Project Budget Part II

Well, I've been raiding friend's garages, checking my own pile of VW junk--er, treasures--to come up with enough stuff to build a 1914cc engine. In the first segment, I found a useable engine case, and a counterweighted Berg crankshaft and connecting rods. Now, I went on the prowl for case studs, lifters, barrel spacers and cylinder heads.

I went by Bill Shearer's shop, Shear Speed, in Escondido, Calif., to raid his tool box and "everything" drawer. I came up with a new set of German lifters, some new barrel shims for 94mm pistons and cylinders, new pushrod tubes, a set of 8mm chromoly engine case studs, a lightened, eight dowelled flywheel, forged flywheel gland nut and used but good, pressure plate. Total cost: $25 and a six-pack of Bill's favorite brand of malt, barley and hops brewed into an amber liquid. So now, I am at about $130 for most of the bottom end of the engine.

One of the most expensive things to buy for a high-performance engine is the cylinder heads. There is an amazing array of heads out there, and it would be difficult to say which one would be best for your particular application. I could have gone with brand new, stock valve, un-ported and unpolished heads, but I knew that this 1914, with it's dual Kadron carbs, could benefit by some larger valves, and maybe some port work and combustion chamber work being done to them.

The problem was, that gets expensive quite quickly. So, how do you get around this? What I did, was to make some calls to some cylinder head shops, to see if they had any "unclaimed merchandise;" that is, heads that had brought in for work to be performed, and then never picked up.

I found a set of Performance Technology Stage five heads, that had been brought into Performance Technology well over three years ago, and had had a valve job done, and then the owner never came back to get them, despite repeated attempts to contact him. And, it's against Fred Simpson's policy to sell the heads for more than the labor and parts bill owed on them. They were un-cracked, dual port, re-worked, high performance cylinder heads with a full port and polish, re-shaped 60cc combustion chambers, 40mm by 35.5mm intake and exhaust valves, already opened up for the 94mm cylinders, for price of $350. Now, I know that sounds like a lot, and yes, I could have gone with some rebuilt stock dual port heads for about half that price. But, as I said, I wanted a little more power out of the 1914 than a set of stock dual ports could provide, as this engine will be going into a Type II, that is half again as heavy as a Sedan. Although "there is no replacement for displacement," cylinder heads are one of the biggest places where the power is made in an internal combustion engine. True, I did buy used heads, but they are for all intents and purposes, by the time Performance Technology got done with them, new.

Now we have the basic ingredients for our Project Budget beater engine.

With the exception of the 94mm pistons and cylinders, we have the parts for Jason Lauffer of VW Paradise to assemble into a 1914cc longblock. Total cost so far, $477.

It's time to head over to VW Paradise and let Jason get to work.

The 1914cc Project Budget Beater Engine--The BillI have a total of $477 invested in a Gene Berg crankshaft and connecting rods, AS-41 dual-relief case, Engle 110 cam, 12.5 lb. lightened flywheel, and a set of high performance ported and polished heads. Keep looking at swap meets, and in your buddy's garage, for parts and pieces, just like I am doing, and you can find a lot of good, used stuff out there. How am I doing so far?

Crank/Rods (Gene Berg) $77
Case (AS-41, dual relief) $25
Flywheel, lifters, cam & gear, barrel spacers,case studs, & misc. parts $25
Heads $350

TOTAL $477

SOURCE

Performance Technology
1631 Placentia, Unit "M"
Anaheim, CA 92806
(714) 526-0533
fax: (714) 526-1366
www.racingheads.com

Gene Berg Enterprises
1725 North Lime Str.
Orange, CA 92865
(714) 998-7500
fax: (714) 998-7528
www.geneberg.com

VW Paradise
1510 Grand Ave
San Marcos, CA 92069
(760) 744-9140
www.vwparadise.com