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Date:         Thu, 21 Oct 1999 08:42:01 -0500
Reply-To:     Dave <dave@251.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dave <dave@251.ORG>
Subject:      Re: "Increase the HP,up to 45%(
Comments: To: Vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

FWIW I had Berg balance all of the rotating parts in my motor (Wasserboxer 2109cc) during the last rebuild, completed 12 23 98. Balanced parts include crank, rods, pistons, flywheel, pressure plate and clutch. My understanding is that each part is individually balanced to the lowest weight of that group (i.e. rods all balanced to the weight of the lightest rod), the rods are matched, then the whole system is dynamically balanced. Dynamically balancing the entire rotating mass will ensure that the motor is truly balanced. Note: the pistons are Mahle's and were dead on, did not require balancing. We checked some Cofap's which were so far off they could not be balanced, they also were poor in quality when compared to the Mahle's, but the price was a fraction of the real German ones. Using these would have totally negated the balancing of the other parts, the pistons being so far from the CR would have completed fouled up the whole thing. Moral, buy Mahle's, they're worth it.

My observations so far; The engine is exceptionally smooth under load, at idle, pretty much all the time. (note: I am not running an idle stabilizer and it idles fine at startup, it was apx. 35 deg F this morning, no problems. It took some extra care in setting the idle speed to get the solid idle (950 rpm) w/o the stabilizer) It's quieter, except for the MSDS intake system, and it runs cooler. On the highway (60-85mph) the engine temp generally runs apx. one needle width below the LED to the top of the needle at the bottom of the LED. Other mods include honing the exhaust (heads to cat), cleaning up the ports and TRW sodium filled exhaust valves. I don't know what the power output is, and I don't care. Mileage is from 16 to 22 mpg (on crap 10% Ethanol 87 oct.), 18-22 mpg on non-ethanol, except in Colorado last spring it got 24-25 mpg.

BTW I use a mix of Castrol Syntec 5W50 and Castrol GTX 20W50, proportions depend on season. Right now I'm running 2 qts. Syntec and 2.8 qts GTX, in the summer I run 1 qt. Syntec and 3.8 qts. GTX. Always with a Mann or Mahle filter.

dave For more info on the rebuild go to < http://www.251.org/rebuild.html >

However on Gene Berg Enterprises Web site at www.geneberg.com I found the following:

"The more we tested, the more apparent it became that too high of a CR is the major source of the heat in the heads that causes failures. We found the volumetric efficiency of the engine is also another large factor to life and power. When all parts and CR are correctly matched to the engine, so the volume of proper octane fuel and air is what the engine requires, the engine runs cooler, makes more power and lasts longer than the stock engine did. For long life, we recommend conservative compression ratios, especially since pump gasoline quality has deteriorated so badly. GB 801-CR is mandatory reading.

We lowered the compression of our own 78 x 88-bus engine from 8.5:1 to 6.9:1. We leaned the Berg 42 special carbs two jet sizes, advanced the timing 4 extra degrees and got better performance. The engine ran over 50 degrees cooler, with 3-MPG improvement in economy. This engine had over 187,000 miles on it when sold and is still running years later. Be clear that head/guide maintenance must be carried out at regular intervals as prescribed in our copyrighted instructions that come with our heads to prevent a valve from breaking."


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