Roll call

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Welcome to the site John. You are never too young or too old to learn how to do things. There is a lot of knowledge spread around here so here's hoping that someone here can help you with you prospective plans.

Posting is easy and attaching pix is pretty easy. Edit the pix to something under 1000 (I usually edit down to 640 X 480), then page down to "Attachments". click on it, then go to "add files, click on it to attach the pix then put it where you want it here (its obvious I think ) then start to have fun.

Lee

[Max Welton]

Yes! Welcome! By all means start a thread and show us your car!

Max

[bug oil drip]

Hi have been a vw freak for many years finaly realy getting a type 4 i want to build a 2270 from a 1.7 bus case and 1.7 bus heads. my name is john fogg6352@gmail.com i live in northport FL 34286 any help on this build would be a big help to me ive been a mechanic for 55 years retired now thanks

[Mighty Ferengi]

Greetings from Texas!

My name is Matthew and I just purchased my first Porsche, a 1975 914. The car was almost completely disassembled, but was garage kept for many years from the looks of it. Very little rust, the pans are in fantastic shape! No major dents or dings, though the car has been painted red over the factory Metallic Copper. Also, it appears the original engine was swapped out for a 1974 1.8L.

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the old air-cooled VWs. As a kid, one of my friends had a foster father who rebuilt old Mercedes-Benz diesels and VWs. He had a 1971 Karmann Ghia that he had completely rebuilt himself; bright yellow with white leather interior. I watched and occasionally helped him rebuild Beetles and Ghias.

Later, when I learned that some of the older Porsches were using VW style air-cooled engines, I was intrigued. And when I learned about the 914, I knew I had to get one. I am a big fan of Targa top vehicles. Having just finished up a 1997 Honda del Sol, I felt it was time to try a classic car. I found a great deal on a mostly disassembled 914 in great shape. Now it's time to do the research and figure out what I want to do to this old girl!

The car came with a 1974 1.8L engine that looks like it has seen better days. I plan to make this a daily driver, but I want something with legs. I'll be scouring the 'net and this forum for information and ideas to get this engine rebuilt and get this car back on the road!

[woodsbuggy1]

Welcome Matthew, sounds like you found the potential for a very nice car. You might want to spend some time in the forced induction forum, boost is very addictive . Please start a thread so we can see pics of your new car and follow along with the build.
Good Luck
Kenric

[Timas]

Hey everyone, Timas from California here.
I was previously posting on another section of the STF.
Piledriver suggested I come over to this forum so here I am

Background for everyone.

I live on the central coast ( northern part of slo county) and as a result I have nothing but hill climbs to get anywhere we want to go.

1977 type 2b
Hydraulic lifters
Factory l jet.

Swapped block for what was supposed to have been a 78 long block.

I ran into my crank eventually having oil coming out of the crank bolt which had sheared off in the nose cone and low compression issues.

Pulled motor and am close to full tear down. Once I have a little more space to work.

Anyway, as with most things the deeper you dive the more you find.

So all that leads to this.

I apparently have 90.5?? mm pistons, and a broke valve boss with a nice crack on the other side

[Munga]

Ok so from Tasmania, drive trucks for living we have a Golf GTI mk 7.5 and we are in the midst of building a type 4 engine and transaxle for our 71 pannel van

[Munga]

Ok so from Tasmania, drive trucks for living we have a Golf GTI mk 7.5 and we are in the midst of building a type 4 engine and transaxle for our 71 pannel van

[Watto]

Hi All,
From Queensland Australia , back into vw's after a 20 year hiatus (life)
Daily Driver is a mk7 Golf R .
Project is a 58 body/pan with 57 Oval window/dash and windscreen being grafted in. making 1 car out of 2.
I just bought a used (unknown history) type 4 - 1.8L AP coded complete motor , I'm looking to turn it into a 914 1.8L spec'd motor , not looking for a street weapon (the Golf does that) , just a good reliable car with enough grunt to have some fun in and cruise the highways and byways .
I'm looking at the DTM deluxe shroud kit but still confused as to what I need to motor to turn it into something to suit the beetle.

Options are still being researched - what gearbox , whether to do an IRS pan conversion , any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated ... a lot has changed since I last jumped down the rabbit hole

regards
Watto

[oprn]

Any type 4 engine even bone stock is going to make that old Bug sing like it has never sung before! Yes in my view an IRS conversion is worth the trouble in road handling on the highways. Be aware though that your car will have a better resale value restored stock than with all your upgrades. Not near as fun to drive though...

[Watto]

Any type 4 engine even bone stock is going to make that old Bug sing like it has never sung before! Yes in my view an IRS conversion is worth the trouble in road handling on the highways. Be aware though that your car will have a better resale value restored stock than with all your upgrades. Not near as fun to drive though...

Thanks for the reply - the two donor vehicles I have to make into one need enough work that resale value is pretty much void here. That's why Ive decided to go all out and build something fun and funky.... any ideas on what gearbox to use ? I'm down so many rabbit holes my brain hurts

[oprn]

For my glass body Buggy I chose a late Beetle single side plate gearbox for it's 3.88 final drive. The type 4 engine has no trouble with that even with 28" tall rubber. As bought it had a '67 swing axle gearbox. The difference is not huge but helped the fuel mileage some. Your early Beetle will not be more than about 3 or 4 hundred pounds heavier than a Buggy. Bare in mind that my car is not used for racing, it's a long distance cruiser.

[halkyardo]

Hi there! My name's Richard, and I've just dragged an '83 tin-top Vanagon out of a field and am going to try and get it running this summer. No idea of its history except for that it's got 130k miles on the clock, and hasn't moved since '92. Putting two and two together there, I suspect there might be an engine rebuild in my future - or at least some exploratory head removal.

I've rebuilt a few small engines before - and some of them even ran after I put them back together, but this will be the first air-cooled VW I've worked on. I might start a thread for it once I've got the engine out on a stand, but I figured I'd say hi here first

[AdminSteve]

Welcome to the STF, if you have questions do be shy. Build threads are welcome and a wise choice to keep your info in one place.

AdminSteve

[jalabert]

Hi, I'm Simon. I'm in NZ, and I have a 1973 westy that I bought over from the UK with me. I've owned her 23 years, and the engine's just let go. It was replaced at a VW dealer in France in 1986 when the bus had 57k miles on it, it's just ticked over 145k.

Prepare yourselves for a lengthy post-mortem / build thread with an abundance of stupid questions...