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

[DanStokes]

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.


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

NICE work! Those guys have some skills. I can weld aluminum just like that - in my dreams.

Dan

[Barry Donovan]

that is some experience weld.
taking some hammering away...

A trick may be to machine some steel washers, give the valves a seat in the groove.
I noticed this similarity on my subaru head.
I found some washers at grainger.
Also gained on some old turbo springs.. the only thing to notice, as it floated to scary rpms anyway...
the cold starts are quite robust... all on .125 inch steel washers in the valve seat.

[ProStockVW]

I've never seen a CB head crack under the washer for the head studs before. Only cheap Chinese castings that were over torqued. It looks like you got it under control. Those 044 heads are usually bullet proof. I have 2 sets right now. Make good power. Well north of 200hp in a 2332cc

[STINEY]

Welcome to the melee ProStockVW. Glad to have another air-head on board, lol.

I bought these 044 heads about a year after they first came out IIRC. My understanding at the time was they were cast in Brazil by an OEM supplier of Volkswagens? That was the marketing hype at the time in HotVWs and VWTrends magazine ads back then anyways.

You have a really neat ride with the Assassin Bug. Care to start a thread on it with some details and pictures? I'm betting that comes in right around#1400.....tube frame car right? What is the rear suspension? Aftermarket block, what transaxle?

[DanStokes]

I'll join Stiney with a "Welcome!" While I'm not an air-cooled VW fan I love 'em all and would love to see a thread with what all you've done with it.

Dan

[STINEY]

And reassembled the engine last weekend. Lit off nicely, sounds like its supposed to. It should, with all four firing properly.

Tried a pair of the SuperDuperAwesome expensive silicon rubber valve cover gaskets. Read how they were all that and then some. Cleaned covers, degreased, RTV'd the gaskets to the covers and let them dry 24 hours.
Reality report - they suck. Bad. I might as well have poured the quart of oil straight on the shop floor, it would have saved a minutes worth of time.

Pulled those $24 gaskets and popped on a pair of cheap $3 cork gaskets. Oh well.


Threw tubes in the front tires (they are a bolt-together style aluminum rim) as they never have sealed up since wheelies came into the picture. I hate adding the weight of tubes to the front end of the sandrail, but its getting REAL old adding air every other day. Guess I'm getting old and crotchety.

Bleed the brakes, wipe the dust off, and its just about time to go beat it in the sand box again.

[Russell]

The sandrails really sound like fun! You can tell the difference with the weight of the tubes in the tires?

[STINEY]

Yep. Every little bit counts. It used to have side mirrors, dual horns, steering stabilizer, a tow hook, 4 ply tires, etc.

Only getting the front a foot or two up...........just not enough to stand up all the way......I went on a weight bender and started tossing things.

Your natural instinct is to lean forwards to see over the front end as it rises. That is enough to drastically shorten the wheelie. You have to consciously relax and keep reclined in the seat to keep the weight where it belongs and it will do a 250' wheelie until running out of rpms.

As it reachs 7500 rpm the front starts to slowly come down nice and easy, just in time for a shift to third and goosing it up the next hill.

Forget and lean forwards and the rear tires come unloaded enough not to dig to the damp sand (where the traction is) 50' wheelie and it comes down rather roughly.





Even keeping my clutch leg swung back after popping the clutch helps a bunch. See below.

[TheSilverBuick]

Cheap gaskets FTW! Even as a geologist it still surprises me there are sand dunes around there.

[Deaf Bob]

Cheap gaskets FTW! Even as a geologist it still surprises me there are sand dunes around there.

What surprises me is they are OPEN and not closed because "foot fools" want to enjoy them!