Hi,

I'm new to this forum and its the first forum that I have used. So I hope you excuse me if I appear niave and a little illiterate regarding how to gain information.

I have a 69 Karmann Ghia which is almost stripped down and I thank all those who have provided advice over the last couple of months. Everyone I have spoken to has a passion and I hope to speak to those again very soon.

Back to my car, the first problem I have faced is the engine, I think its a 1600, definitely single port, I pulled it out and the advice I was given was three of the cylinders had 110 compression and the fourth had 75. The best advice based on this was to find a donor engine and work on it from there. Based on research and advice 1600-1700cc is best for daily use and to make it look smart throw a dual carby kit on with some chrome trims and walla!!!!!.............were ready to roll.

With all this it appears that the cost can get up there, alot of people say I have to start at $3500.00 for the engine and add the carbys, trim etc............this looks like its going to go up to $5000.00...............

And thats where my problem is, I havn't the budget for that much, but I have the need to put in a working engine that looks good.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and what is my best option, I'd like to spend between $3-4k...........am I asking tooo much???

mmmmmmmmm.............. it all depends

Dual carbs will cost you between $500 and say $1,000
Jetting them can cost you that again

People like Rod Penrose "may" be able to do you a long block for $3,500 ish

You will need a decent set of extractors to get the best from your motor.

Personally for that money I would go for a healthy 1600 and add carbs and exhaust
I would also go for good original german trim and paint it up rather than add chinese chrome

If you are looking for a keenly priced exhaust get to vollks.com.au fast

if the bottom end is good ,why not just get some new pistons and barrels ie 1641 ,a set of twin port heads and then some carbs extractors etc

75psi of compression on one cylinder (presumably #3) is not really that bad. It will definitely still be firing, just not making as much power as the other three. I drove my old 1500cc single-port Beetle for a couple of years with an engine in a similar state, running 40W70 oil to quieten down noisy bearings. I never won any drag races in it, but I did once get it up to 86mph on a quiet stretch of road and it started every time. I also enjoyed using it for motorkhanas and khanacross.

Eventually, when I did decide to upgrade, I bought a used stock 1600cc twin-port in good running condition for $800. It was a noticeable increase in power and has served me well since then. I am now upgrading to dual webers, which has been a lot of expense and hassle! I will never ever buy used carbs again, and encourage everyone else to do the same. A new twin-weber kit from the US will cost you less than $1000 and is a bargain at that. Add in a distributor and an exhaust and you can put together a nice engine for less than $3000.

The biggest question is. Is it currently registered? If so, then focus on getting a few more dollars into a good reliable engine built up on your original block. It is likely to be in good condition, and with a freshen up with some slightly larger pistons and barrels and new heads, twin carbs, you could build up a strong 1641 with small carbs, or a 1776 with some bigger carbs.

If it is not on the road or registered yet, and you already are looking at a short budget, then you need to look at just getting it reliable running and registered first.

Where are you? What suburb/state?
Dave

I really appreciate the reply from you all, I'm from Brisbane and it appears that there may be life in my old motor yet.

Sounds like most of you have been there before so any additional advice will go along way.

Im in Brissie aswell and am about to do up my engine, looking at putting a Scat engine kit through to bring it up to 1915ccand looks like costing around the sort of marl you are looking at spending. Have you talked to guys at mick motors?