Hello all, this is a bit of an 'I wish' post, but I'm wondering what is the next step for my bug engine, when I get around to it next coming out of the car I will be stripping it down to the long block and cleaning everything down / fixing a couple of oil leaks and maybe replacing pushrod tube or two so while I've got it that far...... what next ?

Engine is currently;

1835 - AS41 case (on its last linebore) with forged 92mm p&c's, and counterweighted (no name brand) 69mm crank.
Rebushed std rods, balanced end for end and against each other.
Standard casting 040 heads, heavy duty single springs, stainless valves, unleaded seats and long reach plugs. No head work. Standard rockers and pushrods, with springs removed and shims installed with standard clips.
All components statically and dynamically balanced.
Cam is an HSC2 (first place I went wrong), which is about 5° longer duration and about 8 thou more lift than standard - ie its a reground standard cam.
Carbies are Kadrons, with standard jets, recently rebuilt and rebushed, on std steel manifolds, not port matched.
Extended sump.
Type 4 oil cooler in stock location, case is drilled and tapped for external full flow cooler if I ever need one.
Compression is set to 8.5 :1 (no shims at all).
009 (yuk) dissy.

The engine is not a bad package - its not a ball tearer but a stock bug would never stay near it, it revs through 6500 if I let it, not that there is much point past 5000 or so. Its a bit gutless down low, but comes on song about 2500 - 3000.

What I was thinking next was maybe 1.25 :1 or 1.4:1 ratio rockers (with solid shaft kit and elephant feet adjusters) and a CDI / high energy ignition of some form.

One day maybe upgrade the kads to 46 IDK kit from AJ Simms, and do some headwork, get the aluminium kadron manifolds and get them port matched to the heads.

I'm not real keen on splitting the case to change the cam unless I have another reason to do it, as its a big job.

Any other ideas ? Would 1.4:1's be too harsh on the valvetrain ?

Doug

you hav to find out if the HSC is compatable with ratio's

not always the case

Standard cams will work so.....

[Edited on 11-5-2005 by Bizarre]

Thats gunna be almost impossible to do, as the HSC business went bust 20 years ago, but the grind lives on, with very few people (none that I have met) that actually know the profile and specs. All I know is that it is a reground stock cam (so smaller base circle to get the roughly 8thou extra lift).

Additionally, I could always chuck the pair of 40 IDF webers I have in the shed on it...... but I dont have the $$ to have someone else set them up - I have been quoted $600 - $1000 to set them up (in terms of jetting and vent / emulsion tubes etc), and I dont have the experience to do it myself.

Come on Doug have a go and when u have it mastered u can talk ME through mine http://www.aircooled.net/gnrlsite/resource/articles/jetting.htm  :kiss

Its truly tempting, but they are such a bitch to access in the engine bay, and I need to try and find a full weekend to have a go at it - not easy for me.

Plus its my daily driver, so if I fark it up, I'm in trouble come monday....

Doug I have the weber book if you want to borrow it.
I have read through it it actually dosn't sound that hard. But I am also going to fit an O2 sensor on my extractors so I can tell if its leaning out so I don't have to keep removing the plugs which would make things easier.
But all you need is the book work out what jets by the tables in the book.Then get a velosity measurer so you can balance them thats it.

Let us know what you want to do.

Ta for the offer Nige, I'll definitely keep it in mind.

Its probably still a fair way off though, and having just rebuilt the kadrons at a couple of hundred $$ expense, I feel like I need to get some real use out of them too (probably doesnt make sense, but anyways).

Additionally, my old man is building a stroker up (78 x 94 ? probably), and he has expressed an interest for the carbs....

Its going to be tie rod ends and steering box next on my list though, there is a clunk in my steering and it can only be one or the other as I've replaced almost all the bushes and its got new ball joints.

I would be inclined to do a bit of head work rather than increase the lift greatly. If you increase the lift, and your heads dont flow at that lift, all you are doing is wearing out the valve train faster with no gain !!

You could start by port matching your manifolds

Yeah, the old saying is'the heads are where the power is at' isnt it ?

What do people do when they say 'get some head work ?' or is it a black art ?

They match things up.

If you look at the heads you will see that the manifolds will more likely NOT match up with the head. These need to blend.

3 or 5 angle valve cuts help the gasses in and out much better

Un shrounding the valves is the same. better flow.

Bigger valves - but that all comes down to cams and carbs and "black majic"

You have not mentioned your exhaust.

is it fully merged of "just" a T'bird??

A decent fully merged system will do wonders.

'Just a tbird' - my budget was gone by that stage of the build.

Thats a really good point actually. What make / size works for motors this sort of size ?

Ta for the idiots guide to head work too

1.5in unless your gunna rev the t#ts offa it,in that case 1.5/8in.:thumb

What fully merged system have you used Bizarre?
I also think the ratio rockers are one part of the equation, but it is hard to know where to start and where to stop.