water vs air cooled

Soon going to be replacing 1.8l golf engine with an aircooled unit, how much lighter is the aircooled 1.6l engine, as I have the rear end dismanlted its probably a good idea to adjust the spring plates??

I would wait until you get everything installed (including the radiator, if you mount it in the rear) and THEN set the ride height. That way you're sure to get it correct - even balanced side-to-side.

I wrote an article on how to do this, but it doesn't play well on here, so I'll email it to you.

gn

Actually, if I read his post right, he is watercooled NOW and is losing that and going to air-cooled.

angela

Wish he were closer - I's gladly trade an air cooled engine for all the water cooled pieces! Man, what a lot of work to go back to air cooled.

Yeah, I thought about that well after I posted and realized I had it ass-backwards, but the idea is the same: Put everything in, see where it sits and then use the table in my article (which I sent) to get it to where you want it.

Early Onset Alzheimer's in action, there.........

It's a good thing I'm not using any moving machinery, huh?

Gordon- I'm sure every one knows what article you're referring to, but I'm new here. Is there a link?

From what I remember from the Bus Shop, here's really only a twenty or so pound difference between the Golf and the Beetle engines, the Golf being the lighter of the two. It's just SO easy to slide an aircooled engine into a Speedster, you ought to just put it in place and see how the stance is before touching the torsions bar adjustment. Might not need to change anything at all.

Luck-

Thanks guys, Gordon, thats an amazing article thanks for the email, watercooled was ok, just wanted to unclutter the whole thing and simplify, hope I am not wrong, still looking for an engine then I will check the budget, right now 1835cc looks good. Hey TC I thought aircooled motor would be lighter?? Wolfgang, got all the bits and nowhere to put them!

Early Onset Alzheimer's in action, there.....

I was on the phone today and at the same time, looking for where the hell I left my cell phone, the one I was talking on...

Keerikees...anybody on first ?

Allen B.:

I wrote a rear height adjustment article of several pages a while back but it was written for a different web site and needs to be modified a lot to work here. I will email it to you.

Anyone else want a copy?

I'm at the doctors all day so I'll send them out tonight, depending on how I'm doing when I get home (I don't have a copy on my iPad)

Gordon

Merklin: that's as bad as looking all over for my new glasses and then seeing them on my face in a mirror......

And Luis: That Audi 1.8l is such a sweet engine, WHY are you going back to air cooled?

I didn't want to just blurt that out - but that's exactly what I was thinking Gordon...

angela

Well I hope I am not taking a step backwards, I just fancy the idea of aircooled power, not only are parts cheap but o much can be done with so many variations, my 1.8l watercooled is nothing special, its the 8valve carb fed version.

Nice setup, Luis. Can you describe your radiator install please ?

Hi David, used golf radiator mounted at 45 deg, the space between the two trunk uprights is just enough right up front behind bumper, the water hoses run down the rhs of the chassis and tuck in nicely. I have pics posted in my album here.

My opinion - if its installed and running with no issues (like overheating or too much weight in rear) - then it is leap back. T1 engines are 40 years old - granted lots of parts out there but much of newly produced stuff is junk and you pay for the good parts. I'd look for new watercooled engine - fuel injected, 16-32 valves. Base 2L is 115HP. Expensive to build T1 to 115HP and still have it reliable (need dual carbs, more oil capacity and oil cooling add on plus exhaust components). Suspect even the TDI diesel would fit.

http://www.rabbitgtipage.com/Swaps/engineswaps.html

Would like to see pictures of your current set up.

I completely get it. Sometimes a "step back" is a leap forward.

A HUGE part of the appeal to me is the analog nature of a carbureted air-cooled flat 4. I can work on it, improve it, and have a visceral connection to it. There is not such feeling with a modern powerplant.

When properly built and tuned, there's nothing quite like it. If I wanted a 4 valve-per-cylinder, water-cooled, EFI masterwork- I'd just buy a lightly used Boxster S. I don't, and I didn't.

Yep! What Stan said!

~WB

Disagree with you Stan.

The carbed 1.8 he had in the vehicle isn't much. But a swap to something a little spicier is just a visit to the u-pull wrecking yard away. Put it back together, sell it for a good price.

Buy an air cooled one for less (with some exceptions of extremely high-end air cooled VW engines, these sell for LESS than the water cooled ones). Use the extra $$$ to go to Carlisle and Pismo both.

angela

Mostly agree with Stan on this one.

The sound and character of an engine is such a big part of the driving experience of any sports car, that I can totally understand why someone would prefer a T1 in a speedster over most water cooled alternatives

Angela- The o/p lives in Portugal. I'm thinking this is the one he's going to have for a while, since it came from a South African mfg.

Your idea would make sense here, but the point of your post would mean he'd end up with an air-cooled mill, which kind of makes my point.

See.... we didn't REALLY disagree, did we? ;)

It's just a personal thing I guess, but I'm going straight to an EJ22 Soob right now. A 1600 stocker got replaced after 10,000 miles for a purchased 1915 upgrade for better highway performance and one cam lobe and two lifters let go after 10,000 more miles. Faulty metal, bad oil choices (mine) or otherwise, I sense a lingering concern about offshore metal in the type 1's right now. An easy step is directly to the EJ22. 80 hp easily becomes 135 with a $3K budget which better suits our overall investment in this car including a Ford EDIS ignition tied into a Megajolt Jr. Lite controller along with Carb instead of FI. I'd rather have my feet up and sip on a large margarita in Tucumcari than crawl under and get at the valves on a long trip. I'm predicting a very reliable touring setup with plenty of heat and hey....if the rad blows I'm automatically back to
air cooled anyway.

EJ22 is something like 140, bone stock. Our son's little impreza is an EJ22. Solid little engine. You pick up to 175ish with the 2.5 liter engines n/a.

Your little car will march out quite smartly, get good mileage, and probably outlive all of us.

I would however, leave the FI in place. The warning harness is definately a pain in the ass as subie decided to share the chassis and engine harness, but it is do-able. You can buy the whole car driving for a couple of hundred bucks and still have something to part out.

I know...I know... I"m a heretic!



angela

I hear ya, Angela but I just couldn't get my head into that harness work after looking at several websites detailing the procedure. There's a lad up here that does harness's for this purpose, in fact I'd bet that Henry at IM get his from him but it'd be over $700 with taxes. He's done hundreds for Soob/Van conversions. I know nothing about electronic fuel injection but I can mess with carbs and with a Weber sitting on the bench it was an easy decision at least for the first time around. The EJ25's show very good promise but they are a few inches wider and would not fit between my frame rails. My Kennedy adapter/clutch kit gets shipped this week and pretty much everything else is ready to go. Now I'm thinking about gear ratios....

Well I probably have the only speedster replica in the South of Portugal, I pretty much wrote my own spec on the logbook when I converted to local plates , basically the authorities are so uptite here that the only thing I can get away with is changing the engine(go figure), changing rims or tyre sizes is a no no, the yearly MOT is also very strict. This is a hobby car and not a daily driver, the kit as such is quite crude, nothing compared to the kits Sates side, anyway I enjoy tinkering on the weekends, get most of my parts from UK or CSP Germany. I am still going to try the aircooled route, I have recently hooked up with a local guy who has restored a few beetles, a type 181 Kubel and 1970 Kombi pickup, he has offered to help me put an engine together, just to let you know the car has been stopped for 5 years, I have had all sorts of issues work wise etc (not that things are any better now) but I find it thereputic working in my basement garage, my other inspiration is logging on to this site, thanks for all the posts,valued info and opinions... keep em coming!!

Luis:

Since you are going to build a new engine anyway, I would recommend something stronger than a 1600 cc "stock engine. To get into the horsepower range of the audi/golf you are removing, I would go to a 2,110 with a pair of 40-44mm carburetors and a decent cam (Engle 120 or an Eagle 2240). That will give you similar performance, a flatter torque curve than what you now have and it'll run cool, too (provided that you run all of the original VW cooling tins and air vanes and thermostat).

Sounds like a fun project....

gordon