Just an idea really. Autometer gauges reminds me Cal looks, Resto Cal, etc, not GL for sure.
Replace them with Stack gauges they are a lot more "circuit racing" oriented.

I completely agree, i'l be making the change when i go over to EFI and probably go over to digi guages :)

I really like Speedhut gauges.You can style them yourself and they have a huge selection to choose from.Far superior in technology and quality to the Autometer gauges.Stack is excellent also,but there are other digital dashes fir example race technology that has more features and is much cheaper,also excellent quality.

http://www.elitemotorsporteng.co.uk/...sh-2-114-p.asp

www.speedhut.com

Those speed hut guages rock!

Seeing them in person is even more impressive! The best instruments on the market in my opinion!

Well, i did't get to use my bug much this year as i sepnt a month in California and the rest of the time i was either working or wedding planning.....but i did get to use my bug for the big day :)

https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/...7d&oe=54F94E67

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...63994fc375a84d


Although i now have our other dub to restore (71 bay) i have managed to get my hands on a VW speedshop efi kit!!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...d28ff39a45831e

Just need to order up some fuel fittings and a wide band lambda kit and i can get it fitted! I am also considering a M45 supercharger rather than turbo! I love a winter project :D

Just I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in regarding the M45 supercharger idea, simply put, its probably not the best route. I have one for my 97 civic and its design is limited to roughly 5psi before it starts to heat the charge air excessively. They can be overspun, but this will eventually shorten the life of the blower assembly. When the rotors get hot they will start to eat into the wall of the case thus establishing new clearances. This sounds all fine and dandy except that now the blower will struggle to make boost under normal conditions. You can help keep the heat under control with the use of methanol injection, but boost numbers are still limited to the size of the rotor assembly. The best part is the immediate torque off idle, but the engine won't pull like modest turbo setup. Now the bad issues regarding the tuning, (I can only speak for the honda scene) part throttle detonation is a real problem even with an aftermarket computer and proper fuel setup. Not saying it will never work, but wanted to share some of the headaches I've seen with the M45. If possible, a centrifugal supercharger would be the way to go and something totally unique.

Oh, my, I just love this car.
Had to re-read the entire thread again.
That's like the fifth time now...

Every time something else grabs my attention.

-Like the fuel lines.
Looks like you started with hard lines in the tunnel then switched to braided?
Is there a particular reason it ended up like that?
Say, a problem? or maybe mock-up?

I'm trying to figure out plumbing my car, and wonder if you had any wisdom to impart...

Thanks for your input mrzed

Clatter - thanks :). I went through three ideas for the fuel lines including stainless and copper lines but settled for hose just for ease. Not had any problems and done over 5,000 miles :)

Probably not a suprise but i did not get a chance to work on my beetle over Christmas - but instead put all of my time into my bay project. I will start a thread in a bit.

Been a while since I updated this.....

Well it's been good, bad and ugly!

Bad.......I had a lot of smoke coming from the breather system. Turned out rings and barrels were shot but rob managed to save the JE pistons!

Good......I managed to install my efi kit!

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/...w.jpg~original

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http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/...k.jpg~original

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/...y.jpg~original

The ugly......I ripped off my cooler 200 miles from home

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/...1.jpg~original


http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/...b.jpg~original



Still tinkering getting things better and I've also started making my shopping list for turbo conversion this winter!

So.....any recommendations on turbos? I've been offered a Chinese t3/4 but not heard great things about the longevity if them

Ouch!!!!
I would spend the money for a good turbo like Garrett, Precision or Borg Warner. I would not risk putting a Chinese turbo on that engine. With a 2056cc a GT2871RS would work great or a GT3071 with a. 63 AR. They don't need to be ball bearing, a standard bearing will spool plenty fast enough so you can save some money there.

Mark

So this happened! Just waiting for some bits
For the charge cooler set up and will be mapped next month! Also gone wishbone front end
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...69DF879CC8.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...B2D8A5A5DB.jpg
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...A755E7A8EC.jpg
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Very nice!
Awesome welding/fabrication!

Nice Dean

Very cool!

Which front end did you go for?

Thanks guys. Rolling road booked for 19th June so I’ll post back with some figures
I went with the red9 set up Ricola. I know it’s not perfect, I know it has its flaws but this is essentially a road car and does what I need it to. I’ve been through several steering boxes now and I’ve not been happy with any of them so a nice steering rack and a comfortable ride is what I was after and exactly what the kit gives me.

Well a lot happened between my initial Rolling road but long story short my engine got run up with my dry sump tank tap turned off (not by me!) anyway after engine rebuild and turbo rebuild we finally got some decent dyno time. The results were ok! 231hp at 6000 at 18psi. It was great fun to drive but as you can see in the graph it all came in very late (turbo too big). It also didnt take long to kill it, I dropped a valve seat after a few weeks of driving :( One thing I learned is that boost is addictive and there arent too many cars that can beat a beetle wtih that sort of power - BMW m4 couldnt make ground on me).

Anyways, my engine builder informs me that the valve seats were put in too tight and caused the ally to rupture and squeeze out the seat, So im now shopping for a pair of heads. Currently in talks with FAT performance.

Ive also had my turbo rebuilt with a much smaller exhaust housing (55 AR down to 38AR). Ive swapped out my coil, changed for a turbo smart waste gate and I have some other small changes Im making and hoping to get back on the rolling road before the spring!

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4885/...906e6d60_n.jpgTurbo beetle by Dean Jones,

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7805/...e6251ab5_n.jpgTurbo beetle by Dean Jones, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4901/...889b117f_n.jpgTurbo beetle by Dean Jones, on Flickr

Dont know how to embed the video but if you click it you can view it

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7829/...0f1eb741_n.jpgTurbo beetle by Dean Jones, on Flickr

231 hp at 18 psi with such a combo is a little disappointing tbh?
Or very very conservatively tuned?
There is surely room for improvement! ;-)

I agree wally, something was amiss, I do wonder if I had valve issues before hand. I was hoping to make 230 sub 1 bar. Let’s hope the changes and new heads help out.

Hi

Nice work, I'm not sure how you have routed your lines on the intercooler but experts have told me to put the cooled liquid into the throttle body end of intercooler. I'm using a frozenboost.com reservoir which has a big mouth that you fill with ice to really get the intake temps down for drags etc. the reservoir is also good for getting air out of the system.

Steve

It didn’t take long.....I killed it! I *think* it was mapped with a slight leak on the MAP sensor. The hose popped off and I pushed it all the way on. The ECU then kept reading overboost and IGN cutting. Kept dropping the duty cycle on the boost controller but I obviously spent too much time dropping small increments, over heated the heads and dropped a valve seat!


Anyway this gave me the opportunity to make a few changes. New heads (went a size smaller on inlet valves to leave more meat between the valves. Turns out my CR was super low and were now up at 8:1. I’ve also had the exhaust housing and turbine changed much smaller. Combine the upped CR and smaller exhaust housing I should see better numbers off boost and much faster spooling. All in all I’m hoping for much nicer driveability and similar numbers at lower boost. Going to the rolling road on Monday so we’ll see. Will map to 1 bar and see where we are at. Been looking into water/meth injection, anyone else running this? For relatively little cost it seems a good way to help limit heat which I guess is the big killer of boosted aircooled motors.

VERY nice car and stance!
Runs very smoothly as well. Pity about the troubles, but nice recovery!

Everything above 0,5bar boost or so (imho), you'd want some sort of intercooling. Water-meth is very efficient in doing so. I run Aquamist in the past and just received their newest version, but haven't installed it yet.

Thanks Wally, it’s taken me 10 years to get it just where I want it!!

I’ve got a charge cooler in place at the moment but long term I was looking at the AEM water meth kit. It’s fairly priced and seems like a good option to cool things down a bit!

I finally achieved my goal!!! 264hp at 16.5psi!!!!!
Makes 188hp at 11psi with boost controller off.

Figures haven’t changed too much lower down despite the considerably smaller exhaust housing and increase in CR which is a little disappointing.. The weather has been aweful here so haven’t had the opportunity to drive it since!

Here’s a few runs whilst mapping. Max 264.5
https://www.dropbox.com/s/877x5nf7fw...%2007%2020.jpg


Finally two runs, one with controller turned off (11psi) and one on (16.5psi)
HP boost

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s2d0jn5189...%2019.png?dl=0


HP torque

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zwivb1atkw...%2046.jpg?dl=0

Thats a bit weird indeed. Pity your dyno didnt have the boost pressure in the graph.
It will probably feel very fast anyways 😉

What engine combo is it now in this form?
Cam, cc’s, heads/valves thanks!

Hey Wally
The second link was boost vs hp (on my latest session) but not my previous session

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s2d0jn5189...%2019.png?dl=0

It’s 2056, 38x42 with a web cam 118 turbo grind iirc

Ah, so its 1 bar at about 4400-4500 rpm. Thats not too bad for basically a 2 ltr engine.
Maybe the compressor wheel is a big big for this hp? Compressor wheels determine spool almost as much as the exhaust wheel.
What turbo is on it atm?

This combo could/should do a little better as head size and cam seem ok for 300hp at 18 psi with these low inleg temps. Maybe timing has been kept a little conservative?

I do think maybe the turbo isn’t the best for my motor. I’ll drive it for a year or so and then maybe consider changing the turbo for something a little more modern. I’m running a Garrett t3/4 hybrid at the moment.

So at the moment it made max 264.9 at 16.5 psi, another couple of psi would be around the 300 mark I guess.

After the woes I’ve had with it over the last year I didn’t want Greg (the chap mapping it) to push too far as I don’t want to kill it again. I put 100 miles on it today mostly back at 11 psi and had loads of fun! Hat the boost controller on a few times and it was great.

In your experience Wally what sort of boost can you run to with stock head studs?

I’d say the head studs can handle way more then you’re now, but its the stock heads that trend to worp a bit, causing leaks.
Even stock engines saw this problem. Especially buses..
Anyways, never torque the head studs more then stock in an attempt to make it seal “better”. It gets worse with more torque on the head studs then stock torque settings.
Thought I’d mention that again, for others that might be tempted 😉

Thanks for the heads up (pun intended 😂)
What tricks have you used to keep the heads sealed in the past, I understand your heads are far from stock now!

When I dropped a valve seat last time (18psi) we saw no evidence of the heads leaking which is good 👍

Unfortunately none that can be used on cast iron liners.
Even then, I promised it was their intellectual ownership or s/th...

What helps are new heads (AMC seem a slightly better alloy) and keeping the bore stock, so preferably no machining that weakens the head. Good cooling and a really good tune are also just as important (and often overlooked/mistaken).
None of this is cheap though, I realize. But turbo is hp and there just is no cheap hp.