Wanted, 1400 beetle cylinders.
- Thread starter Cornish
- Start date
did they make 1400 B&P's? the common sizes are 1200, 1300, 1500, 1600 for stock bugs.
Are you after some aftermarket B&P's for a 1200 block? If so, they'll be hard to find and hardly worth the hassle over upgrading to a 1300 or larger...
Are you after some aftermarket B&P's for a 1200 block? If so, they'll be hard to find and hardly worth the hassle over upgrading to a 1300 or larger...
Will make a big difference because the engine is in a trike. I've done this before and it'l be quicker than a 1600cc lump due to keeping the short stroke 1200 engine.
this might be of interest to you. Written in 1982 mind...
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]While re-reading my article on piston and barrel conversion in the last issue of BUGPOWER I came to reconsider the comment I had made about tuning the 1200 engine. It's generally not considered to be even worth thinking about tuning the 1200, due to the limited availability of parts specifically made for this engine and while there is some justification for restricting our attentions to the 69mm stroke engines we shouldn't write off the humble 1200 completely. My memory drifted back to early 1982 when I set myself the challenge to tune up a 1200 engine on a limited budget just as a matter of interest. The following are my notes made at the time and resurrected from the dusty files at the back of my wardrobe during this years spring-cleaning.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]The 1200 engine is perhaps the most commonly available of engines for the beetle, being used as it is for the longest production period and in the most-produced basic Beetle model. The 1200 though has been largely ignored by serious performance tuners who prefer instead to lavish their attentions on the larger engines. With this in mind I set out to rebuild my 1200 engine incorporating modifications to increase the power output along the way. The engine in question was a 34HP D series 1200 of around 1969 vintage which had been purchased for £40 and had served for some while as a useful spare whilst I toyed around with a succession of "bigger and better" engines based on the 69mm stroke bottom end. Experience gained from these engines came in very useful in buildig the "hot 1200". With 13 years of use under it's fan-belt it was to see a full recondition and wherever practical and economical higher performance parts would be used. A rainy Saturday afternoon saw it stripped down and ready to consider what parts needed replacing. The original case would be retained and although standard practise is to line-bore any second-hand case, close examination revealed little damage to the bearing saddles. The 1200 with its shorter stroke and restricted breathing suffers much less from case hammering than its bigger brothers (see BUGPOWER No. 2, page 11). The 1200 crank and rods, while noticeably less substantial than those of the larger engines, were retained but reground, balanced and new bearings fitted. The flywheel fixture is a weakness of all the Type 1 engines and this was rectified by adding 4 extra dowel pins and the use of a heavy-duty gland nut and washer. The original 180mm flywheel was retained, but lightened to 10lb for a more lively engine response. A 200mm flywheel from the 1500/1600 engine could have been used, but I decided to stick with the 180 which could be lightened to a greater extent without losing strength (due to its smaller clutch recess). A dual 6-spring clutch from an early van engine was used and ths was found to be quite adequate.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Engine capacity and cylinder head design are the two most important contributors to engine power output and with this in mind it had to be a big bore kit and twin-port heads for the "hot 1200". The 1200 is unique in having a 64mm stroke and 20mm diameter piston pins and thus cannot be fitted with pistons and cylinders fro the larger engines. There is however a "big-bore" set specifically designed for the 1200 engine - the 83mmCIMAs which uprate the capacity to 1385cc and which install without machining to heads or case. It should be noted however that these only fit 1200 cases up to engine number D0540002 (after 1971 a "universal" case was introduced where the case spigot size was the sae for all type 1 engines). As a historical note, two other big bore sizes have been available for the 1200- 82mm EMPI sets giving 1352cc and 92mm sets giving 1702cc, but these are no longer available.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Increased capacity is the good foundation for a powerful engine and the extra 193cc would help by increasing both the breathing and the compression ratio (to 8.0:1). However, to fully realise the potential the stock single port heads with their puny valve sizes would have to be abandoned. The obvious choice for replacement were the 1300 twin-port heads - these have the same size spigot diameter as the 1200 heads but use far superior twin port design and larger valves (35.5mm inlet, 32mm exhaust, same as the 1600 engine!). As luck would have it a pair of these heads had laid gathering dust at the back of the garage having been abandoned as the result of a 1300 to 1600 rebuild some time earlier. Close inspection revealed no cracks (the usual 1300 twin port problem) so they were sent for a bead blasting and then packed off to Microgiant for the mandatory valve guide replacement. At the same time the seating surface in the head was also fly-cut 2mm. This both increases the compression ratio still further and removes the step that VW built into their heads in the early seventies as part of their attempts at emission control. Following the fitment of new valves and some reshaping of the chambers the final compression ratio was measured and found to be 9.1:1 - a little high by normal standards but acceptable in view of the fairly long duration camshaft that was going to be used. Converting the 1200 single port engine to accept the twin port heads necessitated making up new head studs and trimming cylinder head shrouding around the inlet ports.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]The camshaft used was an AP-3, so called rally/race cam with 294 degree duration/ 0.395" lift and this proved to be quite tractable in use, not at all "cammy". Being reground from a stock billet, and so having a smaller base circle, this proved to be quite useful as no clearancing of the lifter bores was necessary. Also due to the flycut heads the length of the valve train was virtually unchanged and stock length pushrods could be used, though these were chrome-moly to resist flexing. Heavy-duty single valve springs were used, along with the 1.1:1 rockers of the 1300 engine (1200 rockers are 1:1), these being fitted with swivel foot tappet screws.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]As the engine was being built on a fairly limited budget, using available parts the original idea of fitting two twin-choke Weber 40 IDFs had do be abandoned due to expense. An advantage of using the shorter stroke engine would have been that these would have fitted more easily into the engine compartment, but it was not to be. For carburetion I ended up using a 32DFM Weber - a progressive twin choke normally used in Ford 1600GT engines and obtained cheaply on an exchange basis. This was mounted on a SCAT plenum manifold which, due to the shorter engine (narrower between ports) had to be trimmed slightly at each end of the horizontal runners to fit snugly inside the standard aluminium end castings that adapt the manifold to the twin port heads. The exhaust system was not so much of a problem as it was an ANSA unit manufactured specifically for the narrower 1200 engine, although the fly-cutting of the heads reduced tolerances slightly and the mounting holes had to be enlarged to fit.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Other ancillary equipment consisted of the ubiquitous "009" Bosch centrifugal distributor, set at 8 degrees BTDC static timing. A Facet electric fuel pump was standard equipment on the car for all the various engines I was using at the time, so the fuel pump aperture on the crankcase was blocked off and one of the studs used to mound a stay for the inlet manifold. A standard sized crank pulley was used, although a power pulley was fitted for a brief period of road use, it gained horse power only at the expense of noticeably higher oil temperature and so was abandoned. Speaking of oil temperature, the usual practice at the time was to remove the standard oil cooler in favour of a take-off adapter and remote mounted oil cooler. Just to check Gene Bergs claims in a letter to Hot VWs magazine a few months earlier I tried this set-up, using a 9-row Serck oil cooleralternately with the standard oil cooler and confirmed that the standard set-up actually gave lower oil temperatures. Since then I've always used the standard oil cooler arrangement, preferably the doghouse type, with an auxiliary oil cooler only for prolonged high speed cruising.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular][/FONT]
TBC...
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]While re-reading my article on piston and barrel conversion in the last issue of BUGPOWER I came to reconsider the comment I had made about tuning the 1200 engine. It's generally not considered to be even worth thinking about tuning the 1200, due to the limited availability of parts specifically made for this engine and while there is some justification for restricting our attentions to the 69mm stroke engines we shouldn't write off the humble 1200 completely. My memory drifted back to early 1982 when I set myself the challenge to tune up a 1200 engine on a limited budget just as a matter of interest. The following are my notes made at the time and resurrected from the dusty files at the back of my wardrobe during this years spring-cleaning.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]The 1200 engine is perhaps the most commonly available of engines for the beetle, being used as it is for the longest production period and in the most-produced basic Beetle model. The 1200 though has been largely ignored by serious performance tuners who prefer instead to lavish their attentions on the larger engines. With this in mind I set out to rebuild my 1200 engine incorporating modifications to increase the power output along the way. The engine in question was a 34HP D series 1200 of around 1969 vintage which had been purchased for £40 and had served for some while as a useful spare whilst I toyed around with a succession of "bigger and better" engines based on the 69mm stroke bottom end. Experience gained from these engines came in very useful in buildig the "hot 1200". With 13 years of use under it's fan-belt it was to see a full recondition and wherever practical and economical higher performance parts would be used. A rainy Saturday afternoon saw it stripped down and ready to consider what parts needed replacing. The original case would be retained and although standard practise is to line-bore any second-hand case, close examination revealed little damage to the bearing saddles. The 1200 with its shorter stroke and restricted breathing suffers much less from case hammering than its bigger brothers (see BUGPOWER No. 2, page 11). The 1200 crank and rods, while noticeably less substantial than those of the larger engines, were retained but reground, balanced and new bearings fitted. The flywheel fixture is a weakness of all the Type 1 engines and this was rectified by adding 4 extra dowel pins and the use of a heavy-duty gland nut and washer. The original 180mm flywheel was retained, but lightened to 10lb for a more lively engine response. A 200mm flywheel from the 1500/1600 engine could have been used, but I decided to stick with the 180 which could be lightened to a greater extent without losing strength (due to its smaller clutch recess). A dual 6-spring clutch from an early van engine was used and ths was found to be quite adequate.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Engine capacity and cylinder head design are the two most important contributors to engine power output and with this in mind it had to be a big bore kit and twin-port heads for the "hot 1200". The 1200 is unique in having a 64mm stroke and 20mm diameter piston pins and thus cannot be fitted with pistons and cylinders fro the larger engines. There is however a "big-bore" set specifically designed for the 1200 engine - the 83mmCIMAs which uprate the capacity to 1385cc and which install without machining to heads or case. It should be noted however that these only fit 1200 cases up to engine number D0540002 (after 1971 a "universal" case was introduced where the case spigot size was the sae for all type 1 engines). As a historical note, two other big bore sizes have been available for the 1200- 82mm EMPI sets giving 1352cc and 92mm sets giving 1702cc, but these are no longer available.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Increased capacity is the good foundation for a powerful engine and the extra 193cc would help by increasing both the breathing and the compression ratio (to 8.0:1). However, to fully realise the potential the stock single port heads with their puny valve sizes would have to be abandoned. The obvious choice for replacement were the 1300 twin-port heads - these have the same size spigot diameter as the 1200 heads but use far superior twin port design and larger valves (35.5mm inlet, 32mm exhaust, same as the 1600 engine!). As luck would have it a pair of these heads had laid gathering dust at the back of the garage having been abandoned as the result of a 1300 to 1600 rebuild some time earlier. Close inspection revealed no cracks (the usual 1300 twin port problem) so they were sent for a bead blasting and then packed off to Microgiant for the mandatory valve guide replacement. At the same time the seating surface in the head was also fly-cut 2mm. This both increases the compression ratio still further and removes the step that VW built into their heads in the early seventies as part of their attempts at emission control. Following the fitment of new valves and some reshaping of the chambers the final compression ratio was measured and found to be 9.1:1 - a little high by normal standards but acceptable in view of the fairly long duration camshaft that was going to be used. Converting the 1200 single port engine to accept the twin port heads necessitated making up new head studs and trimming cylinder head shrouding around the inlet ports.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]The camshaft used was an AP-3, so called rally/race cam with 294 degree duration/ 0.395" lift and this proved to be quite tractable in use, not at all "cammy". Being reground from a stock billet, and so having a smaller base circle, this proved to be quite useful as no clearancing of the lifter bores was necessary. Also due to the flycut heads the length of the valve train was virtually unchanged and stock length pushrods could be used, though these were chrome-moly to resist flexing. Heavy-duty single valve springs were used, along with the 1.1:1 rockers of the 1300 engine (1200 rockers are 1:1), these being fitted with swivel foot tappet screws.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]As the engine was being built on a fairly limited budget, using available parts the original idea of fitting two twin-choke Weber 40 IDFs had do be abandoned due to expense. An advantage of using the shorter stroke engine would have been that these would have fitted more easily into the engine compartment, but it was not to be. For carburetion I ended up using a 32DFM Weber - a progressive twin choke normally used in Ford 1600GT engines and obtained cheaply on an exchange basis. This was mounted on a SCAT plenum manifold which, due to the shorter engine (narrower between ports) had to be trimmed slightly at each end of the horizontal runners to fit snugly inside the standard aluminium end castings that adapt the manifold to the twin port heads. The exhaust system was not so much of a problem as it was an ANSA unit manufactured specifically for the narrower 1200 engine, although the fly-cutting of the heads reduced tolerances slightly and the mounting holes had to be enlarged to fit.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Other ancillary equipment consisted of the ubiquitous "009" Bosch centrifugal distributor, set at 8 degrees BTDC static timing. A Facet electric fuel pump was standard equipment on the car for all the various engines I was using at the time, so the fuel pump aperture on the crankcase was blocked off and one of the studs used to mound a stay for the inlet manifold. A standard sized crank pulley was used, although a power pulley was fitted for a brief period of road use, it gained horse power only at the expense of noticeably higher oil temperature and so was abandoned. Speaking of oil temperature, the usual practice at the time was to remove the standard oil cooler in favour of a take-off adapter and remote mounted oil cooler. Just to check Gene Bergs claims in a letter to Hot VWs magazine a few months earlier I tried this set-up, using a 9-row Serck oil cooleralternately with the standard oil cooler and confirmed that the standard set-up actually gave lower oil temperatures. Since then I've always used the standard oil cooler arrangement, preferably the doghouse type, with an auxiliary oil cooler only for prolonged high speed cruising.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular][/FONT]
TBC...
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]...split up to keep under the 10000 character limit...[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]The engine was originally set up and run on my mobile test bed - an old gearbox bellhousing mounted to a bedframe on trolley wheels. Once fully "adjusted" and the usual oil leaks cured, it was fited to my '67 Beetle for a few months road use. While never tested "scientifically" against the clock or on a dynamometer, all the impressions were of superior power output to my previous 1641cc DCNF'd engine, this despite not being fully run-in. A realistic "guesstimate" of power output would be 70-75 BHP, more than double that of the original 1200. It would have been nice to keep the engine for a longer term evaluation, but my main project at the time - a 1760cc (74 x 87) with twin 40 IDF Webers was just crying out to be used so the "hot 1200" was sold to a buggy owning friend who ran it for some time. Apparently it outperformed a number of bigger-engined buggies before in turn being superceded by a 1700 Type 4 engine and sold to another buggy owner, at which point I lost track of it. In conclusion, I'm not suggesting for a minute that everyone should go out and start tuning 1200 engines, the point of the exercise was somewhat academic - call it an exercise in lateral thinking if you like. It certainly demonstrates the flexibility with which VW components can be interchanged and the potential which lies within even the most unlikely of power units. The whole engine build was done for under £200 (1982 prices) and, cost-effectively was one of the best units I've built.[/FONT]
written in 1982 by Neil Birkitt for "Bugpower"
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]The engine was originally set up and run on my mobile test bed - an old gearbox bellhousing mounted to a bedframe on trolley wheels. Once fully "adjusted" and the usual oil leaks cured, it was fited to my '67 Beetle for a few months road use. While never tested "scientifically" against the clock or on a dynamometer, all the impressions were of superior power output to my previous 1641cc DCNF'd engine, this despite not being fully run-in. A realistic "guesstimate" of power output would be 70-75 BHP, more than double that of the original 1200. It would have been nice to keep the engine for a longer term evaluation, but my main project at the time - a 1760cc (74 x 87) with twin 40 IDF Webers was just crying out to be used so the "hot 1200" was sold to a buggy owning friend who ran it for some time. Apparently it outperformed a number of bigger-engined buggies before in turn being superceded by a 1700 Type 4 engine and sold to another buggy owner, at which point I lost track of it. In conclusion, I'm not suggesting for a minute that everyone should go out and start tuning 1200 engines, the point of the exercise was somewhat academic - call it an exercise in lateral thinking if you like. It certainly demonstrates the flexibility with which VW components can be interchanged and the potential which lies within even the most unlikely of power units. The whole engine build was done for under £200 (1982 prices) and, cost-effectively was one of the best units I've built.[/FONT]
written in 1982 by Neil Birkitt for "Bugpower"
don't mean to tell you what to do Cornish but if it were me I'd just bung in a 1600 twin port with a decent carb(s) and exhaust and a GT-spec gearbox.
Still though, if you're intent on building a "hot 1200" I'd be interested to hear more. I have a couple of 1200s sitting about. It would be nice to make them more "usable" if you know what I mean...
Still though, if you're intent on building a "hot 1200" I'd be interested to hear more. I have a couple of 1200s sitting about. It would be nice to make them more "usable" if you know what I mean...
yeah, they just kind of accumulate, don't they?
if only there was a good use for them...
1385 CC is correct, well done, i stand corected. The 16 idea has crossed my mind but to be honest it would'nt be worth the cost. B & P are in the post all paid for.. happy dayz.
1200 power.
1200 power.
http://www.streetstyleandpower.com/
Try them, very helpfull and compleatly nuts...!!!..
1200 power.
http://www.streetstyleandpower.com/
Try them, very helpfull and compleatly nuts...!!!..