tech

By Ryan Lee Price
Photography: Ryan Lee Price

The engine is mostly completed by the time we visited Clyde at his shop. It wouldn't take long for him to get this engine up and running.

After May's installment of this story, we dragged the engine over the Clyde Berg's shop and asked him to put the finishing touches on the engine, as there was a couple of problem solving situations we had to tackle before turning the key. For instance, we were sent the wrong rear tin-ware and had to make do with one from another kit...but the catch was that it wasn't cut for pre-heater pipes. So, Clyde improvised with some power tools!

Conclusion:
We hope that this series will show you three things: One, that you gain the confidence to do something like this in your own garage; two, that you realize, for the most part, you can have a zero-mile engine with brand-new aftermarket parts (again, for the most part) for competitive prices; and three, that it is relatively easy, provided you have a little knowledge. Well, that's it, now get out to your garage and get to work.

First and foremost, he leveled the fan and generator by adding this shim. The results is a smooth spinning fan that can't rub on the shroud.		Brackets were added to the heater boxes where they connect with the muffler. The exhaust system has to be airtight otherwise you lose performance and you could introduce unwanted gases into the cabin.		The bracket system for the heater boxes as they attach to the tubes that direct hot air into the car. Since we'll be keeping the heater system on the car this engine is intended for, it was critical to make this work. Leave it to the Germans to design a needlessly complicated system that only opens a butterfly valve.
We had to buy a couple of missing items from Wolfsburg West, one of which was this rubber grommet for the oil breather tube. The tube itself is a used one from Topline's cache of parts, because the shiny chrome one we wanted to use wouldn't fit around a small (useless) knob on the generator stand.		The oil breather tube attaches to the generator stand with this nut that fits inside the tube. There's a special tool to tighten this nut, but needle-nose pliers works just as good. Make sure it is tight otherwise a leak is in your future.		These heater box tabs are used for Buses (this is the only difference) and are unneeded on Beetles. Since they will hit the underside of the car once the engine is in place, they had to be removed with a grinder.
Another part we needed was this metal gas line that runs around the fan shroud. Again, we picked this up at Wolfsburg West. It merely slips in under the manifolds and around the shroud.		The inlet fuel line attaches here to the horizontal post on the fuel pump, while the outlet tube attaches to the upward-pointed post. It goes up the carburetor and into the float bowl at the back of the carb.
Instead of engine tin screws for the sides of the fan shroud, Clyde only uses 6mm bolts, that way, when everything is in the engine compartment, you can reach it with a wrench rather than a screwdriver if the shroud has to be removed.				Here was our first big problem. The rear tin that came with the kit didn't fit to the tin that all new engines come standard with. So, this is old tin from another engine. It has space cut for preheater tubes... but obviously doesn't fit (above or below). And if it doesn't fit, it doesn't do its job.
And to solve this problem was to use a piece of tin from another engine that we knew would not only fit around the existing tin but have holes for air inlets to the shroud		vThe only problem was that it didn't have cutouts for the pre-heater tubes (where they connect to the exhaust). No problem a grinder couldn't solve.		Since our 009 distributor doesn't need to be equipped with a vacuum advance, there's no need to hook up the carburetor to anything. So, a small piece of vacuum tube and a screw will block off the vacuum port but keep it functional if we need to use it in the future.
		One of the last things to do before we shoehorn this engine into the car is to cut and install the heater hose that goe from the fan housing to the heaterboxes. Each one is cut to length and attached with hose clamps.

Sources
Mid America Motorworks One Mid-America Place Effingham, IL 62401 (800) 588-2844	Clyde Berg Heads and Motors 2420 W. Beaton Way Orange, CA 92868 (714) 231-9555
Wolfsburg West 2850 Palisades Drive Corona, CA 92880 (909) 549-0525