Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (April 1995)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
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

============================================================================= 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 =============================================================================


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.