@KarlB why don't you call Paul Miller at Harry Harpics and talk to him about the spec of the engine and what it's suitable for. Perhaps he built it for a specific vehicle or purpose or maybe he put together a box of customers bits on their request. Even back in the mid 90's he knew his stuff (I bought a bus with a great 1776 that he had built around then).
This is my plan. The list of parts and machining is impressive and it certainly hasn’t been scrimped on. It’ll be a blast from the past when I contact him! In my head 1995 wasn’t that long ago.... Intriguing eh?! I figure I can easily sell the carb set up and get some smaller dells to replace them.
It would be very interesting to hear what Paul Miller says. Every element of that engine spec is a mis-match IMO. Even with more suitable carbs it will not give you the really lazy torquey engine which will tootle up and down the hills that you want.
I’m going to scan the receipts and send an email. It was set up, bench tested, the cam broken in etc and then mothballed since ‘95. It’s not like it was built up as a long block and the owner then added the carbs. It also has a fully merged Berg 1 3/4” header..Berg deep sump...Berg oil pump cover with full flow...Kennedy clutch...Scat cam followers etc etc. It’s been balanced etc but I’ll need to swap out the lightened flywheel (has an Equaliser pulley) Heads have have a 3 angle valve job etc. I ‘think’ it was destined for a beach buggy? Like I said...it’s not like my existing engine has gone kaput but I’m intrigued by the notion of a torquey stroker Cheers for all the input so far. I love all this stuff! It’ll be nice to work on a sparkly clean engine
Perhaps the original use for the Beetle engine was intended for was a turbo charged setup hence low CR and the huge carbs were just slapped on to sell a half finished project.
According to the paperwork Harry Harpics assembled the linkage, match ported the manifolds (they are numbered) and ran it up with the 48s. I’ve just emailed him so we’ll see!
He may have just worked on the engine, rather than advising on the spec and then building the entire thing
If it was for a beach buggy @Mark Darby and his beach buddy crew may be able to shed some light on the engine spec
Erm... spec looks a bit of a weird mix of CR, cam and huge carbs. I agree that it looks like somebody built it using bits and bobs they had. Doesn't look like it was a planned build to me.
Right.... Sent photos of all the notes I received with the engine to Paul and explained the situation. He kindly got straight back to me. He says the compression ratio written down will be a mistake as he sets his road engines at around 7.9 not 6.96 especially given the cam and carbs. He suggested an Engle 100 cam and Dellorto 40’s with 28 venturis.
It’ll be 7.96. I’m going to see about selling the 48s and sourcing the 40s. I’ll need to investigate the rockers. They are on bolt together shafts but I can’t recall if they’re ratio rockers or stock. I’ll dig the engine out this weekend. Cheers again
That’s very precise. The cam will work with 1.1 or 1.25 rockers but 420" valve lift with stock rockers is all you need with 40mm inlet valves. More lift just adds load to the valve gear and increases wear for no gain.
It might be okay in something light and fast but even if the CR is close to 8:1 it’s too low for the cam to work well and if you get the cam to work the valves are too small for the carbs. It would probably be good with NOS.
My 2.0l type 4 is a similar spec, Weber 40 IDFs, Scat C25 Cam, 41mm x 34mm valves. 30 vents 180 Air Correction F11 Emulsion 125 Mains 55 Idles Somebody will know what the equivalent is for Dells.
I understand that nos is nitrous oxide, but the rest of that is way over my head. I leave the cams, valves and technical stuff to you lot and other experts
