Date: Tue, 18 Apr 1995 18:21:23 -0700 (PDT)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: David Schwarze <schwarze@superc.nosc.mil>
Subject: Re: The Berg and springs
Eugene C. Palmer writes:
>
> I, being a Berg fan and having read all the same stuff your reading, would
> say that it mostly depends on your driving style. I have built several
> engines since "going Berg" and find that spring wieght is mostly relative to
> rpm's (of course). Any bus should definitely have shimmed, heavy duty
> singles, and if your fond of hard climbing in third and keep it there until
> you hit 60 over the crest of the hill like I do, get double springs.
Hmmm... I don't think my bus would go 60 in third without blowing up. Even
50 scares me, as I'm sure it is approaching 5000 RPM. What year van is
this that you are talking about?
> You do have to be more careful with your valve train, use HD pushrods,
> lashcaps, solid shafts, notch your lifters, and watch them. But you should
> do that anyway in a bus. I check my valves every morning on the open road,
> would've loved to get those hydraulics, but Ol Geno says no. I have a
> theory that single springs would get better mileage than doubles, but I
> wouldn't risk a valve failure on it. Doesn't the type IV have double
> springs? Anybody care to comment?
No type IV that I have ever seen has double springs from the factory, but
the only years I am positive about are 72-79.
I agree with Eugene that one should watch their valve train closely in
any case, but I don't see the need for dual springs in any type IV bus
application. The motors are not designed to be revved past 5,000 RPM.
IMHO, dual springs will just add wear and tear on the valvetrain and
lead to premature cam or lifter failure. I once built a head for my
Capri with triple springs (actually two springs and a harmonic damper)
and while it would rev like a demon, it only lasted 50,000 miles before
the pressure wore away the lobes on the cam and I had to replace
everything. In a bus, I would go for reliability and get the lowest
rate springs that could sustain 5,000 RPM (stock springs are more than
adequate than this).
Berg's pushing of dual springs and pooh poohing of hydraulic lifters
is making me think they are only concerned with building race engines
for Beetles, but I don't know that much about them.
-David
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David Schwarze '73 VW Safare Custom Camper (Da Boat)
SAIC Comsystems '73 Capri GT 2800 (Da Beast)
San Diego, California '87 Mustang Lx 5.0 (Da Bruiser? Soon...)
schwarze@nosc.mil http://papaya.nosc.mil/~schwarze
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