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Date:         Thu, 20 Jul 2000 22:58:32 EDT
Reply-To:     Wolfvan88@aol.com
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robert Lilley <Wolfvan88@aol.com>
Subject:      Re: Question on rocker arms...
Comments: To: djs@gene.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

<<I read through all the info on Gene Berg's website about high-ratio rocker arms. I don't see anything specific to water-cooled engines, which is understandable based on his targeted customer base.>>

I heard that he will make a stroker crank for $1500

<<Which rockers do you use and recommend?>>

After talking to WebCam, they ground me a performance cam, they recommended the 1.25 ratio.

1)Ratio rockers increase low-end torque: the increase would affect any loss with my bigger cam. It will increase the low-end power due to the valves opening quicker and higher allowing for more air to get in sooner in the rpm band thus increasing power.

2) There could be a problem with coil bind on the stock valve springs with ratios larger than 1.25. Plus this is the largest WebCam recommends to avoid this problem with a larger cam. If you plan to add a slightly larger cam during a rebuild stick with the 1.25. it add 10% power increase.

<<And, were any other modifications necessary to the engine, such as shortening the push rods, for these to work?>>

I would also add solid rocker arms and use the Rhino rocker arms with Rhino swivel tips. This eliminates a lot of the side load on the valve stem to reduce guide wear. You will have to clearence the under side of the rocker arm some to use these. The solid rocker shaft eliminates the stock wiggly spacer and wire clips that break can break and damage a motor. It increases valve noise some, but the protection is worth a little noise, plus inside I do not hear it only when you are next to the engine can you hear it. I also used cromoly cut to fit push rods. They are a fraction of the weight of the stock steel and are 50% stronger. I cut mine @1 mm shorter than stock. They are easy to cut and assemble.

<<Also, how did the rocker arms affect performance?>>

I put them on my engine when I rebuilt it. So I cannot say what they did after installing, But I can say that I have have full use of the entire green and shaded green area of my tach. 1500 to 4600 up to 5000 (Far as I have taken it and have not need more with the five speed), I generally can shift the engine through the gears taking the rpms to 3300 to 4600 depending needs of the road. I can say that it has helped. My last mileage was at 70-75 was 24 mph on a 160 mile trip with 40 of the in miles stop and go driving.

<<<This seems like one "bolt on" mod I can do do wring a bit more power out of my 2.1.>>

K&N air filter $28 Super turbo muffler $58 Red Line oil or other synthetic. Quad tip plugs FI is in good working order.

When you rebuild add a few internal tricks to add a little more.

I did not try to add one or two "Big" items to add power but looked at all the aspects to increase power a lot of little changes add up to a big overall change. There are a LOT of considerations when changing the engine, that is why I decided to go with the engines stock bore/stroke/valve size/ valve springs, but make the engine work better. As a result, I have a gain on the low-end and top-end power and an increase in both power and mileage.

Robert


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