Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 21:09:44 PDT
Reply-To: vwvanman@EXCITE.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Robert Lilley <vwvanman@EXCITE.COM>
Subject: Re: Wolfie mods
Content-Type: text/plain
On Mon, 21 Jun 1999 16:36:56 -0700 (PDT), Adam Culp wrote:
> Robert,
> I am curious as to all the mods you have done to your >vanagon
Without an engine swap, are there any performance upgrades worth doing
to boost power?
YES!
I did some upgrades to the my stock 2.1L engine, It is estimated to be @130
to 140 hp from the local machinist that did some machine work on it. Each
upgrade was chosen to strengthen weak areas of the engine and to add power.
I utilized T1 after-market speed equipment and strengthened stock parts. I
started with the stock displacement. (The cost of custom larger pistons
would add @$650 to the cost, too much for my pocket)
1. I had the crank counterweighted: It smooth out the revs, double bearing
life and increase power.
2. I had ALL rotating parts balanced as a unit. Same as above
3. Had rods rebuilt, new bolts and nuts.
4. Had Webcam special grind cam with a lift and duration increase.
5. Used light weight: cromoly: "cut to fit" push rods, retainers, racing
valve locks, 1.25 Rhino ratio arms with Rhino swivel feet, solid rocker
shafts. Lessens valve train weight to effectively increase spring pressure
WITHOUT having to go to heavier springs (Less weight to move back and
forth).
6. Had all parts engine that touch heat ceramic coated. Piston tops.
Combustion chamber, valve faces, exhaust valve radius. Exhaust ports,
exhaust system, catalytic converter, muffler was wrapped in a fiberglass
heat barrier.
TO ELIMINATE the head corrosion problem I Had the sealing surface of the
head ceramic coated also. This puts a barrier between the aluminum and the
rubber gasket and corrosion cannot penetrate the coating to start the
corrosion process.
7. Super Turbo muffler. Fits in stock location and the arms simply need to
be bent a little down to fit muffler. 6" round stock is @ 5" runs better
freer breathing. I used the stock exhaust because I did not like the S&S
header that I
had ordered. Pipes were thinner, inadequate bracing-will lead to cracks.
Muffler was ugly. It was an oval shape. Just my opinion.
8. Monza single tip resonator. Used a 2" angle cut tailpipe extension from
Autozone to enable the tip to exit to the right side of the body to the rear
of the tire and with good ground clearance
9. Match ported the oil pump to case (enlarged the pump in/outlet holes to
match case) square radiuses the internal oil passages to improve flow and
pressure stability at lower rpms.
10. Matched ported complete exhaust system and air runners to intake on
heads.
11. Mildly, ported New AMC head with sodium filled exhaust valves. 3 Angle
valve job on seats and 2 angle on valves.
12. 5W 30 Redline synthetic oil (ONLY AFTER 5000 MILE BREAK IN) power
increased and mileage increased.
13. Red line MTL synthetic oil for tranny.
14. K&N air filter. I was able to reach 4500 rpms a lot easier.
15. Curial German sealant ONLY from Busboys. Same as original sealant and
oil from case has not leaked a drop.
16. German "Blue" coolant for aluminum engines.
17. German parts throughout
18. LOTS OF TIME CLEANING PARTS. @15 hours just to clean and prep case (I
DID not want any leaks)
19. Racing clutch bolts. Twice the holding power of stock bolts.
I also replaced:
All hoses from long cooling tubes to engine compartment
thermostat and distribution plastic housings- (@ $26 each and easier to
replace with engine out).
I used stainless steal hardware where possible 13 mm nuts, bolts washers
etc.
****In engine rebuilding use ONLY NEW
*head bolts the case bolts are different than head bolts.
*flywheel bolts
*rod bolts and nuts
oil pump nuts
*These are stretch bolts and could break!!!
I also replaced the clutch slave, clutch master and brake master cylinder.
Easier with engine out and all at once prevents from random failures with 10
year old parts.
All of my engine improvements were mostly "bolt" on. The only thing that
took some time was to cut the push rods and grind a little from the rocker
arms. (If you have a tube cutter and a bench grinder it should be easy) Also
the match porting took some time but was not difficult. In fact, the whole
process was quite easy it simply took time researching the upgrade parts and
waiting for them to come from CA. The engine was easy to put together.
What I did was to simply to a "stock" rebuild of my engine. I took 18 years
of improving the performance of T1(bug), T4(72-79 Bus) and now wasserboxer
engines.
I carefully selected the add on to complement each other. Rather than
simply
strengthened one or two parts I did the whole package to eliminate weak
points, parts that have the potential to break. IMHO it is not wise to
increase power to a few parts that could stress other parts to failure.
Here are the simple "bolt on" improvements:
Quad tip spark plugs
Red Line Engine and tranny oil
K&N air filter
Bolt on with some minor work:
1.25 ratio rockers
Cromoly push rods
Turbo muffler
Monza single tip
Easy Improvements to stock rebuild:
counterweight crank
balance rotating parts
regrind cam-performance cut from Webcam
3 angle valve job
CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN parts
Some work to Improvements to stock rebuild:
match port intake, exhaust, oil pump
Protection coating:
ceramic coatings to reduce heat in engine compartment and prolong life of
all parts in engine compartment
I also installed a European 5 speed tranny with a .70 fifth gear. It bolted
right in and works with my stock linkage. The only change is to have the
front engine mount shortened by 1.5 inches (I do not have the exact measure
but Weddle Engineering does).
All my upgrades are what VW should have done. I did not change anything
external, I wanted to have a stock engine. I simply made it run as it ought
to have run. I am getting @ 28 mpg now (Should go up when engine FI is
finally tuned.)
Still to do:
Lighten flywheel the amount the counterweighting added.
Install an adjustable FI pressure regulator. Increase fuel pressure 1 to 2
psi above stock 36 psi to see if it improves mpg or power, plus it will work
better since the with the cam change the vacuum has also changed a little
continue to tune FI
You can order the parts and have a local mech. put all the parts together.
If your engine currently does not need rebuilding, buy an engine and have
parts machined and ordered and then have mech. assemble it.
>I am curious as to what you
> did and about how much money you have spent to achieve you
> accomplishments.
For the tranny and engine mods, plus replacement of a LOT of hoses, seals,
H&R springs, FI parts(there was a short in a wire to the distributor hall
sensor that cause problems with FI parts) & 6K
Engine alone was @3K (Without new heads)
> Time I am sure is something that you will not be able
> to put a number on, as it sounds like you spend countless >hours.
@200 hours plus and counting...
> Any info would be helpful as the performance you describe are what
> I am striving for and thought it would only be possible with an engine
> swap.(or did you aready have that done?)
I DID NOT swap out the engine for some thing else. I have looked at other
news groups and many of the engines have their own set of problems to deal
with.
I choose to address the few problems with the Wasserboxer engine and find a
way to fix them, BTW I think I have done that. I have increased the power,
increased the gas mileage, increased the durability AND increased the
reliability of the engine. While it did cost some money, each part is works
together in the over all engine package.
Robert
_______________________________________________________
Get your free, private email at http://mail.excite.com/
