my 1600tp reco.. questions/ideas/mods

i'm in the process of pulling my engine down to reco it and make some improvements... so here will be my log asking answers to questions i dont know...haha

--1, your view on volkswagen alloy heads and reseating them and inserting new valve guides? i've heard that you dont bother reseating them as it doesnt take or the different expansion rates of the alloy and steel ends in a dropped valve?

i ask this as i intend on using new valves and springs, and to get a few of the old valves out meant tapping them out with a punch as the collet area of the valve was a tight fit through the guides and ended up pulling through some brass shards with em...

--2, i see in hibbards book he talks about pushrod tubes being vulnerable to cracking/leaking/puncture etc in the off road treatment due to their thin walls. anyone here or out in the wider community attempted to make their own out of thicker pipe? i use to work in an engineering shop, its entireley feasible... the only hurdle being maybe the cooling properties of the thinner pipe?

--3, after pulling off the doghouse fan housing i found my oil cooler a bit damaged. i have talked to someone before about using type4 cooler/s... anyone know of this or have experience? he says it kicks ass and also reccomened modifying the fan housing to suit.

--4, on the subject of fan housings, i am wanting to run more amps then my genny can pump out. i've heard of upgrading to a kombi alternator, how is this done? i think i saw a pic somewhere, it gets mounted over near the coil and you run a bigger belt to accomodate the existing generator also to turn the fan? i spose you could ever run both them in parrallel (i think its parrallel) and really pump up the amps?

--5, do all type1 engines sport the same fan housings? mine is pretty beat up and has holes so will need to replace..

--6, any other general mods i can do to increase torque? i'm talking porting, using bigger barrels and pistons etc... i havent heard much on these topics with the vw engine so far so would be interested to know everyones views/experiences/ideas.

--7, anyone ever thought of adding valve stem seals to the head? reduce oil use etc... could easily be done using hemi valve seals if the valve compression height and valve width complied..

--8, i've heard you can only buy cork tappet cover gaskets. is this true? anyone ever tried to get some plastic/rubbery ones made up?

thats about it for now......haha, not much... if anyone can help or has ideas, give it a go...

[ Edited on 7-11-2005 by ~air fooled~ ]

ok ive used a 2L cooler on my bug and am still using it they are an inch wider hence you split the housing and wield and inch in. hell if i can do it im sure you can. i have pics some where if it will help. if you want more amps upgrade to a alternator you can buy them up to 75 amps and the will fit in the standard place. fan housings there are 2 types ones the early the other is thee late model version. it al depends on what you want and am running at the moment.
for performance here are some previous threads.
http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewthread.php?tid=25357
http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewthread.php?tid=26056
http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewthread.php?tid=25188
also i have a twin barrel progressive for sale at the moment its ready to be bolted on. i pulled it off my 1700 big bore motor and it then went on a 1600 with no rejetting

The cooler is easy and works great but it will only work if you get a good seal around where the air gets pushed over the oil cooler the better the seal the better it works it doesn't have to be flash silicone will do just fine, Just cut the fan housing on the crease which would usually sit on the out side of the old oil cooler and then bolt up the type 4 oil cooler to the original doghouse mounting block (you will need to get the two long studs out of a type 4 block or make new ones and screew them into the mounting block) then drop the fan housing over the engine and see what you have to add and do it the throtle cable tube will sit in the same spot then seal it up and off you go cooler than before. the next thing look in your fan housing where the air gets taken out to the cooler some have just a little slot on the right side of the fan hole the one you want will have a scoop over the little slot that will duck more air out to the cooler all these little tricks make a nice difference on the engine running temp it drop my old 1640 10deg and dads 1776 just over 10deg. as for engine mods the first thing i do is get it balanced that flywheel, crank, rods, pistons that will make it alot more happy to rev and alot smoother, and a set of 1640cc p/b are cheap and add i bit of grunt the only thing that makes n offroader is toque the more idle speed toque you have the further you will get in the bush you could have the meanest offroader and not enough toque to get anywhere with it thats why the reall offroaders like comp challengers and rock crawlers mainly use v8s and turbo diesels not little rev buckets that have no balls!! cause you would not get anywhere

Tim