed the distributor by making a new one from parts and found some air leaks from manifolds nuts that had come undone. Further problems where aired out by doing the valve timing and eliminating shorts from the HT leads. THis were going well until there was a pop and the cylinders 1&2 started popping and back firing through the carburetors again. I knew this could only be one thing and took the valve cover of to investigate. It was immediately noticeable that the exhaust valve spring on NO1 cylinder was broken. This was odd as I had had the same problem just before Bug Jam. I decided to take the head off and check for damage. The valve head had been hammered and was difficult to get through the guide. The spring was broken in nearly the same place as the last. I took the valves out and noticed that the Spring had been rubbing around the head. Although this was not disastrous it was damage to the head. I also noticed oddly that I had oil in the top of the cylinders. This suggested the oil rings could be damaged and I decided that this was also need to come off. Whilst I contemplated this some 1641 barrels came up for sale at a low price and I decided rather than buying new rings it was more cost effective to buy these. Further discussion and talk about potential problems with my forumn group suggested that my stock push rods maybe not strong enough and flexing causing extra stress on the stock springs. I decided I would have to but some stronger springs some stronger push rods and rebuild the top end of the engine once more. I was still wondering if I should use steel or chrome moly. I also had to decide what to do about my head and see if it could be repaired or if it could be replaced.