2165 TYPE 1 VW ENGINE Tuning a Type 1 VW engine is expensive and time consuming, but is absolutely worth it, one of the last great tunable motors! I started off with a 1776 as they seemed to be a popular choice, but when I built it I couldn't see what all the fuss was about, my Engle 110, 40/35.5 043 headed, 36idf motor was OK but didn't feel that fast, I expected a 1400lb lightweight beachbuggy to be been faster than 9.5" from 0-60 in , this state of affairs didn't last long, Stage 2.... Then I started learning about tuning Type1 VW engines by buying various well regarded VW books, Keith Seumes "Aircooled Engine Interchange Manual", John Maher Racings Performance guide CD, Bill Fisher's excellent "How to Hot Rod Volkswagen engines" and the very usefull Hot VW's "All About VW Performance Engines part II", as well as using the invaluable Cal-look.com and Samba forums. This is what I learnt and decided to put into action for use on a fast STREET car : The Power is in the heads, buy a good set of heads early on , even if you have a small capacity engine, you can always get bigger barrels and pistons and a longer stroke crank later on, larger valves normally give more power as long as the ports are large enought to handle the increased flow, a set of 42/37 CNC heads would be an ideal set to buy early on , or even a set of pro ported heads for added Kudos and street cred. Bigger is better, in my opinion , buy a big crank plus big barrels and pistons, and why not. You get loads of lovely torque which you will feel straight away, however the case has to be machined to accomodate, at more expense. I ended up buying a Scat cast 78mm crank and 90.5 then 92 then 94 Barrels and pistons. The cast Scat crank is looked down on by some due to rumours of cracking, but I havent had any problems yet in 8 years of crank thrashing, probably helped by the beachbuggy's low weight compared to a typical beetle. Use 1 choke per cylinder carbs like Webers or Dellortos. I am using Dellorto 40DRLA'S with CB performance update kits and Ram tubes, as having smaller carbs like these on a 2165 engine keeps it very torquey, while still producing @150hp. (If I were to do it again, I would just fit fuel injection ) Pick a mildish cam over a drag or race cam. I first used an Engle 110 cam which I was very disappointed with, as it seemed too mild. Of course other factors like cylinder heads, exhaust and crank also come into play, so when I fitted an Engle 120 cam and bigger crank and B/P's with worked on heads, the engine came alive and performed as I expected, that is a bit of an animal. Having a mildish cam means not revving your engine too high to get power ( revving over 6500 rpm), not buying a close ratio box, and having more fun on the road due to the instant response from a useable power band and accessible torque. This is the current spec of my 2165 engine Scat Cast 78mm crank, balanced. 40/35 043 VW Heads, modified combustion chambers, ported, and machined for twin springs 94mm Barrels and Mahle Pistons Engle 120 Cam Twin Dellorto 40 DRLA's , CB performance Update Kit, Ram Tubes. 150 main jets. Bugpack Deep Sump plus Berg oil pump. Pertronix Ignitor Ignition plus Flamethrower Coil Sand seal for front pulley, full flow oiling. Bugpack merged 1 5/8 4into1 header plus S/S straighthrough silencer THE POWER IS IN THE HEADS, but not just yet... Ahh, My ist Head, an unmolested type 043 VW 40/35 head, bored for 90.5 cylinders, it looks so sweet and alien like.... prepare to be grinded... Its present 94mm state after countless hours of hand shaping , grinding, polishing, cleaning and sweating. A hell of a lot of work but worth it for personal satisfaction, they are a bit crude close up but they work for me, would I do it again, probably not, I'd buy CNC's, plus now I can't afford the time... Porting is all important to Type1 VW heads, I formed the inlet shape by studying various hi-po heads and started my crude attempt at porting and combustion shape altering, it takes so much time as you also have to try and match up each port shape and combustion chamber volume. You soon learn how to be patient. No wonder Pro head porters take so long and cost so much, they are artists in their own right, they really earn their money. My engine became oilier and oilier over the years untill even the guy who built my rear SS silencer said "you've got an oil leak mate", he had a point , but I'd already taken the engine out 2 or 3 times and changed various seals trying to solve the leaks, as oil seemed to be coming from all sorts of orifices in the doghouse housing. I had a shock though when I eventually discovered a crack leading from a stud on no 1 cylinder all the way to the top of the case, possibly caused by detonation due to a weak mixture and over-advanced ignition.     Amazingly, I found a specialist alloy welder within 1/2 a mile of my home who could fix my case , its not pretty, but it was effective, apparently JB weld can do the job if you do it right.. I was warned in the very helpfull Cal-look.com forums that welding may distort the case, but my welder heated up the whole case before welding to minimise distortion, which makes sense. Even so, I had to take off a few thou from around the barrel "hole" using abrasive paper as the barrel became to tight a fit due to local case distortion, dammit.   That was than, this is now, 7 years on, the original Bugpack 4into1 merged header is showing its age! Comparing the two back boxes I'd say the old bugpack turbo trip with welded on zoom tube actually looks better and was quieter, but the new S/S straighthrough is more powerfull , sounds meaner,and is more compact and lighter, I won't be going back... I think I overdid it on the exhaust tip size, never mind....     BEACHBUGGY EXHAUSTS, DO THEY HAVE TO BE THAT NOISY!   Back in the 70's, every beachbuggy I saw had those chromed 2-into1 tubes connected to cylinders 3/4 and 1/2, and I must admit they looked pretty cool, and really suited the exposed engines of beachbuggies, but what an awfull racket, way to loud for my tastes and bad for max power compared to a 4-into1 merged manifold setup. My solution was to use a 1 5/8 merged header coupled with a single bugpack turbo trip silencer (with welded on zoom tube). It did look good after I had the lot chromed, but was quite heavy and the silencer started to sprout rust holes and blow after a couple of years, and then needed frequent welding. Click to listen to a 1 5/8 merged header 2165 with a Bugpack Quitepack plus added zoomtube. After having another bout of welding fixes I decided to have a custom stainless steel back box made, but when they built it, it sounded louder than I expected. They had fitted a straighthrough silencer even though I had asked for a fairly quiet note , however the new silencer does sound pretty mean and is lighter and more compact than before. Like the previous silencer it is still quite civilised at idle, with a race car roar on revving. Sometimes I actually prefer my old bugpack silencer as it was quieter and looked better, but that feeling soon goes away ..... Click to listen to a 1 5/8 merged header 2165 with straighthrough S/S silencer.