Too Much Coffee

Another air-cooled convert
Be sure to keep us posted on the progress.....


A splitscreen van is also high on my "wanna-have" list but they're just too darn expensive so I ended up with a '73 beetle (1303) which needed quite some welding. Now, about 5 months later, I'm in the process of finishing it.

It's only a 1300cc but that'll change when I find a nice 1600cc or larger engine for an acceptable price.

I would recommend the Aircooled VW Engine Interchange Manual by Keith Seume available from http://www.vwbooks.co.uk/. It's an easy reading guide to everything which is possible, from making your engine keep up with modern traffic through to turbocharged, fuel injected 10,000rpm full race screamers!

Joris wrote:Another air-cooled convert

I read this as "Another air-cooled pervert ". What's worse is that I didn't double take

Thanks for that tip, I've just ordered it via Amazon

Looks like I'm an aircooled pervert too then!

It's easy done

All this talk of tuning reminds me of my ratty old 62 bug, that's the one which had the 1776, big valve heads, twin Dell'Orto 40s, the lot. The shove in the back when you opened the taps acompanied by the big-carb BWAAAARP was an absolute hoot. All good on the silky smooth tarmac of Santa Pod but on the open road with slammed nose, rock hard front shocks, pram tyres and pendular rearward weight distribution meant a realistic top speed of about 50mph!

In a straight line it would bounce all over the road to the point where even the front drum brakes would lock instantly, and you could forget about corners, oversteer was not the graceful drift of a rear-drive sportscar, more like a sudden breakaway of such ferocity that it would unstick the front tyres too. Suddenly the landscape out of the windscreen would be rotating several times and you would end up wondering how the hell you missed that hedge/ditch/livestock and having a bottom-end problem of an entirely more personal nature! Still loved that thing.

Reading that brought a genuine smile to my face

Well I've gone and done it, I bought one. Went down to Birmingham today to look and couldn't come back without buying it... It's real 'rat' bus with dropped spindles/beam up front, IRS at the rear with Porsche discs all round.
It's been off the road in the last owner's garage for the last year or so, there's a bit of work to get her thro' the test and then I'll set to and give the interior a complete refit. What do you think? She's been in a couple of Volks magazines too.

Does this mean we now have the minibus we were looking for for the next TMC Coffee Crawl around London?
Congrats on the buy, and very much enjoyed the thread

She's available for Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and as many coffee crawls as possible!

Congratulations!! Enjoy!

That bus looks awesome! My favourite style is rat-look. Is that a narrowed beam up front too? Love the search light on top. Good buy!

Airbags next?

Well spotted! It's got CE weedeater 4" beam up front with drop spindles too. Sits very low which looks cool but not much clearance for the steering box, got to sort that out...
The light on top is from a US police car and has a bullet hole in one side and a dent in the other where the round didn't quite make it thro'

I'm just sorting the bank transfer out and she should be up to Doncaster on a transporter on Friday. I'm excited like a school kid on xmas eve

Bit concerned about the engine tho', it's been well worked on. It's an AS41 case with forged crank & rods, engle cam with 1:1.25 rockers but 92mm pistons as well. It works out at 1915cc! There's loads of other stuff like external oil cooler/filter, twin Dell'orto 40 carbs etc. I'm considering dropping it out and seeing exactly what's been done and how well it's gonna stay together... Any tips?

Oh and thanks for the tip on the book, it's good reading and very informative!

Cheers
Gary

Well it just gets better don't it! High quality lowering job and a bahnstormer of an engine.

If I remember correctly I think 1914cc is achieved by using 1776 size barrels and pistons with the longest throw crank you can install without clearancing the case and is a pretty safe configuration. The AS41 case is the one to have for tuning as it gives you the dual pressure relief circuit and extra oil galleries. Just drive it a few hundred miles to get a feel for it; if it aint broke don't fix it.

The external oil system is a must for this size of engine. Install an oil pressure gauge if it doesn't have one as dipstick readings can be hit and miss with a now serpentine oil system. Replace any rubber oil pipes with competition grade braided items and take a look at the oil cooler and consider whether you need to fab up some sort of air scoop / stone guard arrangement.

A good move would be to have the carbs and ignition set up on a rolling road to get the best power, efficiency and longevity from the setup, oh and heat wrapping the exhaust helps to keep engine bay temperatures down which in turn improves the carburation.

Very nice !!! gotta love a ratty v-dub