Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 16:47:29 -0600
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@HIWAAY.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@HIWAAY.NET>
Subject: Re: VW Trends and Eurospec STILL LACK of power...
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After a great deal of study on Robert Lilley's approach to an engine for his
van, I decided that I would want to go only one of two ways for my own van.
Either it got a VR6 or it got a Robert Lilley style engine rebuild. The latter
would give me an engine that fit the van. No hassle with swap situations and
all they can entail. A stock installation, but not a stock WBX.
In the end, budget contraints killed even the Robert Lilley approach. I wound
up with what I felt to be a deal. I get a freshly rebuilt engine with all new
guts...in the case there were new bearings, seals, etc. rebuilt rods, new
barrels and pistons and rings, new lifters, REBUILT heads( the only weak spot,)
but they had new guides, valves, seats. refaced flywheel. Basically a
longblock. All for $1500 from a local rebuilder I trust. And a bonus...I got to
heep my old engine.....which will at some point become the ultimate Robert
Lilley type engine. Now $1500 is not a lot of money, yet it is a lot of money
to me. But this new engine is to be a throwaway more or less. I'm gong to run
the crap out of it......not abuse it...I don't abuse my machines....but it is
going to see some mileage. The first sign of anything more than just minor
naintenance problems, or signs or any internal problems, like compression
dropping on one cylinder, out it comes and in goes the newer engine.
Robert Lilley sent me a copy of the procedures he used on his. It's not that
tough. If you have ever torn down and rebuilt aType I then you know the WBX is
not that big of a deal. Once you pull the heads on the WBX, the mystery
disappears completely.
The engine is the basic VW 4-banger, but instead of cylinders with fins for air
cooling, there is a shroud of aluminum that is cast as part of the case. When
the cylinders are in place, and the heads bolted on, the assembly forms the
water jacket for keeping the cylinders cool. It is a simple approach really.
The problems occur in the way the sealing system was designed and everybody
knows about that. A little corrosion and the head seals begin to leak. On my
own engine, when it was torn down at 82,000 miles for a failed piston, the
heads had absolutely no corrosion anywhere, period. Robert, to avoid the
possibility of corrosion over the expected life of his engine, chose to ceramic
coat the mating surfaces of the heads. That works.
For myself when digging through the cost of all this, I found that for right at
$3000 I could get everything he did, including remove and replace, except the
ceramic coating. That included the Demello counterweighted crank, the balancing
of the rotating assemblies, the new cyl. assemblies, the new heads,, and all
the polishing and grinding etc. it depends a lot on how much you can do
yourself.
Once I saw the $3000 figure, realized how much I can do myself, I decided for
me that was the way to go. There is absolutely no reason what ever for that
engine to give problems if it is rebuilt with some consideration to fine tuning
as it is built up.
In a discussion with my mechanic about the counterbalancing, he said that after
driving a counterbalanced VW 4-banger, I would never want to drive another that
wasn't counterbalanced. He told me that evry little thing would help the life
of the engine, and such things as the counter balancing would of course make
the engine run smoother, increase the horsepower, and that by reducing
vibration, wear and tear would be reduced, thus inducing longer life.
Having been an aircraft mechanic for many years, and having to deal with
vibration problems on those beasts, I agree. Of course many other things come
into play, but everything one can do to reduce vibration is of benefit.
A van owner just has to decide how far he wants to go in chasing the demons..
John Rodgers
"88 GL Driver
> Notice that the writer SAID that the Eurospec engine power was really no
> better than a STOCK Wasserboxer????
>
> Adding power to the Wasserboxer is relatively EASY. The Wasserboxer engine
> is NOT that complex if the machine work is done correctly...
>
> Robert
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