Bonemaro's '73 Ghia

[mountainkowboy]

1914.................decent power and reliable. Plan on a trans upgrade though. That is if you plan on "playing" with it.

[Bonemaro]

Yes... I guess I should have said I'm building a performance engine and trans. It'll definitely be able to handle whatever it does.

[helowrench]

Is this your first vw engine build?

[Bonemaro]

First air cooled build, yes. All my performance building experience has been with the Camaro and Nissan. That's why I have a million questions, as VW's approach is a tad different.

Additionally, this is going to be my first experience with something that isn't fuel injected, computerized with a hundred sensors up its butt.

...soooooo, I welcome any advise.

[mountainkowboy]

whats the budget?

[Marc]

I strongly recommend that you get some successful experience building something stock (or close to it) before diving into something as ambitious as a stroker motor. If you just can't wait to build a hot-rod, go with a 1775 or 1914 for your first dance - those'll let you run the stock transaxle (some people can break a crowbar in a sandbox, but with ~90HP available the stock box should hold up, at least if you aren't doing burnouts. And in the worst-case scenario where you do screw something up, there'll be less money lost.
Were you planning to keep the car a runner until the new drivetrain is all ready to go in, or were you hoping to base the new motor on the existing case?

[Bonemaro]

Bare butted Ghia...

[Bonemaro]

I strongly recommend that you get some successful experience building something stock (or close to it) before diving into something as ambitious as a stroker motor. If you just can't wait to build a hot-rod, go with a 1775 or 1914 for your first dance - those'll let you run the stock transaxle (some people can break a crowbar in a sandbox, but with ~90HP available the stock box should hold up, at least if you aren't doing burnouts. And in the worst-case scenario where you do screw something up, there'll be less money lost.
Were you planning to keep the car a runner until the new drivetrain is all ready to go in, or were you hoping to base the new motor on the existing case?

As of now, the car does not run. I have no intention of making it run with the current hardware. This car was my Grandfather's and it's sat since his death in 2001. It is in dispirit need of TLC.

This is what the plans are so far:
1) Complete disassembly. Engine and transaxel are going into storage. The interior is trashed with age and rat urine. It's all going out and being replaced with a brand new slightly modernized interior. I'm debating if the glass can be saved. It actually looks pretty good.

2) The body is going off to be soda blasted and any repairs made. Honda 2000 yellow pearl paint.

3) Floors checked fixed. Suspension completely redone. Brakes, electrical, etc, etc... all new.

4) I've been talking with Mike over at MOFOCO and I'm really liking the 2165 Stroker setup. I've also been talking with Rancho Performance about a transaxel that can easier survive the 150-200HP range.

So y'all see, this car may take a several years to see the road, and that's cool. I have all the time in the world. I'm restoring this car from the ground up, sparing nothing, in my Grandfather's memory. He was a hot rodder and would have appreciated this. I plan to pass this car onto my son one day.

...and to answer the question

whats the budget?

I don't have one. As much as it takes to own one bad ass piece of air cooled history.

[helowrench]

Head over to aircooled.net and read read read.
John has several tech articles on engine builds.
Personally, I think that since you have built engines in the past, multiples, you could make the leap to a stroker.
Maybe a small stroke 76/78mm or so.

I am undertaking a 1955 (90.5borex76stroke) as my first stroker, but my size limitations were based around maximizing my return from a unassembled build that I bought from someone else.
heads, pistons/cylinders/case machining /rods were already purchased.

[helowrench]

Cranks cost roughly the same, and the work to add a stroke up to 76mm is fairly minimal.
piston and cylinder sets cost roughly the same, and the work to go 92-94mm is close to the same.

If I was doing it from the start, I would probably go 92mm thickwall B piston/cyl set and a78-82mm stroke ish.

Again, go read the tech articles.

[Bonemaro]

I have aircooled.net linked to by blog. Definitely will be taking advantage of those resources.

[Marc]

If you're going to build your own and feel that you're ready to dive into a stroker, let me suggest a 76mm stroke and 5.5" rods with "B" compression-height pistons. With a 92 or 94mm bore, that'll yield "only" 2021 or 2110cc but will have the advantage of being a standard-width package - that eliminates some of the headaches of a stroker. Clearancing will still be needed but it won't be drastic, and the rod ratio will be a reasonable 1.84 (stock is 1.99).
It's true that larger stroke crankshafts don't cost much more, but there are hidden expenses and hassles that you don't need on your first build. If this was to be a "thumper" for a Bus I'd go with at least a 78 stroke and deal with the packaging issues but you shouldn't go over 78/78.4 stroke with stock-length rods - and you'll still need to either shorten the barrels for "B" pistons, or add cylinder spacers for "A"s.

With 5.6" rods an 82 stroke has a 1.75 rod ratio which'll still have a reasonable life expectancy and won't need ginormous intake ports to have any good top-end...but it'll be more than ½" wider than stock unless you use some spendy custom pistons.

Also consider the effect that displacement has on C.R. - a really big motor needs some cavernous chambers, or perhaps custom dished pistons, if you want a C.R. that's street-friendly on pump gas without excessive piston deck height.

I know you'll get lots of other advice, some of it conflicting, but that's my 2¢ ....and I reserve the right to say "I told you so".

[Bonemaro]

That's good to know.

[Bonemaro]

I'd be ok running 93 octane, but I don't want to have to hunt down racing fuel.

[Marc]

You got that in GA? The best I can plan on around here is 91 AKI.