Broke spark plug....grrr....2165cc Volkswagen

[DanStokes]

I always hated those little buggers. They always leak coolant all over the place. Sorry, no clue on what might be the issue but it looks like time for a fresh head.

Dan

[BBR]

Luckily, they are aluminum. Weld up, spotface, go on your merry way!

[Deaf Bob]

Is this the cylinder with the bad plug?

[Barry Donovan]

Are you triggering the msg with a stock distributor Barry?

yes, but it is optical.
Subaru was in with... nissan or toyota, mr.beachy? 1985. I kept 3 of them, proclaiming the future.
hitachi went hog wild on their new invention to play compact discs.. added it to some asian cars.
The subaru EA82 was one of them.

It needed the digital msd after these decades to show how amazing it is...

I also found it truly responded to the newer coils, the epoxy based. Does not like the old PCB oilers.
The old engines, thinking of the beetle, they can benefit.

[STINEY]

Is this the cylinder with the bad plug?

Yes it is. Coincidence?

[STINEY]

Better pictures.

[Deaf Bob]

Yes it is. Coincidence?

Idea? Maybe pounded senseless as it didn't grt lit off by the plug? Or something along those lines?
Unlit gas has to go somewhere..

[STINEY]

I'm starting to have evil thoughts about racier heads. Little lead-footed imp on my shoulder keeps whispering about D-ports.......

I'd hate to lose throttle response due to a too-large intake port. These current ones taper constantly from butterfly to valve keeping velocity up. Shrink ported is the game. This engine has always been extremely quick to rev, am afraid to lose that.

But if different heads made even more power......might not need that velocity.

[Barry Donovan]

I was thinking of tig and a pipe sleeve for the bolt.

My little subaru pulverized heads too. I kept one as a wheel chock.

DB is right on about the fires going astray. Takes awhile, but the boxer does gain some drama.

I went from single port to dual, and it is a big intake. Nothing to notice in power loss. Timing had to get much more precise..all the way to a map sensor as an extra for the MSD.

[Deaf Bob]

Chris, you can always add a turbo or 2...
CR might be a bit too high?

[STINEY]

Compression can be addressed with the head selection DB.

Pistons are at 35 in the hole for a nice quench....current combustion chambers are 58cc.

Larger chambers...hmm...have to crunch some numbers.

Maybe it is turbo time after all these years? That was the original plan way back when. The cam is a "turbo grind" with no overlap to speak of.

[STINEY]

Friend of mine stopped by and took the head. He has a friend with a son who welds all day every day for a living, and the dad is pretty good with a mill.

$100 later we are back in business.





The other end had a small crack in it too. Nothing like the ruptured one, but it got welded and milled too.



Backside you can still just barely see the crack. Its okay, the front is solid now.

[AndyB]

I love stories with happy endings.

[Aircooled]

I'd look at the nut and washer set up you are using to hold the cylinder heads down. Remember, due to thermal cycling and differential expansion, those head nuts are always trying to dig down into the cylinder head. On Corvairs, there is a special flanged nut you are supposed to use on the upper head studs to increase the contact surface area. On the lower studs, the pushrod guideplate is sandwiched between the head and the head nut and provide even more surface area. Even with the flange upper nuts, they still dig into the head over time.

[SuperBuickGuy]

all that work and no turbo? sigh, no happy ending here.